Krishna Choudhary and Lester Nare reflect on Sidney Nagel's soft matter physics work, noting how a disordered network or lattice can be deliberately trained to produce a specific mechanical response rather than being treated as noise to eliminate. They point out that soft matter physics was once a marginalized area of study but is now an established field, with Nagel as an early figure in establishing its legitimacy. They also note that the coffee ring effect, once a curiosity-driven observation, now matters for practical processes like aerosol paint and other liquid deposition techniques.
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The hosts describe this story as differing from the episode's other two because it produced a broad platform for many applications rather than one discrete product.
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They mention recording the segment under embargo ahead of attending the Golden Goose Awards ceremony in Washington DC and planned interviews for Part 2.
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2:03:26>> I'm actually the through line from the fundamental question we started with on this story and then the applications that delta for me is the largest. >> Like I never would have >> thought that you could get to because these are all very practical like units of something. Yeah, >> it might not be unlike the other stories where the end product is is so discreet or well defined. This is like a platform for any number of >> ideas. Soft matter, soft matter physics, right? And at the time that he started, soft matter physics was definitely looked down upon. >> Now it's very much a field in its own
2:04:09right. >> Um and he he was a big pioneer in that field. He he helped establish the legitimacy of it. You can you can tell just from that last one, right, with the retrainable lattice, like a disordered network now becomes a way to specify a mechanical response rather than an obstacle to precision. >> Yeah. Right. Like the deformable network is the point. >> Exactly. That exactly right. >> Exactly. >> Um and so these practical outcomes they differ in their maturity. Obviously, the the coffee ring mechanism, it started out as just a super curiositydriven, but now any aerosol paint, any any liquid deposition, it's going to matter, right?
2:04:50Um, it it's it's pretty incredible. So, so this guy I'm I'm very much looking forward to um >> doing my interview with him. the the these again, we have pre-recorded these under embargo. Um this episode under embargo as we prepare to make our way to Washington DC. Uh big thanks to Triple A for um allowing us to have some time with all three of the either either individuals or teams that came forward with these stories. I just my brain is I know you're going to have a field day. >> Yeah, I'm so excited. >> I know you're going to have a field day. Um, this was part one of our coverage,
HistotripsySpaceSoft Matter Physics