Ultrafast spectroscopy of model biological membranes
Ghosh, A.
Citation
Ghosh, A. (2009, September 2). Ultrafast spectroscopy of model biological membranes.
Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/13945
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Dankwoord
The challenging task of completing this thesis couldn’t have been accomplished without the mo- tivation and selfless support of some of the most nicest individuals I’ve ever met. Here I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone at the Biosurface Spectroscopy Group at AMOLF for providing me with the essential artillery towards the realization of this thesis and making my stay a total experience. Firstly, although words fall short, I wish to thank Mischa for providing me not only the opportunity to work in his group but also for motivating me all along as a friend and appreciating my efforts, and most importantly by being critical of my experimental results.
He has taken me by the hand, whether be it carrying my boxes from Amsterdam Centraal to my apartment upon my arrival in this country or be it teaching me the art of public scientific oratory. I thank Mischa for all that I’ve learnt under his tutelage. It’s been a great experience to have worked with Marc and Ellen in building the time-resolved SFG setup while I would like to thank Niels for helping in automating it. It was certainly a painful task which couldn’t have been accomplished without keeping up the humour and playing all kinds of odd songs at odd hours in the lab! I would also like to thank Dr. Martin Sterrer (at the Fritz H¨aber Institute, Berlin) for accompanying me in my first late night scientific escapades. Without you guys, I couldn’t have worked for 48 hour shifts - which soon became a habit - and helped me carry on even after you guys left AMOLF. I would also like to thank Maria and Sjors for not only introducing me to SFG but also for being very supportive through thick and thin and keeping the lab environment stress-free, especially by raising the optical table by 10 cms ;-) Wish you all the best Maria on your PhD defense next week! Thanks Euan, Mattijs and Joep for being my first office mates - it was totally awesome! Euan - thanks for opening my eyes towards my understanding of surfaces from a completely tangential perspective - An analysis of the forces required to drag sheep over various surfaces (Applied Ergonomics, Volume 33, Issue 6, November 2002, Pages 523-531) - the range of surfaces used in the study were corru- gated aluminum sheets to barbed wire! Also thanks Euan for sending emails from my account to Mischa - how to whack your boss in 13 ways (it’s 20 nowadays) and almost jeopardizing my job here!
Mattijs - thanks for introducing me to the Anarchist’s Cookbook - if you ever come across a bomb made of tomatoes, cucumbers, lemon and vinegar, you know whom to look for ;-) Joep - thanks for your relentless efforts to getting me hooked on to Britney. Your efforts have definitely paid off by
transforming my hate for her into indifference towards her - that’s really a BIG step! Jens - it was great working with you through the nights on the 2D-SFG setup and we shall remember the best song in the world, especially the refrain ”We are but Men”! Susumu - thanks for everything you did in the last year of my PhD. I’m sorry if the time-resolved SFG setup has sapped all life force from you - but let me tell you, no one can be as able an heir to the time-resolved throne (if something like that exists) as yourself. Also it seems you’re in a better position to be the editor-in-chief for our New Journal of PAIN (Polarization Anisotropy at INterfaces). Thanks Klaas, Gianluca, Katrin and James for all the pep-talk and preserving the general camaraderie in the group; although Klaas’
contribution to the Bonn group camaraderie is only half. Thanks Ronald - for being my office-mate and flat-mate for most of the period of my stay here. Our nightly escapades to various parties mostly with terrible music and warm 1 Euro beer, dealing with evil old neighbours, house-cleaning fights and interviewing strange applicants for the room at Krammerstraat would be some of the memories that’ll tag along with me. Kramer - thanks for the wonderful discussions we’ve had, treading across almost every topic under the sun from the depths of Antarctic ice-cores to flying my dream craft SR-71. Also thanks for helping me out with this thesis - it would take much longer if you hadn’t been so kind to help me in general LaTEX formatting issues. Issues - think ’bout it, just think ’bout it! I shall always cherish the silly discussions over lunch, the numerous coffee breaks, the thirsty Thursdays and the curry/Bollywood evenings at my place with the Bakker-Bonn group including Han-Kwang, Maaike, Peter, Domenico, Yves, Rutger, the Christians, Jocelyn and Eric. I wish all the younglings in the Biosurface Spectroscopy group, the very best in their endeavours at AMOLF and beyond - Thuy, Steven, Ruben and Cho-Shuen. Ruben, you have the extra responsibility of keeping the moronic traditions in our office since you have the honor of being Euan’s successor (chair/desk-wise). I must say that my stay in the Netherlands, wouldn’t probably be half as enjoy- able without you guys! I must also thank all my Indian friends in the city - Rajoy, Rajesh, Rajat, Ritika, Onkar, Nilanjan, Sumedha, Shishir, Nayantara and Ganesh - for all the good times we’ve had together. It was particularly great to have Rajat here after our Delhi University days, some 8-9 years ago. You guys made this place my second home. Keep rockin’. Just like every building has a very strong foundation, the success of this PhD thesis should also be attributed to the reliable and strong support groups at AMOLF - including the E&I, the design workshop and the Personnel department. Particularly I would like to thank Hinco his selfless support in everything from fixing the air-co to the beastly YLF laser from time to time while seriously jeopardizing his beer sessions in Leiden. Ernst, Ad de Snaijer, Iliya Cerjak, Duncan, Idsart and Ilja Stavenuiter have also been extremely helpful and prompt with some of my mechanical and electronics design demands. I must also mention the help I received from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, especially Dr. Johan Bakker and Jose Dijkzeul with placing my orders and general administrative issues. Thanks guys! Last but not the least, I shall remain indebted to my mum, dad and my younger brother in Delhi for not only being patient with me and my scientific endeavours but also being my spiritual strength that drove me all along, despite the physical distance of 7000 kilometres! I shall never forget the sacrifices you made to give me the best in life despite the situations we’ve been through and I promise to keep up to your expectations. For one, I dedicate this thesis to you. I love you all.
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Curriculum Vita
Avishek Ghosh was born in London, U.K. in 1979. He moved to India along with his parents in 1984.
He completed his primary, secondary and senior secondary education from Tagore International School (East of Kailash) in Delhi in 1998, with a distinction in Mathematics. He went on to study Chemistry in St. Stephen’s College at the University of Delhi and received his Bachelor of Science degree with Honours in 2001. Further he went on to complete his Master of Science degree in Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi in 2003. He spent a year (2004-2005) at the Max-Planck Instit¨ut f¨ur Quantenoptik in Garching (M¨unchen) before joining Universiteit Leiden in April 2005. Most of his work presented in this thesis were performed in Prof. Mischa Bonn’s Biosurface Spectroscopy group at the FOM-Instituut voor Atoom- en Molecuulfysica (AMOLF), located in the Science Park in Amsterdam. Currently he’s still working at AMOLF on some ongoing projects. He shall be moving to the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs in CA (USA), by the end of 2009, as a Postdoctoral Fellow. His future work is directed towards Ultrafast X-ray Spectroscopy. Some of his hobbies are music, photography and playing squash. His parents live in the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India and his younger brother has recently joined a Ph.D. programme in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Rochester, NY (USA).
