CECAM-MARVEL Mary Ann Mansigh conversations
In events that combine lectures and interviews, outstanding representatives from computational science help us gain a perspective on how modeling affects society.
Science and Diplomacy
Date: February 28, 2025
Description: In these complex times, we believe that the theme of Science and Diplomacy is of utmost relevance. We plan to address it from points of view that include education and scientific exchange in developing countries, the potential of computational science as a facilitator for diplomacy, actions of international institutions promoting peace and disarmament, and the management of cooperative research infrastructures in problematic areas.
Science writing and science editing - from journals to journalism
Date: April 23, 2024
Description: CECAM and MARVEL present a new event in our Mary Ann Mansigh Conversation series. In a discussion with Nature Physics editor Nina Meinzer and former Nature/Chemistry World news editor Mark Peplow, we will explore how scientific editing and scientific journalism work, how they are being transformed by new technologies, how young scientists can learn to better interact with editors and writers - or become editors and writers themselves.
Fascination and industrial value of materials modeling
Date: May 5, 2022
Description: CECAM and MARVEL present the third installment of our Mary Ann Mansigh Conversation series and invite you to meet Erich Wimmer who will be addressing the fascination and industrial value of materials modeling.
Programma 101, the little computer that could
Date: November 9, 2021
Description: CECAM and MARVEL invite you to (re)discover the machine that transformed the specifications and the look and feel of calculators, opening the path to our modern laptops. With the help of two invited speakers, we shall explore the cultural environment that fostered the development of the Olivetti Programma 101 and learn more about its technical characteristics. Along the way, we shall meet Pier Giorgio Perotto - the father of this little marvel - and a young team of developers in the Electronic Division at Olivetti, and get to know Adriano Olivetti, an unusual industrialist who thought that profit could not be achieved without houses, libraries and social security for his employees or without schools and playgrounds for their children.
Computer modelling for industrial applications: high-performance computing for formulation science
Date: May 8, 2019
Description: Massimo Noro talks about his research at Unilever on self-assembling fluids, and about his work for the STFC Hartree Centre (UK) which helps companies translate scientific research into commercial products. The lecture is followed by an interview with Prof. William Curtin (EPFL).
Almost famous, a woman behind the codes - Part 2: A conversation with Mary Ann Mansigh Karlsen
Date: November 15, 2017
Description: Mary Ann's long collaboration with Berni Alder at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was instrumental for establishing molecular dynamics as a key tool to study condensed matter systems. In a conversation with Prof. Daan Frenkel (University of Cambridge), she retells her fascinating story and her experiences as a coder over a period of almost thirty years, providing a unique point of view on the scientific and technological development of computer simulation from the early days of molecular dynamics in the late 1950, to the mid 1980s.
Almost famous, a woman behind the codes - Part 1: It's only numerics
Date: November 15, 2017
Description: Former CECAM director Prof. Michel Mareschal tells us about the early days of computer simulations in condensed matter physics.