Sílvio Mendes | 110 anos do Técnico

Author Archive

Episode 90: The student records of Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo

Friday, April 14th, 2023

The student file of the Técnico alumna Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo (Chemical-Industrial Engineering) bears witness to the academic journey of a distinct and pioneer personality, from the moment she entered the School in 1947, until her graduation in 1953. The set of documents – curricular units taken, papers presented, grades obtained – helps to understand the history of a woman who left a mark on engineering, society and politics in Portugal (she is still the first and only female Prime Minister in Portugal). In 2016, Técnico created an Award in her honour to inspire and “recognise the key role of women in all areas of Engineering”.

Acknowledgements:
Ana Silva Rigueiro
Alexandre Tojal
Arlindo Oliveira

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 89: Aron’s electricity meter

Friday, April 7th, 2023

Aron’s electricity meter is one of the pioneering instruments that, at the end of the 19th century, allowed to efficiently measure and record the amount of electric energy consumed by each user. It worked with “remarkable precision”, and was the “first electricity meter that really worked well”. Maybe that’s why the object won a competition in 1885 for the purchase of the first 100 electricity meters for a Berlin neighbourhood. Only Thomas Edison, with far more experience in the field, was competing against Hermann Aron. The secular object can be found in the Faraday Museum, at Técnico – Alameda campus.

Acknowledgements:
Joaquim Moreno
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 88: The green wall

Friday, March 31st, 2023

Next to the entrance (ground floor) of the Mechanical Engineering building I, at Técnico – Alameda campus, a wall has changed colour over the last few years. It was born from an idea, in 2017, and turned green because it can house a great diversity of plant species.
This modular wall, with a total of 2 square metres, in addition to adding well-being to the community, presents another strong point: its watering is done by reusing the water from the building’s sinks, the so-called greywater. Apart from not needing potable water to maintain its plants, this wall is also able to treat excess water that is added to it, which will then be available for other uses such as washing floors or watering gardens. It also gave rise to ongoing research projects, which aim to study the quality of the surrounding air and to analyse the green wall as a thermal barrier to control the building’s temperature.

Acknowledgements:
Ana Galvão
Cristina Matos Silva

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 87: The kenotron

Friday, March 24th, 2023

The kenotron is exhibited in the Faraday Museum, at Técnico – Alameda campus. Its history is intertwined with some of the school’s historical moments, in 1962: Manuel Alves Marques would become the first person to get a PhD in electrical engineering from Técnico. He studied the molecular vibrations around certain metals and created an installation to apply the X-ray diffraction technique. The kenotron, a vacuum rectifier that was used to provide high voltage DC for its operation, was used in the same installation. It was used by students until the late 1970s and survived a flood in a basement until it could reach 2023 and tell its story.

Acknowledgements:
Isabel Cabaço
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 86: The archaeological collection at Técnico

Friday, March 17th, 2023

A box full of archaeological remains, exhibited in the Décio Tadeu Museum, at Técnico – Alameda campus, holds some clues that may help us understand what Lisbon was like seven thousand years ago. This testimony of the millenary occupation of the capital by human beings was discovered after some archaeological prospections made in Monsanto, in 1917, directed by Ernest Fleury, the first professor of Geology and Palaeontology at Técnico. Among the archaeological remains found are prehistoric human bones, something rare to find in the city.

Acknowledgements:
Carlos Didelet
Manuel Francisco

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 85: The exhibition poster “De que são feitas as coisas?”

Friday, March 10th, 2023

The exhibition “De que são feitas as coisas?” (“What are things made of?”) put Técnico on the radar of international research in particle physics in 1981. Taking advantage of the presence of hundreds of physicists at an international conference, it also marked one of the first scientific dissemination activities of great impact designed by José Mariano Gago. The poster “What are things made of?” bears witness to a philosophy that would profoundly transform research and scientific culture in Portugal. Mariano Gago – who long before becoming Minister was a Técnico student, president of the Students’ Union and full professor at Técnico – was beginning to point the way to what would lead to the creation of LIP (1986) and Ciência Viva (1995).

Acknowledgements:
Ana Noronha
Manuel Heitor
Mário Pimenta

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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Episódio 84: The Técnico bicycles

Friday, March 3rd, 2023

In recent years there has been a growth in the number of Técnico community members who use a bicycle as a means of commuting to Técnico campi, but until a few years ago the scenario was quite different. The two projects created at Técnico, “A pedalar” (2015) and “U-bike Portugal – Operação Técnico” (2018), have contributed to the dissemination and demystification of the use of this sustainable means of transportation. Both projects are still active and the outcome is very positive: hundreds of users, more bicycle parking spots, a bicycle workshop, “a lot of interest” and “less fear”.

Acknowledgements:
Mário de Matos
Marta Pile

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 83: FeedBot, the robotic arm

Friday, February 24th, 2023

In 2017, a group of researchers from Técnico (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) and the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa) was part of a project that would give rise, two years later, to FeedBot, a robotic arm for autonomous assisted feeding. This innovative robot was developed by a team that includes Manuel Marques, a researcher with cerebral palsy. The team’s vision is clear: FeedBot can be extremely useful in institutions where 20 or 30 people need to be fed, but never replace the potential for discussion and creation generated by the moment of lunch. At Técnico it is so natural that Manuel Marques’s colleagues help him during the meal that it took a trip to the United States to identify a scientific problem (how to help those people who cannot feed themselves?) that the team had the skills to help solve.

Acknowledgements:
João Paulo Costeira
Manuel Marques

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 82: The history of Estêvão Cabral’s paddle wheel

Friday, February 17th, 2023

The Estêvão Cabral’s paddle wheel is an invention of the Portuguese Jesuit priest who, at the end of the 18th century, solved one of the enigmas of hydraulics. The instrument made it possible, for the first time, to measure the velocity of water not only at the surface, but also at depth, where it reaches its maximum velocity. Estevão Cabral’s pioneering paddle wheel has several replicas, two of which, dating from 1986, can be found at Técnico, in the Civil Engineering Museum and in the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture.

Acknowledgements:
Maria Manuela Portela
Museu de Civil do Técnico

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 81: Flexcraft, the flexible aircraft

Friday, February 10th, 2023

It’s all about a wing. This is the basis of Flexcraft, the flexible aircraft, which is an innovative technology devised by Técnico researchers and students at the beginning of this century. It was designed to be operated remotely, almost like an air taxi that can grab various types of cabins with various applications, from transporting goods to rescuing victims. This flexible aircraft was designed to be 15 metres from one wing tip to the other, and to transport a load of 1000 kg (or 8/9 passengers) for about 500 kilometres. As an object, it exists only as a model with 10 per cent of the idealised size, and there is also a full-size cabin, which was presented at Técnico in 2020.

Acknowledgements:
Fernando Lau

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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