Dave Blank – Honorary member since 25 October 2001

In 1990, Dave Blank became one of the first Members of Merit of Arago. At this point he was already strongly involved with the drinks committee, and the organisation of many activities including the lustra. Nevertheless, his involvement only continued to grow in the subsequent years.

After his first study trip to Belgium, as a Member of Merit he was already a guide to the 1992 CEASAR study tour, the 1995 COSMOS study tour, and a participant in the 2002 Aztec study tour. Furthermore, he has dedicated himself to arrange the requisite cases for the organising committees and to use his international network in order to establish contacts.

Apart from an activist, he is also a good spokesperson for Applied Physics generally and Arago specifically. It thus came to no surprise that he was awarded the eternal title of Mr. TN and that his membership was upgraded further to Honorary Member in 2001.

Since 5 November 2010, Dave Blank can also call himself a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. He received this award for his groundbreaking work in nanotechnology and science generally, but also for his efforts for societal matters in Twente, such as popularising of the arts.