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In: Energymaterials, Summerstudents

Hard it may be to believe, but the world seen utterly different from two sides: the world of chemistry. TWO SIDES? Argentine and German chemistry. Since I was a child, I have been interested in chemistry, without even knowing what it was, how everything we touch, everything we see, everything we feel could be explained. That led me to insert myself into its study. In today’s world, on alert the planet, renewable energies arose, and something I had to do, join my passion and my commitment to everything that made me study chemistry: simply the world. BUT IF CHEMISTRY IS UNIVERSAL… As I said, chemistryRead More →

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In: Energymaterials

My dear reader, I hope you are doing well and have a wonderful sunny day. I am standing on the quay of Lake Michigan in Chicago, acquiring a bit of sun this foggy day.    Today I have some free time for myself… I am thinking about responsibility for the planet, about humanity who made a big step from the uncontrollable usage of the non-renewable resources turning more and more towards the available wind, water and solar energy. The idea of using solar power is so obvious for me! The sun shines every day and it should not die out in the next billions ofRead More →

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In: BESSYBeamlineScientists, Careers, Lightsources

At the end of the 90s, a consortium of several German research institutions proposed a multi-purpose infrared beamline for the new electron storage ring BESSY II under the acronym IRIS (InfraRotInitiative Synchrotronstrahlung). Funded by two proposals to the BMBF the beamline started operating in 2002 as a Cooperative Research Groupe (CRG) beamline and turned into a BESSY-operated beamline in 2004 at the end of the BMBF funding period.Read More →

Jian Ren and Prof. Brian Paul Schmidt in #LINO19

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In: Conference, Energymaterials, International, Students

Science Without Borders: Impressions from the 69th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (2019) Guestpost by Jian Ren As a doctoral researcher in Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, I have been offered many opportunities to expand my horizons by working in an optimal international research environment and by participating in international conferences. Recently, I received another gift from HZB – I was nominated and financially supported by HZB to take part in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. 580 young scientists meet Nobel Laureates The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings have become an event of great importance for the exchange between generations of scientists each summer since 1951. In this year, theRead More →

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In: BESSYBeamlineScientists, Careers, Lightsources

I work at the EMIL beamline which is a very complex system. It provides light for the EMIL laboratory (Energy Materials In-situ Laboratory Berlin) by combining two undulators: UE48 for the soft X-ray range and cryo-cooled U17 for the hard X-ray range. It delivers an energy range from 80 eV to 10000 eV to five end-stations. It has ten mirror chambers to guide the light and three monochromators to select the required energies, and it has a length of 62 m while only 1 m width.Read More →

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In: BESSYBeamlineScientists, Careers, Lightsources

Chemist Manfred Weiss manages the MX beamlines at BESSY II in Berlin-Adlershof, Germany. Here, researchers and pharmaceutical companies study the structure of crystalline molecules and discover triggers of disease – mostly in the search for new medicines. He still clearly remembers the call that came in at 4 a.m.: Manfred Weiss was the scientist on standby in case of problems, and on the other end of line were the scientists currently experimenting at one of his beamlines. “We’re finished. Everything went well, thank you,” they informed the sleepy chemist. This was a few years ago and it still makes Weiss smile to think back toRead More →

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In: International, Lightsources, Students, Summerstudents

By Elżbieta Wątor How to get back to BESSY II ? From Kraków where I study, it’s really easy. By car – it’s around 6 hours and the route is quite convienient. There is also a Ryanair flight to Berlin Schönefeld every morning or Flixbus several times per day. But how to organise that? Here’s my brief story: My participation in the 2017 Summer Student Programme was a happy coincidence. In November 2016 I took part in a small student seminar at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, where Rafał Piwowarczyk (a summer student in MX group at BESSY II in 2016) talked about his stayRead More →

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In: Careers, Energymaterials

Adopting the reader’s perspective might help to set your proposal into a broader context and suggest relevant potential impact Some weeks ago, EU expert Seán McCarthy gave a workshop at HZB entitled “How to Write a Competitive Proposal for Horizon 2020”. The lecture hall was packed with scientists waiting for instructions and McCarthy delivered plenty. “The secret is understanding the evaluation process”, McCarthy pointed out. In other words: Put yourself into the shoes of the evaluators who will read your proposal and make the decisions. Peer reviewers want facts at a glance, details by further reading Scientific experts who may not be native English speakersRead More →

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In: Careers, International, Students

At HZB about 150 young scientists are working on their doctoral dissertation. 81 come from abroad to Berlin to do their PhD in the HZB labs in Wannsee or Adlershof. The PhD students at HZB have organized themselves: twice a month, they invite to an informal get-together, they plan workshops and an annual PhD retreat in a country hotel in Brandenburg. This is actively supported by the management. I recently asked Daniel Meza, one of eight current doctoral student representatives about their activities. Daniel, why do you work as a representative in the PhD students organization ? Daniel: Maybe it’s a bit romantic, but forRead More →