NO. 1/2016 CONNECTED TO THE WORLD Top-level research in the global village PAGE 14 Space for critical ScopeM: Corine Mauch talks about thinking the perfect view her city and her alma mater PAGE 34 PAGE 38 PAGE 46 EDITORIAL GLOBE NO. 1 /2016 Opportunities KNOWLEDGE for you KNOWS NO www.georgfi scher.com BORDERS Ever since it was founded in 1855, ETH has drawn in knowledge from around the world in technology, math- ematics and natural sciences to its base in Switzerland. It then makes this knowledge accessible to society and the economy at large. And all the while, ETH researchers Lino Guzzella, are making new discoveries and advances that benefit President of ETH Zurich not only Switzerland, but the whole world. Knowledge doesn’t stop at borders, but is, by its very nature, international. New ideas and concepts compete at the marketplace of global knowledge, whether in scientific journals, on the internet, or in the battle for research funding. To hold its own in these arenas, a university needs access: access to marketplaces, access to international networks, access to the pool of inter- national talent. The map on page 14 in the Focus section shows how Researchers at ETH come from more than 100 coun- the 8,000 contacts of ETH researchers are spread tries; yet they have much in common – in particular, around the globe. a commitment to the pursuit of excellence. And a look at the approximately 8,000 individual contacts with aca- demic and industrial partners around the world shows just how well-networked our researchers are. This issue of Globe is packed with articles giving you a close view of collaboration and teamwork at ETH. I very much hope you enjoy reading them! Do you want to make things happen? Find out more Do you want to use your knowledge about GF: Lino Guzzella and skills to master challenging ETH President projects? As a globally active and innovative industrial cor po ration, GF Globe, the magazine for ETH Zurich and ETH Alumni. provides many opportunities for you. Now it’s your turn. Title: ETH Zurich/Gian Marco Castelberg, Benedikt Rugar Editorial: Giulia Marthaler GF_Anz_ETH_Magazin_V4.indd 1 02.02.16 14:39 GLOBE CONTENTS NO. 1 /2016 NEW AND NOTED COMMUNITY 7 News from ETH Zurich 33 Connected to ETH Zurich 8 Click for culture 34 “Critical thinking” initiative: Room to think 10 A team effort to fight fish mortality 37 Column Moss animals as carriers of diseases – page 10 FOCUS: CONNECTED REPORT TO THE WORLD 38 In search of the perfect view 16 From genius to network ScopeM offers researchers Particle physicist Felicitas Pauss a wide range of top-of-the-line and systems biologist Rudolf microscopes. Aebersold discuss what forms of cooperation make sense. CONNECTED 20 A major player 42 Encounters at ETH Zurich ETH works with Google to develop a novel navigation system. 44 Agenda An atomic-scale view through 22 Research in Singapore a ScopeM microscope – page 38 Explore the business potential of your technology: Strong links with Singapore mean PROFILE ETH can continue to carry out 46 A passion for the city a number of programmes there. Corine Mauch holds a top position in the city of Zurich – 25 A decisive statement and a degree in agricultural An ETH physicist plays his part science from ETH. CHF 130. 000 in the EU Graphene project. 27 Precision in space 5 QUESTIONS ETH Zurich is heavily involved in 50 David Norris the Lisa Pathfinder space mission. “We need to expose ourselves TO KICK YOUR to risk and try something new.” 30 Fair and environmentally friendly A research project is helping rice farmers in India to use organic methods and sell their crops at STARTUP fair prices. A PHILANTHROPIC INITIATIVE OF A PRIVATE CONSORTIUM Publisher: ETH Alumni/ETH Zurich Editorial team: Roland Baumann (head), Corinne Johannssen-Hodel, Martina Märki, Felix Würsten Contributors: Samuel Schlaefli Advertising administration: ETH Alumni Communications, [email protected], +41 44 632 51 24 Advertising management: print-ad kretz gmbh, Männedorf, [email protected], +41 44 924 20 70 Design: Crafft Kommunikation AG, Zurich Printing and proofreading: Neidhart + Schön AG, Zurich Translation: Burton, Van Iersel & Whitney, Munich; Clare Bourne, Nicol Klenk, ETH Zurich Circulation: German: 32,600; English: 30,900; published quarterly Subscriptions: Globe is available in print in German or English for CHF 20.– annually (four issues); full membership of the ETH Alumni Association includes an annual subscription to Globe Orders and changes of address: [email protected], +41 44 632 42 52, and for alumni at www.alumni.ethz.ch/ myalumni Further information: www.ethz.ch/globe, ISSN 2235-7289 Globe is also available in English and German as a free tablet version for iPad and Android devices. The team of QualySense – ©Tina Sturzenegger – of QualySense The team Get your kick: venturekick.ch Photos: Hanna Hartikainen/Eawag; Daniel Winkler; Tanja Demarmels NEW AND NOTED Touchscreens MORE TRANSPARENT, MORE CONDUCTIVE «Dinge verbinden» Every touchscreen needs transparent electrodes to recognise precisely if and where a finger touches the sur- face. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now developed a specialised nano- printing process to create a novel kind of transparent electrode: a grid of gold and silver on a glass surface. The new electrodes have a higher conductivity and are more transparent than those Immer mehr Gegenstände werden durch kleine Computer intelligent und übernehmen das made of indium tin oxide, the stand- «Denken» selbst, ohne dass eine Interaktion des Menschen nötig ist. Durch eine Internet- ard material used in smartphones ähnliche Struktur, «Internet of Things», kommunizieren diese «intelligenten Dinge», auch today. Using a specialised variation of electrohydrodynamic inkjet printing, scientists can «Smart Things» genannt, miteinander und eröffnen so eine Vielzahl neuer Möglichkeiten. create a grid of ultra-fine gold walls. 7 Plattform-Services für Ihre «Connected Smart Things» Die Integration von Backend-Services für eine «Internet of Things»-Lösung stellt hohe Information technology being rather large, they take up a great Anforderungen an die jeweilige Plattform. Mit einer Cloud-Strategie von Noser Engineering deal of space. AN ATOMIC LIGHT ETH researchers demonstrated erhalten Sie eine zeitgemässe IoT-Plattform: SWITCH six months ago that it is possible to make modulators smaller and more • Sicher – Die Sicherheit Ihrer Daten hat oberste Priorität energy-efficient. At that time, they The amount of information exchanged presented a micromodulator measur- • Sicherheit – Anpassung an Wachstum und Schwankungen over communication networks around ing just 10 micrometres. Now they • Integration – Schnittstellen zu Fremdsystemen oder Sozialen Netzen the world is proliferating at breath- have improved the world’s smallest Quantum physics • Performant – schnelle Verarbeitung und Auswertung grosser Datenmengen taking speed. At present, the data optical modulator yet again, develop- • Time-to-Market – effiziente Integration neuer Anforderungen quantities for wired and wireless com- ing a component that works at the FASTER munication are increasing every year atomic level and is even significantly ENTANGLEMENT • Optimierte Fixkosten – stetige Anpassung der Kosten an den realen Bedarf by 23 and 57 per cent respectively, smaller than the wavelength of the with no end in sight. This means that light it modulates. The new modulator Kontaktieren Sie uns, gerne zeigen wir Ihnen geeignete Einsatzgebiete für Ihr Unternehmen auf. all the network components must con- is not yet ready for mass production, Entanglement, a phenomenon of stantly be made more efficient. Some however; the main problem is that it quantum physics, is predicted to play of these components are known as currently works at a relatively slow an important role in many future IC modulators, devices that take informa- pace. ETH researchers now want to technologies. However, creating it tion in the form of electricity and con- fine-tune it for today’s standard over large distances demands an inor- vert it into optical signals. Modulators speeds. dinate amount of time and effort, and are essentially fast electrical switches this complicates its use in practice. NOSER ENGINEERING AG WINTERTHUR I LUZERN I BERN I MÜNCHEN I HEPPENHEIM that turn a laser signal on or off, in ETH researchers have now developed RUDOLF-DIESEL-STRASSE 3 GALGENFELDWEG 18 DONNERSBERGSTRASSE 1 tandem with incoming electrical sig- a process that allows them to create CH-8404 WINTERTHUR CH-3006 BERN DE-64646 HEPPENHEIM TEL +41 52 234 56 11 TEL +41 31 917 45 11 TEL +49 62 5267 4450 nals. Vast numbers of modulators are entanglement faster than was previ- PLATZ 4 KONRAD-ZUSE-PLATZ 1 installed in computing centres, but ously possible. CH-6039 ROOT D4 DE-81829 MÜNCHEN TEL +41 41 455 66 11 TEL +49 89 9901 4880 WWW.NOSER.COM I [email protected] Photos: Ben Newton/Digit Works, Aymeric Delteil ETH GLOBE 1/2016 2015-Alumni-ETH-Zürich-1-Version-4.indd 1 24.02.2015 13:08:56 NEW AND NOTED NEW AND NOTED Online art inventory CLICK FOR CULTURE Whether it’s the ornate Semper façades on the north side of ETH’s main building, or the sculptures and paintings that have been created since ETH was founded – the university’s buildings and grounds are a veritable treasure trove of cultural artefacts. But by no means all of these are well known or even easily accessible. Thanks to the new art inventory, some 300 objects can now be studied in more detail online. All objects have been catalogued, photographed and published on the internet. For three- dimensional works, there are even views from various sides. 9 8 Even graffiti works by artist Harald Naegeli (also known as the Sprayer of Zurich) have made it into the inventory, despite the fact that they were not commissioned by ETH. The inventory includes some 27 fig- urative spray works that Naegeli crea- ted in the underground car park of figurative work ETH’s main building between 1977 This restored and 1978.