4. Vienna Seminar of Nobel Laureates

Chemistry

The fourth Vienna Seminar of Nobel Laureates was inaugurated within the framework of a ceremony / Wiener Vorlesung at Vienna City Hall on October 8, 2009. Nobel laureates Robert Huber, Jean-Marie Lehn, Roger Y. Tsien, Kurt Wüthrich, and Ahmed Zewail delivered lectures on the thematic focus of “Chemistry”. This was followed by a panel discussion.

On October 9, the Nobel laureates delivered specialized lectures at the University of Vienna, the Vienna University of Technology, and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna.

The event concluded with the “Chemistry and Technology Talks” held in the Sky Lounge of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.

The members of the Scientific Advisory Board in 2009 were Herfried Griengl, Christoph Kratky, Helga Nowotny, and Peter Schuster.

Nobel Laureates 2009

Robert Huber

Robert Huber was born in Munich in 1937 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1988 for his research on the three-dimensional structure of the photosynthetic reaction center.

He completed his PhD in Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich, where he also habilitated. From 1971 to 2005, he served as the director of the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, and as Director Emeritus, he continues to lead the Structural Research Group there.

Since 1988, he has been a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and conducts research at the Center for Medical Biotechnology at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Through his work on X-ray crystallography of proteins, Robert Huber has significantly influenced the understanding of photosynthesis. His current research focuses on the structure and function of biological macromolecules.

Jean-Marie Lehn

Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn, born in 1939 in Rosheim, Alsace, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1987 for the development and utilization of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity.

He studied chemistry in Strasbourg and later pursued studies at Harvard University. In 1970, he became a professor of chemistry at the University of Strasbourg. Since 1979, he has been a professor at the Collège de France in Paris, where he leads the Laboratory of Chemistry. He has also been the director of the Institute of Nanotechnology in Karlsruhe since 1998.

In 2001, he was honored with the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art.

Jean-Marie Lehn is considered a pioneer in Supramolecular Chemistry, which focuses on the deliberate construction of large molecules and new materials from small building blocks.

Roger Y. Tsien

Roger Yonchien Tsien, born in 1952 in New York City, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 for the discovery of green fluorescent protein.

He studied chemistry and physics at Harvard University and completed his doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge. In 1981, he became a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and in 1989, he moved to the University of California, San Diego.

Roger Tsien was honored for his work in creating fluorescent molecules that can visualize processes within cells. He developed further modifications of the proteins responsible for bioluminescence, which exhibit different fluorescence spectra. This enabled the separate observation of various cell components, revolutionizing cell and neurobiology.

Kurt Wüthrich

Kurt Wüthrich was born in Aarberg in 1938. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution.

He studied chemistry, physics, and mathematics in Bern and obtained his PhD from the University of Basel. He then spent time at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill. Upon returning to Switzerland, he became a professor of biophysics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. Since 2001, he has been a visiting professor at The Scripps Research Institute.

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy provides information about the three-dimensional structure of proteins and nucleic acids; molecules can be studied in solution, resembling the conditions within cells.

In his current research, he focuses on structural genomics.

Ahmed Zewail

Ahmed Hassan Zewail, born in 1946 in Damanhur, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1999 for his studies of chemical reactions using femtosecond spectroscopy.

He studied at the University of Alexandria and completed his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania. He then pursued further studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Since 1976, he has been working at the California Institute of Technology, where he holds the Linus Pauling Professorship in Chemistry and Physics. He is the director of the Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology at the California Institute of Technology and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Welch Foundation.

Ahmed Zewail is considered the founder of femtochemistry, a subfield of chemistry that describes processes on the femtosecond time scale. He developed a photographic method to track rapidly occurring chemical reactions using ultrashort laser pulses for time resolution.

The focus of his current research is in the field of dynamic chemistry and biology.

Commissioned composition

Bernhard Gander

Born in 1969 in Lienz, Bernhard Gander received his education at the Tyrolean State Conservatory Innsbruck, Studio UPIC in Paris, France, as well as at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.

His composition "Dirty Wings," a duet for accordion and flugelhorn, premiered at the Fourth Vienna Seminar of Nobel Laureates.

Performers:
Krassimir Sterev, Accordion
Anders Nyqvist, Flugelhorn