Nobel Lectures 2009
I was fortunate to be present at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences today, 8th December 2009, to attend lectures by this year's Physics and Chemistry Nobel laureates. According to the Nobel Foundation statutes, the Nobel Laureates are required to 'give a public lecture on a subject connected with the work for which the prize has been awarded'.
Nobel Physics prize winners: Charles K Kao, Willard S Boyle and George E Smith
Kao, a Chinese, won the award for his contribution in the field of optical fibers. His lecture, titled 'Sand from centuries past, send future voices fast', (an innovative title, which highlights the importance of Silica in optical fibers) was delivered by his wife, who did a wonderful job in explaining even technical aspects of Mr.Kao's work.
Boyle and Smith shared the prize for their work in the area of CCD (charge coupled devices), which form the very basis of digital imaging techniques and play an important role from a tiny 2 megapixel camera in a Nokia phone to a few billion-pixel devices used in astronomy. While Boyle's talk was short and more about his life, Smith gave a full-fledged technical lecture about CCDs; their evolution, development and applications. His 45 minute lecture taught me more about CCDs than what I learnt for one semester in BE. (Thank God, Smith doesn’t know the stories I wrote for a question on CCDs in Electron Devices exam!!)
Nobel Chemistry prize winners: Venkataraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A Steitz and Ada E Yonath
All three are winning the award for their work in RNA and, well, its too much of organic chemistry for me. I attended the lecture mainly for 'Venki' Ramakrishnan (I am a bit sad that he shortened his first name, which is my last name. I was wondering what will happen if he shortens his last name also (Venki Ramki ?!) and then stopped myself from further imagination (Shut up Monkey !))
Ramakrishan's talk was very fluent and very well prepared. It was heartening to see him mention the part played by each and every one of his assistants and colleagues, and more heartening to find most of his colleagues among the audience.
Steitz's and Yonath's talks were also too technical, where they explained about their work and how it will help future scientists in inventing new antibiotics.
On the whole, it was a wonderful experience to be there and watch these great people. While it is evident that they are not superhuman, they are not mere mortals either. It’s their passion that kept driving them and made them what they are today. It’s that passion that inspires us to utilise our limited time in this world to make an everlasting positive impact on humanity.
Nobel Physics prize winners: Charles K Kao, Willard S Boyle and George E Smith
Kao, a Chinese, won the award for his contribution in the field of optical fibers. His lecture, titled 'Sand from centuries past, send future voices fast', (an innovative title, which highlights the importance of Silica in optical fibers) was delivered by his wife, who did a wonderful job in explaining even technical aspects of Mr.Kao's work.
Boyle and Smith shared the prize for their work in the area of CCD (charge coupled devices), which form the very basis of digital imaging techniques and play an important role from a tiny 2 megapixel camera in a Nokia phone to a few billion-pixel devices used in astronomy. While Boyle's talk was short and more about his life, Smith gave a full-fledged technical lecture about CCDs; their evolution, development and applications. His 45 minute lecture taught me more about CCDs than what I learnt for one semester in BE. (Thank God, Smith doesn’t know the stories I wrote for a question on CCDs in Electron Devices exam!!)
Nobel Chemistry prize winners: Venkataraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A Steitz and Ada E Yonath
All three are winning the award for their work in RNA and, well, its too much of organic chemistry for me. I attended the lecture mainly for 'Venki' Ramakrishnan (I am a bit sad that he shortened his first name, which is my last name. I was wondering what will happen if he shortens his last name also (Venki Ramki ?!) and then stopped myself from further imagination (Shut up Monkey !))
Ramakrishan's talk was very fluent and very well prepared. It was heartening to see him mention the part played by each and every one of his assistants and colleagues, and more heartening to find most of his colleagues among the audience.
Steitz's and Yonath's talks were also too technical, where they explained about their work and how it will help future scientists in inventing new antibiotics.
On the whole, it was a wonderful experience to be there and watch these great people. While it is evident that they are not superhuman, they are not mere mortals either. It’s their passion that kept driving them and made them what they are today. It’s that passion that inspires us to utilise our limited time in this world to make an everlasting positive impact on humanity.
Comments
But why did the Chinese guy's wife give the lecture instead of him?