= Christoph Neinhuis
{c}
= C. Neinhuis
{c}
{synonym}
\b[C. Neinhuis], identified as \b[Christoph Neinhuis] in the Bonn team's 1998 nomination profile, investigated how plant surfaces repel water and shed contamination with <W. Barthlott>. Their work connected plant structure with <biomimetics>.<Unverschmutzbare Werkstoffe: Team 1 1998 by Deutscher Zukunftspreis>[team identities, Bonn affiliation and project description]{ref}
The 1997 experiment compared smooth and rough water-repellent plant surfaces. After artificial contamination, the specimens were rinsed using a sprinkler or fog generator; rolling droplets removed particles from the water-repellent leaves. This supplied a functional test of the <lotus effect>, beyond simply imaging an unusual surface.<Purity of the sacred lotus, or escape from contamination in biological surfaces by W. Barthlott and C. Neinhuis>[Abstract, comparison surfaces, artificial contamination and rinsing]{ref}
An original quantitative comparison would count retained particles over equal sampled areas. Suppose two surfaces each begin with 1000 particles; after matched rinsing one retains 50 and the other 400. The respective removal fractions are $1-50/1000=95\%$ and $1-400/1000=60\%$. These hypothetical counts illustrate a measurable cleaning outcome, not data from Neinhuis's paper.
The comparison needs controls for particle type, initial loading, water delivery and how the sampled area is selected. A surface can have a large static <contact angle> yet pin droplets through <contact-angle hysteresis>. Measuring water repellency, droplet motion and contamination removal separately therefore tests more of the proposed mechanism than a single photograph of a rounded droplet.
\Image[https://www.deutscher-zukunftspreis.de/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2019-09/dzp_1998_t1_barthlott_neinhuis_foto_deutscher_zukunftspreis_ansgar_pudenz_1_1.jpg?itok=8rYyHh2O]
{title=Wilhelm Barthlott at left and Christoph Neinhuis at right, identified in the 1998 Deutscher Zukunftspreis nomination profile; photograph by Ansgar Pudenz}
{width=360}
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