English October 10, 2000 has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2000 jointly to Alan J. HeegerUniversity of California at Santa Barbara, USA, Alan G. MacDiarmidUniversity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, Hideki ShirakawaUniversity of Tsukuba, Japan “for the discovery and development of conductive polymers” Plastic that conducts electricity We have been taught that…

By analogy with semiconductor technology one speaks of doping the polymer when it is subjected to oxidation with iodine vapour. The more electrons are removed, the higher the degree of doping and the greater the conductivity.     While polyacetylene can be persuaded to conduct current as well as many metals do, this material is unfortunately…

I was born on a bitter cold morning (20º F below zero) in Sioux City (Iowa) on January 22, 1936. I was told that when my father went out in the cold that morning to go to the hospital to visit his wife and newborn first son, his car would not start. Despite advice to…

The process giving rise to electro-luminescence can also be “run backwards”. Absorption of light creates positive and negative charges that are picked up by the electrodes, providing an electric current. This is the principle of the solar cell.     The advantage of plastic is that large, flexible surfaces can be made relatively easily and cheaply.…

I was born a Kiwi (a New Zealander) in Masterton, New Zealand on April 14, 1927, and still am a Kiwi by New Zealand law, although I became a naturalized United States citizen many years ago in order to have the right to vote in US elections and, hence, voice my political opinions in a…

  The exciting idea of combining the mouldability and low weight of plastics with the conductivity of metals has prompted intensive development. Since the conductivity can be varied over a very broad area, from poor semi-conductors to metallic-level conductivity, many commercial uses present themselves. Batteries, condensers, anti-static materials and anti-corrosion substances are some examples.

For the ten years from the third grade of elementary school to the end of high school, I lived in the small city of Takayama, a town of less than sixty thousand, located in the middle of Honshu, Japan. Even though it was far away from Japan’s principal cities, Takayama has been called a “little…

Although the polyacetylene film shone like silver, it was not an electrical conductor. Could it perhaps be modified in some way? In the mid-1970s the three Laureates began co-operating to investigate this and results were quick to come. When they caused the films to react with iodine vapour, the conductivity increased by as much as…

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Presentation Speech by Professor Bengt Nordén of the , December 10, 2000. Translation of the Swedish text. Professor Bengt Nordén delivering the Presentation Speech for the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry at the Stockholm Concert Hall. Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, Chemistry! We all associate chemistry with test tubes, stinking…