—Nobel Prize Laureates in Physics Ivar Giaever and Maskawa Toshihide Invited to Yonsei
—College of Science’s 100th Anniversary
The Yonsei College of Science, which began in 1915 as the Science Department of Chosen Christian College, hosted the Yonsei Nobel Forum and Symposium on April 28 in Baekyang Concert Hall. Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the College of Science, as well as Yonsei’s 130th year, this was the sixteenth Nobel Forum held since 2006 and the third this semester. Two Nobel Laureates in Physics were featured at the forum: Professor Ivar Giaever, who won the award in 1973, and Maskawa Toshihide(益川敏英), the 2008 winner.
The first keynote address was given by Professor Giaever, who currently holds positions at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Oslo. In his talk, “The Nobel Prize and the Future of Science,” he told the audience: “The future of science depends on you. We still have many things to find out. Try to do something all the time. The most important thing in science is constant effort rather than waiting for inspiration.”
Reiterating the importance of hard work in scientific investigation, Professor Giaever remarked: “Although Einstein’s E=mc² is the great scientific formula, there are millions of scientific findings that do not receive attention from the public. And this is the kind of science that I do.” Speaking of a future Nobel Prize winner from Korea, he said that he expects for it to happen sooner rather than later, due to this country’s high-tech infrastructure and strong government support for science and technology.
In the afternoon, Mathematics Professor Kim Sung-soon from Paris Diderot University gave a lecture entitled “A Place That Had a Dream,” while Bae Su-hyeon, professor of Mathematics at Hanbat National University, spoke on “Nonlinear Natural Science and Mathematics.” University of Alabama Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Hong Yang-ki then gave the presentation “What Is the Role of Physics in Magnetic Materials and Devices?” The final talk of this session, “the Origin of Visible Masses,” was provided by Yonsei Physics Professor Lee Su-houng.
The second keynote speech was given by Professor Maskawa, who is based at Nagoya University in Japan; his Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry, which is now a key concept in particle physics. In his talk, “Evolution Law of Science,” Professor Maskawa spoke primarily about the relation between theoretical and experimental physics, but he also touched upon the development of Korean scientific research, providing suggestions for how this country can foster future Nobel laureates and stressing the importance of maintaining a productive and cooperative relationship with Japan.
Following Professor Maskawa’s address, the former president of POSTECH, Professor Chung Sung-kee delivered a lecture titled “Competence and Creativity: How to Develop It?” Other talks included: “Why Is a Bird a Dinosaur?” by Dr. Lee Yung-nam; “Space and Interstellar Black Holes” by Professor Woo Jong-hak; “Einstein Cross: The Mysteries of Gravitational Lensing” by Dr. Jee Myung-kook; and “My Journey from Science to Policy” by Professor Kim Dong-young.
According to Yonsei student Lee Gwang-hoon, who participated in the forum: “The talks provided impressive advice that will open a new chapter for integrated science, one that brings creativity and imagination to bear on basic science. I was encouraged by the great scholars, and the forum has given me motivation to study even harder.”