Assembly Lets Boffins Relax a Little, THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
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June 24, 2003
THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
RUSSIA
ENGLISH
Assembly Lets Boffins Relax a Little, THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
Irina Titova
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They may be best known for scientific discoveries that could potentially change the course of history, but Nobel Prize winners have their human side, too.
The 20 Nobel Prize winners who assembled in St. Petersburg last week for the first meeting of its kind in Russia said that gatherings like last week’s are valuable not just from a scientific point of view, but are also a great way for them to get to know each other personally.
”I thought I knew a lot about many of my colleagues’ scientific research, but I never knew, for example, that Charles Towns, who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1964, is such a great dancer,” said Zhores Alfyorov, who won the physics prize in 2000 and was the initiator of last week’s meeting in his hometown.
Alfyorov said that Towns, 87, danced energetically with his wife non-stop for 20 minutes during one of the laureates’ parties last week. Alfyorov himself joined in with singing at the party.
On the more serious side of the proceedings, Alfyorov said that the assembled laureates had the chance to exchange information on their work and to learn from each other during the lectures and round tables held here between Monday and Saturday.
He said another aim of the meeting was to raise the prestige of science in Russia.
”Since 1992, the financial support from the government for the country’s leading scientific institutions has shrunk by 95 percent, which has resulted in a scientific brain drain,” Alfyorov said. “Our scientific research is also not valued as highly as it should be [in Russia].”
Towns said that Russia, which has “very outstanding science,” should provide more financial support for one of its academic strong points.
”Scientific disciplines do not immediately pay off; its pay off takes longer,” Towns said. “American scientists proved that science’s pay off can, ultimately, be colossal, but people often don’t have enough patience for it.”
Meanwhile, scientists and their wives were offered a broad cultural program, and taken to see the famed city suburbs, with a party being held on board a ship. Many of the scientists present at the meeting said that at such gatherings they do not only discuss science, but also get to talk with each other about various other topics.
Towns, who has four children and six grandchildren, said that he and other Nobel laureates, whom he has known for years, discuss their families.
”We all commiserate with each other about our grandchildren living far away from us, and about missing them greatly,” he said. He said that, beside science, he is fond of natural history, hiking, ornithology, and singing, adding that hobbies were also a frequent topic for discussion last week.
Georg Bednorz, a German scientist who received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1987 at the age of 36, agreed, saying that, when Nobel laureates meet, their conversations are not entirely restricted to science, but include hobbies, families and private activities.
Bednorz said that he likes to cook all kinds of cuisine, including Russian, where he is good at cooking borshch. He said that he is also fond of sculpting in bronze or stone.
Most of Nobel laureates arrived at the St. Petersburg meeting with their wives, who were given a separate cultural program.
”For scientists, who have dedicated lots of time to their research, it is very important to have a good and understanding wife,” said Yang Li, winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1986.
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