Keynote Speakers
Lutz Nasdala, Universität Wien, Austria
Lutz Nasdala is full professor of mineralogy and spectroscopy working at Universität Wien, Austria. He received his doctoral degree in mineralogy at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Freiberg Mining Academy, Germany. After several PostDocs, including University of Hawaii and Curtin University of Technology Perth, he completed his habilitation at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. He was awarded a Marie Curie Chair of Excellence in mineral spectroscopy (2006–2009) by the European Commission, which was the first ever Excellence Chair in mineralogy. His current research interests include defects and internal textures of minerals, gemstone analysis, accessory minerals, and irradiation damage.
The keynote lecture “Raman spectroscopy – How it all began” attempts to give a historic overview of the discovery of Raman scattering, and will provide related information. Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888–1970) was a renowned physicist; a remarkably intelligent, determined and enthusiastic person. His ground-breaking discovery of energy shift upon light scattering, first announced 28 February 1928, earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930, thus making him the first Indian to receive a Nobel Prize in science. Raman is now adored in his mother country, for his outstanding contributions. Since 1987 India celebrates 28 February as the National Science Day in schools, colleges, universities and other institutions all across the country, to commemorate and pay tribute to the discovery of the Raman effect.
Webpage: https://mineralogie.univie.ac.at/scistaff/lutz-nasdala/
Email: lutz.nasdala@univie.ac.at
Maria Luce Frezzotti, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italia
Maria Luce Frezzotti, PhD, is a full professor of petrology at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan, Italy. Since 2021, is Dean of the Doctoral School. Before her current role, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and as an associate professor at Siena University. Maria Luce’s research primarily focuses on fluid phases in geological processes. She utilises various approaches, including Raman spectroscopy, geochemistry and thermodynamics, to investigate diamond formation, metamorphic processes, mantle metasomatism, and volcanism. Her scientific contributions were recognised with the medal of the Accademia delle Scienze, detta dei XL, the National Academy of Science. She is a fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America. Additionally, she has initiated numerous efforts to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in her field to foster a more inclusive scientific community.
The lecture on “Raman Microspectroscopy to Unravel Earth’s Deep Carbon Cycling” discusses recent research that highlights the ability of Raman spectroscopy to characterise geogenic carbon, offering high-resolution detailed insights into different carbon form features (e.g., speciation in aqueous solutions, crystalline structure, and fluid isotopic signature) by non-destructive, site-specific, and spatially resolved labelling at the microscale.
Webpage: https://www.unimib.it/maria-luce-frezzotti
Email: maria.frezzotti@unimib.it