The Nobel Laureate Meetings in Lindau

I have been on blog sabbatical for some time, but I am going to be back in full force in about two weeks blogging from a lake in southern Germany. I have been invited to Lindau Germany to cover the 60th Meeting of Nobel Laureates in about two weeks. You can follow what I have to say along with several other bloggers on the Lindau Blog and you can also submit an original and stimulating question you would like to ask a Nobel Laureate.

One of the goals of the Lindau conference is to facilitate dialogue between Nobel laureates and young scientists. The conference will consist of lectures by the Nobel laureates followed by panel discussions between the young scientists and laureates. There will be an exchange of ideas on basic research as well as applications in fields such as medicine, physics, chemistry and economics. It is great to see this atmosphere of exchange between the various generations and the encouragement to young scientists for the future.  Personally, I am very excited to hear the talks and have the opportunity to ask Nobel laureates questions. I could use some recommendations on good questions to ask a Nobel laureate. Some questions I have thought of

• What was an assumption you or your field had that has turned out to be completely wrong?
• As a young researcher, how can we deal with the reality of daily failures and obstacles?
• What kind of fundamental research could lead to unexpected applications in daily life?

So, what would you ask?