Renewable Energy Puzzling Puzzles The US of Francken Solutions from Why should we The first in a trilogy of solution! solve puzzles? a year in America Solutions 21.1 Solutions Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials You want to build the next generation of solar cells, starting from molecular building blocks? You want to change the world of com- puting by assembling revolutionary memory materials atom-by- atom? Or you want to develop materials preventing or curing disease? Then have a look at the Bachelor, Master and PhD pro- grams related to and inspired by the Zernike Institute for Advan- ced Materials’ research lines. ou want to build the next which was rated the best Master Ygeneration of solar cells, program of the Netherlands the starting from molecular building last four years in a row by natio- blocks? You want to change the nal study guides. Next to this, we world of computing by assem- also offer the High Tech Systems bling revolutionary memory ma- and Materials Honours Master, terials atom-by-atom? Or you which tackles real-life product want to develop materials pre- development challenges in the venting or curing disease? Then same interdisciplinary fashion. have a look at the Bachelor, Mas- ter and PhD programs related Additionally to the Bachelor and to and inspired by the Zernike Master education, the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials’ Institute has the responsibility to research lines. train approximately 150 current PhD students to become inde- Our activities cover both Ba- pendent, high level scientists. chelor and Master levels in the The main component is ‘hands- field of Physics and Chemistry. on training’, working side-by-si- But, since it is our mission to train de with the research staff of the a new generation of researchers institute. in cross-disciplinary approaches to research and equip them Are you interested in joining our with the diverse skills required team for a Bachelor-, Master-, or by modern science, we also have PhD-project? Check our web- programs breaking the traditio- site http://www.rug.nl/research/ nal boundaries between discipli- zernike/education/ on the diffe- nes. We are very proud on our rent educational programs or di- interdisciplinary Top Master pro- rectly approach us via zernike@ gram Nanoscience in this regard, rug.nl. Edition 21.1 7 Chairmans preface The chairman Anton Jansen The first period of the board year is a fact and this is the first preface written by the new chairman. United States of News of the 17 8 Francken association Joran Böhmer The secretary Willeke Mulder Joran’s first piece of the United States of For the people who want to know all Francken series. He tells about his first about what has happened since the last impressions in America. Francken Vrij. There were both social and study related activities, loads of fun! 12 An inside view: 19 Announcement: Photophysics and Opto- Alumni Committee Electronics Group Friso Wobben drs. T. Sherkar and dr. L.J.A. Koster Solutions from solution! Edition 21.1 23 Life after 42 Puzzling puzzles Steven Groen Francken Why should we like puzzles? From what Ir. Thijs Huijskes puzzles can we learn useful things? Read Thijs tells aubout his life as a resevoir this and learn something. engineer. 28 United States of 47Solution Steven Groen Francken: Why is it so expen- This time Steven has turned it the other way around: he has made a solution, can sive to travel by airplane? you make the puzzle? Rob Jagt This year Rob will study at Caltech for his master thesis. He will tell about what he will do there. 31 On problems and solutions Remko Klein This time Remko tells us about the P vs NP problem, one of the 6 remaining unsolved Millennium Problems Colophon Editor in chief Editorial Evelien Zwanenburg s the new editor in chief I present you the Afirst Francken Vrij of this academic year. The theme of this edition is ‘Solutions’, a very Editorial board nice theme which can be interpreted in a lot of Paul Wijnbergen different ways. I have seen a lot of people st- Kathinka Frieswijk ruggling with the monster puzzle of the previ- Esmeralda Willemsen ous edition, but we received only one solution. Gerjan Wielink Sjieuwe, Edwin and Thom you can collect your Steven Groen prize at the editorial board. The correct solution Jasper Pluijmers was ‘completed’. This time Steven has reversed the process, he made the solution and wants to receive a puzzle. I hope you enjoy reading this Senior Editor Francken Vrij. Anne in ‘t Veld Adress: General: T.F.V. ‘Professor Francken’ Advertisers o/c Francken Vrij ZIAM2, Schut52 Nijenborgh 4 ISSN: 9747 AG Groningen 2213-4840 (print) The Netherlands 2213-4859 (online) Telephone number: 050 363 4978 Edition and circulation: E-mail: [email protected] November 2016, 1000 Special thanks to: Drs. T. Sherkar, dr. L.J.A. Koster, Friso Wobben, Joran Böhmer, ir. Huijskes, Rob Jagt and Remko Klein Chairman's preface Chairman’s preface By Anton Jansen lthough only the first few months of can utilize your Athe academic year have passed, lots creative imagi- of interesting activities and events have nation to solve already taken place. We as the board are problems. One getting more and more used to running the thing I read is association and efficiently solving problems that solutions when they arise. Since this edition of the to problems Francken Vrij is all about (finding) solutions, that require us that is what I want to talk about. The way I to be creative see things, there are two kinds of problems. often do not With some problems you can clearly see appear to us when we are thinking really the path you need to take to solve them, hard on the problem, but they come to us and it is a matter of putting in the work when we are doing something unrelated. that makes it difficult. A good example of In science, there are actually quite a lot of this would be cleaning up a Francken bar- stories about this phenomenon. One of the beque, it is quite straight forward but it more famous examples is the discovery of still needs to be done. Then there are also the structure of benzene by Kekulé. Kekulé problems where the path to the solution could not solve the structure of benzene itself is not clear, and actually finding the in his daily research, but the solution finally right path is already 90% of the solution. I came to him when he dreamt about a sna- think most (if not all) of physics falls in the ke biting its own tail (and yes, I believe cre- second category. The hard part of physics ativity can also work through our dreams). is usually finding the path to the solution, not the actual solving of a problem. From Anyway, the moral of this story is that you a psychological perspective I think the se- should not always be completely engaged cond kind of problems are really interesting in a problem, but also relax, and let your because they require creativity to find the creativity do its work. I wish you all happy solution. I recently read a book called Psy- reading of the new Francken Vrij! cho Cybernetics which talks about how you Francken Vrij 21.1 7 News of the association News of the Association By Willeke Mulder ime flies when you’re having fun. Since Free ‘grilled cheese sandwishes’ Tthe installation of the new board, it is If there is something that we love, it is the all about finding practical new solutions to well-known Vlam-tosti’s at Francken. With different problems. This is the first time this idea in mind, Francken offered unlimi- I’m writing the News of the Association ted free grilled cheese sandwishes, also as secretary of T.F.V. ‘Professor Francken’, known as the ‘Dutch Tosti’, everyday. After which could be a problem for people lac- the brilliant idea of our treasurer, to offer king memory or creativity. My solution is different ingredients to make the most cre- introducing a new policy: working and wri- ative tosti’s, he brought pesto, brie, honey ting in the Franckenroom, accompanied by and many more ingredients to build your Francken members, in order to get inspired own delicious creation. Freshmen were through looking back all the pictures made introduced to the Francken room and the at the activities. In the last few weeks many room was filled with students during every memorable memories were created, and I lunch break. will summarize a few of them below. 8 Game night All board games were dug up from the at- tics and closets for this Game Night in the Francken room. Instead of playing compu- ter games like Call of Duty or Sporcle, card games like Klaverjassen or dice games like Mexen, Francken members were playing Monopoly, Risk, Regenwormen and many more games. For the real board game lo- vers there were even members daring to play two games simultaneously. September barbecue Crash & Compile With flying colours, we surpassed the num- Our beloved Scriptcie has been put to ber of registrations of the barbecue last work again! In collaboration with Quintor, year! Nearly 150 students and staff mem- Francken organized a Crash & Compile. bers showed up to enjoy all the unlimited Everyone was greatly impressed by the beer and meat. Already after a few hours, Pokémon themed adventure the Scriptcie every belly was filled and we could stay devised, and, as shown above, some points outside till late in the evening and enjoy the were given for Pokémon outfits.