Nobel chemistry winner failed the first college chemistry exam

MIT professor Moungi Bawendi is a co-winner of this year's Nobel chemistry prize for helping develop "quantum dots" -- nanoparticles that are now found in next generation TV screens and help illuminate tumors within the body.

But as an undergraduate, he flunked his very first chemistry exam, recalling that the experience nearly "destroyed" him.

The 62-year-old of Tunisian and French heritage excelled at science throughout high school, without ever having to break a sweat.