Annual-Report-2024 - Flipbook - Page 40
Personal Impressions From #LINO24
The Best Thing About Lindau?
Brilliant People. Period.
Professor Alain Aspect was awarded one third of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
for his work on quantum entanglement. So, it made perfect sense that he would play
a starring role at the 2024 Meeting where quantum physics enjoyed pride of place.
Here he looks back at what he most enjoyed about his visit to Lindau.
What is really special about Lindau is meeting the students. This is the most important thing about the whole
meeting. What was really great were the organized opportunities, that is, situations in which spontaneity and
informality can ensue, owing to good preparation. Of
course, there should also be opportunities for complete
spontaneity. It was extremely interesting to interact with
Young Scientists over lunch in small groups, although any
format in which a Laureate makes a short presentation of
10 or 15 minutes followed by a discussion is also rewarding. What I would say is critical for such interactions is
that the groups remain small.
I also very much enjoyed the informal Open Exchange
in which the room was full of students, and they put questions to me. These students have sharp minds, and they
are extremely open. They are simply interesting and brilliant people. Period. What I like most is their enthusiasm:
they love science. So, these sessions were very enriching –
and very tiring I can tell you! You are under pressure:
these young people are also demanding, and you have to
give them what they expect.
38 | Different Generations – Shared Experiences
In general, the programme is very busy, which meant
that I really appreciated the fact that there was a dedicated
room to which Laureates could retire and relax. As much
I appreciated the brilliant Young Scientists, I also appreciated that there was a place where they didn’t come in all
the time to ask questions. I’m not a young man anymore!
Regarding my own lecture, this was in some respects
a standard lecture akin to those that I give when I go to
universities and give a colloquium. It’s not then something that is unique to Lindau, but that doesn’t mean of
course that it’s not important.
With respect to meeting the other Laureates, I always
like to interact with people who are not in my subject or
even discipline. You have the same feeling when you are
in Stockholm for the Nobel Prize with the other Laureates, but here in Lindau the breadth is even larger because
you have the people from all possible years – those in
physics, but not from my area and those from other
disciplines as well. So it was interesting talking to people
where I knew the name but hadn’t yet had the pleasure of
meeting them in person.
