When I am often asked about the secrets of success in science, I reply that I have no secrets, because if I had, I would have attempted to repeat my own success rather than disclose the secret. Yet, there is one important "secret" which I love to share with those who inquire, and that is good mentoring and role modelling. As a matter of fact, while I try to be an active mentor and a role model for my graduate students and fellows, as well as for young scientists who are carving their way, wondering at times whether science is the right career choice for them, I am still looking for mentoring and role modelling myself. Somehow, my dream is to return to graduate school and post-doctoral fellowship, where I was surrounded by excellent teachers, to get back to the bench, be free from administrative duties and focus on one important mission - unravelling the secrets of nature.

Since this dream - of being an eternal student - will most probably not come true, I try to surround myself with excellent students, fellows and faculty members from whom I can learn and be inspired. So where do the Lindau Meetings come into play? Well, I have never told the organizers, but while they think I come to teach, as a matter of fact, I come to learn and be taught. Be taught mostly about diversity in our society, about different cultures, languages, colours, historical backgrounds, music, foods, the importance of national identity, BUT at the same time about the power of science and technology to serve as a language that we all talk and via which we can all communicate. I come to learn and teach that the world is mountainous and rugged, but at the same time flat, and that this is exactly the source of its beauty. And what enables it in Lindau are the hundreds of young students coming from dozens of countries - from Asia, America, Europe, Africa and Australia - speaking tens of languages and dialects, dressed in their national costumes and singing their national songs, but connecting to one another via a single language - a language of science and technology, which is a language of human health and progress and a language of peace that can bridge over political and cultural divides.

The students learn that science has no borders, that a shared culture of science across nations and people can bring unity and cohesion in face of differences. Here in Lindau, the seeds of a spirit of trans-national collaboration are being planted in the young hearts, encouraging movement of researchers across borders. Here, they learn that universities and research institutes benefit greatly by extending their educational mission far beyond their borders, and welcome foreigners to their home campuses. As importantly, they learn that ground-breaking achievements in science are just round the corner and only an arm’s length away. They realize that Nobel Laureates are human beings in the full sense of the word and not Extra Terrestrial organisms, and the experiments they carried out are simple, at times embarrassingly simple, yet courageous, out of the box and against the stream, a type of experiments they can all do. From their personal, intimate and direct meetings with the Laureates, they learn to be bold, daring, visionary and courageous, to ask questions, to doubt, to learn from failures and realize that they are part of life in science, and that those who do not fail do not succeed. They learn about the importance of mentorship and role modelling, exactly what I am still after. And this is what Lindau is all about.     

 

 

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Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover (Chemistry 2004) has written this article for the book: "10 Years Foundation Lindau Nobelprizewinners Meetings at Lake Constance" in 2010 and allowed us to publish it on this platform.