Young Scientist meets Nobel Prize Winners
05/08/2013
Ever wondered what it would be like to stand face-to-face with a group of Nobel Prize winners and share your ground-breaking work? ANSTO's Anwen Krause-Heuer was fortunate enough and reported on her trip to Lindau in Germany.
Radiochemist Krause-Heuer from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisaion (ANSTO) was one of only a small group of young researchers from around the world selected to mingle with some of the biggest names in science and discuss their work and ideas.
The life scientist from Campbelltown was one of only eight people from Australia and just over 600 globally to be given the honour to travel to Germany for the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting and network with some of the world's best and brightest, including Brian Kobilka winner of the top prize in science for his work on G protein-coupled receptors.
Read her report below.
I am incredibly fortunate to have been selected as one of the Australian delegates at the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate meetings. This year, 34 Nobel Laureates congregated in beautiful Lindau, Germany to meet 625 young researchers from 78 countries. It was such a unique opportunity, and it is quite difficult to capture in words the incredible spirit and inspiring nature of this meeting.
This trip would not have been possible without the generous financial support of the Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) and the Australian Academy of Science, as well as the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) for supplementing my travel. Special thanks also to Professors Mark von Itzstein and Andrew Holmes for travelling with the Australian delegation, and putting the time, effort and resources into organizing additional opportunities to meet with the Laureates. I would encourage all who are interested to utilize the resources offered by the Lindau Mediatheque where videos of past meetings are available for viewing.
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Day One: 30 June
The meeting was formally opened on the afternoon of Sunday 30th June by Countess Bettina Bernadotte. The enthusiasm and dedication that the Countess demonstrates for the Lindau meeting, and her belief in the importance of the role of young scientists was very touching and a perfect start to the meeting. Her heartfelt welcome made me feel incredibly privileged to have been selected to attend the meeting.
The German Minister for Education and Research, Prof Dr Johanna Wanka then spoke on the place of scientific research in Germany. I was so impressed by the commitment of the German Government to investment in scientific research, despite times of economic hardship. After the opening ceremony Paul Stevenson and I were invited to attend dinner hosted by the American students; we had great discussions on a wide range of topics, mainly centred on political differences between our two countries.
These discussions highlighted to me that as scientists we are citizens of a global world, but we work within the constraints of individual nations. We need to understand our political and social environments so that we can find the best way to navigate through these constraints in order to reach our scientific goals.
Day Two: 1 July
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On Monday we started our first day of scientific presentations by the Laureates. Brian Kobilka (Chemistry, 2012) opened the day, and it was encouraging to see that even after winning a Nobel Prize, he was still incredibly nervous before his presentation. Serge Haroche (Physics, 2012) shared some of his thoughts on blue sky research, and how it takes time to converge into novel technologies.
In his opinion the translation of blue sky research into novel technologies require two priceless ingredients: time and trust. For me, the real highlight of the day was the presentation by John Walker (Chemistry, 1997) on ‘ATP- The Fuel of Life’. This talk made me realize that there are so many things that we learn about and take for granted as undergraduate students, but they are truly ground-breaking discoveries. The beautiful animations of the proton pump in action and the analogies to a mechanical machine (spring, pump, bearing); and the intricacies of the different ring symmetries between multicellular and unicellular organisms were fascinating.
On Monday afternoon I went to the Presentation Skills Workshop by Harry Kroto (Chemistry, 1996). He definitely managed to hold my attention, despite the 5pm start time. The main feature he uses in presentation is the hyperlink, where he links multiple sub-presentations together in one master. That way he can skip certain sections of the presentation, depending on time constraints (and interest levels) without having to skip through each slide.
Professor Kroto was also incredibly passionate about giving all people, no matter their geographical location, access to the best educational resources available. His website Global Educational Outreach for Science, Engineering and Technology has made this a reality for many and he encouraged us all to think about recording our work to be accessible to a wider audience. He also encouraged us to watch the lectures by Professor Richard Feynman. Monday evening concluded with dinner hosted by the Republic of Korea.
Day Three: 2 July
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On Tuesday, the highlight for me was the presentation and subsequent discussion session with Aaron Ciechanover (Chemistry, 2004), on ‘Drug Development and Personalised Medicine’. We are now in the era of the 4P’s of medicine: personalized, predictive, preventative and participatory, where diseases should now be looked at within the context of the patient in a systematic (not erratic) manner.
With this comes the bioethical problems of the availability of genetic information that is becoming impossible to protect. This penetrates into the most sensitive layer of our existence, because at present we don’t know the future and we enjoy it. In his opinion, we cannot limit the development of science because someone may abuse it, the limit needs to be imposed by free democratic society. In the afternoon discussion session we gained further insights into the thought-processes behind his ubiquitin discovery.
On Tuesday, Jean-Marie Lehn spoke about ‘Perspectives in Chemistry’, and how the role of chemistry is, through, self-organisation, to build a bridge between Physics (Laws of the Universe) and Biology (Rules of Life). I loved his quotation of “The book of chemistry is not just to be read, it is to be written. The score of chemistry is not just to be played, it is to be composed.” Ada Yonath spoke on ‘Curiosity and its Fruits’, about her discoveries on ribosomes, but also on her position as a female scientist.
She encouraged all young women in the audience that you can achieve both a career in science and a fulfilling family life. On Tuesday afternoon I attended the Masterclass with Kurt Wüthrich; this was an excellent opportunity to hear from other young Lindau attendees about their research in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). On Tuesday evening we had the Academic Dinner hosted by the Australian delegation, attended by Nobel Laureates Rudy Marcus and Robert Grubbs, as well as a number of other young researchers from around the world.
Day Four: 3 July
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The talks on Wednesday were excellent, with many providing points for further reflection. Martin Chalfie (2008, Chemistry) shared a powerful quotation from fellow Laureate Sydney Brenner, about what should drive us as young scientists. This sentiment was shared by many of the Laureates; their goal was never to win a Nobel Prize, it was their love and passion for science that drives them.
Steven Chu (Physics, 1997); and his thoughts on ‘Energy and Climate Change’, and how we, as young quotation of “We don’t inherit our land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children” particularly resonated with me. I also found Dan Schechtman’s (2011, Chemistry) presentation on crystallography quite fascinating, as he discussed some of the opposition, doubt and rejection he faced from his peers about his discovery of quasi-periodicity, and how it took years before they eventually accepted his discovery and subsequently revised the definition of a crystal. Richard Ernst (Chemistry, 1991) gave a fascinating presentation on “Widen Your Scope”, and his passions for Tibetian art. We spent Wednesday lunch with Richard Schrock, his wife Nancy and Walter Gilbert.
Day Five: 4 July
Thursday’s talk by Mario Molina (1995, Chemistry) on climate change was fascinating, particularly on the importance of action and intervention by governments and the necessity of climate change policy. He highlighted a startling disconnect between the number of scientists convinced that climate change is real (97%), compared to what is reported in the media (28%), and that interest groups bias the media. The highlight of Thursday was the Bavarian evening, hosted by the free State of Bavaria. Two Lindau attendees from the region gave excellent presentations on their research, followed by a traditional German feast!
Day Six: 5 July
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On Friday we travelled to the beautiful island of Mainau, where the Bernadotte family resides. We had two very interesting panel discussions, the first Challenges to Peace and Justice in the 21st Century, with contribution by José Ramos-Horta and Gunnar Stålsett. The second panel on Green Chemistry, where there were some very interesting and challenging discussion points, most raised by Michael Braungart, who pioneers sustainable industrial processes. It was then lovely to have some time to explore the gardens of Mainau Island before the closing ceremony.
I had a truly amazing time in Lindau and met an extraordinary group of scientists. I’m sure I will continue to look back on the fond memories and inspiring discussions I had in Lindau for the rest of my career.
