Soft Matter Science Revealed through Cooking


Acclaimed chef Jose Andres visited the Harvard MRSEC to collaborate with Center researchers and speak to students in the ES139. Innovations in Science and Engineering class; the laboratory and classroom discussions were filmed for a feature on 60 Minutes through a special agreement with the University. Andres and his mentor, Ferran Adrià, a pioneer in molecular gastronomy from Barcelona, Spain, have been working with Dave Weitz and Michael Brenner on a new course Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter that will be part of the new program in General Education at Harvard College in 2010. Twelve world-class chefs and food experts, noted for both their culinary and communication abilities, will also participate in the course along with Center faculty. "Cooking provides an ideal framework to study a variety of complex phenomena—from basic chemistry to materials science to applied physics—through something familiar to everyone: food," says Weitz.

David A. Weitz (Physics & Applied Physics)
Cynthia M. Friend (SEAS)
Harvard MRSEC (DMR-1420570)