Opening of “Lindau Nobel” in Berlin with Nobel Laureate Stefan Hell

With more than one hundred guests from politics, science, culture, and society, the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings officially opened their new venue in Berlin on Monday. Located at Markgrafenstraße 37 on Gendarmenmarkt, “Lindau Nobel” will serve as the permanent exhibition space for “Nobel Heroes” – the unique global portrait project by photographer Peter Badge, who has visited and photographed more than 500 Nobel laureates around the world since 2000.

In her welcoming remarks, Silke Launert, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for  Research, Technology, and Space, emphasized the importance of science. Referring to the “Nobel Heroes” portraits, she noted that they “demonstrate in a unique way that behind Nobel Laureates are people like you and me—individuals we can relate to, making science tangible and accessible.”

The opening also marked a double anniversary: 75 years of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings and 25 years of “Nobel Heroes”.

A Lifetime’s Work in Black and White

What Peter Badge has created over a quarter of a century is more than a photographic archive. His portraits present Nobel laureates not as distant figures of exceptional intellect, but as human beings – revealing warmth, vulnerability and a sense of mystery. Each image is the result of a personal encounter, often in the laboratories, offices or homes of the Laureates , somewhere around the globe. Badge has documented more than 500 such encounters over 25 years. The permanent exhibition of this collection in Berlin now provides it with the setting it deserves.

Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings “Lindau Nobel” – A New Hub for Science in the Capital

Professor Jürgen Kluge, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, emphasized the importance of the new Berlin location: “With ‘Lindau Nobel’, we are creating a place that brings the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings into the public eye in the German capital – through Peter Badge’s extraordinary portraits, which show who these individuals are that advance science. At the same time, this becomes a place of encounter: a venue where Nobel Laureates visiting Berlin can engage with fellow scientists as well as with journalists.”

A Conversation to Remember

The highlight of the evening was a moderated conversation between TV journalist Caren Miosga and Nobel Laureate Stefan W. Hell. Hell, who came to Germany from Romania at the age of 15 in 1978, spoke about  his journey – from rejection and at times exclusion to his determination to pursue an idea that the scientific community considered impossible. In 2014, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for precisely this work.

During the discussion, Hell also shared his views on the state of science in Europe: “I am somewhat concerned that the importance of science in Europe is not as high as it should be in order to safeguard our prosperity, our freedom and, not least, our social achievements. If we want to preserve what we value today, it is essential to assign a significantly higher priority to science and technology.”