All matter is composed of atoms, which are too small to see without powerful modern instruments including electron microscopes. The same electrons that form images of atomic structures can also be used to move atoms in materials.
Finnish physicist Toma Susi has received the prized ERC Starting Grant of the European Research Council that funds pioneering basic research. The five-year grant of 1.5 million euros allows him to establish a research group at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Vienna to create a new way to manipulate materials at the atomic level.

In this video, Dr. Toma Susi from the Faculty of Physics introduces the science and the people behind research whose fruits were published in Physical Review Letters (doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.115501). Drawing together researchers from five research groups in Vienna, the UK and the US, the collaboration combined advanced electron microscopy with demanding computer simulations to show how silicon atoms can be precisely and non-destructively moved in the graphene lattice.

A visualisation of the silicon-carbon bond inversion based on density functional theory molecular dynamics simulations by Toma Susi et al. (to be published in Physical Review Letters in Fall 2014).

The 5th ScienceSLAM Helsinki was held on June 13th, in Helsinki’s brand new Pavilion (Ullanlinnankatu 2-4) for this summer’s World Design Capital festivities. The event was organized in collaboration with the Technology Academy Finland and is part of the “Science and Technology Hit The Town” programme along with the Millennium Technology Prize Award Ceremony. ScienceSLAM Helsinki is a popular science event series, aimed at the general public to promote science and research in a creative and entertaining way. Participants can come from all areas and stages of science, and are free to present a topic related to their own research expertise. Presenters have ten minutes each to win the votes of the audience. The medium of presentation is free and can range from a more traditional talk, to a dance choreography or self-made video clip. A stimulating, entertaining performance is at least as important as pure scientific value. Creativity and fun is strongly encouraged! The language of the event and presentations is English. http://www.scienceslam.fi

Media

Collected media commentary, press releases and news items related to my research, and some other writings.

2025

  • Atom diffraction study in Science (free access link):

    • DLR press release (EN, DE)

    • Faculty of Physics news item (EN, DE)

    • APA news item “Premiere: Schuss mit Atomstrahl durch Graphen offenbart Quantenmuster” (DE)

    • Perspective by Bodil Holst in Science (EN)

  • New Scientist story on atom diffraction arXiv preprint (EN, €€€)

2024

  • KU Leuven Open Science day: “Relying on impact factors to assess researchers is simply non-scientific” (EN)

2023

2022

  • Uni. Vienna press release: “"Hot" graphene reveals migration of carbon atoms” (EN, DE). Austrian Press Agency news item (DE).

    • Additional coverage (PlumX).

2021

  • TU Wien press release: “Anchoring single atoms” (EN, DE). Austrian Press Agency news item (DE).

  • Uni. Vienna press release: “Modeling uncovers an "atomic waltz" for atom manipulation“ (EN, DE). Austrian Press Agency news item (DE).

    • CORDIS EU news item: “Atom manipulation in silicon dances to the tune of an “atomic waltz“ (EN, DE, ES, FR, IT, PL)

    • Additional coverage (altmetrics).

  • Open Research Europe (ORE) launch activities: ORE Blog post (EN), Twitter live chat (EN), University of Helsinki Think Open blog interview (FI), University of Vienna library Open Access news (DE).

  • Flicker, Katharina, Sanchéz, Barbara, & Susi, Toma: Visions, needs and requirements for (future) research environments: An exploration with ERC Grantee Toma Susi. Zenodo (2021).

2020

  • FWF press release: “Taking the road less travelled” (EN), “Das Bekannte hinter sich lassen” (DE) (FWF ‘1000 Ideas’ funding program grant)

  • Comment on APS March meeting 2020 cancellation (Nature, Gizmodo)

  • Comment on Questionable research practices study (Chemistry World)

2019

  • Comment on Weekend and holiday work study (New York Times)

  • EOSC Interview: “What do our researchers think about the EOSC? Interview with Toma Susi” (EN)

  • IISC-23 conference outing in Matsue, Japan (NHK News, JP)

  • Junge Forschung interview in Die Presse: “Atome wie Billardkugeln schubsen” (print, DE; online, DE)

  • Uni. Vienna press release: “Playfully discover atom manipulation” (EN), “Atom-Manipulationen spielerisch entdecken“ (DE). Austrian Press Agency news item (DE)

  • MIT News press release: “Manipulating atoms one at a time with an electron beam” (EN).

    • Additional coverage by IEEE Spectrum (EN), Phys.org (EN), others

  • Uni. Vienna press release: “Neue Aussicht für atomare Präzisionsdotierung” (DE). Austrian Press Agency news item (DE)

  • Interview for newspaper article on open access Plan S for Der Standard (print, DE)

  • ERC-StG ATMEN featured in EDMA’s Project repository journal (p.96, EN)

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

  • Kohti tutkimuksen avointa verkkojulkaisemista— hinnalla millä hyvänsä? (pdf, in Finnish, Signum 6/2012)

2012

2011