In July this year, over 27 Nobel laureates and almost 600 young scientists convened at the 62nd Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates in the town of Lindau in Germany.
This year’s theme was physics, and the young researchers, who were selected to attend from 69 countries, had the chance to meet and exchange views and ideas with some of the top scientists in their field.
Nature Video has produced a series of short films in which these young scientists put their own questions to Nobel laureates. The films tackle questions that are important to young physicists today, and show how this generation often don’t see things in the same way as the greats who went before them.
{credit}Thea Cunningham{/credit}
The films have been released weekly over the past month and the last two went online last night. They cover a range of topics including dark matter, trust in science, the future of energy, and cosmological proofs. Click on the headings below to watch the videos.
Betting on the cosmos
In the latest film in the series, Nobel prize-winner Robert Laughlin challenges the students in this film, and laureate David Gross, to come up with ways to test our big ideas about the Universe. The two laureates make a bet. Watch the film to find out more and to decide who wins.
Beyond the classroom
In this film, three young researchers join laureates Harry Kroto and Dudley Herschbach to discuss 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.
Is dark matter real?
The morning after CERN announces the discovery of the Higgs particle, three young physicists sit down with Nobel prizewinners George Smoot and Martinus Veltman to digest the news. The students see it as another success for the standard model of particle physics. But Veltman, who helped to shape this model, is cynical. Moreover, Veltman contends that there is no such thing as dark matter. See how the shocked students and Smoot respond to Veltman’s scepticism.
The energy endgame
In this film, Nobel laureates Mario Molina and Robert Laughlin challenge three young physicists to think seriously about the looming energy crisis and their children’s futures.
A golden age?
Here, three young researchers take on Nobel prize-winner John Mather. He believes we are in a golden age of astronomy, but they are not convinced. There are too many unanswered questions, they say. For example, what’s causing the accelerated expansion of the Universe observed by the other laureate in this film, Brian Schmidt?
You can also find out more about some of the young researchers who took part in the meeting at Lindau in Scientific American’s profiles: 30 under 30.
And if you still haven’t had your physics fix, we also have an Outlook supplement in this week’s issue of Nature all about Physics.
