Kurt Wüthrich (1938- )
Born on 4 October 1938 in Aarberg, Switzerland, Kurt Wüthrich was awarded half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002 ‘for the development of methods for identification and structure analyses of biological macromolecules’ (the other half was awarded to Kōichi Tanaka and to John B. Fenn), more precisely ‘for his development of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution’.
Extract
Marina Solvay: What do you think of the Solvay Conferences today and how do you imagine them in the future? Do they still have a role to play and if so, in what form?
Kurt Wüthrich: Difficult to say, but we can certainly point out that among the participants of the 1983 Conference on Chemistry, five participants have since been awarded the Nobel Prize, and many others have been Nobel Prize candidates. This shows the extraordinary level of the Solvay Conferences. We were widely acclaimed for the 2016 Conference because we were able to gather groups working on catalysis in different areas (synthesis, biochemistry, biophysics, etc.) but who did not know each other well beforehand. That is something unique! It can only happen at the Solvay Conferences, because the scientific world is becoming too specialized.
Marina Solvay: And do you see a future for our Conferences?
Kurt Wüthrich: Yes, but we have to think carefully about what takes place here! It is becoming difficult to convince high-flying scientists to come and spend a week in Brussels! I had to tell one or other that if they just wanted to come to make their presentation and then leave, it was not worth it. I had to impose my point of view vigorously! The interesting thing about the Conferences is the discussion, not the presentation! It remains a unique model! Meetings of this kind are not possible elsewhere. Did you know that there was a CIBA-GEIGY Foundation, later the Novartis Foundation? That project was abandoned ten years ago because it was too expensive! And yet that foundation published 80 reports on themes close to those of the Solvay Conferences. Note that physicists are in greater need of these meetings than chemists or biochemists who are subject to industrial pressure – just think of start-ups. It is easier to assemble a group of high-level physicists than chemists.