The Körber European science award has been granted annually to a team of international scientists since 1985. The prize is not an award for brilliant research results, but is intended to provide financial support for promising and innovative research in the fields of natural science, medicine and technology.
The four research groups surrounding the professors Niek van Hulst, Ben Feringa (Groningen), Martin Möller (Aachen), and Justin Molloy (York) wish to unite their knowledge in the field of physics, chemical engineering and biology to develop a miniscule motor that can be controlled, can be switched on and off, can change direction, can move purposefully on a surface and is powered by the energy of light.
The research project is described by the Körber award eight-person strong trustee committee, on which amongst others Mesa+ director professor David N. Reinhoudt serves, as 'basic research with a close affinity to practical applications'. The motor to be developed, which is the size of a molecule, can, for example, be used to construct completely new materials, to conduct research inside cells, to dose medication inside the body precisely, and cause controlled chemical reactions between molecules. These miniscule and higly accurate machines and appliances are generally thought to be going to play vital roles in the new industrial revolution that nanotechnology will bring about.
Niek van Hulst's team has great experience with different methods to make separate molecules visible and manipulate them with light. The chemist from Groningen, Feringa, is specialised in the synthesis of artificial molecules and the German polymer engineer Möller works on binding molecules to surface structures. The British biologist Molloy investigates 'motor molecules' in the muscle cells of insects that can serve as examples for artificial motors. The size of the molecules with which these scientists work are a factor 100 smaller than the smallest structures on for example a pentium-4-microchip.
The award ceremony will take place on Monday 8 September in Hamburg, the city of which the initiator of the prize, industrialist and philanthropist Kurt Körber (1909-1992), was honorary citizen.
Menno van Duuren transl. Dieneke van Aalst
