"I feel like I'm at the forefront of science that thousands of people are engaged in"

This is what Prof. Danny Shechtman from the Faculty of Materials Engineering said at the first press conference after the announcement of his winning the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In response to the science question, Prof. Shechtman said that we need to take care of elementary education and scientific education will also be paid

The script of the short Ethnoim party that took place today at 14:00.

Prof. Shechtman, the President of the country Mr. Shimon Peres would like to congratulate.
President Shimon Peres, in a telephone conversation: Thank you Prof. Shechtman, today you brought a tremendous gift to the State of Israel, really. If God had asked me what you were asking for, I would have said another Nobel Prize like you. It is surprising, promising, hopeful. You are the tenth in the number. There are not many small countries in the world that have won ten such awards. And it's also a big day for the Technion because three out of the ten came from the Technion."

"I don't know exactly what you are doing, I saw that you are dealing with diamonds, today you are the jewel in the crown. You bring hope as a source of hope to the younger generation and show that a diligent and brave person can reveal hidden things in the name of the State of Israel. I want to salute you and tell you that we are proud of you."

Prof. Danny Shechtman: "Thank you very much, Mr. Peres. I greatly appreciate your work for the State of Israel in the past, present and future and wish you all the best."

Prof. Peretz Lavi: "There is no doubt that today is a holiday for the Technion and the State of Israel. Danny's achievement is a personal achievement, a scientist who receives a Nobel Prize receives the prize for his work, but there is no doubt that the Technion is celebrating today and the State of Israel is celebrating today. It is rare for an institution to win three Nobel Prizes and the Technion currently has three Nobel Prize laureates. Sitting next to Prof. Danny Stechman, Prof. Wayne Kaplan, Dean of the Faculty of Materials Engineering. We are celebrating today."
"Danny Shechtman - on the president's words: I want to comment that the celebration is not only for the Technion and the State of Israel, but also for the entire world. There are thousands of scientists researching the subject I opened and everyone sees their award as an achievement as well and it is really deserved because if it weren't for these thousands of scientists this science would not be where it is today. "
"I want to mention a number of people who contributed a lot to the opening of this science - Prof. Ilan Belch from the Technion who published an article with me on this subject and laid out the physical model. John Kahan who worked at NBS and with whom I worked during this period (now NIST), Denis Gratias - a mathematician professor from France - all wrote the first article with me that made a lot of noise, Prof. Dov Levin from the Technion and Prof. Paul Steinhart from Princeton who proposed the first mathematical model for quasi-crystals. "
"I thank the Technion - next year will be the 50th anniversary of my relationship with the Technion. I entered the Technion to study in 1962. Many years of connection and of course to my family Tzipi and my grandson Yair who lives here. We have nine grandchildren. Near Tzipi Yoav and his wife Tamar, they also graduated from the Technion majoring in electricity-physics. I think this is a big day. For me of course personally, but I take it most easily if I examine the excitement around me. A great day for science.”
"The first lesson I learned is that a good scientist is humble and a listener and not one who is XNUMX percent sure of what he reads in the textbooks. This is also a lesson for students, be open and be experts in your field."

Question: How did you feel at 11:14 when you were contacted by the Swedish Academy of Sciences?
"I received a phone call from Sweden and the secretary of the academy said there was an important call, then the president of the academy contacted me, and then a friend of mine from the Academy of Sciences who I was sure was from Sweden, and after that there was the press conference, I was asked not to inform anyone. I only informed my wife - Prof. Zfora Shechtman from Haifa University. And after that. You know"
Journalists: "Why did it take some time for world science to recognize your achievement? Why did it take so long?”
"The science of crystallography was based on data obtained from X-ray diffraction. This is a very precise method and it was reasonable that this science would be based on it. Science began to be science in 1912 with an important discovery made by a German scientist named von Lava. In 1895, X-rays were discovered by X-rays, but it was not clear what their nature was, Prof. Leva decided that he was trying to find out if they had a wave nature like light rays, like other electromagnetic radiation, and he thought about how X-rays could be diffracted. It should be about the same size. He did X-ray diffraction and showed a. that the crystals are really ordered, and b. X-rays have a wave character."
"On the other hand, X-rays have a certain disadvantage in order to create diffraction you need a crystal of a certain size - fractions of a millimeter, and therefore because of this reason - of the loss of the rotational configuration - it was impossible to detect them with X-rays but with electron microscopy. It's also a big day for the electron microscope."

"It was difficult for the crystallographer community to accept the results from electron microscopy until in 1987 when I presented X-ray diffraction from quasi-crystals when I was able to grow larger crystals, then they accepted it. In all the textbooks it was written asking you to expect a rotational symmetry of 5 - only 1,2,3,4,6. The leader of the resistance was Lance Pauling, a two-time Nobel laureate - in chemistry and in peace, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. The chief dignitary of the community of American chemists, a huge association, and he led a wave of opposition to the discovery and many thousands believed him because he was a great scientist, and he was wrong, both regarding quasi-crystals and regarding the double helix of DNA."

Question - How do you explain that we haven't heard about you until today?
Peretz Lavi: "It was clear to us that Danny would win, we even made a tie with the structure of the quasi-periodic crystals, this is a tie that we issued a year ago on his birthday and it was in anticipation of the Nahovel prize so the scientific community was watching, but every scientist and his personality and Danny is not one to be interviewed and say I expect for a Nobel Prize or waiting for a Nobel Prize. I'm not a media person, I'm a scientist and in the scientific community I'm known, and the Technion is well known."

The question of the site of knowledge: how to translate this event to the promotion of education in the State of Israel?

"An hour ago, Mr. Gideon Sa'ar spoke to me, we talked about this issue - I told him that we need to train good teachers and we need to learn to maintain order and discipline in the classroom. That's what I'm telling you too. If it were up to me, these are the two things I would take care of. This is a long and protracted process. We need to educate teachers who are literate and who have education and education and who have a personality that can be an example. I don't want to tell you how to do it because I'm getting into political matters."

"Scientific education is definitely built on the foundation of elementary education, and if elementary education is excellent, scientific education will also be good."

What are your personal feelings?

"I received the call and felt great. I feel like I'm at the forefront of a science that thousands of people are engaged in. I represent them. Not only the person wins it, but the entire area wins it. There are many people who have contributed to bringing science to this moment. I feel that I represent an amazing group of amazing people in Israel and around the world, my colleagues near and far. Great feeling, but I'm not the type to jump and dance on the table, but it's a good feeling."

He asked his wife, Prof. Zfora Shechtman about her feelings: "I am surprised that the question is addressed to me - a wonderful feeling. I am so embarrassed and so confused that I do not know how to define the feelings. I definitely believed. I believe he deserved it and here he is."

In conclusion, Prof. Danny Shechtman said: "It is clear to me that the coming period will be stormy, I do not envy any celebrity, today I understand that it is hard work. I will get back to normal as soon as I can, I am a researcher at the Technion, a lecturer at the Technion and I am also a member of a university in the USA - Iowa State University. Life will return to normal relatively quickly."