Rice University professor Pernilla Wittung Stafshede recently served as a co-organizer of the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, where she co-represented the field of chemistry.
“Lindau is an experience like no other, where young scientists come to meet and be inspired by Nobel laureates,” said Wittung Stafshede, who is the Charles W. Duncan Jr.-Welch Chair in Chemistry at Rice. “It’s an incredible opportunity for young scientists to directly interact with laureates, including in small group sessions. It’s energizing and inspiring for all who attend, including myself. I am honored to once again serve as a program chair, especially since we had no less than 69 laureates attending. My advice to the young attendees was do absolutely everything and sleep when you get home!"
The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, established in 1951, serve as a place for young scientists to meet Nobel laureates. This international forum was developed after World War II to provide a place for the exchange of knowledge between nations, cultures and disciplines. Each year, undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students apply to attend a meeting organized around a specific theme. This year’s theme was interdisciplinary work.
“Getting to meet Nobel laureates in person, ask questions and hear their stories was something I never imagined I’d experience,” said Simran, a Rice postdoctoral fellow who attended this year's Lindau. “My favorite moments were when the laureates shared their setbacks, persistence and optimism during coffee breaks. I came back feeling inspired, with a lot of new friendships and a renewed excitement for research.”
Simran, like most scientists and students, knew many of the attending laureates from textbooks and papers. At Lindau, she had the opportunity to interact with them as fellow researchers.
“I was surprised by how approachable the laureates were,” Simran said. “It was truly an incredible and once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Lindau has been inspiring young scientists through meaningful discussions with some of academia’s most prominent researchers for years. Rice alumnus Lesa Tran, who is now a teaching professor at Rice, attended the 60th Lindau Meeting in 2010 as a chemistry graduate student.
“Lindau humanized these academic rock stars; I came away realizing that they all once stood where I was as a graduate student,” Tran said. “It taught me two enduring lessons: to pursue excellence in the areas I am most passionate about and to leverage science as a powerful way to connect with others across disciplines, cultures and generations.”
Tran also reflected on one of her fondest memories from the meeting: having dinner with Sir Harry Kroto, who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Rice’s Robert Curl and Richard Smalley. In fact, when Kroto came to Rice later that year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the buckyball’s discovery, he and Tran met up again to continue their discussions.
“As a Rice graduate student who was studying carbon nanomaterials,” Tran said, “I was completely starstruck by this full-circle moment."