Opening Ceremony of the 61st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, 2011

The 61st Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau on Sunday, June 26th at 15:00 o’clock has been opened by Countess Bettina Bernadotte, President of the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.

Countess Bettina Bernadotte gave the Lennart-Bernadotte-Medal to Hans Jörnvall for his many years working for the Nobel Laureate Meetings. He is the secretary of the Nobel Committee and the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and a member of the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings since 1999.

Göran K. Hansson brings greetings on behalf of the Nobel Foundation. He is a member of its board. As secretary of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, he is secretary of the Nobel Committee, which examines the nominations for the Nobel Prizes.

Annette Schavan, Federal Minister for Education and Research and a member of the Honorary Senate of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings at Lake Constance, welcomes the participants. Her speech is available at the press desk.

Subsequently, the Foundation of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings at Lake Constance will be the subject of a conversation between Wolfgang Schürer, Chairman of the Board, and the moderator Adam Smith.

The Foundation of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings inducted two new members to its honorary senate: Martin T: son Engstroem and William H. Gates III. They were honored for their ongoing and personal commitment to young talent through targeted promotion prospects and opportunities.

The Honorary Senate brings together personalities from science, economy and politics, and advises the Foundation Board. In a panel discussion on „Global Health“, Nobel Prize winner Ada Yonath (Chemistry 2009), Bill Gates and the two junior scientists Sandra Chishimba (Malaria Research Trust and Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute) and Jonathan Carlson (Microsoft Research) discuss challenges facing young scientists in the field of global health exchange.