EMET_PRIZE_2017

DAN SHECHTMAN (2011)
The truth about winning
EMET Prize awardees strive to make excellence a way of life
• By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
Photos: Reuters
The intention of the Alberto
Moscona Nissim Foundation’s
EMET Prize is to
“acknowledge those who view
excellence as a way of life, and the
fulfillment of human potential as
essential to creating a better world
for future generations,” according
to Moscona. The annual prize is
awarded for excellence in academic
and professional achievements that
have far-reaching influence and
have made a significant contribution
to society in Israel.
How can excellence be a way of
life? Do prize winners really change
the world?
Looking at the legacies of several
winners, including those who won
not only the EMET Prize but also a
Nobel Prize, the answers to these
questions are evident.
TAKE PROF. DAN SHECHTMAN,
who earned an EMET Prize in exact
sciences in 2002 and a Nobel Prize
in chemistry in 2011. A professor
at Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute
of Technology, Shechtman won his
awards for creating a new branch
of science through his discovery
in 1982 that while crystals may be
ordered materials, their atomic order
can be quasi-periodic rather than
periodic.
Since then, quasi-periodic materials
have developed into an exciting
interdisciplinary science with modern
application, including improving
processes such as 3D printing,
whose applications can be both
industrial and life-saving.
However, Shechtman does not
believe that being “the father of the
science of quasi-period materials,”
as he is known around the world,
will ultimately be his legacy. Rather,
he hopes that he will be remem-
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