Silvia Vignolini
Professor of Chemistry and Bio-materials, Max Planck Institute and University of Cambridge
I am director of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, and a professor of chemistry and biomaterials at the University of Cambridge. I am a 2019 Philip Leverhulme Prize winner. I work on light’s interaction with materials in order to understand how it produces optical effects. I study man-made materials that mimic natural structures. My research interest is located at the interface of chemistry, physics and biology.
EXPs by Silvia Vignolini
Colors are very important as communication. This is true in our society – something you say, "we dress to impress" – but this is also true in other systems.
Some plants and fruits, like Pollia condensata, produce vivid colors that never fade. They are created not through pigments but through microscopic structures that manipulate light – this is called structural coloration.
There is an entire field called biomimetics that essentially deals with trying to extract design principles from nature and then apply them to solve technological problems.