NOBEL MEETING, LINDAU Bloembergen (1981) pointed out, its field of applications is wide. As for the large machines, Melvin Laureates Come Down to Earth... Schwartz (1988) reported that the veteran Brookhaven synchrotron (AGS), now much rejuvenated, can produce beam intensities a ... to Lake Constance, in effect, where at What with students, professors, active thousand times higher than when commis the end of June the island town of Lindau scientists, diplomats, and media representa sioned over 30 years ago, and Broohaven’s welcomed the 44th annual reunion of Nobel tives, a capacity audience of about 800 new relativistic heavy-ion collider RHIC laureates. It was the fifteenth time the physi enjoyed a great variety of lectures given by should provide measurement accuracies cists met, who in successive years take it In the laureates. On a theoretical level, T.D. Lee never achieved before. How and what to turn with the laureates in chemistry and medi (Nobel Prize 1957) affirmed that composite measure was the main concern of Rudolf cine. When, in 1951, Count Bernadotte initia elementary particles may sometimes be trea Mössbauer (1961) who in numerous experi ted these events the Intention was to help ted as elementary particles in their own right. ments over many years has tried to interact those engaged in German and central Euro Willis Lamb (1955) attending for the thir with the elusive neutrinos to determine their pean academic life and iso properties. Awaiting the re lated through war, regain sults of his latest searches, contacts with the international he seemed less optimistic scientific community. The than on previous occasion; Nobel laureates, nucleus of our present means may eminent scientists, served as prove to be inadequate for a powerful catalyst in this pro finding the missing parame cess. Over the years more ters or solving the mystery of and more interest has con solar neutrino shortcomings. centrated on the younger Samuel Ting (1976), an early generations at the start of protagonist of earth-bound their academic or industrial experiments involving large- careers. scale collaborations, now They were offered a unique turns his attention to outer opportunity of meeting and space where a search for talking to leaders in their field, antimatter could be carried real people who otherwise out with rather expensive may have remained just text equipment, but needing a book references to them. This much smaller experimental year’s record attendance of Ranks of renown: after a lakeside lunch a score or so of Nobel laureates, mostly group. almost 600 students and as Ivar Giaever (1973) dealt sistants from German institu physicists, listen to a humorous address by one of their number, a tradition at their Lindau reunions. This year’s speaker was Ivar Giaever, standing next to with more mundane matters, tions was boosted by a large Countess Bernadotte who heads the organization of these annual meetings. such as applying scientific contingent of foreign and (Courtesy: Photo-Studio Jacobs, Lindau) discoveries to everyday grant-aided participants from needs. Early in his career he 47 countries all around the had realized that his more globe. Eager for advice they had many occa teenth time, speculated on advantages that rigourous approach as a physicist could be of sions, even during the final boat trip to the flo might have resulted from an earlier and bet benefit in biology and medicine where prag wer paradise, Mainau island, of individual ter understanding of quantum mechanics if matism reigned supreme. As the search for chats with the laureates. These, in turn, ben Newton had discovered the Schrödinger abnormal cell division, possibly cancerous, in efited from being confronted at first hand with equation in 1660. tissue cultures is usually performed in com the problems faced by those about to enter Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1983) lin plete ignorance of Maxwell’s equations, he the world of science. ked Newton with Michelangelo in considering developed an invention and set up a small Much needed backing for the annual meet human creativity in science and art. Both high-technology enterprise to manufacture ings is provided by local authorities, com men were most reluctant to embark on their and market an instrument capable of unam merce and industry, and, increasingly, by projects, the Principia and the Sistine Chapel biguous and objective measurements. Now international institutions, such as the Euro frescoes, but once persuaded or even coer he needs the skills of an economist! On a pean Union, the European Science Founda ced they worked with increasing enthusiasm much larger scale Leo Esaki (1973) of tunnel- tion and the Nobel Foundation, who have and completed their tasks in record time. diode fame cited examples of how the results recognized the lasting value of these Murray Fell-Mann (1969) examined complexi of pure research, an almost do-it-yourself valuable encounters. ty and complex adaptive systems, highly application of quantum mechanics in semi relevant now when chaos is a respectable conductors, can lead to the establishment object of study. In the 1960s, he had pro of a vast high-tech industry. Long experience Leo Esaki’s Rules for posed the quark model, then a mere figment in academic and industrial environments ena of theory, and here were J.I. Friedman and bled him to formulate a set of golden rules for Success R.E. Taylor (1990, with H.W. Kendall), who in success (see insert), rather anti-authoritarian - Don’t miss the opportunity for the leap the 1970s had proved its physical reality and surprising when voiced by a Japanese, forward through being trapped by past through electron-positron inelastic scattering, reputed paragons of obedience and confor experience or social conventions. reporting on the latest experiments. Another mity, but relished by the younger listeners. - Don’t become too attached to the great “impossibility” of recent times, the manipu authority in your field and risk losing sight lation of single electrons in semiconductors, In 1997 it will be 100 years since Alfred of your own potential: the eminent profes was shown to be feasible by Klaus von Nobel’s fruitful testament was published, and sor may get the Prize, his subordinates Klitzing (1985). How much smaller than when in 2000 the 50th Lindau reunion takes never do. single-electron devices can one get? place a century of awards will come to a - Discard information your don’t need; just According to Norman Ramsey (1989) the close that began with Roentgen, van’t Hoff retain what is relevant and leave memory measurement of effects predicted by special and von Behring. Perhaps someone in this space free. and general relativity, once considered summer’s Lindau audience will by then al - Don’t avoid confrontation to defend you improbable, could be carried out thanks to ready have the inspiration — Esaki Rules or own position: sometimes you may have to improvements in the accuracy and stability of no — that would eventually not only lead to put yourself first. atomic clocks. The science of nonlinear a royal handshake in Stockholm, but also to - Don't lose your childhood spirit of cu optics, long pre-dating Einstein, only really an honoured return visit to Lindau. riosity, a vital component of imagination. came into its own with the recent advent of powerful laser light sources and, as Nicolaas Simon Newman, Slough 122 Europhys. News 25 (1994)