Small particles answer big questions
Dr Christian Dwyer and Dr Philip Nakashima
Two Monash University researchers have been recognised for pushing the frontiers in electron microscopy to solve mysteries at the atomic level.
Dr Christian Dwyer and Dr Philip Nakashima, both of the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy (MCEM), the ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals and Department of Materials Engineering, took out both of the awards for research in the physical sciences presented by the Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Society in Perth earlier this month.
Dr Dwyer took home the FEI Company Cowley-Moodie Award for "developments in quantitative electron microscopy". Through innovative techniques, he pushed the boundaries of what scientists can learn about materials using electron microscopy.
"The transmission electron microscope (TEM) allows us to zoom in on a tiny part of a material, which could be only a few nanometres wide, and analyse its atomic structure. This ability is extremely important for the development of many modern materials, from alloys to semiconductors," Dr Dwyer said.
"Essentially, by interpreting data from very carefully calibrated experiments with the aid of scattering theory, we have obtained very precise information about a material's structure, such as its chemical composition at the atomic level. This is not possible with conventional techniques."
Dr Nakashima was awarded the John Sanders Medal for "excellence in developing or applying electron microscope techniques."
Dr Nakashima invented innovative methods to measure the chemical bonding between atoms. He then used his techniques to solve an 80 year-old scientific mystery, discovering the arrangement of chemical bonds in aluminium.
"Monash is home to some of the best electron microscope equipment on the planet. I am now combining this latest instrumentation with my techniques to tackle some challenging materials science problems, which is very exciting," Dr Nakashima said.
Director of the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy, Professor Joanne Etheridge, congratulated the two researchers.
“The ingenious research of Christian and Philip has pushed the limits of electron microscopy to enable some critical, long-standing problems in materials science to be solved," Professor Etheridge said.
"The methods they have pioneered enable us to examine matter at the atomic level with unprecedented sensitivity.”
More information on the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy's facilities and researchers is available at MCEM website.