Young researchers discuss science and careers with Nobel laureates at the 2015 Lindau Nobel meeting.

Image credit: Sam Falconer

Every year, Nobel laureates and young researchers come together in Lindau, Germany. It’s a unique opportunity to glean some advice for a successful career in science. The 2015 meeting cast a spotlight on super-resolution microscopy, as discussed in depth in the Nature Outlook: Science Masterclass, as well as fields as diverse as memory formation and the Higgs boson.

The first meeting was held in 1951, just two years before Francis Crick and James Watson revealed their structure of DNA. Since then, Nobel laureates from all walks of science have graced the small island with their presence, and 2015 was no different.

Elizabeth Blackburn, who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak for their work on telomeres, was one of only three female laureates to attend the meeting. Other attendees included Richard Roberts (shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Phillip Sharp for their discoveries of split genes), Francois Englert (shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics with Peter Higgs for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that gives mass to subatomic particles), Bruce Beutler (shared one half of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Jules Hoffmann for their work on the activation of innate immunity) and Susumu Tonegawa (winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1987 for unlocking the genetic secrets behind antibodies’ diverse structures).

This particular Nature Outlook was supplemented with a series of videos highlighting some of the scientists’ work. On the blog, we’ve shown Saul Perlmutter’s work on the expanding universe, Stefan Hell’s work on breaking the diffraction barrier, Robert Wilson’s work on the cosmic microwave background and an insight into Elizabeth Blackburns interest in telomeres.

But of particular interest to the Naturejobs blog are three short videos that discuss certain elements of careers in science. Equal opportunities: Women in science, explores laureate Ada Yonath’s career, and why the gender gap in science persists. Young scientists also came together to discuss whose responsibility it is to disseminate science and finally, what does an early career scientist’s future look like, given the uncertainty in the job market?

Further reading/listening from the Naturejobs blog:

Podcast with Martin Chalfie, Venki Ramakrishnan and Arieh Warshel, on what it takes to be hired into their labs.

Podcast: Academia to industry, and back again, with Eric Betzig

Mentoring: A perspective from Nobel laureates

Mentoring: Before they were laureates

Mentoring: Where do laureates go for advice?

Lessons from a laureate