After the Royal Swedish Academy announced the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, an Arab name emerged among the three winners, found to be of Tunisian descent, the American-Tunisian Manji Baoundi. Baoundi, or Manji Mohammed Saleh Baoundi, is one of the three scientists recognized by the academy for their development of quantum dots used to guide surgeons during the removal of cancerous tissues, in LED lights, television screens, and other applications.
Who is Baoundi?
Manji Baoundi is the son of the Tunisian mathematician Mohammed Saleh Baoundi and Helen Baoundi (née Bobard). He was born in France on March 15, 1961, and grew up between France and Tunisia before moving with his family to West Lafayette in the United States. He graduated from Harvard University in the spring of 2008. He taught thermodynamics and kinetics alongside Keith Nelson at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Baoundi serves as a consultant in the energy initiative. The Baoundi Research Group focuses heavily on studying quantum dots of colloidal semiconductors, with increased interest in organic fluorophores.
