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Students meet with Nobel laureates

Posted 8/5/2009

Every summer since 1951 a large number of Nobel laureates gather in the picturesque island city of Lindau, located on the eastern tip of Lake Constance just north of the Swiss Alps, and meet with talented young scientists from around the world. Last month, two Vanderbilt graduate students, Chris Brosey and Bryan Ringstrand, attended this unique meeting and had an experience that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

They were part of a select group of 74 top American science students who were invited to the week-long meeting that is designed to inspire and motivate promising young scientists from around the world by allowing them to meet and interact with Nobel laureates.

These annual meetings were initiated by the late Count Lennart Bernadotte, a member of the Swedish royal family who had settled on the nearby Island of Mainau in Lake Constance. Count Bernadotte, an individual with philanthropic, ecological, cultural and scientific interests, established the meetings between Nobel laureates and young scientists with the intention of fostering scientific excellence and peaceful cooperation. Today the meeting is supported by a foundation headed by Countess Bettina Bernadotte.

At this year’s meeting, a total of 600 students, postgraduates and fellows from around the world mingled with 32 laureates.  Brosey and Ringstrand were sponsored by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education and were selected by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, respectively, which have a standing invitation to bring U.S. students to the meeting.

Focus of the Lindau meetings rotates among the Nobel Prize fields in the natural sciences – physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine. Each five years it adopts an interdisciplinary theme. This year the focus was on chemistry and the theme was energy and sustainability. The meeting consists of formal lectures by the laureates in the mornings and informal discussions in the afternoons – interspersed with lavish meals, musical concerts and other entertainments.

Brosey, who is studying with Professor Walter Chazin in the Department of Biochemistry and the Center for Structural Biology, especially enjoyed the lectures of laureates who pioneered her own field of NMR spectroscopy – Richard Ernst (1991 prize in Chemistry) and Kurt Wüthrich (2002 prize in Chemistry).  In particular, she appreciated Ernst’s emphasis upon achieving balance between scientific pursuits and one’s interests beyond research.  For Ernst, this has involved scientific restoration of his own collection of Tibetan artwork, a passion that has ultimately evolved into science education for Tibetan monks and nuns.

She is pictured in the photo on the right, third from left, in an afternoon session with Nobel laureate Kurt Wuthrich. (photo by Lindau Foundation).

Sir Harold Kroto, who received the Nobel Prize in 1996 for the discovery of fullerenes – soccerball-shaped carbon molecules – was Ringstrand’s favorite. “It’s hard to explain, but what I think was most impressive about his talk was what he is doing to expose children to science,” says Ringstrand, who is studying with Chemistry Professor Piotr Kaszynski. “Apparently, he is taking the classroom to the students with the help of the internet.”

As stimulating as the interactions with the laureates were, networking with the other students attending the meeting was even more valuable, the two students agree.  They both met a number of other young researchers with whom they intend to keep in contact. “After all, you never know where you will end up,” says Brosey.

Both students agreed that the experience will have a lasting impact. For example, Brosey says it has prompted her to look into the possibility of applying for post-doctoral fellowships in Europe.

Contact: myvu@vanderbilt.edu

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