Last week Nobel Laureates from all around the world met in Lindau. With them were 600 carefully chosen young scientists. At the end of the week the state Baden Württemberg invited all of them to a trip on Lake Constance. I was invited as a blogger. So here is my 2nd interview.
I talked to Dr. David Wineland. He is an american physicist and was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics, jointly with Serge Haroche, for „ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems.“
David, what was your highlight of the Nobel laureates-meeting in Lindau?
I think this meeting is unique. It encourages the exchange between the senior scientists and the students. I really enjoy this because I’ve never been to a meeting like this. And it seems like the students like it also.
Have you talked about special projects with the young scientists?
In our lab we focused on two things. One is atomic clocks and the other is quantum computing. Atomic clocks is easier to explain I think. But at least you can explain some of the basic ideas of quantum computing and why it’s interesting. And I think they get that.
What do you think about the junior scientific staff? Are there enough talented young people in the world?
The participants here a very brave and motivated. But they are not representatives of the general section. It`s nice to interact with these students but the big question is: how can we encourage other people that are not so interested? That’s the challenge! Even if they are not interested, which is okay, at least we should have a bigger appreciation for science. Because, as it been said several times at the meeting here: to improve technology is part of our future.
Have you ideas how we can solve this problem?
Maybe gatherings like this can help to reach the younger ones. One story I’d like to tell to try to help: When I was in high-school, I liked math and physics, but my passion was cars! So you don’t have to be a freak in science in the early age to be successful later on. And my passion for cars helped me actually in some ways, because I learned about mechanic things.
At last a quite personal question: What does that Nobel Prize mean for you personally?
Receiving the prize is of course a wonderful honor. At the same time it is very humbling since many of my colleagues throughout the world have also contributed so much to our subfield of physics. In this respect, I think the award recognizes the progress of our field more than individual accomplishment.
Info:
The fist interview with Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman: „I asire to inspire.“
The 3rd interview with Nobel Laureate Serge Haroche: „The important thing is passion“[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
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