Education

Curiosity didn’t kill this cat

TU Delft was an important stop on Spaniard Pablo Jarillo’s amazing research career path. But it was only a stop for this young, talented scientist, who’s fast making a name for himself in nanotechnology.

While at TU Delft, Jarillo was part of a team that conducted important research in graphene. But having completed his PhD degree in Delft, Jarillo hit the road again. He’s now a researcher at the Columbia University in New York.

In Spain, it’s said that ‘la curiosidad mató al gato‘ (‘curiosity killed the cat’), which means that in some cases, when we want to know more, we destroy what was involved within the mystery, thus making the magic disappear.

In this case, Pablo Jarillo is a man whose movement is driven by his curiosity, and thanks to this, his scientific career continues to shine.

“I was always curious and in high school I was very interested in research,” Jarillo says. “I’ve always wanted to know why things happen.” And it was this motivation and a teacher who first encouraged him up to go abroad that were his starting points.

Jarillo is 30 years old and comes from Spain. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Physics in Valencia, and then completed his Master’s degree in Particle Physics at the University of California at San Diego.

It’s said that one of the most difficult things in life is to do what you like. For Jarillo, his curiosity propels him to do what suits him best: research. He conducts basic research, which is not research that is directly related with applications in the short term, but rather a basic study that tries to discover more about a particular system.

In that sense, Jarillo’s type of research geared more for the long-term, and he continues researching in a particular area until he discovers if there are questions that interest him or not.

It was while at the University of California that Jarillo started to become more involved with nanoscience, a research area that better matches his personality. “Particle physics is more theoretical and involves lots of work with computers, while nanoscience involves much more work in the lab and you have to use your hands, and go to the clean room and use tools,” Jarillo explains.

Particle physics questions the basic components of materials, how they interact with each other, and although at a very advanced level, it’s disconnected with real life or any kind of applications. “And this is really different from nanoscience,” Jarillo says. “Nanotechnology is closer to applications, it’s more interactive and I liked this much better.”
Graphene

After studying in San Diego, Jarillo arrived in Delft in 2001, very much interested in nanoscience. “TU Delft is one of the most prestigious places in the world to realise this study,” he says. Although he had other options for continuing his education – universities in San Diego, California or Zurich, Switzerland – and some other options in the United States, one day Jarillo met somebody who turned out to be the motivation for him coming to Delft.

While attending a meeting of the American Physical Society in Seattle, Jarillo met TU Delft professor of physics Leo Kouwenhoven. They discovered that they shared many of the same interests and Kouwenhoven convinced Jarillo of the great possibilities open to him in Delft.

During his PhD studies in Delft, Jarillo worked in nanotechnology with carbon nanotubes. Afterwards, he stayed one more year as a post-doc researcher studying a material related with the nanotubes called graphene.

Today, Jarillo is a post-doc research fellow at the University of Columbia in New York, where he works with both nanotubes and graphene. “The career of a PhD isn’t easy and the first two years in Delft there were no results,” he recalls. “But then we were lucky with some results and one came after another one.”
Nanoscience

Most people now have a vague idea of what nanotechnology means. One nanometer is one-millionth of a millimetre, and a single human hair is around 80,000 nanometres in width. This technology stretches across the whole spectrum of science, touching medicine, physics, engineering and chemistry, and is being researched for things like treating cancers and increasing the power and speed of computer circuits. “Chips have dimensions of 100 nanometres – that’s nanoscience,” Pablo says. “But there are still lots of other fields to search in.”

Jarillo’s view of the future is that nanotechnology will affect all fields in society: medicine, bio-medicine and much more. Topics like climate change will also be affected, because enzymes for bio-fuel will be developed, for example. But in fact, nanotechnology comes a bit late to reduce climate changes . this must be done within 10 years: “Anyway, what we must do is to use less fuel and less energy,” Jarillo says.

Jarillo has already been in New York for eight months, and although he says the facilities and laboratories in Delft were better than the ones at Columbia, he’s fascinated by New York City: “There are almost all the neighbourhoods of the world here. If you want to go to China, you can have a walk through the Chinese neighbourhood, and likewise the Russian or Spanish neighbourhoods.”

Jarillo is a person who works hard for a living and has shown that he can look inside himself to discover what he likes to do and then excel at it. “I found what really fitted my personality and I knew I was going to enjoy it much more,” Jarillo says. “But let’s wait and see what I’ll be curious about in the future!”

Pablo Jarillo. (Photo: Sam Rentmeester/FMAX)

TU Delft was an important stop on Spaniard Pablo Jarillo’s amazing research career path. But it was only a stop for this young, talented scientist, who’s fast making a name for himself in nanotechnology. While at TU Delft, Jarillo was part of a team that conducted important research in graphene. But having completed his PhD degree in Delft, Jarillo hit the road again. He’s now a researcher at the Columbia University in New York.

In Spain, it’s said that ‘la curiosidad mató al gato‘ (‘curiosity killed the cat’), which means that in some cases, when we want to know more, we destroy what was involved within the mystery, thus making the magic disappear.

In this case, Pablo Jarillo is a man whose movement is driven by his curiosity, and thanks to this, his scientific career continues to shine.

“I was always curious and in high school I was very interested in research,” Jarillo says. “I’ve always wanted to know why things happen.” And it was this motivation and a teacher who first encouraged him up to go abroad that were his starting points.

Jarillo is 30 years old and comes from Spain. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Physics in Valencia, and then completed his Master’s degree in Particle Physics at the University of California at San Diego.

It’s said that one of the most difficult things in life is to do what you like. For Jarillo, his curiosity propels him to do what suits him best: research. He conducts basic research, which is not research that is directly related with applications in the short term, but rather a basic study that tries to discover more about a particular system.

In that sense, Jarillo’s type of research geared more for the long-term, and he continues researching in a particular area until he discovers if there are questions that interest him or not.

It was while at the University of California that Jarillo started to become more involved with nanoscience, a research area that better matches his personality. “Particle physics is more theoretical and involves lots of work with computers, while nanoscience involves much more work in the lab and you have to use your hands, and go to the clean room and use tools,” Jarillo explains.

Particle physics questions the basic components of materials, how they interact with each other, and although at a very advanced level, it’s disconnected with real life or any kind of applications. “And this is really different from nanoscience,” Jarillo says. “Nanotechnology is closer to applications, it’s more interactive and I liked this much better.”
Graphene

After studying in San Diego, Jarillo arrived in Delft in 2001, very much interested in nanoscience. “TU Delft is one of the most prestigious places in the world to realise this study,” he says. Although he had other options for continuing his education – universities in San Diego, California or Zurich, Switzerland – and some other options in the United States, one day Jarillo met somebody who turned out to be the motivation for him coming to Delft.

While attending a meeting of the American Physical Society in Seattle, Jarillo met TU Delft professor of physics Leo Kouwenhoven. They discovered that they shared many of the same interests and Kouwenhoven convinced Jarillo of the great possibilities open to him in Delft.

During his PhD studies in Delft, Jarillo worked in nanotechnology with carbon nanotubes. Afterwards, he stayed one more year as a post-doc researcher studying a material related with the nanotubes called graphene.

Today, Jarillo is a post-doc research fellow at the University of Columbia in New York, where he works with both nanotubes and graphene. “The career of a PhD isn’t easy and the first two years in Delft there were no results,” he recalls. “But then we were lucky with some results and one came after another one.”
Nanoscience

Most people now have a vague idea of what nanotechnology means. One nanometer is one-millionth of a millimetre, and a single human hair is around 80,000 nanometres in width. This technology stretches across the whole spectrum of science, touching medicine, physics, engineering and chemistry, and is being researched for things like treating cancers and increasing the power and speed of computer circuits. “Chips have dimensions of 100 nanometres – that’s nanoscience,” Pablo says. “But there are still lots of other fields to search in.”

Jarillo’s view of the future is that nanotechnology will affect all fields in society: medicine, bio-medicine and much more. Topics like climate change will also be affected, because enzymes for bio-fuel will be developed, for example. But in fact, nanotechnology comes a bit late to reduce climate changes . this must be done within 10 years: “Anyway, what we must do is to use less fuel and less energy,” Jarillo says.

Jarillo has already been in New York for eight months, and although he says the facilities and laboratories in Delft were better than the ones at Columbia, he’s fascinated by New York City: “There are almost all the neighbourhoods of the world here. If you want to go to China, you can have a walk through the Chinese neighbourhood, and likewise the Russian or Spanish neighbourhoods.”

Jarillo is a person who works hard for a living and has shown that he can look inside himself to discover what he likes to do and then excel at it. “I found what really fitted my personality and I knew I was going to enjoy it much more,” Jarillo says. “But let’s wait and see what I’ll be curious about in the future!”

Pablo Jarillo. (Photo: Sam Rentmeester/FMAX)

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