Confronting the Universe...

[DreamGypsy]

Confronting the universe

Nature Video presents five debates from the 2012 Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau

The majority of Nobel prizewinners are men, including the two in this film: Harry Kroto and Dudley Herschbach. This gender imbalance worries the young researchers who join them at a German school to debate the state of science education and how science is perceived beyond the classroom. Kroto tells them about a creationist museum in the United States, which brings up the issue of public trust in science. The young researchers wonder what role they can play.

What path will Science take, going forward? Who will be the advocates?

At the 2012 meeting, physics was on the agenda again. The hottest topic was particle physics because mid-way through the meeting, scientists at CERN announced the discovery of the Higgs particle. The following morning, we filmed George Smoot and Martinus Veltman as they digested the news with three young researchers. Veltman, who helped to shape the standard model of particle physics, was surprising cynical about the discovery. See his reaction in film 3: Is dark matter real? The other films deal with the relationship between theory and experiment, the state of science education, the looming energy crisis and in film 1 we ask: is this the golden age of astronomy? As you'll see, the Nobel laureates and young physics in our films have quite different views on these matters.

Each of these videos provide a unique perspective on where Science is in the world, and where it may beor needs to be going. Well worth the time to view the ideas of respected icons in their fields AND those who may bring their own cataclysmic discoveries to our understanding of the micro/midi/macro cosmos.