Forgotten Scientists? -"Should auld acquaintences be forgot and never brought to mind!"

"Should auld acquaintances be forgot

and never brought to mind!"

Here's a cup o'(of) kindness yet

For the "sake o' auld lang syne*""

(For "old time's sake")

Words by R. Burns.

The song is sung pretty near world wide to ring in the New Year.

Rather fitting both for the current "financial" crises, and specifically for my much more eminent colleagues Nobel Prize candidates - "The Nobel Class" most of whom will be forgotten to the general public, sometimes happily for some, sometimes not for others. Age and a rich experience is certainly a great compensation for some members of the "Nobel Class". Also it is only recently about the last ten years or so that breakthroughs in the more applied domains have been acknowledged, by the Nobel Committee, luckily for the general public and the many simply hardworking scientist or scientist turned manager!


This post follows directly and rapidly ("a quickie") following my previous post, yesterday here in "Conversations" cf. also my post this morning in my blog: "The Materials Chemists" on the "Human-Angle" in this years Nobel Prize 2008.

Thanks to internet and the press releases of the major Organisations, R&D Insitutes and Universities etc. I have been able to find the link to the French side in the isolation of HIV (V for virus) taken as an example in my previous post.

Without further ado here is the link in english to Institut Pasteur's role in this progress -LINK.

The important decision to tackle the problem in France dates from around 1982

Willy Rozenbaum, French clinician working at Hôpital Bichat at the time & Prof & Research Director Jean-Claude Chermann have been recently brought to the fore.

I hasten to add that, far from a specialist in these fields: medicine, biochemistry... I must refrain from further comment on the scientific approach. From a human stand point dare I say it, I refrained from donating blood for at least five years from 1986 to 1993.

Of course there are a number of famous cases of scientist being passed by which were certainly in the back-of-my mind (sub-conscience) I have a name on the tip of my tongue but ...

Let's not join the Financial Community and lose sight of realiy.

Cheers & keep fit & healthy.

NOBEL PRIZE AWARDS -2008 The Father of Invention - Mother of Great Innovation -A sure source for Discussion and Disagreement

No member of the scientific community nor blog on Science based Innovation can ignore the work done by the Nobel Prize Organization. This week and next will see the 2008 Nobel Prize winners. I have included for your keen attention the Nobel Prize Widget to keep us all informed. Feel free to "Innovated by sticking it on your blog or website.

"This-Above-All"
Now why, oh why, you may ask, have I brought up the "Conversation item in the title "A sure source for Discussion and Disagreement". Yes of course it is the title of my Blog and an underlying theme "across the board. More importantly, regular followers of science and scientific news, invention, innovation will have many ideas as to what this may be. For the less involved, including myself, I can easily imagine that there is substantial lobbying, battles in communication, and all manner of strategies and tactics involved, and projects which would benefit greatly from the renown of this most prestigious award (sorry for we contenders in "The Best or Worst Blog Awards contest!)...


More important in my opinion is the fact that so many scientists involved are "Nobel Class" and I wish to propose that the "Class" too should be given the just acknowledgement as it is neither possible nor desirable that "The Olympic Gold Medal in Science - The Nobel Prize" be given to "The Whole Class."



As a pointer or tag: let me just mention a great research start for a budding journalist could be the award of the 2008 Prize for Medicine. Do not get me wrong this is in no way "Bashing the French" with my superior english or something. Quite the contrary, just before writing this I was watching the excellent french daily medical magazine on the French-German joint TV Arte. An illuminating behind the scenes portrait of the role of about 5 professors and researchers associated with the prestigious Institut Pasteur played leading roles. Two are 2008 award winners. The project initiator in France Prof. Rosenbaum, presented his inside knowledge and the fact that his focus on preventive medicine and open communication, in the form of a Newsletter from an Atlanta Medical Institute brought immunodeficiency disease cases in US to his attention. He addressed The Institute Pasteur with the result we know today. The decision appears as I understand him to have been given to one leading but lesser known researcher, the youngster Prof. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (b.1947) at Pasteur and the extremely well known Prof Montagnier(b. 1932), forced into retirement at 65y, a few years ago, now heading projects in USA. Prof. Rosenbaum paid great tribute also to the excellence of their US colleagues, with an enigmatic expression "perhaps too good."? And again "Pasteur's communication - [communication policy may be the new research winners "drug." -JA]

Now you see too that such a slant completely ignores that half of the Prize went to Harald zur Hausen (b. 1936), of the German Cancer Research Centre Heidelberg, Germany "for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer"

However the incredible human side of this very high level science remains to be told.

I posted a piece on the search for neutrinos - "The materials science of materials science" Link to my post and poem on Neutrinos in which I mention Clyde Lorrain Cowan, Chemist, WWII-Hero, and Nobel prize winner in Physics whose family encountered difficulty in having their father recognised also as a War Hero highly deserving a place of honour in the US Military Grave Yard in Arlington, Virginia. - now acknowledged.

To support this request for more on the "human angle" I would be pleased to have your comments and information, web links on such subjects. As a metallurgist and materials scienctist physics and chemistry will naturally be my prefered research areas.

Thanks in advance.

ref: Nobel Prize Organisation

OVER THE SKY: India-US Nuclear Deal-Part 2

Outlandish III:
May I bring the nuclear weapons non-proliferation experts attention to this interesting web-log, posted by our young Indian friend, Vineet. His reflections and speculations on Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation led me to post on recent declarations by no less than Two Eminent Nuclear Scientists in the short time lapse of the last month or so, both obviously powerful opponents to Nuclear Weapons Proliferation. I fully adhere to their competent, highly intelligent and experienced opinion in these matters.

May I add that the UN appointed "Nobel Peace Prize winning- International Atomic Energy Authority" are currently studying, so called "secret" reports according to press, ref. from memory: "The NY Times - Le Monde - Supplement in English" -my memory is still good: NY Times selected weekly articles by Le Monde, World Trends, Saturday, June 7, 2008. entitled "U.N.'s New Urgency On a Nuclear Iran".

Cheers and Best Wishes

refs: More information cf.
1. Nobel Peace Prize winner "Pugwash".
2. UN-IAEA Nobel Peace Prize 2005.
3. Systems Approach to the Arms Race in The 5th Discipline The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization by Peter M. Senge – Systems approach. & Last but not least,
4. My published talk on Project Management in this blog, 2006. Very well written in my, obviously biased but humble, opinion. This ref.4. deserves a more impartial highly critical judgement such as the huge excellent english speaking Indian Readership.

OVER THE SKY: India-US Nuclear Deal-Part 2