GALO SOLER ILLIA AT CONICET DIALOGA

Prof. Galo Soler Illia from University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) talked with people about technology, as part of the CONICET DIALOGA initaitive. Prof. Galo Soler Illia is a scientific researcher interested in Materials Chemistry, Sol-Gel Synthesis, Mesoporous Materials and Thin Films.

El Prof. Galo Soler Illia de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina) habla con la gente acerca de la nanotecnología, como parte de la iniciativa CONICET DIALOGA. El Prof. Galo Soler Illia es un investigador científico interesado en Química de Materiales, Síntesis Sol-Gel, Materiales Mesoporosos y Películas Delgadas.

Traducción al inglés:

I am Galo Soler Illia, independent researcher from CONICET. I work in the Atomic Energy National Comission. I am a chemist and I work on nanotechnology.

In the nanotechnology, we work on the manufacture of nanometric size materials, very small materials. One nanometer is one billionth part of a meter. The interest on this scale is due to the radical change of the materials properties with respect to those properties of usual materials; this change is due only to the change in the size of the materials.

We work on the research about all the phenomena present at nanoscale, and we also work on those useful materials properties for devices devoted to the environmental improvement, new energy sources, health care, and to other kinds of applications.

I liked a lot the CONICET DIALOGA experience because it was wonderful to be in a place as comfortable as the living room of my house, with a lot of people interested on nanotechnology; very young kids were asking me a lot of very interesting questions, they were really interested, even my daughter was there.

It was established an incredible communication with people, I think this was a great forum, it was a very rich and beautiful experience.

I think that these kinds of events are very important, events in which we, the scientists, can talk directly with people. These events are important due to several things, first, because this is an opportunity to show common people that there are more things than those of the common life, but also to show them that science is something which is practically always as close as the door of their houses; to show that science is part of their life. And, in the case of kids, these experiences are very enriching because the kids realize that there are a lot of opportunities, which maybe they ingored before.

I have learned a lot, for each talk I give, there is always an interesting question or a comment about something interesting that I had not thought about before, so I start to think and to learn from that. That helps me to establish a better communication with people.

 The fact that a scientist can talk with the people who, basically, give the money for his (her) salary is a really enriching experience.