72. Lindauer Nobelpreisträgertagung (Physiologie/Medizin) eröffnet

Today at 13.30 CEST, Countess Bettina Bernadotte af Wisborg, President of the Council, will open the 72^nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting – welcoming around 40 Nobel Laureates and hundreds of Young Scientists as well as guests of honour in the Inselhalle: “In addition to the question of how the meetings will deal with climate change and artificial intelligence in the future, diversity continues to be important this time: We are firmly convinced that greater diversity helps us to achieve our leitmotif and goal ‘Educate. Inspire. Connect.’ more effectively. Furthermore, looking around us, we see a world in conflict. Let us make this Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting a statement of hope, and of our belief in a better future. And we base this belief on the power of exchange between cultures and generations, and what this exchange can yield.”

Scientific Programme Running Until Next Friday

For the upcoming six days, the meeting programme is dedicated to the Nobel Prize discipline of Physiology/Medicine. With artificial intelligence in medicine and the effects of climate change on health, current issues will be discussed. In keeping with its self-understanding, the meeting will again address topics from the field of “Science in Society” – this year with a special focus on diversity in research.

The opening will take place on Sunday, 25 June, at 13.30 CEST, with musical accompaniment by an Ensemble of the Vienna Philharmonic, followed by a reception hosted by the Republic of Austria in the foyer of the meeting venue Inselhalle offering opportunities for personal exchange. In a video message, former U.S. Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (2007) Al Gore calls on the meeting participants to actively advocate their research findings – particularly in the context of climate change – to policymakers and government, the private sector, businesses and civil society. At 16.45, a panel discussion will kick off the scientific programme: Nobel Laureates Martin Chalfie, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Harold E. Varmus as well as the Young Scientists Rasha Shraim and Marwa Shumo will discuss the topic of diversity in science.

The big stage then belongs to Frances H. Arnold, 2018 Chemistry Nobel Laureate, for her first lecture in Lindau: Innovation by Evolution ─ Bringing New Chemistry to Life. Morten Meldal, who will lecture on click chemistry afterwards, has already experienced the Lindau meetings before – even though he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last year: Meldal was invited in 1986 as a 32-year-old Young Scientist and is living proof of the high-calibre participants at the meetings. He is the second Lindau Alumnus to return to the meeting as a Nobel Laureate, following Bert Sakmann (Young Scientist 1963, Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine 1991). This year’s host country is the Republic of Indonesia, which will present its activities in research and science as well as their national culture on the International Day – traditionally the Monday of the meeting week.

As part of the Next Gen Science Sessions, more than 40 Young Scientists who have qualified for this stage with convincing abstracts will give insights into their current research topics. The so-called Heidelberg Lecture in cooperation with the Heidelberg Laureate Forum will be held by Shwetak N. Patel, speaking about “The Emergence of Mobile Phones and Wearables for Health.” Patel was awarded the 2018 ACM Prize in Computing.

Until Friday, 30 June, the participating Nobel Laureates and Young Scientists will have ample opportunity for intensive exchange with each other at Lake Constance. Various programme formats such as Agora Talks, Laureate Lunches and Science Walks promote personal dialogue. Traditionally, on the final day, as part of the scientific programme, the “Baden-Württemberg Boat Trip” from Lindau to Mainau Island takes place. Petra Olschowski, Minister for Science, Research and the Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg, is expected to attend. The topic of the closing panel will be the impact of climate change on individual and societal health.