Nobel Prize winner to visit Wollongong

22 December 2000

Nobel Prize winner Professor Alan MacDiarmid, of the University of Pennsylvania, will visit the University of Wollongong’s Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) from 4 to 6 January 2001as part of a polymer workshop and to open a special Science Centre exhibition.

The MultiFunctional Polymer (MFP) workshop has eminent scientists from around the world coming together to discuss: electronic noses and other polymer senses; corrosion protection; light emitting polymers; photovoltaic polymers; polymeric muscles (for para- and quadriplegics) and electronic fabrics.

As one of the invited speakers Professor MacDiarmid will share his experiences in recent polymer research and reveal what it means to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

As a celebration of his "Nobel win" a special polymer exhibition at the Wollongong Science Centre will be officially opened by Professor MacDiarmid during the workshop. The exhibition aims to educate all who visit the Science Centre, the importance of polymers in science and how they are applied to everyday life.

The Director of IPRI, Professor Gordon Wallace, has had an ongoing collaborative research alliance with Professor MacDiarmid's laboratory and is looking forward to having "one of the world's greatest scientists visit us again".

MFP workshop details: http://www.uow.edu.au/science/research/ipri/

The workshop will also involve a lecture on commercialising technology from a USA prize winner in this area.

Media note: A further media release will be issued just before the start of the workshop.