Triumph of the Intellect transcends national divisions

[Sato]

It is nice to take a breath, and praise a job well done:

*****
By Curt Suplee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 10, 2000; 12:52 PM


The Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry were awarded today to six scientists – four of them Americans – whose work helped make the modern "information age" possible.


The physics prize went to Jack S. Kilby of Texas Instruments for co-inventing the integrated circuit, or computer chip, and to Zhores I. Alferov of St. Petersburg, Russia, and Herbert Kroemer of the University of California at Santa Barbara, who together pioneered the use of novel designs to create today's high-speed transistors and tiny lasers.


Thanks to that research, high-tech chips are able to process information as fast as 600 billion units per second, low-energy laser beams are used in scores of everyday applications, from supermarket check-out counters to portable CD players, and microelectronic devices are employed in a huge range of fields, from medicine to astronomy.


"The 1947 invention of the transistor [which won the 1956 Nobel Prize for Physics] by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley gave us what became the 'nerve cell' of the information age," said Stanford University physicist Michael Riordan, co-author of Crystal Fire, a history of the transistor.


"But that was not enough. Alferov, Kroemer and Kilby figured out novel ways to make advanced transistors and semiconductor lasers – and how to assemble them into the miniature electronic nervous systems we recognize today as microchips," he said.


"This is a significant recognition by the Nobel committee that engineering contributions in one area can further scientific investigation for all," said one of Kilby's former co-workers, Howard R. Ruff of Sematech, a semiconductor research consortium in Texas.


The chemistry prize was won by Alan J. Heeger of UCSB, Alan G. MacDiarmid of the University of Pennsylvania and Hideki Shirakawa of the University of Tsukuba, Japan, for "their discovery and development of conductive polymers" – plastics that carry electrical currents almost as easily as metals.


Those materials, familiar to the public in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and anti-static devices such as computer-area carpeting, are expected to provide such future innovations as smart windows that block out sunlight and low-power video screens that could be as large as a wall and as thin as wallpaper.


"We're very excited," said Daryle H. Busch, president of the American Chemical Society, "because this award is in the old tradition. That is, it was given for work that is probably going to have a very substantial impact on society, and from which people will perhaps benefit greatly over the long term."


© 2000 The Washington Post Company

*****

When the dust of social and political conflict settles, there remains the recognition of the continuity of scientific work shared by a truly global community.

Sato

[oca]

Nobel Prize Winners:

The entire world benefits from the achievements of these professionals. You notice that the lion's share of the winners was taken by Americans, proving once more that the american educational system is not all that bad as many of you folks indicated. I am equally elated for the success of Zhores I. Alferov of St. Petersburg, Russia.

[Dr_Woland]

Alferov was interviewed yesterday here on the radio, and made some interesting remarks in connection with what you write, Oca!

He was received in the Parliament Building to be congraulated officially. (BTW, I ought to mention for the sake of completeness that he's a member of the Communist Party still), and he used the occasion to make these points:

i) the amount allocated to scientific research for the whole of the Russian Federation in the 2001 budget is less than the budget of even ONE American university.

ii) the figure is also lower than the amount projected for the building of the new Parliment building in St Petersburg.

I think we can all draw our own conclusions from his remarks.

Dr W.

[oca]

Dr_Woland:

I fully agree with your comments about budget allocations in Russia, not only in research but most everywhere, to include the military payroll.

I can’t even phantom the endless possibilities of a full funded scientific research. In spite of pauper allocations for their work and research, Russian scientists, doctors, etc. are doing a fantastic job.

Congratulations to all.


Oca

[This message has been edited by oca (edited 13 October 2000).]

[Octavio]

IBM has committed to constructing a 5 billion dollar complex in Vermont. This will be the world's most advanced integrated circuit fab plant.

Perhaps a test of Russia's viability in the world's technology marketplace is in measuring the readiness of that nation to build, provide the trained staff for, and maintain with appropriate subcontractors, a plant on a par with the one to be installed in Vermont.

Octavio

[Octavio]

Minor correction: a more definitive coverage of IBM's plans.

Oct. 10, 2000 . . . IBM today announced the largest capital investment in its history -- including plans to build the world's most technologically advanced chip-making facility in East Fishkill, N.Y.

The facility will combine -- for the first time anywhere -- IBM chip-making breakthroughs such as copper interconnects, silicon-on-insulator and low-k dielectric insulation on 300mm (12-inch) wafers. IBM also expects to be the first chip-maker to mass produce semiconductors at line-widths below 0.10 microns, more than 1000 times thinner than a human hair.

The facility is planned to begin operation in the second half of 2002, bringing up to 1000 new jobs to the region upon full production in early 2003.

The $2.5 billion plant is part of a total $5 billion capital investment plan to support IBM's increasing semiconductor business around the world. In addition to the New York facility, the company is expanding chip-making capacity in IBM's existing Burlington, Vt., and Yasu, Japan, facilities, as well as in Altis Semiconductor, a joint venture between IBM and Infineon located in Corbeil-Essonnes, France.

[oca]

Octavio:

A country, any country has its priorities.

Your posting has left me with the distinct impression that you are bragging about a major IBM investment.

If you have read recent financial articles in various specialized papers, you will note that the new Russian budget is very Spartan. Is your suggestion in line with the money constrains that Russia is faced with?