Nerd Nite XIX: Power systems for body and soul!
Nerdsters! Feeling tired and slow?
Well, buckle up for the 19th edition of Nerd Nite Amsterdam and get ready to be launched out of your mind! To jump-start our adventure, we’ll fuel the mind with…coffee! Elmer Oomkens will teach us the nerdy details of how to brew the perfect cup. If you weren’t an all-around coffee connoisseur before, you will be after this. Afterwards, ESA fellow Thijs Versloot visits us for some outer space trend-spotting: next-level energy propulsion systems.Migrating to Mars might become a reasonable option. Be there and be square.
Elmer Oomkens
A hot perspective on your morning grog: Tasty coffee, from seed to cup
Sorry to break it to you, but you’re probably drinking bad coffee. In spite of what we have grown accustomed to in terms of its flavour, coffee doesn’t need to taste sharp, bitter, or burned. The coffee bean is actually the seed of a fruit — the coffee cherry — so it’s no surprise that the underlying flavour of coffee itself should be sweet and acidic, and can develop many intricate flavours depending on where it grows. By stripping down coffee to its essentials we can do away with flavour enhancers such as milk and sugar, and enjoy it for its own sake. In this talk I’ll simplify the chemistry that gives coffee its taste and share my passion for coffee’s journey from humble seed to your cup. Maybe you’ll find that (good) coffee really is your cup of tea.
After finishing master degrees in both psychology and law, Elmer choose to pursue the perfect cup of coffee instead of an academic career. Working in several coffee bars and roasters inspired him to start his own coffee roastery: White Label Coffee. In his spare time he used to develop websites, play soccer and dj electronic music, but since very recently he spends that time taking care of his first-born daughter Thura 🙂
Thijs Versloot
Reaching the Final Frontier: Next generation space travel
How fast do you need to go to escape Earth’s gravitational field? How much faster to reach the edge of our solar system? A massive amount! But as they say, size does not matter. What matters is whether we manage to produce this enormous amount of thrust. Ever since the dawn of space travel, this quest has fascinated many scientists – and aspiring astronauts. In my short talk I will explore the physical mechanisms available, ranging from the historically proven to the downright insane and futuristic, and you will see that the problem is by no means a lack of imagination. Buckle up for the next generation of space travel!
Thijs Versloot is a researcher with an interest in next-next-generation technology in the areas of energy and propulsion. After his PhD in fusion physics and a brief flirtation with industry, he is now exploring novel technologies in the Advanced Concepts Team at the European Space Agency in Noordwijk. During his time off, he is either training hard for a promising-yet-dreaded triathlon, pretending to be an amateur landscape photographer, or fully submerged in the art of artisan bread making.
Join us on November 28th (8:00 pm) at CREA Amsterdam: Nieuwe Achtergracht 170, 1018 WV Amsterdam.
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