Upload
others
View
0
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Rome 2 October 2014 P. Carlson KTH Stockholm
Investing in knowledge in
Europe
The role of Universities
Basic science
• Gives new knowledge
• Can unexpectedly give
important applications
Alfred Nobel
A farsighted European
• Born 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden
• Cosmopolitan inventor of dynamite
• Lived in Sweden, Russia, Germany,
Scotland, France, and Italy
• Died in San Remo, Italy in 1896
Alfred Nobel:
”Home is where I work
and I work everywhere”
• When Alfred was 9, the family
was reunited in St. Petersburg
• Excellent education in chemistry
and in languages
• Fluent in Swedish, Russian,
German, English and French
First rate education
Ascani Sobrero (1812-1888)
discovered nitroglycerine 1847
From his chemistry teacher Professor Zinin Alfred Nobel first heard about nitroglycerine and its explosive power.
Nitroglycerine
O N
H
C
Alfred Nobel: inventor, industrialist, administrator
1863 - 30 years old
first patent
1873 - 40 years old
greatest discoveries made
worldwide industrial empire
wealthy
350 patents
St Petersburg Stockholm
Karlskoga
Krümmel
Ardeer
Paris
Avigliana
San Remo Paulille
Prague
Bratislava
Nobel Industries and Laboratories in Europe
Research Laboratory, Ardeer 1880
Alfred Nobel in Scotland
Drawing by Svenolov Ehrén
Alfred Nobel moves to Paris in 1873
Avenue Malakoff, Alfred Nobel’s Home 1873 - 1891
“Le Fayet”
Sevran,
Paris
Laboratory Main Building
Alfred Nobel also had a house and a laboratory outside Paris at Sevran
Villa Nobel Sanremo
Built 1874
Home for Alfred Nobel
1890-10 Dec. 1896
Today Museum
December 10, Stockholm: Prize awarding ceremony
A bust of Alfred Nobel, surrounded by
beautiful flowers donated by the city of
Sanremo in Italy.
The Will Paris 1895
The Will • Five prizes - Physics, Chemistry,
Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace
• The Will was contested on formal grounds
• King Oscar as well as politicians objected to different aspects of the will
• Relatives objected to being left out • Several years of negotiations before the
Nobel Foundation was established 1900
First prizes in 1901
Excerpt from the will: …..in awarding the prizes no consideration
whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be a Scandinavian or not.
Physics: The most important discovery
or invention
Chemistry: The most important chemical
discovery or improvement
Basic science at universities:
Nobel Prize discoveries that much later
and unexpectedly gave very important
applications
Two examples
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2003
Paul C Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield
for discoveries concerning "magnetic resonance imaging"
These discoveries made at universities have
led to the development of modern magnetic
resonance imaging, MRI, which represents a
breakthrough in medical diagnostics and
research.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI
Three steps to reach MRI:
• Fundamental physics
• Biology connection
• Image technology
MRI, Nobel Prize in Medicine 2003
P. Lauterbur and P. Mansfield
• Stern-Gerlach 1943 (Stern) Atoms behave like small magnets
• Rabi 1944 Atomic nuclei have a magnetic moment that can be measured with radiofrequencies
•Bloch, Purcell 1952 Magnetic resonance can be used to identify different atoms
•Kammerlingh Onnes 1913 Superconductivity
An application of basic discoveries in
physics awarded with the Nobel Prize:
Magnetic Resonance imaging
• First MRI equipement available 1980s
• Today over 25000 MRI cameras in use worldwide
• Harmless according to present knowledge
The optical fiber Nobel prize 2009
Charles Kuen Kao "for groundbreaking
achievements concerning the
transmission of light in fibers for optical
communication"
Kao, Nobel lecture 2009 Discovery paper: 1966!
Runestone
1200’s
Fibers
2000’s
Communication
Runestone
Development over 800 years
Basic research sometimes give important applications
The time scale over which basic research bears fruit
is unpredicable and often long. The funding of short-
term targeted research at the expense of basic
research could well restrict the development of
unforeseen and promising applications.
See Charles Day, Physics Today Dec. 2013
Universities play an important role in
developing new and favorable lines of
research. Spending 10 or more years on a
project that expands our knowledge of the
natural world without necessarily yielding a
new product is far riskier for an industrial lab
than it is for a university lab.
Albert Einstein
Nobel Prize in physics 1921
“for his services to
Theoretical Physics, and
especially for his discovery of
the law of the photoelectric
effect”.
Excerpt from the will: …..in awarding the prizes no consideration
whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be a Scandinavian or not.
Physics: The most important discovery
or invention
Two voices on
Understanding the laws of Nature
Carl Anderson discovered the positron Nobel Prize 1936
“Curiosity is part of human
nature, and there will always be
science for the sake of science,
for the sake of pure
understanding”
Higgs-particle discovery announced 12 July 2012 at CERN
New York Times, 13 July 2012
So what? Even if the particle is the Higgs boson, it is not going to be used to cure diseases or improve technology. This discovery simply fills a gap in our understanding of the laws of nature that govern all matter, and throws light on what was going on in the early universe. It’s wonderful that many people do care about this sort of science, and regard it as a credit to our civilization.
Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize 1979 On the Higgs discovery
In many countries scientific work needs more
public visibility and science more authority.
Scientific results are not opinions.
Has science lost its authority when it
comes to political decisions?
In many countries scientific work needs more
public visibility and science more authority.
Scientific results are not opinions.
Has science lost its authority when it
comes to political decisions?
A stronger bridge
between basic
scientific research and
politics/industry.
Message:
Basic scientific research gives new knowledge, often
completely unexpected.
It gives a kind of scientific capital, that increases our
knowledge of the laws of nature and from which
applications sometimes grow.
The link between basic science on one hand and
applications and industry as well as politcs is
essential for Europe.
Thank you