DATE2022.04.01 #Awards & Prizes

Corporate Sponsored Research Program on "Innovative Molecular Technology" won the Excellence Award (Research and Technology Development Category) at the 63rd Science and Technology Film Festival.

Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.

The Organization for Interdisciplinary Research Projects, Graduate School of Science, Department of Chemistry's Corporate Sponsored Research Program in "Innovative Molecular Technology" has received the 63rd Science and Technology Film Festival's Award for Excellence in the category of Research and Technological Development. The title of the award-winning video is "The Moment Crystals Form! The award was given in recognition of the film's contribution to the education of junior high and high school students on the cutting-edge research being conducted at the university.

2021 Graduate School of Science Press Release
https://www.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ja/info/7211/

The moment crystals form!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo1yTnJo8Zs

The "Innovative Molecular Technology" Corporate Sponsored Research Program, led by University Professor Eiichi Nakamura, is developing methods to observe atomic and molecular movements and chemical reactions using an atomic-resolution transmission electron microscope equipped with a high-speed camera, and is working to realize a long-held dream of scientists to see how atoms and molecules react chemically in real time. The results of this research have been the development of a new method to observe the movement of sodium and chlorine ions. This has resulted in a rare achievement: the visualization of the entire process of forming a rectangular salt crystal from an ionic pair of sodium and chlorine ions. Since salt crystallization experiments are a staple in chemistry textbooks from elementary school to high school, this video showing the rapid formation of salt crystals with a face-centered cubic structure attracted worldwide attention. The 20th century is said to be the century of images, and now that we have entered the 21st century, we are finally entering an era in which images of atoms and molecules can be used in science education.

In 2010, Professor Nakamura won the Excellence Award at the 51st Science and Technology Film Festival for "Sonata of Carbon Clusters," and I hear that he has now begun a wide range of educational activities, from producing an English version of a video on crystals to teaching materials for elementary school students. We wish you continued success in your work linking cutting-edge research and science education.

63rd Science and Technology Film Festival Press Release
http://ppd.jsf.or.jp/filmfest/63/pdf/63pressrelease.pdf

(Responsibility: Professor Shinichi Okoshi, Department of Chemistry)