Science lives through people – through their ideas, curiosity, and commitment. In our portrait series, we focus on individuals with very different biographies who show just how diverse the paths into science can be.
Prof. Dr. Nicola Poccia, an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics “Ettore Pancini” at the University of Naples “Federico II,” working jointly with the Institute for Metallic Materials at the IFW Dresden.
I have been at IFW Dresden …
since 2019, when I founded the Superpuddles Lab, which has since grown steadily, attracting numerous students and visiting scientists from Dresden and beyond.
I am originally from …
Piacenza, in northern Italy, although I spent most of my life in Rome for my studies, up to the completion of my PhD.
My research focuses on …
finding the optimal balance between complexity and control in superconducting quantum materials to propagate the strange laws of quantum mechanics from the microscopic to the macroscopic world. I am exploring the consequences of this optimal balance for superconducting quantum technologies thanks to the synergy I am developing between outstanding scientists and labs in Dresden and Naples.
Currently, I work on …
some of the most complex materials known—cuprate superconductors—which exhibit fascinating and mysterious electronic properties that have challenged our understanding for the past 40 years. I have developed a technology that allows us to tailor the potential and kinetic energies of these complex materials, and we are now applying these methods to other artificial quantum materials as well.
What fascinates me most about my field is …
witnessing how it has evolved: how ideas have developed in directions I could scarcely have imagined when I began my PhD. I am deeply grateful for the opportunities this field has given me to meet remarkable people who, in a mysterious and collective way, contribute—despite all the beautiful flaws inherent in any human endeavor—to scientific progress, creating again the conditions for new ideas to emerge. I have witnessed the students struggling with tough problems and I am proud to have seen them succeeding in their careers.
What originally drew me to science …
was precisely indeed this desire to be surrounded by interesting people, and the possibility of forming—even if only roughly—an understanding of the world we inhabit.
The most important milestones in my career …
have largely come from encounters with exceptional mentors, the acquisition of important grants, as well as from a few fortunate rejections of job applications that might otherwise have sent me down paths I would now regret.
What I appreciate most about IFW Dresden is …
that if you have an idea, you can pursue it, colleagues and administrative staff are always very supportive, and few obstacles stand in the way.
When I want to relax, my favorite places in Dresden are …
a couple of beer gardens where I can watch the Elbe River flow by, and the Old Masters Gallery (Alte Meister), which I revisit from time to time.
If I were not a scientist, I would be …
an archaeologist—because uncovering things that have always been there, just hidden, is not so different from what I do now.
Contact
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nicola Poccia
Department of Physics “Ettore Pancini” at the University of Naples “Federico II”
Head of Research Group "Superconducting Nanodevices" at IFW Dresden
n.poccia@ifw-dresden.de
Media contact IFW Dresden:
Patricia Bäuchler
Science Communication
p.baeuchler@ifw-dresden.de
