It was the second presentation of a Nobel Prize winner that I attended within a couple of days and I must say that don’t like presentations of Nobel Prize winners (if I am allowed to generalize). Such a very very deep monotone voice that you felt immediately asleep – before the introduction had even started. Isn’t that the picture of scientists that we have despite the fact that they may have made the most wonderful discoveries? Worst than all the most boring lectures I attended beforehand. No preparation whatsoever. But what should I expect from Nobel Prize winners? They’ve reached what seems impossible – mission accomplished. And they’ve already given so many presentations about what they thought to have discovered so that basically they don’t give a shit anymore. And this really made sense to me. And also reinforces the desire of most PhD students to leave science – without feeling ashamed of it (this might actually also be a good thing).
Afterwards we had a little gathering with the first Middle East woman Nobel Prize winner and other woman who may want to stay in science. Typical questions were asked like: “How do you manage to have a family and to run a successful lab at the same time? Where do you take your self-confidence from? Is science a male-dominated environment? etc.” And I must say that – despite the fact that her presentation was a complete disaster – her answers to these questions were great. Don’t think too much, go. Solutions can only be found when problems are concrete and present. This might be one of the biggest problems of our Swiss generation.