Annual-Report-2024 - Flipbook - Page 54
Making a Difference in Physics Research
The Importance of Taking
an Interdisciplinary Approach
Throughout his career, Heiner Linke has worked in nanoscience, a field on the boundary
between chemistry and physics. As Scientific Co-Chairperson of the 73rd Lindau Meeting
and Vice President of the Council, he was therefore the perfect interview partner
with whom to explore the importance of interdisciplinarity in the Scientific Programme.
For this annual report he summarizes his thoughts on the topic.
“Cross-Disciplinary Research in Physics” was one of the
key themes of the 73rd Lindau Meeting – why did you
decide to focus on this topic?
To say it in the words of one of the most recent Physics
Nobel Laureates, John Hopfield: “My definition of physics
is that physics is not what you’re working on, but how
you’re working on it.”
Concepts from physics find applications in many different areas of science and society, and physicists therefore also find work and build careers in many different
areas of science. There are many examples. The properties of molecules and the nature of chemical bonds
are understood using quantum physics. Data analysis
methods developed in astronomy get applied in singlemolecule biophysics. Machine learning is an invention
that originated from physics and is now applied in almost
any sector of science.
It is nice to highlight this multitude of uses of physics
at a meeting like the Lindau Nobel Laureate Physics Meeting, where we celebrate great discoveries in physics and
help educate and inspire a new generation of physicists.
52 | Talking Physics That Matters
Can you name some examples at Lindau of topical and
interesting research that extends beyond the frontiers
of physics?
The Young Scientists brought many examples of exciting, cross-disciplinary uses of physics to Lindau.
Examples of application areas include consequences of
climate change: research into turbulent fluid dynamics
to improve models that predict Antarctic ice sheet
melting; cell biology: extracting information on cellular signaling pathways from dynamical patterns of the
signaling molecules; medical imaging: exploiting the
quantum mechanical properties of x-rays to improve
image quality; cancer treatment: improving pancreatic
cancer therapy with carbon ion beams.
How should the research landscape be organized to support interdisciplinarity?
What seems most important to me is to continue building
a culture where we as a scientific community are open
to new insights and methods from outside our fields. For
this to work, it is very helpful if there are many scientists
at all career stages – from students to grant reviewers
and members of faculty hiring committees – who have
