DPG: quantum science and technology year

The German Physical Society’s (DPG) board of directors voted in favor of supporting the initiative of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) to celebrate the year 2025 with a large-scale quantum science and technology program!
This will be comparable to the “Einstein Year” in 2005.

The DPG, in cooperation with scientific institutions around the world, is now working on a resolution to present to the UNESCO and United Nations general conferences in 2023.

For more information on the year of quantum science and technology take a look at the DPG’s press release. (German)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck

Chemistry and COP26

The Royal Society of Chemistry has gathered material on climate change from a chemical point of view, to be found under Chemistry and COP26.

In light of the UN Climate Change Conference that took place in Glasgow last month, the RSC published a position statement as well as a manifesto on climate change. Furthermore, the page features several educational videos on different aspects of environmental issues and sustainability. The chemistry behind factors of climate change and technologies with the aim of counteracting it are explained.

DPG: The future of scientific publishing

The Executive Board of the German Physical Society (DPG) has published the “Position Paper on the Future of Scientific Publishing“, in which the positions of practicing scientits are presented in detail.

This includes their point of view on Open Acces, Cost & Data transparancy and barrier of entry in the publishing sector.

Full statement download (PDF): English
Full statement download (PDF): German

Nobel Prizes 2021

This October the winners of the annual Nobel Prizes have been announced, and we are proud to say that not one but two of our MPG scientists have had the honor of receiving this coveted award.

Physics:
Together with two other laureates Klaus Hasselmann shares this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics for:

“[…] groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems”

Hasselmann and Manabe laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earth’s climate and how humanity influences it and are acknowledged for:

“[…] the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming”

Chemistry:
Benjamin List
together with his co-laureat David MacMillen won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for:

“[…] the development of asymmetric organocatalysis”

They are credited with the invention of “an ingenious tool for building molecules” called organocatalysis, which has had a great impact on pharmaceutical research, and “has made chemistry greener”

Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach.
1. Klaus Hasselmann
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany
2. Benjamin List
Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany

You can find more information on this year’s Nobel Prices and the winners here.

Gerhard Ertl über sein Leben mit der Wissenschaft

Anfang September fand die Auftaktveranstaltung der neuen Buch-Reihe „Lebenswerke in der Chemie“ statt. Nun ist das Video, das unter anderem ein langes Inverview mit Gerhard Ertl enthält, online verfügbar.

Die Autobiographie von Gerhard Ertl ist bereits in der Bibliothek verfügbar:
Gerhard Ertl: Mein Leben mit der Wissenschaft. Berlin 2021 (70 K 159)