Lindau, Germany: All of last week, 580 young researchers from 67 countries, including at least 45 from India, were seen milling through the fairground of science with 23 Nobel laureates in chemistry in the island city of Lindau in southern Germany. They listened to the laureates, to their moments of mistakes and glory, took autographs and photographs and, more importantly, picked their brains in special sessions at the annual Nobel laureates meetings. If Martin Chalfie (Nobel 2008) joked about his 15 minutes of fame on Google News, where he was ranked with Britney Spears and he felt “he had indeed arrived”, Sir Harold Kroto (Nobel 1996) talked about the competitiveness and the downsides of the Grand Slam of science. Mint caught up with three Nobel laureates.
Robert H. Grubbs
Grubbs is from the California Institute of Technology and is one of the few Nobel
Robert H. Grubbs.
laureates whose research projects directly lead to the marketplace even as they continue to fine-tune them in their laboratory. Grubbs, along with two others, won the Prize for developing the metathesis method in organic chemistry, an important reaction that has allowed new molecules for pharmaceuticals, plastics and many other fields to be produced more efficiently and in an environment-friendly manner.
So when he said he is on a special expert committee of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and his job, along with some others, is to help the Indian conglomerate spur innovation, it didn’t come as a surprise. Fascinated by the fact that RIL is just about “30 years old and is present everywhere”, Grubbs is looking forward to his January trip to Mumbai, from where he’ll be flown to Jamnagar. “It’s interesting to see that this company wants to be Exxon and Wal-Mart at the same time,” he said.
Ryoji Noyori
Noyori never forgets how poor Japan was when he was growing up and how he
Ryoji Noyori.
aspired to be an industrial scientist but ended up being in academia. Many years later, after he won the Prize in 2001, Noyori is forging ties with industry and is promoting “green chemistry”, one that leads to safe solvents and starting materials, renewable resources, less wastage and energy conservation.
His pet peeve, though, is that the public, in every country, underestimates the value of science but expects the fruits of science and technology nonetheless. As president of one of Japan’s largest research institutes, RIKEN, Noyori now devotes his time to making science and technology education “broad-based” not only in Japan but in the Asian region. He chairs the third Hope Meetings—to be held in Japan in October, in which most Asian countries, including India, will participate—for promotion of science. “Countries should understand that money cannot sustain the planet, only science and technology will,” he said.
Sherwood Rowland