At ChemSlam, a science slam with a focus on chemistry, scientists present topics from chemistry in a simple and entertaining way.

Perfect organization. The idea for ChemSlam came from the working group "Chemistry is ..." as part of the Working Group "Chemistry and Society" of the GDCh. A group of young chemists and food chemists took care of the advertising of the slammers and the detailed tasks on site: Anja Dürasch, Sandra Heckel, Thomas Hofmann, Laura Kühn and Gordon Stachowski. Wolfgang Gerhartz from Senior Chemists was in charge.

Nine lectures, short and sweet. The nine invited slammers each had seven minutes to present a topic from chemistry in an understandable and entertaining way. This is shown by the exotic, yet scientifically demanding topics: Phantastic Plastic (organic light-emitting diodes; OLED); A journey into the world of the (in) visible (UV light and the effects of sun cream); Catalysis (new bis (germylen) nickel complexes); From the conversion of biomass to fuel - a spectroscopic study; Misconceptions in chemistry; The surprising competence of clever idiots (computers in synthesis planning); Nanoparticles (nanomaterials); Fat bloom (crystal structure of chocolate) and the smallest soccer field in the world (metal-organic framework compounds; MOFs)

Funny moderation. The event was hosted by two young moderators from Dresden, Timo Raddatz and Samuel Fink. Right from the start they made it clear that they had no idea about chemistry, but that they saw it as an advantage - and rightly so. They mastered their goal of ending the event in less than two hours with flying colors. After all, in the end they had the demanding task of determining the winner based on the strength of the applause.

Over 250 students. Can we really expect over 250 high school students, all from Dresden high schools, to give nine lectures on chemistry for one and a half hours? And whether we can do that: there was a spellbound silence in the hall, interrupted of course by thunderous applause.

Three winners. The winner of the afternoon was Thomas Toczkowski. He was promoted to Dr. chem. slam. and received the coveted trophy: an original glass retort with gold finish on the outside. He and the two in second and third place, Simon Krause and Claudia Wöckel, respectively, received the book by Klaus Roth "Chemical Treats." Five other slammers received consolation prizes: Viktoria Ganss, Lars-Hendrik Schilling, Eric Siemes, Christoph Steinbach and Marie Westphal. Amitabh Banerji explained (with background music) how OLEDs work and tinkered with the camera in a few minutes.

Pictures and videos from the 1st ChemSlam

Copyright of the pictures by Wolfgang Gerhartz