Annual Report 2025 - Report - Page 22
Personal Impressions From #LINO25
A Light in Dark Times
Moungi Bawendi, Chemistry Laureate 2023, relished his interactions with the Young
Scientists (as pictured on the next page, top right) and was inspired by the spirit of
optimism and enthusiasm he experienced at the 74th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.
What I found striking, and this was something that was a
cause of great optimism for me, was the level of enthusiasm. There were Young Scientists there from all over the
world, and, in particular, I met a lot of scientists from Eastern Europe that I would otherwise not have. Many were
postdocs or already had independent positions lined up.
Even though they found the idea of being independent
overwhelming, there was still so much enthusiasm, even
in these challenging times – for the science and for the opportunity to be independent. So, although I won’t be able
to come to Lindau every year, it was a positive and rewarding experience that I would be very happy to do again.
This spirit of optimism and enthusiasm is, I think,
down to the special format in Lindau. The way the Meeting is set up allows for many more informal conversations
than I would typically have. I could talk in small groups
to a fairly large number of students: at lunchtimes, on
walks, at dinners, and even during the breaks. One particular highlight was a question-and-answer session: the
Young Scientists really wanted to know how to make it
work – how to choose what problem to work on. At a lot
of meetings, it’s often a rushed Q and A, and you don’t
actually get to spend enough time with the students to
learn what they are thinking, what their challenges are,
and what they’re looking for.
My general advice to the Young Scientists was for
them to trust their instincts. There is a push or pull for
20 | Bridging Generations Through Science
students to work on something that is getting a lot of
attention – a tendency which might be particularly pronounced in the field of physics that I am close to. Overall,
though, I think this is a mistake. Of course, young people
might have great new ideas for such a field, but, because
it’s already hot, it means that competition is tough. Fads
come and go. What you want to do is work on something
that you think is genuinely interesting, where you have
something to contribute, and where you have enough
confidence that it’s going to have legs. And that’s not necessarily what’s hot at that particular moment. The big
discoveries of the Nobel Laureates were not because they
worked in hot fields – they were because they invented
a new field.
The one-on-one interactions with the other Laureates
at lunch or at the hotel were great. I’m more of a recent
Laureate – it’s only been a couple of years, and it was great
to see that they are just humans, most of whom are really interested in talking to other people. I suppose those
Laureates who come to Lindau are precisely those who
particularly enjoy these kinds of interactions. So, I found
many of the Laureates to be far more accessible than I had
expected – and that was really nice. As a recent Laureate,
I feel like, wow, do I truly belong in this group? So, it’s
amazing to be in a room with a bunch of other Laureates
and feel that you are part of this.
