“The Nobel Laureates will get to meet some especially qualified and committed young people this summer,” says Wolfgang Lubitz, Director of the Max Plack Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion and Vice-President of the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. “The proportion of women is 31 percent – a good, internationally representative number in the field of physics.”
Due to the ongoing modernisation of the local conference venue, this year’s meeting will take place in Lindau’s city theatre. Accordingly, the usual number of 600 participants had to be reduced to 400. The selected young scientists may expect a six-day programme with numerous lectures and panel discussions. Many see the chance to present their own research work at one of the master classes or at the poster session as a special opportunity.
“The attendance steadily became more international as part of the continuous expansion of the network of academic partner institutions,” explains Burkhard Fricke, professor emeritus for theoretical physics and coordinator of the selection process. “This year’s participants represent 80 countries, including great research nations like the US, the United Kingdom, Japan, Israel, and Germany, just as developing countries like Bangladesh or Cameroon. 144 academies of science, universities, foundations, and researching enterprises were involved in the selection process.”
When selecting participants from China, the Council cooperated with the Sino-German Center for Research Promotion (SGC). “In the People's Republic alone, 24 universities and one academy institute were involved,” says Rainer Blatt, Managing and Research Director of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at Innsbruck (IQOQI), member of the Council and responsible of this year’s meeting’s scientific programme in the capacity of scientific chairman. “Following a preselection, we had to review 79 applications. In the next step, 40 applicants were invited for personal interviews to Beijing last weekend. Finally, we found 19 young scientists very convincing – we are very much looking forward to welcoming them in in Lindau this summer.”
Among the Nobel Laureates who have already confirmed their participation are Japan’s Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald from the US. They were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2015 for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass. Particle Physics will be among the key issues of the Lindau Meeting.
