My Lab Essentials: ‘The Swimming Professor’ Andreas Fath

In the second article in our new series, My Lab Essentials, the ‘Swimming Professor’, Prof Dr Andreas Fath, from the University of Furtwangen, Germany, discusses his novel research into the electrochemical degradation of water contaminants and the equipment that is vital to his work.

Prof Dr Fath designed a novel device to electrochemically decompose fluorinated surfactants in waste water. He says “We designed a sustainable electrochemical decomposition device that uses the energy of the sun to produce an electrical current.” This device could provide a technique to degrade contaminates that are usually difficult to destroy.

In 2014, Prof Dr Fath completed a 764-mile (1,231 km) swim of Germany’s River Rhine to raise awareness of his research into water treatment, earning him the name the ‘Swimming Professor’. The Rheines Wasser project raised awareness of the importance of his research and sponsorship for the University of Furtwangen to purchase vital water analysis equipment. During the 28-day record breaking marathon swim, Prof Dr Fath collected water samples from the Rhine for analysis at the University of Furtwangen and other research institutions. The compounds analyzed from the Rhine included pesticides, pharmaceuticals and sweeteners.

Here are Prof Dr Fath’s Lab Essentials, the technology he couldn’t do without:

1. 4000 QTRAP® LC/MS/MS System from AB SCIEX
2. Clarus GC/MS from Perkin Elmer
3. Spotlight 200 FT-IR Imaging System from Perkin Elmer
4. TENSOR™ series FT-IR spectrometers from Bruker Optik GmbH
5. PGStat 101 from Metrohm
6. 916 Ti-Touch Compact Titrator from Metrohm
7. 915 KF Ti-Touch from Metrohm


Which lab equipment makes your research possible? Review your lab equipment here.

Image: Taken by Braxart/Furtwangen University