At Bell Labs, where he worked in the 1980s, "we were primarily motivated to look at these surfaces as a way to allow control," said Nuzzo, now a materials chemist and professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "That is, how to make something stick better, not degrade in the presence of ultraviolet light, or not to fog up in humid air, for example."
The breakthrough came when Nuzzo and colleague David L. Allara -- with whom he shares the award -- dipped a gold-coated wafer into a solution containing thiol, a simple sulfur-based molecule.
"When the wafer came out, it was completely dry. Even the solvent wouldn't wet it, and water really beaded up on it. We knew we did something cool, but then we had to figure out what happened," Nuzzo said.
Their discovery -- that they had just attached molecules to the surface of gold in some way that changed how it interacted with other substances -- led to broader ones about how to tailor the molecular structures of surfaces for particular properties. Nuzzo and Allara's research lead to the development of stain-repellent coatings on carpet, lubricants that still cling in harsh weather, and materials that line artificial hearts and keep the body's proteins from depositing.
When asked how he ended up in science, Nuzzo said, "People laugh when I say this, but I always loved cheesy science fiction movies when I was a kid -- you know, the Earth's in danger, so let's get a scientist to help us. I really got caught up by that."
Nuzzo received his undergraduate degree from Rutgers College in 1976 and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980. He is a member of the ACS divisions of physical, colloid and surface chemistry.
The Arthur W. Adamson Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Surface Chemistry is sponsored by Occidental Petroleum Corp.