For a decade now, the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, CEDENNA, has annually held a contest among its researchers to collect artistic images of the nano world, which are used for the calendars that the center prepares each year and distributes free of charge in educational establishments all over the world. the country.
Now these images are part of a colorful and amazing book that was launched this Thursday, April 20, complementing the launch of the Traveling Exhibition "Images of the Nanomundo", a show that will tour -for free- different regions of the country to arouse the interest of children, young people and adults of all ages for nanoscience and nanotechnology, from a playful perspective that hopes to stimulate wonder and curiosity.
The launch and inauguration, which took place at the USACH Planetarium, included the participation of the Undersecretary for Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Carolina Gainza; the director of the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (CEDENNA) Dr. Dora Altbir; the Vice President of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities and Rector of the University of Tarapacá, Dr. Emilio Rodríguez; the Rector of the University of Santiago, Dr. Rodrigo Vidal; the vice president of the Encuentros del Futuro Foundation, Dr. Guido Giradi; parliamentarians and representatives of different entities linked to science and culture.
The book will be available in a digital version, absolutely free of charge for those who require it, by requesting it at [email protected].
In her speech, the Director of CEDENNA, National Prize for Exact Sciences 2019, Dr. Dora Altbir, pointed out that “this activity fills us with pride, since it shows the work of many of our students translated into shape and color. During more than a decade of multidisciplinary work, more than a thousand undergraduate and postgraduate students have been trained in the spaces of the CEDENNA Center and have obtained multiple images to illustrate their results, among which we have selected the sample that you will be able to visit today, as well as like the book we are launching today.”
She explained that “the CEDENNA nanoscience and nanotechnology center is housed at the University of Santiago and is made up of more than 70 researchers who work in 14 universities throughout Chile, from Arica to Temuco. A joint effort that seeks to enhance the benefits of nanoscience and nanotechnology in our country. With more than 60 patents in various countries, and of course also in our own, we have developed sensors for mining, packaging that extends the useful life of food, systems to remediate soils and water, among other products. All this in the hope of contributing to our country making frontier science and technology a way to achieve the long-awaited development, with greater equity and well-being”.
“We need to learn to collaborate with the increasingly relevant social sciences in order to understand and evaluate the impacts of new technologies. We are facing a period of great changes, not only in nature but also in the way we will live and in the type of jobs we will have in the future. Only by working all the disciplines together can we aspire to many more years of humanity”, she highlighted in his 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. In both human practices there is a powerful and unique base, a tool that many times we do not appreciate in its proper measure. Science and Art ask questions and their answers are guided by the imagination. Both start with curiosity and demand creativity, hard work, and dedication.
“The images that you will see in a few minutes are the product of that wonder and curiosity that the nanoworld generates among us. These colorful formations of nanoparticles give rise to a traveling exhibition, which will travel throughout the country this year, arousing curiosity and interest in the nano world in many children and young people”, shefinally pointed out.
On the occasion, the Rector of the University of Santiago, Dr. Rodrigo Vidal, congratulated "the impeccable work carried out so that we can see these incredible images. The researchers taught us that the fusion between the sciences and the arts can be achieved”.
“They achieved the difficult task of merging the world of science with the arts, teaching us that nothing is absolute and that knowledge and skills can be combined to achieve things as important as those included in this exhibition that will reach various audiences free of charge. communes and spaces such as schools, municipalities and public squares, bringing science closer to everyone", specified the highest authority of the Usach.
“Scientific and technological advances must go hand in hand with citizen information. Informational elitism must be left behind and information must be lowered to all social spheres”, he concluded in his speech.
Democratize knowledge
For her part, the Undersecretary of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Carolina Gainza, emphasized that “as a society, we have to value more the knowledge that is generated in the country. And the way to do it is precisely by democratizing them, a task with which the ministry is deeply committed. This initiative is a way of advancing in this. We have to show much more what researchers do in our country and one way to achieve this is precisely through art”.
She stressed that "art is knowledge in itself, not just a tool for dissemination." Along with this, he assured that the ministry will support “more projects in this line, more crossings of disciplines and areas of knowledge. We must continue working in this way to democratize knowledge as CEDENNA does”.
This exhibition contributes to girls, boys and young people to know and motivate curiosity in science. It allows us to access a small world of atoms and molecules
Make 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 series of impacts and benefits. Some are very specific, which have to do with the development of the discipline itself; others, even greater, that have to do with productive economic development and finally others, as in this case, where an externality even impacts art and allows us to spread deeply and with immediate meaning in society what is being done in a center as renowned as the one we are in”.
"The Council of Rectors is present because it summons us the possibility of disseminating and impacting our society with science and art," he said.
Nothing is what it seems!
Each of these photographs (both from the book and the sample) were captured by CEDENNA researchers and students through various techniques and electron microscopy. Thus, for example, a spring butterfly that flies among pollen grains turns out to be a porous hydrogel containing cellulose nanofibrils used for the remediation of colored water. A beautiful pink jellyfish between apparent underwater rocks is not such. It is titanium dioxide (TiO2) which in its most common phase is known as rutile, with interesting optical properties described for centuries. Another photograph shows an aggregate of vanadium oxide tubes in different oxidations (V(5+) and V(4+)). The resemblance to a coral is striking. Each image is accompanied by a scientific description that shows what is really behind each photograph and demonstrates the wonder that we can find in this invisible world, which through electron microscopy shows us its secrets and amazes us. The exhibition is made up of a selection of 12 photographs artistically approached by the researchers, in a magical synergy between art and science. After spending a few weeks in the astronomical dissemination venue, the exhibition will begin a tour of different places (Santiago Metro, schools, municipalities, centers, museums, etc.).
What is CEDENNA?
CEDENNA is the most important nanoscience and nanotechnology center in the country. In a multidisciplinary and inter-university scenario, it is dedicated to the study, advancement and promotion of science in nanometric dimensions and its technological applications. Since its foundation in 2009, CEDENNA's work has been oriented towards deepening knowledge in nanoscience, training excellent human capital in this field and developing technologies and applications based on this knowledge, using nanometric-scale 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 doctors belonging to various universities - coordinated in research groups focused on various topics - the CEDENNA Center has available capacities in more than 20 laboratories equipped with cutting-edge technology and in the only nanosafety laboratory in the country.
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