PGI-1 Research in the Spotlight at the New Year's Reception
18 February 2016
With a record number of guests, a good atmosphere, an enormous cake and a firework display, Forschungszentrum Jülich celebrated its New Year's Reception on 25 January 2016 in style. Around 650 staff attended the event in the Seecasino which took as its theme the 60th anniversary of Forschungszentrum Jülich.
The programme provided an opportunity for the Board of Directors to look back at the events of 2015. Prof. Sebastian Schmidt, Member of the Board of Directors, introduced two highlights from the division “Quantum Theory of Materials” (PGI-1/IAS-1). Firstly, he congratulated Junior Professor Samir Lounis on being awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council, with funding of € 2 million attached. Prof. Lounis then had the opportunity to take the stage and present his project "Dynamical magnetic excitations with spin-orbit interaction in realistic nanostructures" (DYNASORE).
Furthermore, Schmidt referred to the gratifying media resonance generated by the press release “New Methods to Calculate the Slipperiness of Ice”, outlining Dr. Bo Persson’s new mathematical model, which describes why ice has such a smooth surface. Applying the new calculations could result in improving the performance of skis and runners or, conversely, help to make the soles of shoes and car tyres less slippery on icy surfaces. As it fitted in perfectly with the time of year, numerous journalists in Germany and abroad were quick to take up the theme. Schmidt quoted from an email from the delighted Institute Director, Prof. Stefan Blügel, who wrote, “To me, it feels like it's the first physics formula since E=m*c2 to make it to the front page of a newspaper.”