The scientist, by the very nature of his commitment, creates more and more questions, never fewer. Indeed, the measure of our intellectual maturity is our capacity to feel less and less satisfied with our answers to better problems.- G.W. Allport,Becoming, 1955 Science in the popular mind consists of a series of "Eureka!" moments. Such moments […]
Today I talked with Roger Tsien about his research leading to the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and development of green fluorescent protein (GFP). I learned that visually beautiful research results are the best motivation, and that winning a Nobel Prize doesn’t mean that papers and grants come easily – you might still have […]
The late morning in Lindau was a non-stop marathon of medical researchers – first Harald zur Hausen talked about the links between infections and cancer, then Luc Montagnier gave an insight into his research that analyzes DNA under physical as well as biological aspects – venomous tongues may have linked that talk to homeopathy. At […]
Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen will be at Lindau this year, along with his fellow recipient F. Sherwood Rowland. The two along with Mario Molina contributed to one of the most significant intersections of science with politics and public policy in the twentieth century when they discovered the effects of chlorofluorocarbons and other chemical compounds on […]
I have spent an entire day traveling and toiling against the turning of the earth to get to Lindau. To pass the time on the plane over the Atlantic I read Albert Einstein’s short book Relativity (the subtitles for this English version are the special and general theory or a clear explanation that anyone can understand). […]
There it was, that darned noise again. Nobody could possibly be happy cleaning pigeon droppings. Yet Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were being forced to do it. As good scientists they simply could not avoid it, since they had to discount the role of this "white dielectric substance" in the noise that was plaguing their […]
00:32 Channel-Mediated Water Permeability? 02:17 A 28kD Protein 06:36 Deciphering the Structure 09:33 New Frontiers In Coproduction with JoVe.com Sponsored by Mars. published June 2009
The confluence of great minds at Lindau is also a meeting of contrasting perspectives. Each scientist has his own specialty in which he is likely the world expert, but each scientist also tries to generalize his work to solve the biggest problems in the world. It seems to be true that scientific research is highly […]
John Turton Randall was trying hard, real hard. For some time now, the University of Birmingham physicist was focusing on trying to improve the features of a machine which transmitted and received electromagnetic waves. A few years back this would have been just another intriguing academic problem for a physicist to crack, but this time it […]
This year is the 50th anniversary of the first successful laser built by Theodore Maiman. The laser is a beautiful example of fundamental physics leading to profound effects on our daily lives. The laser will be discussed on the first day of the conference by Nicolaas Bloembergen, who himself received the the 1981 Nobel Prize for […]
The animal is transparent: 04:04 Ghia Euskirchen 09:12 Lessons from the GFP-Story In Coproduction with JoVe.com July 2009 Sponsored by Mars.
I am one of the lucky people who may attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting several times. This will be my third time. But there’s a big BUT: The more often I have been, the more sad I am about all the other meetings I have missed. This year, the Lindau meetings celebrate their 60th […]
