A beautiful poem written by Anna-Carina Seitlinger to her beloved boyfriend Christoph Frühwirth on the 19th December 2025′ [X-MAT] Secret Santa and end of yearly dinner meeting! I am reproducing the poem in its full format as released by both Anna and Christoph!
Once king of fission, neutron and core,
Criticality fears him – equations adore.
Reactors stood still when he entered the scene,
A nuclear god – precise, pristine.
Mean free paths? Trivial. Cross sections? Cute.
Chain reactions obeyed, impeccably mute.
From PWRs to fast flux delight,
Christoph calculated straight through the night.
MCNP-certified, every neutron in sight.
For deep-space shielding, you said with a grin:
“Density matters – just add more within.”
But matter replied (with a metallurgist’s tone):
“I come with defects you don’t see in a zone.”
Dislocations slipped, then tangled and stayed,
Orowan loops formed, motion delayed.
Vacancies wandered, diffusion set free,
Grain boundaries asked: low angle or Σ3?
Grain boundaries tried hard to move and to grow,
But particles said: no, this is as far as you go.
Second phases smiled, effective and sly,
Pinning the structure – Zener said hi.
Then irradiation struck, energetic and fast,
A PKA launched a ballistic blast.
Cascades displaced with diffusion held still,
Point defects formed against every will.
“What’s the yield strength?” you ask with pride –
Confident it’s constant, like neutrons you guide.
Aluminium laughs because it’s not:
Temperature rises, grains move, dislocations plot.
Recovery wakes, slip systems play,
Recrystallisation steals your T6 away.
So take this dedication, technical but kind:
Neutrons are loyal. Materials have minds.
Author: Anna-Carina Seitlinger
Materials at Extremes 