Nobel Conference


The Nobel Conference is an academic conference held annually at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. Founded in 1963, the conference links a general audience with the world's foremost scholars and researchers in conversations centered on contemporary issues related to the natural and social sciences. It is the first ongoing academic conference in the United States to have the official authorization of the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden.

History

Gustavus Adolphus College was founded by Swedish immigrants in 1862 and throughout its history, has continued to honor its Swedish heritage. As the College prepared to build a new science hall in the early 1960s, College officials asked the Nobel Foundation for permission to name the building the Alfred Nobel Hall of Science as a memorial to the great Swedish inventor and philanthropist. Permission was granted, and the facility's dedication ceremony in 1963 included 26 Nobel laureates and officials from the Nobel Foundation.
Following the 1963 Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, College representatives met with Nobel Foundation officials, asking them to endorse an annual science conference at the College and to allow use of the Nobel name to establish credibility and high standards. At the urging of several prominent Nobel laureates, the foundation granted the request and the first conference was held at the College in January 1965.
For four and a half decades, world-class research scientists and scholars have come together to discuss leading topics in science with audiences of thousands.

Mission

The goal of the conference is to bring cutting-edge science issues to the attention of an audience of students and interested adults, to engage the panelists and the audience in a discussion of the moral and societal impact of these issues, and to continue to attract world-class speakers. Beginning with the help of an advisory committee composed of Nobel laureates such as Glenn Seaborg, Philip Showalter Hench, and Sir John Eccles, the conferences have been consistently successful in attracting the world's foremost authorities as speakers.
Past speakers have included David H. Hubel, Fritz Lipmann, Sir Harold Walter Kroto, and Mitchell Jay Feigenbaum.
Fifty-nine Nobel laureates have served as speakers, five of whom were awarded the Noble prize after speaking at the Nobel conference at Gustavus.
The Nobel conference has a focus on scientific topics such as "Medicine: Prescription for Tomorrow", "The Legacy of Einstein", "The Science of Aging", "The Nature of Nurture", "Virus: The Human Connection", and "The New Shape of Matter: Materials Challenge Science". The social sciences are also well represented and many topics are interdisciplinary; focusing on economics, politics, the social sciences, and philosophy. For example, the 2016 Nobel Conference: In Search of Economic Balance brought economists from around the world to discuss the challenges facing real-world implementation of economic theories.
The Nobel conference is open to the general public.

Current

The 2017 Nobel Conference is titled "Reproductive Technology: How Far Do We Go?" and took place October 3–4, 2017 in Saint Peter, Minnesota at Gustavus Adolphus College.
Lecturers include:

2016 - ''In Search of Economic Balance''

Lecturers included:
2015 - Addiction: Exploring the Science and Experience of an Equal Opportunity Condition
Lecturers included:
  • Owen Flanagan, Ph.D, James B. Duke Professor and Faculty Fellow in Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University
  • Eric R. Kandel, MD, Neuropsychiatrist and 2000 Nobel laureate in physiology and medicine
  • Carl Hart, Ph.D, Neuroscientist
  • Denise Kandel, Ph.D, Medical sociologist
  • Marc David Lewis, Ph.D, Developmental neuroscientist
  • John A. List, Ph.D, Economist
  • Sheigla B. Murphy, Ph.D, Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Studies at the Institute for Scientific Analysis
2014 - Where does Science Go from Here?
Lecturers included:
2013 - The Universe at its Limits
Lecturers included:
Other past Noble Conferences include:
2000 - Globalization 2000: Economic Prospects and Challenges
Lecturers included: