The midwinter meeting of the British Society of Rheology took place in the University of Reading, UK, in Dec 12-14th. The photo above was taken in the campus, among the trees. In this meeting the day 2 was dedicated to the science of Prof Alexei Likhtman who tragically passed away last year. The overlap in our research interests for entangled polymer dynamics initiated our friendship, and due to such a relationship I was invited to the meeting to give a talk. Taking the opportunity I visited his house to see his wife, and his cemetery.
For the science, it was great to talk to some great researchers and discuss for possible collaborations. For instance, I have started collaboration with Prof. Tassieri and Prof. Ramirez on the analysis of simulation data for rheology. I also discussed with Prof. Briels for comparisons between TWENTANGLEMENT code and my codes.
After the meeting in UK, I moved to Naples, Italy, for discussion with Prof. Ianniruberto and Prof. Marrucci on several projects for possible collaborations. Prof. Ianniruberto kindly invited me to his house for dinner. But I was not good at the evening because I caught a cold, and very regrettably I refused his invitation. I know his family very well and I had some gifts for them, but I brought back those things to Japan… The flight back to Japan was painful due to my condition.
Nevertheless, the trip this time was fruitful as usual.