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Three scientists in the United States won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday.
周三，三名美國科學家獲得了諾貝爾化學獎。
The three won for their discovery of quantum dots, a technology widely used today to make displays for electronic devices and medical imaging.
這三名科學家因發現量子點而獲獎，量子點技術目前被廣泛用于制造電子設備和醫學影像設備的顯示器。
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize to Moungi Bawendi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Louis Brus of Columbia University in New York, and Alexei Ekimov of Nanocrystals Technology.
瑞典皇家科學院將該獎項授予麻省理工學院的蒙吉·巴文迪、紐約哥倫比亞大學的路易斯·布魯斯和美國納米晶體科技公司的阿列克謝·葉基莫夫。
The academy said the three were honored for their work with particles that "have unique properties and now spread their light from television screens and LED lamps."
瑞典皇家科學院表示，這三位科學家之所以獲獎，是因為他們研究的粒子“具有獨特的性質，這些粒子如今可以通過電視屏幕和LED燈傳播它們的光。”
LED lights are electronic lights used all over the world, which use energy very effectively.
LED燈是全世界都在使用的電子燈，它能非常有效地利用能源。
Pernilla Wittung Stafshede, a member of the Nobel committee that awarded the prize, said, "We have displays on TVs, in your cellphone, that use quantum dots inside..."
頒發該獎項的諾貝爾委員會成員佩妮拉·維通·斯塔夫謝德說：“電視、手機都有使用量子點的顯示器……”
Quantum dots are extremely small particles, called nanoparticles.
量子點是極小的顆粒，稱為納米顆粒。
They are said to be about 1/10,000 the width of a human hair.
據說它們的寬度大約是人類頭發的萬分之一。
The dots glow blue, red, green or other colors when exposed to light.
量子點在光照下會發出藍色、紅色、綠色或其他顏色的光。
The color they give off depends on the size of the particles.
它們發出光的顏色取決于粒子的大小。
Larger dots look red, and smaller dots look blue.
較大的量子點顯示為紅色，較小的量子點顯示為藍色。
The color change is caused by the behavior of electrons in these small spaces.
顏色變化是由這些小空間中的電子運動引起的。
Physicists had predicted these color-change properties as early as the 1930s.
物理學家早在20世紀30年代就預測到了這些顏色變化特性。
However, it took 50 years of research and development to control the size of quantum dots correctly.
然而，要正確控制量子點的大小需要50年的研發時間。
Ekimov and Brus were the early researchers of the technology.
葉基莫夫和布魯斯是這項技術的早期研究人員。
Bawendi is credited with developing the production of quantum dots being used today.
巴文迪因開發了目前使用的量子點而受到贊譽。
Bawendi used the words, "very surprised, sleepy, shocked, unexpected and very honored," to describe his feelings.
巴文迪用“非常驚訝、困倦、震驚、意外和非常榮幸”來形容他的感受。
Bawendi added he was not thinking about the possible uses of his work when he started researching quantum dots.
巴文迪補充說，當他開始研究量子點時，他并沒有考慮他的研究成果的可能用途。
"The motivation really is the basic science. A basic understanding, the curiosity of how does the world work? And that's what drives scientists and academic scientists to do what they do," he said.
他說：“真正的動機是基礎科學。對世界如何運轉的基本理解和好奇心？這就是驅使科學家和學術科學家去做他們所做的事情的原因”。
Brus of Columbia University said he did not answer the phone call from the Swedish academy.
哥倫比亞大學的布魯斯說，他沒有接到瑞典皇家科學院的電話。
He finally saw the news online when he got up in the morning.
早上起床后，他終于在網上看到了這則新聞。
Brus said the practical uses of quantum dots, like creating the colors in TV screens, are something he was hoping for when he started the work many years ago.
布魯斯說，量子點的實際用途，比如在電視屏幕上創造顏色，是他多年前開始這項研究時的希望。
"Basic research is extremely hard to predict exactly how it's going to work out," Brus said.
布魯斯說：“很難準確預測基礎研究將會如何發揮作用。”
"It's more for the knowledge base than it is for the actual materials. But in this case, it's both."
“它更多的是用于知識基礎，而不是實際材料。但在這種情況下，兩者都是。”
Ekimov is the former chief scientist at Nanocrystals Technology, a company based in New York where he started working in 1999.
葉基莫夫是美國紐約納米晶體科技公司的前首席科學家，他從1999年開始在那里工作。
The Swedish academy credited him with showing how the size of nanoparticles affected the colors in glass.
瑞典皇家科學院因他展示了不同尺寸的納米顆粒如何影響玻璃顏色而表彰他。
The three will receive 11 million Swedish crowns, about $1 million, and a gold medal when they collect their Nobel Prizes at the award ceremonies in December.
這三人將會在12月的諾貝爾頒獎典禮上領取到1100萬瑞典克朗（約合100萬美元）的獎金和一枚金牌。
I'm Dan Friedell.
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