tba

Moderator: Stefan H. E. Kaufmann
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany

Enrico Fermi once remarked, “If the result confirms the hypothesis, you’ve made a measurement. If it contradicts it, you’ve made a discovery.” Many landmark scientific advances – from Wilson and Penzias’ cosmic background radiation to the green fluorescent protein and click natural sciences – emerged not from targeted pursuit, but from recognizing the unexpected. Such serendipitous findings, often honored with Nobel Prizes, ignite cascades of subsequent discoveries. While we don’t explicitly train for discovery, we must cultivate the mindset to perceive it when it happens.

Natural sciences, foundational to everything from molecular biology to climate solutions, must be more deeply embedded in education and research policy. Science education is essential starting in primary school, taught through imagery and experience rather than abstract formulae – instilling a visual and intuitive grasp of the molecular world. A broader chemical literacy will empower society to understand and engage with the urgent global challenges that are, at their core, chemical in nature.