06th - 11th October 2016
 
 
bande annonce
  • Le Miroir
  • François-Xavier Vives, director of the film<span class='copyright'> © AST-Pariscience, Philip Martin</span>
  • Jérôme Gavillet, research Engineer<span class='copyright'> © AST-Pariscience, Philip Martin</span>
  • David Quéré, head of research, Laboratory of physics and heterogeneous environments mechanicsm CNRS, ESPCI, University Paris 6 and 7<span class='copyright'> © AST-Pariscience, Philip Martin</span>
  • During the debate<span class='copyright'> © AST-Pariscience, Philip Martin</span>
  • The audience<span class='copyright'> © AST-Pariscience, Philip Martin</span>
 
 

The Lotus, from Spirituality to Hypertechnology

Saturday 09th October 2010 from 13h00 to 14h30
Salle 1 / Auditorium

Directed by
François-Xavier Vives
Written by
François-Xavier Vives
Produced by
Le Miroir, ARTE France, CNRS Images, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle

Documentary, France, 2010, 53 min

Competition Grand jury

An ancestral symbol of spirituality, the lotus is nowadays an emblem of the technological revolution. From the shores of the Ganges to French research laboratories, from the summit of Mount Fuji to the Institute for Bionics in Berlin, we discover the "lotus effect" and its surprising hydrophobic properties which incite new scientific approaches: bionics, nanoscience, physionics, etc.

Never has nature nor its structures stimulated our imagination so much. Intelligent surfaces for the automobile or building industry, miniaturized medical laboratories on chips… Innumerable, tremendous and unsuspected application fields are now open. However, such innovations are mainly reserved to our Western "high-tech" world. Has the lotus, symbol of creation and of inner paths to knowledge in Eastern culture, become yet another avatar of material culture in our hands? Researchers, landscapers and botanists guide us towards these new scientific borders whilst pondering over such a paradox.

 

Debate with :

  • François-Xavier Vives, Director
  • Jérôme Gavillet, research Engineer
  • David Quéré, head of research, Laboratory of physics and heterogeneous environments mechanicsm CNRS, École supérieure de physique chimie industrielle (ESPCI), University Paris 6 and 7