Using Christmas and New Year Greeting Cards to Convey Exciting Happenings in the Past Year
by J.V. Yakhmi
Arrival of Christmas, and a New Year soon after, have brought greeting cards from near and dear ones, annually, for ages. Arrival of Internet about three decades ago brought e-cards in addition, with options galore to make a greeting card exclusive and personalised. The academic world has gone a step further, using each such holiday season not only to update their friends about their achievements in research during the year passed, but also to share interesting happenings in their own personal lives, or to those of their family members. Some typical examples drawn from e-cards received this year are as follows.
Dr. Katsuya Inoue, a renowned expert in the field of chirality in materials, and a distinguished Professor in Chemistry at Hiroshima University in Japan has shared a picture of his son, Sho Inoue, a student of Hiroshima University, riding a horse, while negotiating hurdles.
Prof. Yasuaki Einaga, a Chemistry Professor at Keio University at Yokohama (Japan) has, among other things, shared the picture of his daughter Karin, 16, blowing a trumpet in a music class at her High School.
Similarly, Dr. Ru-Shi Liu, a Distinguished Professor in Chemistry at National Taiwan University at Taipei has proudly attached a picture of his granddaughter, Jing-Hui, age two years, sitting in his lap.
Prof. Paul M. Lahti, a professor of Chemistry, and a Co-Director of Energy Frontier Research Center, at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, (MA, USA) has sent a card with very impressive pictures of the total solar eclipse that occurred on 8 April 2024, clicked by him as an amateur astronomy hobbyist. He also sent two photos clicked by him of the Comet 2023/A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, which showed up during October 2024.
A research group belonging both to Centro de Física, Universidade do Minho, Portugal and the Basque Center for Materials, Applications & Nanostructures, Spain, has made it a practice over the past few years to highlight the scientific progress made by them during the year at Christmas by designing a Merry Christmas card that has a picture of all the group members standing with artefacts made from materials and devices made by them during the year passed.
For instance, on the occasion of Christmas in 2024, the group are shown to stand proudly with: Li-ion batteries of solid-state type, printable or micro-batteries; printed circuit boards for hybrid electronics for advanced digitisation; sensors and actuators for use in printers; cells made using tissue engineering; metal-organic-framework materials; and materials used for removing heavy metals and contaminants from lakes and ponds for environmental remediation.
What an exciting way to present the progress made by a research group!
