Once every year, about 30 Nobel Laureates convene at Lindau to meet the next generation of leading scientists: 600 undergraduates, PhD students, and post-doc researchers from all over the world. The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings foster the exchange among scientists of different generations, cultures, and disciplines.
The meetings focus alternately on physiology and medicine, physics, and chemistry – the three natural science Nobel Prize disciplines. An interdisciplinary meeting revolving around all three natural sciences is held every five years. In addition, the Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences is held every three years.
The scientific program of each Lindau Meeting is based on the principle of dialogue. The different sessions – lectures, discussions, master classes, and panel discussions – are designed to activate the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and experience between and among Nobel Laureates and young scientists
Since their beginnings in 1951, the Lindau Meetings have evolved into a unique international forum for scientific exchange. It was the two Lindau physicians Franz Karl Hein and Gustav Wilhelm Parade who approached Count Lennart Bernadotte af Wisborg of nearby Mainau Island to jointly develop and implement the idea that marked the start of a long and continuing history.
Count Bernadotte—a grandson of King Gustaf V of Sweden—had excellent connections at Stockholm. Especially due to his efforts, seven Nobel Laureates agreed to participate in the first “European Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Medicine” held at Lindau in 1951. This extraordinary meeting was conceived as a European initiative of post-war reconciliation among scientists.
The initial success led to the establishment of periodic meetings of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, dedicated alternately to the Nobel Prize disciplines physiology or medicine, physics, and chemistry. Already in 1953, the decision was made to have undergraduates, PhD students, and post-doc researchers join the dialogue. In 2004, the first of the additional regular Lindau Meetings on Economic Sciences was held.
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