Sílvio Mendes | 110 anos do Técnico

Author Archive

Episode 110: The “Notas Histórico-Pedagógicas” by Alfredo Bensaúde

Friday, September 8th, 2023

First published in book form in 1922 and reissued by IST Press in 2003, the “Notas Histórico-Pedagógicas” (“Historical and Pedagogical Notes”) by Alfredo Bensaude, Técnico’s first director (from 1911 to 1920), is still at the core of the school’s philosophy. The book includes ideas about progressive and applied teaching, learning in a creative way, and privileging the will and ability to learn rather than passing the exams. A century later, these Notes served as an inspiration for Técnico’s new teaching model and its pedagogical practices, which would take effect in 2021.

Acknowledgements:
Pedro Lourtie
Raquel Aires Barros

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 109: The Calorimeter

Friday, September 1st, 2023

The Técnico calorimeter dates from the late 19th century and would have belonged to Herculano de Carvalho, director of Técnico from 1938 to 1942. It was used to study the calorific value of fuels, particularly coals, in the context of research, to take full advantage of the country’s coal mines. This process of measuring heat through temperature variation was crucial not only for the analysis of coal, but for all potential types of fuel, both solid and liquid.

The piece is now part of the collection of the Department of Chemistry at Técnico. Covered with wooden strips and with a manual pulley, it resembles a small barrel. It was affectionately called the ‘Port wine calorimeter’ by former Técnico students.

Acknowledgements:
Hermínio Diogo
Isabel Cabrita

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 108: The constant deviation spectrometer

Friday, August 25th, 2023

Técnico’s constant deviation spectrometer dates back to 1919 and its main purpose was the chemical analysis of elements. This instrument allows us to identify the type of light emitted by various chemical sources. By detecting the type of spectrum, it’s as if we were reading the barcode of the element itself. Gold, silver, oxygen, carbon…

Using the optical spectrometer, light can be broken down into its individual components, with colours corresponding to different frequencies or wavelengths, from red to blue. These fundamentals were crucial, for example, for astronomy research: it helped to see that the farther away the galaxy or star was, the more it shifted towards the red, which meant it was moving faster. If all the objects we see are moving away from each other, this means that the Universe is expanding, as if it were an explosion. Different from those that led to such conclusions but similar in fundamentals is the spectrometer that can be seen (working) in the Faraday Museum.

Acknowledgements:
Gonçalo Tavares
João Mendanha Dias
Museu Faraday

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 107: The magnetic resonance probe

Friday, August 18th, 2023

In 1975, the first nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer arrived at Técnico – Alameda campus. Weighing about a ton, it was necessary to cut a hole in the wall of the fourth floor of the interdisciplinary building, to access CQE’s magnetic resonance laboratory. The traffic was closed and a crane was used to move the equipment that helped several Técnico PhD students to finish their theses. The equipment allowed students to study topics associated with important developments in Chemistry, Physics, Biochemistry, Materials Science and Health (such as magnetic resonance tomography).

It was brought in one piece, by a crane, through the knocked-down wall and left dismantled into parts in 1980, with the arrival of a new piece of equipment with more power. There is only one probe left that was used to detect the signals in samples.

Acknowledgements:
José Ascenso

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 106: The MeteoTécnico

Friday, August 11th, 2023

The MeteoTécnico was created in 1999 and became the first portal in Portugal with daily weather forecasts. It was created to answer environmental questions – to understand how pollutants disperse in the atmosphere – and quickly became a national reference weather forecasting model. Forecast data, graphics, maps and even inspirational phrases on the subject of forecasting are made available to the public free of charge.

Acknowledgements:
Jorge Palma
Tânia Sousa
Tiago Domingos

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 105: The space teleoperation console

Friday, August 4th, 2023

Created by Técnico researchers, the space teleoperation console is a technological solution, with tactile devices that improve the process of repairing a robot from a distance. It looks like an image from the future: a robot on Mars and a human being on Earth receiving all its sensations. But that’s exactly what this technology already allows: to handle visual information overload that even experienced teleoperators usually have to deal with by adding tactile sensations. The console was tested on a Mars-like mission in 2021 in Israel’s Negev desert. The team already has another mission scheduled for 2024.

Acknowledgements:
Rodrigo Ventura
Jéssica Corujeira

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 104: Stork, the elastic stone

Friday, July 28th, 2023

It’s a composite made up of several pieces of stone, wrapped in layers of fiber and resin as well as cork. Stork, described by its creators as “bouncy stone” or simply elastic stone, began to be developed at Técnico at the beginning of this century. The stone was given a “pseudo-elasticity”: it recovers its initial shape after being pressed by a greater weight. It is also four times lighter than the natural stone it was made from. The composite, which was developed in the Mechanical and Material Testing Laboratory of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, at Técnico – Alameda campus, began to attract attention at international fairs and ended up being bought by Filstone. Its technology has already been applied in a Lisbon hospital.

Acknowledgements:
Joel Pinheiro
Pedro Miguel Amaral

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 103: The first 4G equipment in Portugal

Friday, July 21st, 2023

In 1992, a new research project paved the way for Portugal’s first 4G equipment, which was way ahead of its time. Several European partners, including Instituto Superior Técnico, were working to create a mobile communications system that could transmit about 150 megabits per second per user, transmitting wireless high-definition video. The idea turned into an object, a kind of 60-kilogram backpack box, about 1.10 metres high and 60 centimetres wide, which included a tower with two semicircular lenses and antennas. Six years later, it was successfully tested during Expo 98 and worked flawlessly. After 25 years, it is always good to remember that long before we could access information in the palm of our hands, the Técnico researchers were already carrying a kind of giant mobile phone without a keyboard on their back.

Acknowledgements:
Carlos Fernandes

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 102: The Wehnelt cylinder

Friday, July 14th, 2023

The Wehnelt cylinder at Técnico has amazed generations of students with the possibility of seeing the invisible. For the first time in their lives, they were able to visualise electrons in classes taught in the dark. “I will never forget the amazement in the students’ eyes, seeing the trajectory of the electrons”, recalls Carlos Ferreira Fernandes, a retired Técnico professor. It’s somewhat understandable if we consider that an electron is smaller than an atom, which is “a million billion times smaller than a metre”. Created in the 50s, it was a teaching tool used at Técnico until the end of the 80s. The Wehnelt cylinder can be found in the Faraday Museum, at Técnico – Alameda campus.

Acknowledgements:
Carlos Ferreira Fernandes
Moisés Piedade
Museu Faraday

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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Episode 101: The silicon wafers

Friday, July 7th, 2023

Silicon wafers are a kind of blank canvas that give Técnico researchers endless possibilities for technological applications by creating sensors and circuits. From creating sensors that allow robots to detect the force with which they hold an object to others that analyse the amount of hydrogen in the air around us, the possibilities are endless. Técnico’s silicon wafers are used in a clean room located at the Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Microssistemas e Nanotecnologias (INESC MN), where Técnico students have been able to design the sensors, choose materials and develop skills in this engineering field.

Acknowledgements:
Susana Freitas

Episode only available in Portuguese in: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor.fm

Further reading and additional audio in the Portuguese version of this webpage.

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