He had about an hour to visit. But it was enough to make it clear that this was not a formal stop. When President Petr Pavel and his wife visited the Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovations of TUL, they did not come just to look. They asked questions, took notes and tried to understand what was really going on in the Liberec laboratories.
„It was clear that he was really interested,“ says the director of CXI TUL Miroslav Černík. The president himself mentioned that it was a pity that the visit was so short and explained that he returns to his notes in the evening when he has time and tries to understand things in depth.
Every minute in the laboratory had an impact
The presidential couple toured the water technology laboratories, where scientists presented water purification using nanotechnologies. The idea of their use is very abstract until you see it with your own eyes. That is why a live demonstration of nanofiber production played a key role, allowing the president to understand how the entire process works.
The program also included an experiment with nanoiron, in which the material reacts in the air with tiny sparks. An impressive moment that attracted attention, but also fit into the broader context of the research taking place at CXI.
According to Miroslav Černík, in the field of electron microscopy, the president clearly understood that CXI TUL is one of the top-equipped workplaces. This showed the potential of the technologies that the institute offers, especially for customers.
3D printing and its use
The professional profile of President Petr Pavel shows his close relationship with the field of defense, which is why he also paid significant attention to 3D printing in this sector.
Considering that these are classified matters, the president did not want to mention which specific thing interested him. „However, it can certainly be said that many materials used in the aerospace or space industry and the way they are processed by 3D printing are world-class. Finally, some of these products were also on display at the International Engineering Fair in Brno and I think that the level at which the Czech Republic is today, through, for example, the university here in Liberec, is really comparable to the world’s top,“ the president told journalists.
The visit will be recorded permanently
In the laboratories, Eva Pavlová was presented with a bouquet and a flower vase completely printed using 3D printing technology, or, for example, a lithograph created using a focused beam of helium atom nuclei in a special scanning electron microscope. The lithograph depicting a motorcycle does not exceed the diameter of a human hair in its dimensions, so they also received a macro-sized enlargement from the author, Pavel Kejzlar.
The last minutes reserved for the visit to CXI TUL belonged to the university kindergarten ŠkaTULka. The children sang to the presidential couple and presented them with the last gift from the Technical University of Liberec – a picture of Ještěd.
In addition to the many photos that many excursion participants and other employees of the entire TULKA took with the president and his wife Eva, something will remain with us permanently:
At the university, where the patented technology for producing nanofibers on a large scale was born, Petr Pavel symbolically signed a nanofiber layer, which will be exhibited as a painting in the headquarters of the research institute.
Eva Doležalová, Adam Pluhař, ČTK, Photo Liberecký kraj
The president did not spare the town hall with his praise of CXI TUL
Petr and Eva Pavel then continued to the Liberec town hall, where they were expected to meet with representatives and then, according to their extensive itinerary, another program in the region. It also included a briefing with journalists at the Liberec Region headquarters, where President Pavel returned to visit the university: „We learned about the projects they are working on at the university, and I must say that it is very encouraging to see a workplace of such a level that cooperates with a number of similar workplaces in the world on projects that are truly world-class. For example, in the field of electron microscopes and materials research, but also in the application of various nanotechnologies, for example for water purification and many other uses, including healthcare. 3D printing also has enormous potential in basically all fields, especially in healthcare, engineering and, among other things, in defense technologies,“ said Petr Pavel.
