Dan Shechtman says science and technology need different timelines

Nobel Prize-winning materials scientist Dan Shechtman says breakthrough research can happen quickly, but turning discoveries into usable products can take decades. In an interview in Dubai, he pointed to his own work on titanium-aluminum alloys and the long path from lab success to aircraft engines.

Why it matters: - Shechtman’s comments highlight a gap that shapes modern innovation: scientific discovery can move fast, while industrialization can take decades. - The divide matters for advanced materials, where long development cycles, high cost and technical risk can keep promising discoveries out of the market. - The issue affects everyday products as well as aerospace, energy and manufacturing.

What happened: - In early 2026 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Dan Shechtman spoke exclusively with a Southern Finance reporter about the difference between scientific breakthroughs and technological development. - Shechtman won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering quasicrystals. - He said it can take only a year or two to identify the right alloy composition, but up to 20 years to turn that discovery into a mature product. - Shechtman used his own postdoctoral work on titanium-aluminum alloys as an example. - After he identified the optimal composition, the material took nearly two decades of further refinement before it reached aircraft engines.

The details: - Shechtman said even common items such as razor blades and glassware depend on years of research and repeated technological improvement. - He said, “That’s why we need to cherish science, but also respect technology.” - Shechtman is a pioneer in modern materials science and has remained active in research. - He has also worked for years on science and technology education and international scientific collaboration. - He received the Chinese Government Friendship Award for his contributions. - Shechtman has worked with Xi’an University of Technology on magnesium alloy research for years. - In 2025, he was elected a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. - He first visited China in 1987 and has returned dozens of times for academic exchanges. - Shechtman has said he has seen China’s scientific and technological growth firsthand and has recognized progress in new energy vehicles and mobile payments.

Between the lines: - The interview frames technology transfer as a bottleneck, not a follow-on step, for turning lab discoveries into products. - Shechtman’s focus on the “valley of death” signals that the hardest part of innovation is often financing, scaling and manufacturing, not the initial discovery. - The mention of AI and high-throughput experimentation suggests new tools may accelerate materials research, but they do not remove the need for long-term industrial commitment.

What’s next: - The interview points to a broader question in materials science: whether AI and automated experimentation can shorten the path from discovery to commercial use. - Southern Finance says the conversation with Shechtman is part of its “High-Level Interviews: Conversations with Global Scientific Giants” series. - The central challenge remains how to move promising research across the “valley of death” and into production at scale.