Thesis defense events are open to general audience and they
can be boring if you don’t understand the topic.
That’s what happened to me today when my
"Fulbright Buddy" Pirkko invited me to attend the thesis defense event at the Aalto University in
Espoo for her nephew.
The title of his defense was “Generalized Solutions to the
Porous Medium Equation”.
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| Page from the Thesis |
At the
beginning, everyone received a 140-page report that was full of equations. It was written in English. I glanced the book and at that moment I was
thinking, what did I agree to do!
Exactly at 12.10 three people in black suits walked in and everyone in
the audience stood up. One person of
course was the thesis defender Pekka Lehtelä, one was the opponent from Madrid Spain,
professor Matteo Bonforte, and the third one was the advisor, professor Juha
Kinnunen.
The defender gave a half an hour talk about his findings. This
was in Finnish.
He introduced the
equations and I had no clue what he was talking about.
Next, the opponent talked his theory on the Medium
Equations in English.
This time I
understood few ideas, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Heat, Energy, and
Density.
Hmm… interesting, kind of.
The next hour must have been cruelling to the
defender.
The opponent took the theses write-up
and asked questions on almost every page of the thesis. Pekka had to explain,
explain and explain, page after page. Even I did not understand anything, I
knew he was doing a good job because his advisor was nodding and smiling all
the time.
 |
| Pekka giving his Talk |
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| Opponent Giving His talk |
The event ended after the opponent reflected on the thesis
for about 15 more minutes.
Pekka got
high remarks and passed the exam with flying colors.
Congratulations Pekka for your PhD! The three role players walked out of the room.
Coffee and cake was served to everyone.
This was different what I remember 40 years ago when I attended a thesis
defense in Finland.
Once the debate was
over, bottles of champagne and cognac were opened and alcohol flowed freely
among the guests.
Times have
changed.
I was later invited to the home of the mother to celebrate this special occasion. Lovely barbecue and nice warm weather. I interviewed Pekka and he told me that he can continue his research at the Aalto University through the summer. Then he will take a break and later search for a job. I got the impression that there was no hurry. He had no interest in continuing his research abroad. He spent a year studying in Korea and was in no rush to travel. Finland was the place to stay.
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| The backyard of the mother of the new Doctor. |
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| New Doctor! |
