Leica DCM 3D has an Educational Mandate
Dr. Matthias Nüchter from the Nanoinitiative Bavaria (front) and Dr. Carola Troll from Leica Microsystems (right) at the delivery of the Leica DCM 3D for the NanoShuttle. Media representatives and students were also invited to attend this event.
With the Leica DCM 3D students explored the surface structure of pine pollen. One grain has a diameter of 40 µm.
Gerbrunn, Germany. What is nanotechnology? What career opportunities does this rapidly developing field offer? One of the central objectives of the Nanoinitiative Bavaria, which operates under the umbrella of the Bavarian Cluster Nanotechnology, is to inform and educate teachers and students.
Be astonished today, do research tomorrow
Every year, the Nanoinitiative Bavaria holds a competition for schools to give students an opportunity to prove their resourcefulness. Leica Microsystems is sponsoring this year’s competition. Students of all grammar schools, secondary schools and technical colleges in Bavaria are eligible to submit projects, coursework or individual contributions. The only rule is that the entry should deal with the subject of nanotechnology in an informative, enlightening, humorous or innovative way.
Science on Tour
An important element of the student program is the ‘NanoShuttle’ packed with high-tech analysis and presentation equipment that has traveled from school to school in Bavaria for more than two years. Since September 2009, the NanoShuttle, which is equipped with an atomic force microscope and a particle analyzer, has also featured a Leica DCM 3D.
The NanoShuttle reaches approximately 15,000 students per year. “The interested students of today will be the scientists and entrepreneurs of tomorrow,” says Dr. Matthias Nüchter, member of management of the Cluster Nanotechnology Bavaria. “This is why we want to generate interest in this key technology of the 21st century at an early stage.”
Cell phone chips and hair in nanofocus
Using the Leica DCM 3D, students look in astonishment at the surface structure of their cell phone chips, which on the nanoscale look like high mountains. Fascinated as well by nanostructures of different petals, the students also compare their own hair to industrial carbon fibers. “The Leica DCM 3D is a great addition to our NanoShuttle,” emphasizes Christoph Petschenka from the Nanoinitiative Bavaria.
Cluster Nanotechnology / Nanoinitiative Bavaria
http://www.nanoinitiative-bayern.de
Cluster Nanotechnology, Nanoinitiative Bavaria GmbH and Nanonetz Bavaria e.V.
Nanotechnology competition for schools
http://www.nanoinitiative-bayern.de/schulwettbewerb.php