E!
The eureka moment, the moment when you have a brilliant idea or a sudden discovery. We asked UT researchers about their eureka experience.
EUREKA
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During my doctoral research, I was looking for a
the UT’s pool. Suddenly, mid-stroke, everything fell into
fast filter switch. When I first started my search, I
place. What if I could make a switch without nodes? Im-
was just playing around a bit. I would do a literature
agine a city without intersections, through which you can
study later; for now, I just wanted to try some things out
move at high speed.
myself. I simulated a switch on my computer and it turned
I immediately climbed out of the pool and asked the
out that the simulation basically did exactly what I was
lifeguard, Henk Siers, for a pen and a piece of paper. All he
looking for. It just wasn’t very fast yet.
could find was a newspaper. Still dripping wet, I drew the
With this switch design on my mind, I went for a swim in
switch on some newspaper articles. I knew that this had