On November 29, 2025, the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy invites you to the next edition of Saturday Morning Physics this winter semester. Prof. Dr. Anna Grünebohm will provide exciting insights into theoretical materials science:
Modern materials shape our everyday lives - from smartphones and electric cars to medical technology and energy-efficient buildings. But what actually determines the properties of these materials? The answer lies deep in the quantum world: it is the interactions between electrons and atomic nuclei that determine the behavior of a material - whether it conducts electricity, stores energy or even changes its structure when an electric field is applied.
Theoretical materials science uses quantum mechanical simulations to understand and predict these fundamental interactions. With the help of powerful computers, we can look "inside" materials, calculate the forces between atoms and investigate how tiny changes in composition or structure can lead to completely new functions.
In this presentation, we will examine how such simulations are driving the development of innovative cooling technologies. Instead of climate-damaging refrigerants, ferroic cooling uses reversible phase transitions in solids - for example, when a material changes its structure under the influence of an electric field and thus absorbs or releases heat. By combining findings from quantum mechanics with large-scale material models, we are now able to investigate and optimize such materials virtually and thus pave the way for sustainable, gas-free cooling systems of the future.
- Prof. Dr. Anna Grünebohm
Reiter is a professor and head of the Scale-Bridging Simulation of Functional Composites research group at the Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Materials Simulation (ICAMS) at Ruhr-Universität. She is also a member of the Materials Research Department.
Everyone who finds the small and big questions of our universe just as exciting as we do is cordially invited.
When: November 29, 2025, 11 a.m.
Where? St. Paul's Church in the city center of Bochum, Grabenstraße 9
Admission is free. From 10:30, the student council will provide visitors with waffles and coffee.
Saturday Morning Physics takes place in cooperation with the Protestant parish of Bochum on five Saturdays in the winter semester 25/26 in the Pauluskirche. Information on further lectures can be found on the SMP website.