Louis E. Brus

Louis Eugene Brus was born in 1943 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America. During high school in Roeland Park, Kansas, he developed an interest for chemistry and physics.{{Cite journal |last=Davis |first=Tinsley |date=February 2005 |title=Biography of Louis E. Brus |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=102 |issue=5 |pages=1277–1279 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0409555102 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=547879 |pmid=15677326 |doi-access=free }}

He entered Rice University in 1961 with a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) college scholarship, which required him to participate in NROTC activities at sea as a midshipman. In 1965, he graduated at Rice with a B.S. degree in chemical physics, and then moved to Columbia University for his doctoral research. For his dissertation, he worked on the photodissociation of sodium iodide vapor, under the supervision of Richard Bersohn. After obtaining his Ph.D. degree in chemical physics in 1969, Brus returned to the Navy as a lieutenant and served as a scientific staff officer in collaboration with Lin Ming-chang, at the United States Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

Under the recommendation of Bersohn, Brus left the Navy permanently and joined AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1973, where he did the work that led to the discovery of quantum dots. In 1996, Brus left Bell Labs and joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University.

Brus is a foundational figure in the research and development of quantum dots. Quantum dots are tiny semiconducting crystals whose nanoscale size gives them unique optical and electronic properties.{{cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=Suchita |last2=Dhawan |first2=Aksha |last3=Karhana |first3=Sonali |last4=Bhat |first4=Madhusudan |last5=Dinda |first5=Amit Kumar |title=Quantum Dots: An Emerging Tool for Point-of-Care Testing |journal=Micromachines |date=November 29, 2020 |volume=11 |issue=12 |pages=1058 |doi=10.3390/mi11121058 |pmid=33260478 |pmc=7761335 |issn=2072-666X |doi-access=free }}

Brus was independently the first to synthesize them in a solution in 1982. At the time, he was studying organic photochemistry on cadmium sulfide particle surfaces using pump–probe Raman spectroscopy, looking for possible applications for solar-energy.{{Cite web |last=Robinson |first=Julia |title=The quantum dot story |url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/the-quantum-dot-story/4018219.article |access-date=October 20, 2023 |website=Chemistry World |language=en}} He noticed that the optical properties of the crystals changed after leaving them for 24 hours. He attributed this change in band gap energy to Ostwald ripening when the crystal increased size.

Brus provided the theoretical framework for understanding the behavior of quantum dots in terms of quantum size effects. He identified the connection between the particle size of semiconductors and the wavelength of the light they emit,{{cite journal |last1=Sanderson |first1=Katharine |last2=Castelvecchi |first2=Davide |title=Tiny 'quantum dot' particles win chemistry Nobel |journal=Nature |date=October 4, 2023 |volume=622 |issue=7982 |pages=227–228 |doi=10.1038/d41586-023-03048-9 |pmid=37794149 |s2cid=263671129 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03048-9 |language=en}}{{cite journal |last1=Efros |first1=Alexander L. |last2=Brus |first2=Louis E. |title=Nanocrystal Quantum Dots: From Discovery to Modern Development |journal=ACS Nano |date=April 27, 2021 |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=6192–6210 |doi=10.1021/acsnano.1c01399 |pmid=33830732 |s2cid=233193323 |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsnano.1c01399 |language=en |issn=1936-0851}}{{cite news |last1=Bubola |first1=Emma |last2=Miller |first2=Katrina |title=Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to 3 Scientists for Exploring the Nanoworld |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/science/nobel-prize-chemistry.html |work=The New York Times |date=October 4, 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Gramling |first1=Carolyn |title=The development of quantum dots wins the 2023 Nobel prize in chemistry |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/quantum-dots-nanoparticles-bawendi-brus-ekimov |work=Science News |date=October 4, 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Clery |first1=Daniel |last2=Kean |first2=Sam |title=Creators of quantum dots, used in TV displays and cell studies, win chemistry Nobel |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/creators-of-quantum-dots-used-in-tv-displays-and-cell-studies-win-chemistry-nobel |work=Science |date=October 4, 2023}}

now known as the Brus equation.{{cite journal |last1=Kafel |first1=A. |last2=Al-Rashid |first2=S. N. Turki |title=Study Using the Brus Equation to Examine How Quantum Confinement Energy Affects the Optical Characteristics of Cadmium Sulfide and Zinc Selenide |journal=International Journal of Nanoscience |date=January 1, 2023 |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=2350034–120 |doi=10.1142/S0219581X23500345 |bibcode=2023IJN....2250034K |s2cid=258431435 |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023IJN....2250034K/abstract |issn=0219-581X}}

Brus tried to contact researchers in the Soviet Union. It was in 1990, that he finally met Alexey Ekimov and Alexander Efros, who had first developed the semiconductor nanocrystals in glass in 1981 under more rudimentary conditions, however their research was not available in the United States.

At Bell Labs, Brus worked with postdoc researchers Paul Alivisatos and Moungi Bawendi in a research project with organometallic synthetic chemist Michael L. Steigerwald on reducing the size of the quantum dots.

Brus was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1998,{{cite news |date=May 28, 1998 |title=Curl Elected AAAS Fellow |publisher=Rice University |url=https://news2.rice.edu/1998/05/28/curl-elected-aaas-fellow/ |access-date=July 18, 2023}} a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences in 2004,{{cite news |title=Louis E. Brus |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/57289.html |access-date=July 18, 2023}} and is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.{{cite web |title=Gruppe 4: Kjemi |url=http://www.dnva.no/c26849/artikkel/vis.html?tid=40122 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303133407/http://www.dnva.no/c26849/artikkel/vis.html?tid=40122 |archive-date=March 3, 2012 |accessdate=October 7, 2010 |publisher=Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters |language=Norwegian}}

He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Association of Rice University Alumni in 2010. He was co-recipient of the 2006 R. W. Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America "for the discovery of nanocrystal quantum dots and pioneering studies of their electronic and optical properties" shared with Alexander Efros and Alexey Ekimov.{{cite web |title=R. W. Wood Prize |url=https://www.optica.org/get_involved/awards_and_honors/awards/award_descriptions/rwwood/ |website=Optica}}{{Cite web |date=August 30, 2006 |title=Twenty attain 2006 top honors from the OSA |url=https://www.laserfocusworld.com/test-measurement/research/article/16567206/twenty-attain-2006-top-honors-from-the-osa |access-date=October 4, 2023 |website=Laser Focus World}} He also received the inaugural Kavli Prize for nanoscience along with Sumio Iijima in 2008 for "for their large impact in the development of the nanoscience field of the zero and one dimensional nanostructures in physics, chemistry and biology".{{cite news |year=2008 |title=Columbia Professors to Receive Kavli Prizes in Norway Ceremony |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/research/kavli.html |accessdate=June 25, 2010}} In 2009 he was awarded the Willard Gibbs Award "for his leading role in the creation of chemical quantum dots".{{cite web|title=Gibbs Award Ceremony 2009|url=http://archive.chicagoacs.net/meetings/09may.html|website=Chicago ACS Archive|publisher=Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society|access-date=February 10, 2016}} Brus was chosen for the 2010 NAS Award in Chemical Sciences. In 2012 he received the Franklin Institute's Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science,{{cite web |year=2012 |title=Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science |url=http://www.fi.edu/franklinawards/12/bowersci.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121217010823/http://www.fi.edu/franklinawards/12/bowersci.html |archive-date=December 17, 2012 |accessdate=April 7, 2013 |publisher=Franklin Institute}} and was selected as a Clarivate Citation laureate in Chemistry "for discovery of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (quantum dots)".{{Cite press release |publisher=Thomson Reuters |title=Thomson Reuters Predicts 2012 Nobel Laureates |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thomson-reuters-predicts-2012-nobel-laureates-170285846.html |access-date=October 4, 2023 |website=www.prnewswire.com |language=en}}

In 2023, Brus was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Ekimov and Moungi Bawendi "for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots".{{Cite news |last1=Devlin |first1=Hannah |date=October 4, 2023 |title=Scientists share Nobel prize in chemistry for quantum dots discovery |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/oct/04/nobel-prize-in-chemistry-winners-2023 |access-date=October 4, 2023 |issn=0261-3077}} Bawendi had worked as a postdoc with Brus, when they were in Bell Labs.{{Cite news |date=October 4, 2023 |title=Names of purported Nobel chemistry prize winners inadvertently released |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/names-purported-nobel-chemistry-prize-winners-inadvertently-released-2023-10-04/ |access-date=October 4, 2023}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Rossetti |first1=R. |last2=Brus |first2=L. |title=Electron-hole recombination emission as a probe of surface chemistry in aqueous cadmium sulfide colloids |journal=The Journal of Physical Chemistry |date=November 1982 |volume=86 |issue=23 |pages=4470–4472 |doi=10.1021/j100220a003 |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/j100220a003 |language=en |issn=0022-3654}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Brus |first1=L. E. |title=A simple model for the ionization potential, electron affinity, and aqueous redox potentials of small semiconductor crystallites |journal=The Journal of Chemical Physics |date=December 1, 1983 |volume=79 |issue=11 |pages=5566–5571 |doi=10.1063/1.445676 |bibcode=1983JChPh..79.5566B |url=https://doi.org/10.1063/1.445676 |issn=0021-9606}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Brus |first1=L. E. |title=Electron–electron and electron-hole interactions in small semiconductor crystallites: The size dependence of the lowest excited electronic state |journal=The Journal of Chemical Physics |date=May 1, 1984 |volume=80 |issue=9 |pages=4403–4409 |doi=10.1063/1.447218 |bibcode=1984JChPh..80.4403B |url=https://doi.org/10.1063/1.447218 |issn=0021-9606}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Brus |first1=Louis |title=Electronic wave functions in semiconductor clusters: experiment and theory |journal=The Journal of Physical Chemistry |date=June 1986 |volume=90 |issue=12 |pages=2555–2560 |doi=10.1021/j100403a003 |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/j100403a003 |language=en |issn=0022-3654}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Nirmal |first1=M. |last2=Dabbousi |first2=B. O. |last3=Bawendi |first3=M. G. |last4=Macklin |first4=J. J. |last5=Trautman |first5=J. K. |last6=Harris |first6=T. D. |last7=Brus |first7=L. E. |title=Fluorescence intermittency in single cadmium selenide nanocrystals |journal=Nature |date=October 1996 |volume=383 |issue=6603 |pages=802–804 |doi=10.1038/383802a0 |bibcode=1996Natur.383..802N |s2cid=4315737 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/383802a0 |language=en |issn=1476-4687}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Bawendi |first1=M G |last2=Steigerwald |first2=M L |last3=Brus |first3=L E |title=The Quantum Mechanics of Larger Semiconductor Clusters ("Quantum Dots") |journal=Annual Review of Physical Chemistry |date=October 1990 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=477–496 |doi=10.1146/annurev.pc.41.100190.002401 |bibcode=1990ARPC...41..477B |url=https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.pc.41.100190.002401 |language=en |issn=0066-426X}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Michaels |first1=Amy M. |last2=Nirmal |first2=M. |last3=Brus |first3=L. E. |title=Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy of Individual Rhodamine 6G Molecules on Large Ag Nanocrystals |journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society |date=November 1, 1999 |volume=121 |issue=43 |pages=9932–9939 |doi=10.1021/ja992128q |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja992128q |language=en |issn=0002-7863}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Changgu |last2=Yan |first2=Hugen |last3=Brus |first3=Louis E. |last4=Heinz |first4=Tony F. |last5=Hone |first5=James |last6=Ryu |first6=Sunmin |title=Anomalous Lattice Vibrations of Single- and Few-Layer MoS 2 |journal=ACS Nano |date=May 25, 2010 |volume=4 |issue=5 |pages=2695–2700 |doi=10.1021/nn1003937 |pmid=20392077 |url=https://doi.org/10.1021/nn1003937 |language=en |issn=1936-0851|arxiv=1005.2509 |s2cid=6543876 }}

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Category:1943 births

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:Columbia University faculty

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Category:Kavli Prize laureates in Nanoscience

Category:Living people

Category:Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry

Category:Rice University alumni

Category:Scientists at Bell Labs

Category:American Nobel laureates

Category:Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute) laureates