For a decade, the Center for the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, CEDENNA, has held an annual contest among its researchers to collect artistic images of the nano world, which are used for the calendars the center produces each year and distributes free of charge to schools across the country.
These images are now part of a colorful and amazing book launched on Thursday, April 20, complementing the launch of the Traveling Exhibition “Images of the Nanoworld”, which will tour different regions of the country free of charge to spark the interest of children, young people and adults of all ages in nanoscience and nanotechnology, from a playful perspective that aims to stimulate wonder and curiosity.
The launch and opening, held at the USACH Planetarium, were attended by the Undersecretary of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Carolina Gainza; the director of the Center for the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (CEDENNA), Dr. Dora Altbir; the vice president of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities and Rector of Universidad de Tarapacá, Dr. Emilio Rodríguez; the Rector of Universidad de Santiago, Dr. Rodrigo Vidal; the vice president of Fundación Encuentros del Futuro, Dr. Guido Girardi; members of parliament and representatives of various science and culture organizations.
The book will be available in digital format, completely free of charge for anyone who wants it, by requesting it by email at [email protected].
In her speech, CEDENNA’s Director, 2019 National Prize in Exact Sciences winner Dr. Dora Altbir, said that “this activity fills us with pride, as it shows the work of many of our students translated into shape and color. Over more than a decade of multidisciplinary work, more than a thousand undergraduate and graduate students have trained at CEDENNA and have obtained many images to illustrate their results, from which we have selected the exhibition you can visit today, as well as the book we are launching today.”
She explained that “the CEDENNA nanoscience and nanotechnology center is hosted by Universidad de Santiago and is made up of more than 70 researchers working at 14 universities throughout Chile, from Arica to Temuco. A joint effort that seeks to strengthen the benefits of nanoscience and nanotechnology in our country. With more than 60 patents in various countries, including of course our own, we have developed sensors for mining, packaging that extends food shelf life, systems to remediate soil and water, among other products. All this in the hope of helping our country make frontier science and technology a path to the long-awaited development, with greater equity and well-being,” she stressed.
“We need to learn to collaborate with the social sciences, which are increasingly relevant, in order to understand and assess the impacts of new technologies. We are facing a period of great change, not only in nature but also in the way we will live and the kind of jobs we will have in the future. Only by working with all disciplines together can we aspire to many more years of humanity,” she emphasized in her speech.
She commented that where science tries to understand and produce answers on which new problems are formulated, art multiplies wonder, transforming it into images, sounds, colors or textures. Both human practices share a powerful and unique foundation, a tool we often fail to fully appreciate. Science and Art ask questions and their answers are guided by imagination. Both begin with curiosity and demand creativity, hard work and dedication.
“The images you will see in a few minutes are precisely the product of the wonder and curiosity the nanoworld generates among us. These colorful formations of nanoparticles give rise to a traveling exhibition that will tour the whole country this year, sparking curiosity and interest in the nano world among many children and young people,” she said in closing.
On the occasion, the Rector of Universidad de Santiago, Dr. Rodrigo Vidal, congratulated “the impeccable work done so that we can see these incredible images. The researchers have taught us that science and the arts can be fused.”
“They achieved the difficult task of fusing the world of science with the arts, teaching us that nothing is absolute and that knowledge and skills can indeed be combined to achieve things as important as those included in this exhibition, which will reach various municipalities and spaces such as schools, town halls and public squares free of charge, bringing science closer to everyone,” said Usach’s highest authority.
“Scientific and technological advances must go hand in hand with public information. We must leave informational elitism behind and bring information down to all social spheres,” he concluded.
Democratizing knowledge
The Undersecretary of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Carolina Gainza, emphasized that “as a society, we must value the knowledge generated in the country more. And the way to do so is precisely by democratizing it, a task to which the ministry is deeply committed. This initiative is one way to move forward on that. We need to show much more of what researchers do in our country, and one way to achieve that is precisely through art.”
She stressed that “art is knowledge in itself, not just an outreach tool.” She also said the ministry will support “more projects along these lines, more crossovers between disciplines and areas of knowledge. We must keep working this way to democratize knowledge, as CEDENNA does.”
This exhibition helps girls, boys and young people learn about science and sparks their curiosity. It gives us access to a tiny world of atoms and molecules
Making an impact with science and art
The Vice President of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities, Dr. Emilio Rodríguez, said that “centers like CEDENNA, which are national and international examples, generate a range of impacts and benefits. Some very concrete, related to the development of the discipline itself; others, even greater, related to economic and productive development; and finally others, as in this case, where an externality even impacts art and allows us to disseminate deeply and with immediate meaning in society what is being done at such a distinguished center as this one.”
“The Council of Rectors is here because we are brought together by the possibility of reaching and impacting our society with science and art,” he added.
NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS
Each of these photographs (both in the book and the exhibition) was captured by CEDENNA researchers and students using various techniques and electron microscopy. For example, a springtime butterfly flying among pollen grains turns out to be a porous hydrogel containing cellulose nanofibrils used to remediate colored water.
A beautiful pink jellyfish among apparent underwater rocks is not what it seems. It is titanium dioxide (TiO2), which in its most common phase is known as rutile, with interesting optical properties described centuries ago.
Another photograph shows an aggregate of vanadium oxide tubes in different oxidation states (V(5+) and V(4+)). The resemblance to coral is striking.
Each image is accompanied by a scientific description showing what is really behind each photograph and demonstrating the wonders we can find in this invisible world, which electron microscopy reveals to us.
The exhibition consists of a selection of 12 photographs artistically reworked by the researchers, in a magical synergy between art and science. After a few weeks at the astronomy outreach venue, the exhibition will begin a tour of different places (Santiago Metro, schools, town halls, centers, museums, etc.).
What is CEDENNA?
CEDENNA is the most important nanoscience and nanotechnology center in the country. In a multidisciplinary and inter-university setting, it is dedicated to the study, advancement and promotion of science at nanometric dimensions and its technological applications.
Since its founding in 2009, CEDENNA’s work has focused on deepening knowledge in nanoscience, training excellent human capital in this field and developing technologies and applications based on this knowledge, using nanoscale materials and systems to offer the productive sector solutions capable of facing what has been called the fourth industrial revolution.
Made up of more than 70 PhDs from several universities, coordinated in research groups focused on various topics, CEDENNA has capabilities available in more than 20 laboratories equipped with frontier technology and in the country’s only nanosafety laboratory.
