Scientific portraits: a glimpse into the world of liquid crystal research

Danqing and her group were going about their daily business around the department of chemical engineering and chemistry (CE&C) until Danqing noticed a familiar face at the staircase… it was her PhD student, Dongyu! Regularly, this would not be a very special occurrence, yet what Danqing saw was not Dongyu herself, but a great testament to her work standing in the corridor. The grand portrait gave the viewers a glimpse of Dongyu’s work with the dynamic holographic microscope. Photographers had recently taken some photos of the group in action for the department, but Dongyu couldn’t have imaged those photos taking such a central position within Helix! This discovery quickly became a group event as the rest of the group gathered to take a look at this monument to Dongyu’s work. Furthermore, the curiosity of two other PhD students, Pengrong and Mert, was triggered as similar professional photographs had recently also been taken of them with the 4D printing apparatus. Thus, their quest to find their picture commenced! Taking Danqing and Professor Dick Broer with them, Mert and Pengrong climbed 5 flights of stairs in search of their portrait. After much curious discussion of what the picture may look like, it was finally found! Indeed, none of the team was disappointed in the portrait. It was as grand as Dongyu’s! Seeing these portraits brought great pride to Danqing and her group. It was wonderful for them to see the appreciation the CE&C had for their work. H.I.M. hopes there will much more work produced in her group to photograph and fill the walls of the Helix in the future!

Correspondence Mert Astam