NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY
October 10, 2000

Alan J. Heeger, American, 64, University of California, Santa Barbara Alan G. MacDiarmid, New Zealand-born American, 73, University of Pennsylvania Hideki Shirakawa, Japanese, 64, University of Tsukuba Alan MacDiarmid and physics winner Herbert Kroemer discuss their research.

Online Special: 2000 Nobel Prizes Oct. 13, 2000: A background report and discussion on peace prize winner Kim Dae Jung. Oct. 10, 2000: Nobel Prize winners MacDiarmid and Kroemer talk about their research. Oct. 9, 2000: A discussion with Nobel Prize winner Paul Greengard. An Online Special on the 1999 Nobel Prizes Browse the NewsHour's coverage of Science and Health     The Nobel Foundation University of California, Santa Barbara University of Pennsylvania University of Tsukuba

Americans Alan Heeger and Alan MacDiarmid and Japan's Hideki Shirakawa won the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering that plastic can be made to conduct electricity. Plastics, generally thought to be incapable of conducting electricity, are polymers, molecules whose structure is repeated in long chains. Heeger, MacDiarmid and Shirakawa showed that polymers can conduct electricity if they are "doped" by removing or introducing electrons and if they consist alternately of single and double bonds between carbon atoms. Conductive plastics are useful for photographic film, computer screens and mobile phone displays. The three researchers' work has also led to the development of light-emitting diodes and molecular electronics. Research in these areas could lead to luminous surfaces that do not need bulbs and the reduction of transistors and electrical components to a molecular scale. Heeger, MacDiarmid and Shirakawa made their key findings in the late 1970s. MacDiarmid had invited Shirakawa to the University of Pennsylvania to study polymers after they met during a coffee break at a conference in Japan.