Lindau Conference - The annual get-together 2011
October 12, 2011
The opening of this year's Nobel Prizewinners' Meeting saw even more commotion than usual. Throngs of journalists and other spectators descended on Lindau. But for amateurs and professionals alike, the interest was not so much in German research minister Annette Schavan, or Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
THE high-profile guest this year was none other than .....Bill Gates.
Even the Nobel prizewinning guests were impressed. It was a welcome opportunity to get up close to the billionaire software entrepreneur and philanthropist. Gates came to join the honorary senate of the Foundation that runs the Lindau Nobel Prizewinner Meetings:
"I congratulate you on your progress so far. I'd admonish you to consider the needs of the poorest in the work that you do. Because I think the advances there will be particulary important. And without your attention to them, possibly will not take place."
The focus this year - global health. Also attending were aspiring young scientists who beat out the competition to be here and meet their idols.
"There are official ways and inoffficial ways. I hope that I will also have inofficial ways, so like on the afternoons to meet them and ask not only scientific questions, just to get to know such people, the people that really won the biggest scientific prizes."
Time to line up for a photo opportunity. And then the stars arrive ...
Suddenly the laureates and their admirers come face to face. There’s chemistry laureate Avram Hershko. German cancer researcher Harald zur Hausen was joined by Werner Arber from Switzerland and Edmond H. Fischer from the US. But they're not just here to pass on knowledge, says molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn. "Oh, I always learn. I never stop learning!"
The various lectures and talks given by the laureates - like Germany's Erwin Neher - are always a crucial element of the event.
But the feeling on the streets of Lindau is more like that of a festival than a conference. There's plenty of partying throughout the week. The main thing is to have a clear head the next morning.