Noble laureates to attend Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit

Ahmedabad: Nine Nobel Prize winners,including Indian-born scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, have confirmed their participation in the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, where they will interact with students and industry leaders.

"So far, nine Nobel laureates have confirmed their participation for the summit," Gujarat Chief Secretary J N Singh said at a press conference here today. The 8th edition of the investor event will be held at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar from January 10 to 13.

The high-profile gathering is also a knowledge-sharing platform where the Nobel laureates will interact with students, scientists and industry leaders, Singh said.

They will also attend a 'Nobel Prize Series Exhibition', which is part of the summit, to be held at Science City here. The five-week-long exhibition aims to spread knowledge about the Nobel Prize-awarded achievements and shares the laureates' inspirational stories with people.

These Nobel laureates will be here for three days, starting from January 9, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the exhibition, he said. "On January 10, PM Modi will inaugurate the summit. After its inauguration, the Nobel winners will take part in the 'Nobel Laureate Dialogue' at Mahatma Mandir," said Dhananjay Dwivedi, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology.

"This event at Mahatma Mandir will consist of two panel discussions, one about importance of innovation and another about role of science in uplifting society. We have invited students, scientists, heads of education institutes and other dignitaries to take advantage of this session," Dwivedi said.

Gujarat-educated Ramakrishnan won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on ribosome structure. He shared the prize with fellow scientists Thomas A Steitz and Ada Yonath.

Other Nobel laureates who will take part in the summit are Richard J Roberts (1993, Medicine), Harold Varmus (1989, Medicine), David Gross (2004, Physics), Serge Haroche (2012, Physics), Randy Schekman (2013, Medicine), W E Moerner(2014, Chemistry), H C Harmut Michel (1988, Chemistry) and Ada Yonath.

"On January 11, these Nobel laureates will interact with students at various educational institutes such as IIT- Gandhinagar, Gujarat University and MS University in Vadodara," Dwivedi added.