Early years and education Ekimov was born in
Leningrad,
Soviet Union in 1945.''' When the glasses were heated and then cooled,
copper chloride crystals formed, as revealed by
X-rays, In 1981, Ekimov, along with Alexei A. Onushchenko, reported the discovery of
quantum size effects in
copper chloride nanocrystals in glass, a phenomenon known now known as
quantum dots. During his time at the institute he further investigated these system and developed the theory of
quantum confinement with
Alexander Efros. Since 1999, Ekimov has been living and working in the United States as a scientist for Nanocrystals Technology, a company based in
New York State. == Honors and awards ==