Patrick Hanisch wins the ‘Owl of Wisdom’ award

Just under 300 guests were keen to experience science in a different way: at the 12th Applied Science Slam, researchers from HM and an external guest presented their topics with humour, props and surprising insights. The rules were simple: ten minutes’ time, any aids allowed – and in the end, the applause alone decides the winner.

Azo dyes, algorithms and chords
The evening was opened by Patrick Hanisch, a doctoral candidate at the Department of Engineering and Management. Using butter, Smarties and an Aperol Spritz, he demonstrated just how ubiquitous azo dyes are – and why some of them have since been banned. Hanisch explained why butter would be snow-white without colourants, why red M&Ms disappeared from the shelves for years, and how his research aims to help remove colourants from contaminated wastewater – such as that from the textile industry – cost-effectively in future. HM Professor Oliver Hinz from the Department

of Engineering and Management then turned his attention to a topic that regularly causes headaches at universities: timetable planning. With a touch of humour, he demonstrated how AI methods, optimisation models and learning agents can help make lecture timetables more realistic and student-friendly. Author and musician Sebastian Schlagenhaufer provided the musical – and at the same time academic – finale. Under the motto ‘I got the Blues’, he explained how intervals and chords form the basis of music theory – and demonstrated live on the electric guitar that sometimes all you really need for a global hit is just three chords.

An evening of enthusiastic applause and thermal imaging selfies HM professors Georg Eggers and Michael Sachs hosted the evening with their usual humour and musical accompaniment. Singer-songwriter Thomas Franz rounded off the musical programme. During the interval, an experiment stand outside the lecture theatre also drew crowds: there, visitors could try taking selfies in the far-infrared spectrum in front of a thermal imaging camera, which Laboratory Engineer Dominik Niederlechner had built and maintained himself.

The “Applause Meter” decides
To round off the evening, the audience chose the slam champion of the night by their applause: Patrick Hanisch won the “Owl of Wisdom”, which is traditionally produced on the HM C-Lab’s 3D printer. Drinks and a great atmosphere were provided by the Friends of Hochschule München e.V., who regularly support HM events.


Lisa Miethke