New professors present their work in video lectures – how are flip flops related to medical physics?
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, Tampere University will host its inaugural lecture series in a virtual format in the spring of 2021. Inaugural lectures will be delivered by 15 newly appointed professors from different fields. The videos are published on the University’s YouTube channel.
“Traditionally, new professors have been welcomed to the University community in connection to inaugural lectures, but now that Covid-19 restrictions are in place, we are delighted to be able to showcase our new professors in a virtual environment. The brief lectures provide an overview of our new professors’ fields of research and perfectly illustrate the broad range of multidisciplinary research carried out across Tampere University,” says Provost Jarmo Takala.
Michiel Postema, who gives a lecture now, is a professor of medical physics who has held professorships in this field since 2010 and at Tampere University since 2020.
“The other day my daughter asked me for €40 to buy flip flops. I did buy a pair but not for my daughter, but for science”, Postema says at the beginning of his lecture.
In this lecture, Postema shows examples of what ultrasound can be used for. The applications of ultrasound range from pushing particles through cell membranes to investigating viscoelastic materials, which as it so happens also include flip flops.
Postema gives a brief demonstration on medical ultrasound using a sauna bucket and a pair of flip flops submerged in it. The experiment shows that flip flops are a perfect acoustic damping material.
“The flip flop is one of the most baffling and versatile acoustically responsive media in the known universe, so I do understand why my daughter needs a pair,” Postema says.
An inaugural lecture is a time-honoured academic tradition and a prestigious occasion for newly appointed professors to present their research in lay terms to the scientific community, stakeholders, and the public and for the University to welcome them to the community. Inaugural lectures are usually public events that are open to all.
View new professors at all faculties on tuni.fi/newprofessors
