KlarText Prize 2017 for Christian Mathis
Christian Mathis, former PhD student at Surface Science and Technology, was awarded the "KlarText – Prize for Science Communication". The price awards young scientists who have written a very good doctoral thesis and have summirized their results in an article that is generally comprehensible, logically structured and exiting.
In 2017, 185 scientists submitted a text in various categories: biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematic, neuroscience or physics. A jury of of journalists and scientists selected the best submissions through a three-stage process.
Category Chemistry: Christian Mathis, winning entry "Der Knorpel im Hydraulikzylinder" ("The Cartilage in a Hydraulic Cylinder")
Christian Mathis was born in Bregenz, Austria, in 1986. He studied aerospace in Delft and economic sciences in Rotterdam. After a stopover in industry, he completed his doctorate at ETH Zurich with the thesis, "Investigation of Fluid-Confinement in Lubricating Polymer-Brush Coatings." Currently, he is working at SuSos AG in Dübendorf, Switzerland, on the development of an innovative coating technology for medical engineering.
In his text, Christian Mathis gives a brief outline of how cartilage in our joints functions and how artificial imitations can be ingeniously used in mechanics. He concentrated his efforts on better understanding lubrication mechanisms and developed new techniques. Subsequently, Mathis tested hydraulic cylinders and how to, by means of his new knowledge, reduce friction and downforce.
- Dr. Christian Mathis
- Surface Science and Technology
- external pageKlaus Tschira Stiftung (German only)
- external pageKlarText Preis (German only)
- external pagePortrait von Christian Mathis (German only)
- external pageDer Knorpel im Hydraulikzylinder (German only)
- Press information: DownloadEnglish (PDF, 76 KB), DownloadGerman (PDF, 75 KB)