About
The Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials at the University of Groningen is simultaneously young and old. We got our current name on 16 January 2007, making us quite young, but we grew out of the Materials Science Centre, which started back in 1970. Much has changed since those early days, but there are a few constants. Possibly our greatest asset is the close collaboration between people with different backgrounds. Physicists and chemists, and increasingly biologists, theoreticians and experimentalists work closely together, giving the Institute a breadth rarely found elsewhere. In our efforts we involve the whole chain of knowledge; modelling, design, synthesis, characterization, physical properties, theory and device functionality.
Together with the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry and the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute we operated the national research centre (NRC) for materials science under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science under the Bonus Incentive Scheme from 1999 until 2021. This distinction came with considerable additional funding, which has allowed our program to develop a long-term vision and plan. Today, the scientific staff is working in one or more of the following (interconnected) research themes: Energy Materials, Quantum Materials, Sustainable Polymers, (Supra-)Molecular Assemblies, Advanced Instrumentation and Materials for Future Semiconductor Industry, and Cognitive Materials & Devices. Our research is part of the FSE research theme ‘Advanced Materials’, and we collaborate strongly with our sister institutes of the former Zernike Institute National Research Center, the Groningen Engineering Center, CogniGron and HTRIC, and we are active member of the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health, the Wubbo Ockels School of Energy and Climate, and the University of the North. In addition, we have strategic collaborations and alliances across the world.
Our Institute proudly uses the name of Frits Zernike (1888-1966), physicist, chemist and mathematician. In 1953, Zernike was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his invention of the phase contrast microscope.
We believe that Zernike symbolizes very well the character of our Institute. Trained primarily in chemistry, Zernike worked in astronomy, became professor of theoretical physics, but insisted on building his own optical devices. His disregard for the traditional boundaries between disciplines, and the excellent command he had of theoretical, computational, and experimental approaches, are guidelines for our way of doing research.