Officially opened: 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting – Focus on chemistry

• A week of dialogue: 34 laureates meet with more than 600 young scientists
• Federal Minister Johanna Wanka: “Making excellent science tangible”
• Nobel Peace Laureate Ramos-Horta and bishop Stålsett participate in the dialogue

63rd Nobel Laureate Meeting, official opening depicting 
Countess Bettina Bernadotte and 18 Nobel Laureates, 
Photo: Christian Flemming

The 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting was officially opened on Sunday, 30 June, by Countess Bettina Bernadotte, President of the Council. Her opening speech ushered in a week of intercultural dialogue among elite scientists of different generations: 34 laureates and more than 600 young scientists from almost 80 countries are taking part in the meeting, the only one of its kind in the world. Until Friday, 5 July, the focus will be on chemistry. In addition to issues surrounding basic research, discussions will centre on chemistry’s application in areas such as power supply, pharmaceutical research and sustainable resources. Although the concept of ‘‘green chemistry’’ is one of the main topics on the meeting’s agenda for the week, biochemical processes and structures, and the generation, conversion and storage of chemical energy are also the subject of the many speeches and discussions to be held.

‘‘Science and education are catalysts of international understanding,’’ said Countess Bernadotte. ‘‘The language of science is universal and is understood across all national, cultural or religious boundaries.’’ This is a fact that is also underscored by the attendance of Nobel Peace Laureate and former president of East Timor, José Ramos-Horta. In addition to cutting-edge scientific topics, issues that affect society as a whole and matters of global consequence are assuming an ever- greater significance on the agenda of the meetings. After all, debates on the influence and responsibility of the scientific community extend beyond the circle of meeting participants and into society at large.

In her words of welcome, German Federal Minister of Education and Research Johanna Wanka said, ‘‘Excellent science transcends borders; today successful scientific careers take an international course. There are few places in the world where cutting-edge research is made as tangible for young scientists as here in Lindau.’’ Along with Minister Wanka more than 200 guests of honour from politics, business and science were present at the opening ceremony.

In a multi-step international application and selection process, which this year involved more than 150 academic partner institutions from all around the globe, the Lindau Council singled out more than 600 especially qualified students, doctoral students and post-docs to take part in the meeting. ‘‘I am impressed by the expertise, the curiosity and the energy of the young participants. The Lindau Meeting offers them a unique opportunity for the intercultural and intergenerational exchange of knowledge and ideas exchange and for networking,’’ declared Hartmut Michel, the German Chemistry Nobel Laureate, who is attending his 16th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting this year. Physics Nobel Laureate Steven Chu, who was the US Secretary of Energy until April 2013, is also in Lindau again this year. Attending for the first time are the 2012 Nobel Laureates Brian Kobilka (Chemistry), Serge Haroche and David Wineland (both Physics), whose lectures are eagerly awaited.

The Foundation Lindau Nobelprizewinners Meetings at Lake Constance, which has 262 Nobel Laureates in its Founders Assembly, used the opening ceremony as an occasion to pay tribute to the social commitment and the dedication to education, science and research of three supporters and companions of the Lindau Meetings: Gunnar Stålsett, bishop emeritus of Oslo and member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the organisation responsible for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize, Markus Storch, who chaired the Nobel Foundation for 17 years, and Klaus Tschira, co- founder of software company SAP and benefactor of one of Europe’s largest charitable foundations, were admitted into the Honorary Senate. Wolfgang Schürer, Chairman of the Lindau Foundation’s Board of Directors, described the three as outstanding personalities who had been role models, working selflessly in the service of society.

‘‘Educate. Inspire. Connect.’’ is the leitmotif of the Lindau Meetings, and it is the reason for the Nobel Laureates’ exceptional dedication. They invest a week of their precious time pro bono to build bridges between the generations and provide young scientists with experience, inspiration and motivation. With their speeches, as candid participants in the numerous discussions and as advisers and mentors in master classes they hold, the laureates make a valuable contribution to achieving that aim. Anyone with an interest in science anywhere in the world can follow what goes on at the Lindau Meetings over the internet, sharing in the fascination of what the laureates have to relate. The mediatheque of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings not only contains countless audio recordings, videos and photos from more than 60 years of past meetings, it also comprises explanations, background information, translations and mini lectures, which are arranged in clusters and designed as introductions to selected topics. The videos of the lectures and panel debates from the 63rd Lindau Meeting can also be accessed in the mediatheque.

http://www.lindau-nobel.org/