Fredy Zypman
Fredy Zypman

Fredy Zypman’s perspective is shaped, to a large degree, by his childhood experience. It’s this experience, and the obstacles that he overcame during his early years that have led to him being recognized with the 2018 Materials Today Embracing Challenge Award. Fredy’s background is one that many  young scientists can relate to, and we hope that by sharing his story we can inspire others to overcome the adversity that they face in their everyday lives.

Fredy grew up in Uruguay as part of a large family with no tertiary education and financial difficulties. During his childhood, Uruguay went from economic recession to a period of civil unrest, followed by a coup d’etat and a long period of authoritarian rule that made life extremely difficult for aspiring and practicing scientists.

In his last year in high school Fredy made the decision to investigate the options he had to study physics in Uruguay. When visiting the Physics Institute to explore opportunities he was told that the study of physics in the country was in a steep decline – there were no longer students of physics, no professors and no facilities. There was one University in the country that could provide an engineering education, Universidad de la República Oriental del Uruguay, which Fredy eventually attended. To supplement the education he received from the university, Fredy had to organize small group private sessions with a former professor of Physics to learn elements of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Though a seemingly mundane activity, this was not without risk –unreported gatherings were restricted in Uruguay at that time. Certain political or suspicious books were prohibited , and simply carrying a book on Quantum Physics once led to Fredy being taken to a police station for interrogation.

...he was told that the study of physics in the country was in a steep decline – there were no longer students of physics, no professors and no facilities...

Facing these educational and political challenges, Fredy also faced the challenge of learning how to use scientific instruments without having good access to the instruments themselves. A demonstration of how to use an oscilloscope was delivered by a university Professor who showed the unplugged device to a class of over 200 students, for the first time during their third year of their careers. When Fredy was finally able to use a functioning instrument, an X-Ray diffractometer (albeit 30 years old), the instrument broke down indefinitely after only three uses as replacement parts were no longer manufactured. 

Once Fredy had achieved his BS in Engineering from Universidad de la República Oriental del Uruguay, he realized that there was no option to stay in Uruguay to pursue his scientific passion – many Argentinian, Chilean and Uruguayan scientists  had moved to the newly created Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela, so Fredy made his way there, funding his studies by tutoring high school students and then later as a teaching and research assistant.

When Fredy was finally able to use a functioning instrument, an X-Ray diffractometer (albeit 30 years old), the instrument broke down indefinitely after only three uses as replacement parts were no longer manufactured.

Showing great promise at Universidad Simón Bolívar, Fredy’s professor at the time helped him to obtain a place at Case Western Reserve University to pursue his PhD. Not one to shirk a challenge, Fredy grasped the opportunity and moved to US with no knowledge of English.

From these inauspicious and then extremely challenging beginnings, Fredy has gone on to make many meaningful contributions to materials science and physics. He’s known as an inventive and adaptable scientist, which was perhaps first shown in his drive and desire to overcome the obstacles he faced in  his youth. He’s now Professor of Physics and the Co-Chair of the Department of Physics at Yeshiva University, New York, USA

Fredy has made progress in numerous fields spanning Medical Instrumentation (MRI, platelet counting, cell nano-tonometer), Construction Materials (in situ monitoring of cement setting), Natural Gas Pipe Protection (sensors for remote monitoring of pipe corrosion), Space Lubrication (nano-sensor to monitor viscosity in unmanned spacecraft), Nano-friction self-organization (seminal work showing that nano-friction increases information), Scanning Probe Microscopy (nano-forces via computer algorithms), Quantum Field Theory (discovered and studied Supersymmetric Coherent States), Colloidal Science (analytical solutions to standing problems, for example the interaction between surfaces and colloids, how to treat ion size effects at the sub-nanometer).

On being selected as the recipient of the 2018 Embracing Challenge Award, Fredy responded with the following: “Thank you to Elsevier’s Materials Today and to the Materials Today Embracing Challenge Award judging panel for selecting me for this year’s award.  It brings back good memories of youthful unbound sources of energy driven just by the love of learning.  More importantly, my hope is that my little story may motivate young minds to a life of learning; to understand its huge potential for self-fulfillment and for serving society.  I see the need to spread this message from interactions with my students, and the young football-soccer players that I support on weekends.  I would like to dedicate this recognition to everyone that endures unjustified restrictions of liberties and opportunities in their everyday life.

Fredy Zypman will be presented with the Embracing Challenge award at Materials Today: The Future of Materials Science in the Next Two Decades event on September 27-28th 2018 at Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA.

...my hope is that my little story may motivate young minds to a life of learning; to understand its huge potential for self-fulfillment and for serving society.

The Materials Today ‘Embracing Challenge award’ aims to recognize researchers in the field of materials science and engineering who have overcome difficult circumstances to pursue their research career, however early or advanced, and are contributing meaningful insights in their particular field of investigation.

‘Difficult circumstances’ may include challenges arising from gender, socioeconomic background, ethnicity/culture, disability, and/or the local economic environment.

To find out more, please visit: https://www.materialstoday.com/embracing-challenge-award-2019

Materials Today is dedicated to the creation and sharing of materials science knowledge and experience. Supported by Elsevier, we publish high impact peer-reviewed journals, organize academic conferences, broadcast educational webinars and so much more. Our journals provide authors and readers with comprehensive coverage across materials science, spanning ground breaking discoveries to highly specialized research; offering exceptional diversity, high quality peer review, rapid publication, maximum visibility and the widest choice.

Materials Today and Rice University are proud to present the first “Materials Today: The Future of Materials Science in the Next Two Decades” workshop.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER

Below are a selection of freely available articles that Fredy has published over his career: