Ahmad Zeinolebadi is a professor of plastics at the Lübeck University of Technology and knows how much the so-called polymers, molecular compounds that are considered the basis of plastic, can make possible. They are installed as lightweight components in machines and are used as high-performance polymers in a versatile and particularly durable manner. Of course, this also brings with it disadvantages such as slow degradation and difficult recycling processes.
He discusses with Thorsten Buzug, Professor of Medical Technology and Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Individualized and Cell-Based Medical Technology IMTE, how the majors in chemistry and economics could change this through research and what we can contribute with our choice of clothing. Plastics enable him and his team to recreate real-world laboratories for robot-controlled surgery, which can be used to model standard processes. Human organs and skin are created with the help of 3D printing and plastics, which on the one hand enables a real haptic experience when cutting and suturing wounds and on the other hand results in a reduction in animal testing.
Erasmus Zipfel, professor of ear training, music theory and work analysis at the Lübeck University of Music, has also been devoting himself to painting since 1976. At that time it was still common to buy synthetic resin paint in stores, for example. We now know that the solvents in them are harmful to health and the environment, but when painting they are still preferable to acrylic paints, at least according to Erasmus Zipfel.
Sebastian Schröder, media artist and experimental photographer and 2020 Possehl Prize winner, designed a picture made of 400,000 ironing beads during the Corona lockdown. The plastic that he made his own is only a means to an end. He depicted the Lübeck dances of death tradition on 544 individual plates, linked to the events of the corona pandemic. This was sometimes a borderline experience, both tactilely and olfactorily. But a work of art was created that can literally last forever.
Moderated by Theresia Lichtlein, head of communications at Lübeck University of Technology, the Lübeck hoch 3 podcast highlights research, culture and society topics once a month. Representatives of the three universities involved in the project (Lübeck University of Music, Lübeck University of Technology and Lübeck University) and, depending on the topic, an expert as a guest are invited.
The podcast is available on the website www.denkenspruenge-podcast.de and all common platforms available for access. The episodes go online every Wednesday in the middle of the month at 12 p.m. Knowledge transfer, mutual dialogue and new ideas – that’s what Lübeck stands for. The initiators and representatives of the three universities see their own podcast as an important component in stimulating discourse with society about science and culture.
The discussion in episode 30:
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Ahmad Zeinolebadi is a qualified polymer engineer. After completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Amirkabir University of Technology in Iran, he moved to the University of Hamburg to pursue his doctorate there. In his work he deals with the structure and properties of plastics and composite materials and develops innovative methods for plastic recycling. Since the summer semester of 2023, he has been teaching as a professor of plastics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Economics at the TH Lübeck.
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Thorsten Buzug is director of the Institute for Medical Technology at the University of Lübeck and managing director of Fraunhofer IMTE. Plastics play an important role in his research because they are used in a wide variety of materials and shapes in medical devices. He is particularly interested in printable plastics. They can be used to individually adapt additively manufactured aids to patients. Prof. Buzug is a member of the German Academy of Engineering Sciences (acatech) and the German Society for Biomedical Engineering (DGBMT) in the VDE.
Prof. Erasmus Zipfel teaches ear training, music theory and work analysis at the University of Music. He studied composition and music theory with Roland Ploeger in Lübeck. In 1978 he received a teaching position in music theory at the Lübeck University of Music, and since 2009 he has held an honorary professorship. In 1976 he dedicated himself to painting and since 1994 he has been working with computer music. Exhibitions and compositions
Sebastian Schröder, born near Leipzig in 1981, initially learned the profession of making signs and illuminated advertising. After studying museology, he was able to secure a place at one of the most sought-after art schools in Germany: the University of Graphics and Book Art in Leipzig, which has already produced talents such as Neo Rauch and Arno Rink. There, Schröder studied media art and artistic photography in the classes “Intermedia” with Prof. Alba D’Urbano and “Artistic Photography and Moving Image” with Prof. Tina Bara. With his thesis VISUM BESTIARUM he received a diploma with distinction in fine arts in 2011. Sebastian Schröder has lived and worked in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck since 2012, where he joined the Lübeck Artists’ Community in 2015 and received the Possehl Prize for Lübeck Art in 2020.
The moderator Theresia Lichtlein has been head of communications at the Lübeck University of Technology since 2016. In addition to the podcast “Gedankensprünge”, she moderates online and offline events, workshops and panels about science, business and academic life. “The GEDANKENSPRÜNGE podcast shows, like no other format, what different associations a keyword can trigger in different people,” she explains. “I find it incredibly fascinating when these perspectives come together and our world view expands. Our guests as well as our listeners can benefit and draw inspiration from each other’s perspectives.”