Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Congratulations to Nobel Prize winner Prof. Daniel Shechtman

I couldn't let pass the notice of Prof. Daniel Shechtman (Technion) winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Shechtman when I arranged for him to give a lecture at Watkins-Johnson Semiconductor Equipment Group (8/4/97 and 8/8/97 - I still have the flyers!!), when I was Quality Systems Director at the company. I was fascinated by the topic and through my manager at the time, CTO, Dr. Avi Katz, who knew Dr. Shechtman, the invitation was extended for our Distinguished Lecturers' series.

I was also delighted that he allowed us to use the diffraction pattern of a quasicrystal (which he provided) for the opening segment of an image video I was creating along with James Banks (videographer and gifted animator) at that time. The video was shown at SEMICON Japan in the WJ booth and that opening segment with the diffraction pattern was perfect - crystallographers, materials scientists, and physicists, chemists, and the like, who saw the video would know what it was. Everyone else just thought it was beautiful.

I know there are quite a few fellow ex-WJ'ers in our Solid State Technology audience. Perhaps some of you remember that lecture by Dr. Shechtman. Please let us know your thoughts.

(Debra Vogler)

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