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TALK ON “FUTURE OF CHEMISTRY” BY PROF. DR. DIETER JAHN
26 MARCH 2008
On 26 March 2008, Prof. Dr. Dieter Jahn, the Senior Vice President of Science Relations and Innovation Management, BASF SE Ludwigshafen, Germany delivered a talk on “Future of Chemistry” at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP). This is part of the collaboration UTP has with BASF through BASF PETRONAS Chemicals Sdn Bhd (BPC) since 2006 whereby BPC has provided UTP their experts to give public lectures, internship places for students as well as general courses for postgraduate students.
In his talk, Prof. Dr. Dieter Jahn highlighted that “Chemistry is everywhere” and research involving various fields of science and engineering is essential to help solve many problems in the world. There are many challenges faced by the society and energy is placed at the top of the list. Breakthroughs in technologies for alternative energy sources are important in order to meet the rising demand in energy. The company strives to produce better technologies that will help address some of the challenges. BASF is a leading chemical company which manufactures a broad range of products such as coatings, additives, insulation materials, plastics, catalysts, fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company has close relationships with many universities through funding for research activities, conducting summer programmes for postgraduate students from all over the world and providing places for student internships. The number of Malaysians is quite significant amongst the foreign nationals attached to the company. About 300 partipants benefited from this talk.
In 1986 he was appointed as the group leader of a research unit in the Biotechnology Department of BASF. In 1988 he became head of the Training Department in science of BASF in