The Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain) has awarded an honorary degree to professor emeritus Staf Van Tendeloo of the Faculty of Science at UAntwerp. He’s a world-renowned researcher in the field of transmission electron microscopy. This is a technique that uses a beam of electrons to visualise the surface or the inside of objects. The resolution of an electron microscope is much higher than that of an ordinary light microscope.
With the honorary degree, the University of Zaragoza recognises the UAntwerp professor’s impressive track record. Indeed, Van Tendeloo has more than 1,000 scientific publications and 60,000 citations to his name. His pioneering research has earned him numerous national and international awards and accolades over the years.
‘The world of atoms’
The world we live in is ever-changing and technology is also developing at lightning speed. In the lecture titled ‘The world of atoms’, which Van Tendeloo gave at the ceremony, he talked about the impressive strides scientists have already taken in observing atoms since the early 20th century, but also about the long road ahead for researchers.
Nanoscience, with its many applications, may be awe-inspiring, but it still faces numerous challenges. For example, silicon atoms could play a key role in artificial intelligence, but in order to better understand those atoms, we need to be able to observe them properly first. That’s why it’s imperative, says Van Tendeloo, to further fine-tune the technology of electron microscopes, so we can gain more insight.