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Before the defense, the family, the paranymphs and the closest guests gather in a guest-room. (Photos by Triu)
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The paranymphs or so-called "reserve-penguins" are there to (morally) support the defendant. In my case these were: my very good friend and former colleague Georgi
Jojgov and my dear friend and co-author Falk Bartels. They may be asked -although it rarely happens in reality- to answer a question at the defense. Therefore we do last preparations.
(Photos by Triu, except the rightmost one)
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The defense starts, the first question is asked by the promotor "Could you shortly tell us what your thesis is about?" The answer is the short presentation - lekenpraatje, approximately 10 minutes.
(Photos by Giovanni and Jinfeng, rsp.)
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The committee members take their turn in asking questions in the next 50 minutes (no flash allowed, therefore few photos). The candidate answers. The audience has fun. None of this is visible on the photos.
(Photos by Giovanni and ?)
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The pedel (the man carrying the stick) enters the room when exactly one hour has passed and ends the
defense with the words "hora est!".
After a short break
the committee returns, the promotor gives the diploma, and the copromotor gives a nice funny speech.(Photos by
Jinfeng and ?)
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Here are all the involved people together (Photo by Jinfeng):
Right after the defense, there was a reception.(Photos by Jinfeng and Giovanni)
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Afterwards there was a party in cafe De Wildeman.
According to the established tradition in FM, thanks to Tijn Borghuis, my FM colleagues sang me a
song. (Photos by Georgi)
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At the end of the long day, tired but happy - with lots of flowers and Harald (Photo by Georgi, in front of Dragan's place).
