{"id":8436,"date":"2024-10-29T12:27:52","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T10:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hch2.de\/?post_type=aktuelles&p=8436"},"modified":"2025-09-04T15:01:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T13:01:49","slug":"the-professor-of-small-things","status":"publish","type":"aktuelles","link":"https:\/\/hch2.de\/en\/news\/the-professor-of-small-things\/","title":{"rendered":"The professor of small things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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What do hydrogen, Conrad R\u00f6ntgen and a dark forest have to do with each other? From Hans-Georg Georg Steinr\u00fcck<\/a>\u2019s point of view, quite a lot. The physicist is Professor at the Institute for Sustainable Hydrogen Economy (INW) at Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich and Director of the Catalytic Interfaces division (INW-1). <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Since the end of 2023, he has been the INW\u2019s expert on the smallest particles. In the figurative sense of Goethe\u2019s Faust, Hans-Georg Steinr\u00fcck wants to know what holds the world together on the inside. More precisely, the hydrogen world. In order to be able to observe these smallest particles, Hans-Georg Steinr\u00fcck and his team at INW-1, which is currently being set up, use X-rays. <\/p>\n\n

In other words, the very radiation that Conrad R\u00f6ntgen discovered in 1895 and which is used today to look inside an opaque body. For example, to determine whether a bone is broken or not. <\/p>\n\n

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Prof Dr Hans-Georg Steinr\u00fcck has been Director of Department 1 at INW for just under a year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
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\u00c5ngstr\u00f6m \u2013 the perfect wavelength<\/h3>\n\n

“There is no better method for our purposes,\u2019 says Hans-Georg Steinr\u00fcck. This is why he is currently planning to set up an X-ray laboratory in J\u00fclich. The fact that X-rays are well suited to analysing the atomic level has to do with the wavelength of the radiation. This is approximately one \u00c5ngstr\u00f6m, which corresponds to one ten millionth of a millimetre. One angstrom is also a typical size for the radius of an atom. X-rays therefore have exactly the right wavelength to recognise when something changes at the atomic level. Either because the position of an atom or molecule has changed or because a molecule or catalyst particle has broken apart. <\/p>\n\n

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In many cases, however, and in contrast to a broken bone, Hans-Georg Steinr\u00fcck and his team do not receive a precise X-ray image that shows 1:1 what has happened. \u2018We model the signal and use it to construct a model of the observed phenomenon,\u2019 explains the physicist at the HC-H2 event Brainergy Park Connect, where the residents of the park come together for lunch. He explained the X-rays of molecules and atoms to the audience using an abstract comparison to a dark forest in which the trees can no longer be seen. \u2018If we want to know how big the trees are, what their shape is and how far apart they are, we send lots of glowing balls into the forest and observe how they are deflected. This allows us to draw conclusions about the trees.” <\/p>\n\n

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Synchrotron and X-ray laboratory<\/h3>\n\n

In future, this should be possible with the X-ray laboratory. The group is already working on so-called synchrotron radiation sources, which they can use in Hamburg or Grenoble, for example. \u2018We will continue to be a synchrotron group because we benefit greatly from the possibilities of this technology,\u2019 says the Director. A synchrotron is a particle accelerator and a source of extremely bright X-ray light. The data that results from a synchrotron is more diverse and more precise. However, a synchrotron is available much less frequently because many research groups want to use it. The in-house X-ray laboratory of the future will offer the opportunity to measure continuously. In the end, it\u2019s the mix that counts. A large amount of data at a few short points in time and a long data series together result in a conclusive data set. <\/p>\n\n

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Awards from the Royal Society of Chemistry and the International Society of Electrochemistry<\/h3>\n\n
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Hans-Georg Steinr\u00fcck, then a junior professor in the Chemistry Department at Paderborn<\/a> University, received the Energy & Environmental Science (EES) Lectureship award back in 2022. According to the Royal Society of Chemistry (RCS<\/a>), the award honours \u2018outstanding young researchers working on an energy research topic within the context of energy and environmental science. The researchers are also given a platform to present their own research to the wider scientific community.\u2019Now, at the 75th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) in Montreal, Canada, Hans-Georg Steinr\u00fcck gave his presentation on the occasion of the award. \u2018For me, this is a great honour and a great incentive to continue working with my team on the energy storage of the future,\u2019 said Hans-Georg Steinr\u00fcck. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Hans-Georg Steinr\u00fcck (left) accepts the award in Montreal. Photo: ISE <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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This year, ISE also honoured another J\u00fclich researcher with a prestigious award. Prof. Michael Eikerling<\/a> from the Institute of Energy Technologies (IET), Theory and Computational Modelling of Materials in Energy Technology (IET-3)<\/a>, was elected a Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry. The award honours his work on theoretical electrochemistry, in particular his contributions to the simulation of electrocatalytic reactions at interfaces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Eikerling also holds the Chair of Theory and Computational Modeling of Energy Materials<\/a> at the Foundry Institute of RWTH Aachen University.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Prof. Michael Eikerling from the Institute of Energy Technologies (IET) at Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich has been elected a Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The copyright for the images used on this website is held by Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich, aligator kommunikation GmbH andstock.adobe.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4799,"template":"","categories":[253,252,254],"tags":[284],"class_list":["post-8436","aktuelles","type-aktuelles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-forschung-en","category-general-en","category-wasserstoff-en","tag-about-us"],"yoast_head":"\nThe professor of small things - HCH2<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hch2.de\/en\/news\/the-professor-of-small-things\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The professor of small things - HCH2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What do hydrogen, Conrad R\u00f6ntgen and a dark forest have to do with each other? 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