Invitation to the ICTP colloquium on "The weird and wonderful World of Catalysis and how I got there" by Prof. Michele Parrinello, on Wednesday 10 September at 16:00 hrs

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Invitation to the ICTP colloquium on "The weird and wonderful World of 
Catalysis and how I got there" by Prof. Michele Parrinello, on Wednesday 
10 September at 16:00 hr Dear All,

You are most cordially invited to the *ICTP Colloquium* on "*The weird 
and wonderful World of Catalysis and how I got there*" by *Prof. Michele 
Parrinello* from the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, Italy.

The Colloquium will take place on *Wednesday 10 September 2025 in the 
Budinich Lecture Hall at ICTP at 16:00* *hrs CET.
*


Biosketch:
Michele Parrinello has been full Professor of Computational Science at 
ETH Zurich since July 2001. Until March 2003 he was Director of the 
Swiss Center for Scientific Computing (CSCS) in Manno and is now with 
the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, Italy as Senior Researcher 
- Principal Investigator: Atomistic Simulations.
Born in Messina, Italy, in 1945, he obtained his degree in physics in 
1968 from Bologna, Italy. Prior to joining ETH, he was Director at the 
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany, and 
previous positions include research staff member at the IBM Research 
Laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland, and full professor at SISSA, Trieste, 
Italy. He is a former Member of ICTP's Scientific Council.

Prof. Parrinello'​s scientific interests are strongly interdisciplinary 
and include the study of complex chemical reactions, hydrogen-​bonded 
systems, catalysis and materials science. Together with Roberto Car he 
introduced the ab-​initio molecular dynamics method, which he is still 
developing and applying. This method, which goes under the name of 
Car-​Parrinello method, represents the beginning of a new field and has 
dramatically influenced the field of electronic structure calculations 
for solids, liquids and molecules.


Abstract:
Catalysis is at the heart of chemical science and is key to the 
development of an environmentally friendly chemical industry, yet the 
workings of many key industrial heterogeneous processes like the 
Haber-Bosch production of ammonia are poorly understood. This is the 
result of a gap that has so far existed between the low temperature 
regime at which experiments and theoretical investigations have been 
feasible and the high temperature and high pressure operando conditions. 
This gap is being closed more slowly by experiments and more quickly by 
theory. Progress in theory has been fueled by the application of machine 
learning methods to ab-initio-like molecular dynamics simulations. These 
simulations have revealed a very complex behavior in which the presence 
of the reagents modifies not only the surface structure but sometimes 
also the bulk. An industrial catalyst is not just a support for active 
sites but is transformed by temperature and reagents into a highly 
fluctuating state of matter in which active sites are continuously 
formed and destroyed, thus avoiding poisoning. We shall also review from 
a personal perspective the complex and long pathway that has enabled 
addressing such a complex problem.

Light refreshments will be served after the event.

For info,  see link: https://indico.ictp.it/event/11104

The Colloquium takes place during the "Conference on Frontiers in 
Atomistic Simulations: from Physics to Chemistry and Biology".

For info on the conference, see link: https://indico.ictp.it/event/10863/

Looking forward to your participation.

With best regards,

Director's Office, ICTP
www.ictp.it