Behind the Curtain
Besides the big innovation challenges of our time first and foremost the people and their stories make an international recognized prize like the Körber European Science Prize lively and comprehensible. We have asked close associates and previous prizewinners what had driven them as top scientists over the decades.
“The inadequate willingness of Germans to take risks is the biggest risk of all.”
Reimar Lüst was once described by his biographer Paul Nolte as the “Willy Brandt of German science”. He was a “science maker” who for decades shaped Germany as a location for scientific research as no one else did. For many years, he was a close associate of Kurt A. Körber, and from 1984 to 1996 he was the first Chairman of the Trustee Committee of the Körber European Science Prize. continue (PDF)
“The climate problem could be solved if politics could think long term.”
Klaus Hasselmann is considered the nestor of climate research in Germany. He has always been an activist in the debate about the climate. His creed is: Act today and don’t wait until the last doubts have been removed by science. In 1990, he was awarded the Körber European Science Prize together with Lennart Bengtsson und Bert Bolin. continue (PDF)
“You should not stop until they stop giving you funding.”
Klaus Rajewsky is known as one of the most influential scientists of his discipline and has been named over and over again as a candidate for the Nobel Prize. He is restless. Since becoming professor emeritus, he has worked successfully in the USA. In 1997, he was given the Körber European Science Prize together with Pawel Kisielow and Harald von Boehmer. continue (PDF)
“The view of Europe is firm and irreversible.”
Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker served at the head of the German Research Foundation until 2006. In 2007, he became the Secretary General of the European Research Council, which coordinates the EU financing of basic research. Kurt A. Körber always dreamed of a European sphere of research. We therefore asked this “European” how realistic this dream is. continue (PDF)
“It is an illusion to believe that people’s behavior is the result of their own free will.”
Wolf Singer is one of the best known brain researchers in Germany. He is the prime example of a scientist who looks for dialogue, of someone who does not avoid dispute in the best sense of the word. Together with Rodney Douglas, Amiram Grinvald, Randolf Menzel, and Christoph von der Malsburg, he received the Körber European Science Prize in 2000. continue (PDF)
“We have to close the virus back in the Pandora’s box.”
Luc Montagnier is considered the discoverer of the AIDS virus. He was honored with the Körber European Science Prize in 1986, together with Jean-Claude Gluckman, Sven Haahr, George Janossy, David Klatzmann, and Paul Rácz. Twenty-two years later he was awarded, together with Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, the Nobel Prize in Medicine. continue (PDF)
“Prize Winners have to open new doors.”
The Biochemist Bertil Andersson, longstanding member of the Trustee Committee of the Körber European Science Prize, over decades close associate of the Nobel Prize and until 2007 at the top of the European Science Foundation comments on the decisive last phase of the selection of Ulrich Hartl as the winner of the Körber European Science Prize, the recipes of top scientists for achieving success, steps to support the next generation of scientists, ethics, and eternal life. continue (PDF)
“Modern Medicine depends on genetic engineering.”
Peter Gruss is chairman of the Trustee Committee of the Körber European Science Prize and since 2002 president of the Max Planck Society. On the occasion of the presentation of the Körber European Science Prize 2004 that honored a team of scientists for a new therapy of genetically determined metabolic disorders, he talks about the necessity of gene therapy, the dubiousness of cloning, and Germany as a location for performing research. continue (PDF)
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