CursorOnTour@CE&C: feeling nostalgic

An archive with a sloppy six decades of content - good luck finding the real gems to frame. Opening acts, royal visits, ceremonies and other yearbook material were plentiful - but we looked at the photos in the archive that touched us, made us curious or highlighted the somewhat more fringed edges of more than sixty years of vivacity in the department.

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file photo TU/e

Gerrit's problem (1958)

"Gerrit van Asten works with equipment for electrolysis of kitchen salt," the caption says in the online TU/e image bank. The photo, from San de Beer’s collection, was taken in the early years of the department at the research group of Inorganic Chemistry, in a lab that was located in the now closed Pavilion. Laboratory assistant Van Asten figures on countless photographs from that time, shot at various moments, invariably in white lab coats. "Van Asten with a problem" reports the handwritten text under another everyday photo of the employee, bent over a table, from February 1959. We hope to find out what the problem was someday.


Pedal to the metal (1980)

From where they left, where they went and what they were going to do there - whoever knows may tell us. The facts so far: we look at 1980 here, more specifically at the 23rd board of study association ‘Jan Pieter Minckelers’. No less than eight people, now say that again in 2019. The direct and leading object at the top is chairman Astrid; below her we see Piet, Martien, Donné, Do, Paul, Leo and Han. The chemists certainly did not build this tandem-like colossus themselves, other former directors within the department assure us. Seems more like a thing for mechanical engineers anyway.


The mother of all affairs (1990)

In 2012 we already looked back at the Buck/Goudsmit affair, the mother of all affairs at the TU/e, with the leading protagonist of TU/e. Henk Buck was professor of Organic Chemistry and considered a serious Nobel Prize candidate for a long time, but his image got damaged after a publication in Science about an alleged breakthrough in the fight against AIDS. In the photo Buck is sitting at the right-hand side of the table during a press conference (in 1990) about this claim and the underlying investigation, after which doubts will soon arise from multiple angles. The Science article is rectified and the issue will eventually lead to multiple heads rolling - including Buck's.


Science, drugs and rock and roll (1998)

Late Herman Brood, rocker and artist, made two murals in 1998 in the Helix chemistry building: The Chemical Brothers and The Chemical Sisters. Professor Bert Meijer brought the nation's renowned ‘rock-and-roll-junkie’, who would commit suicide three years later by jumping off the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton, to Eindhoven back then. “I showed him around in the lab for some inspiration. He saw a syringe, put it against his arm and asked, ‘Can you also make drugs?’.” The artworks can still be seen on the fourth floor in the east wing of the building. What will happen to them if Helix is ​​ever renovated or demolished - only time can tell.


Where’s your head at (2003)

Plenty of movement and action in this photo, but what is missing above all: a head. Where is that head? And who does it belong to? In any case, it is a member of team Monsters Inc, scoring here against a freshmen team during the American Football tournament of the Chemiewinkel in 2003. For the sake of convenience we choose to believe it ended alright.


Secretaries and chemistry (2006)

The executive secretaries of eleven Dutch universities pay a visit to TU/e in the spring of 2006, where they can put their nose into chemistry, among other things. More specifically in the home-made shampoo that they make that day which they undoubtedly have been allowed to take home. The archives do not report how the ladies' hair looked the next day or how it smelled.


The man in the box (2008)

A man with a radiant face in a box filled with styrofoam, ‘Boo!’ on his bright red shirt. His name is Leon Jacobs and we understand that he shines, because shortly after taking this photo the former student would complete his PhD research at the CE&C department. Jacobs conducted research on the production of polystyrene foam as packaging material, more specifically into carbon dioxide as an environmentally friendly alternative to the harmful gas pentane that is used for this. The TU/e archives are of course full of research-related photos, one more alienating than the other. But for us, this cheerful image stood out.


Bulk supervisors (2009)

Two chemists and one mechanical engineer had something in common at the end of 2009: Bert Meijer (CE&C/BME), Rutger van Santen (CE&C) and Han Meijer (ME) were the first professors that TU/e honored as 'bulk supervisors' of PhD students. The score at that time, about 9.5 years ago: 55 promotions for Bert Meijer, 54 promotions for Han Meijer and no less than 67 promotions for Van Santen. Many more PhD students would follow, but at least this statue made by Fons Bemelmans, an artist from Limburg, was in the pocket.


Running wild in the lab (2011)

Dozens of enthusiastic high school pupils from all over the country who spend a week making paracatemol and perfume, among other things - the department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry has been organizing the Vwo Werkweek (Summer School) ever since 1985. Students with an interest in chemistry will spend four days in groups and under expert supervision, working on various projects in the TU/e labs. The next edition will take place by the end of August.


This article is part of the special CursorOnTour@CE&C series, with on-site reporting, this time from the department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry.

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