News In Brief

To answers some questions, the contestants will have to perform experiments. All students and staff members are invited to attend the event and cheer on their colleagues while also learning something about other fields of science. The Delft Science Quiz is on December 4th in Commissiekamer 3 of the TU Delft Aula. The quiz starts at 14:00 and

ends at 15:30. The language used is English. www.promood.tudelft.nl

Deadly fire

At least 32 people died when fire swept through a foreign student hostel at the People’s Friendship University in Moscow. Another 139 were injured with burns, smoke inhalation or from jumping out of windows to escape the flames. Casualties included students from China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and several African countries. ,,It happened very fast. Some people jumped and others severely burned,” sociology student Richard Mallobe from Liberia said. The university, originally named the Patrice Lumumba People’s Friendship University, was built in 1960 and was once a Soviet showcase university where students from poorer nations received a subsidised education.

Delft Blue

A research group from the TU%s material sciences department will monitor and verify the authenticity of the Delft Blue porcelain in the De Prinsenhof museum%s collection. There are doubts about the authenticity of a number of pieces. Joris Dik, chemist and art historian from the material sciences department, says that ,,art historians quarrel a lot about the origin and age of a collection and if the earthenware comes from Delft or Makum or France.” In olden times, porcelain makers would simply dig up and use the clay from behind their porcelain factories; therefore, in principle, identifying where the clay originates from will also reveal the origins of a particular porcelain piece. The research group will work together with Interfaculty Reactor Institute (IRI). The researchers will use a method called neutron activation. By shooting the clay with neutrons, the atoms in the clay disintegrate into one atom that contains one mass number higher and that emits radiation. Clay from Makum in northern Holland or from Delft, Germany or France contains different elements. Dik hopes that porcelain factories will sponsor the research.

Science Quiz

The 5th edition of the Delft Science Quiz will take place on December 4, Promood has announced. This yearly event, in which four PhD students compete against four TU professors, uses questions from the well known Dutch national science quiz. To answers some questions, the contestants will have to perform experiments. All students and staff members are invited to attend the event and cheer on their colleagues while also learning something about other fields of science. The Delft Science Quiz is on December 4th in Commissiekamer 3 of the TU Delft Aula. The quiz starts at 14:00 and

ends at 15:30. The language used is English. www.promood.tudelft.nl

Deadly fire

At least 32 people died when fire swept through a foreign student hostel at the People’s Friendship University in Moscow. Another 139 were injured with burns, smoke inhalation or from jumping out of windows to escape the flames. Casualties included students from China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and several African countries. ,,It happened very fast. Some people jumped and others severely burned,” sociology student Richard Mallobe from Liberia said. The university, originally named the Patrice Lumumba People’s Friendship University, was built in 1960 and was once a Soviet showcase university where students from poorer nations received a subsidised education.

Delft Blue

A research group from the TU%s material sciences department will monitor and verify the authenticity of the Delft Blue porcelain in the De Prinsenhof museum%s collection. There are doubts about the authenticity of a number of pieces. Joris Dik, chemist and art historian from the material sciences department, says that ,,art historians quarrel a lot about the origin and age of a collection and if the earthenware comes from Delft or Makum or France.” In olden times, porcelain makers would simply dig up and use the clay from behind their porcelain factories; therefore, in principle, identifying where the clay originates from will also reveal the origins of a particular porcelain piece. The research group will work together with Interfaculty Reactor Institute (IRI). The researchers will use a method called neutron activation. By shooting the clay with neutrons, the atoms in the clay disintegrate into one atom that contains one mass number higher and that emits radiation. Clay from Makum in northern Holland or from Delft, Germany or France contains different elements. Dik hopes that porcelain factories will sponsor the research.