Jordan Times
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Nobel laureates to focus on
science education
AMMAN (JT) - Advancing access to science education as a critical driver of
economic growth and social progress will be the central topic at the conference
of Nobel laureates this spring.
More than 30 Nobel laureates will meet in Petra June 17-19 to lend their
insights to addressing this issue, a Royal Court statement said.
The attendees also will consider the best learning and teaching strategies that
are already being implemented in worldwide education.
His Majesty King Abdullah and Elie Wiesel, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in
1986, will co-host the event.
Among the attendees are Nobel laureates from all six fields in which the Nobel
Prize is awarded each year - peace, economics, literature, physics, chemistry
and medicine, the statement said.
They are expected to be joined by other eminent guests representing the media,
business and educational institutions worldwide.
King Abdullah welcomed the convention of the conference for the fourth time,
describing it as a unique opportunity for the region’s youth, the statement
added.
“The knowledge and experience the participants impart is making a substantial
contribution to the nurturing of young leaders throughout our region,” he said,
adding that he also looked forward to the operational launch of the Middle East
Science Fund initiated by the conference organisers last year.
Other sessions during this year’s conference will address the global finance
crisis, food security, health, energy and the environment.
There will be several presentations by Nobel laureates at the event and the
format is one of sharing, debating and then coming to common ground on workable
strategies to adopt.
“A tone of urgency and creative collaboration are the hallmarks of the event,
together with a widely held conviction that many of the problems facing the
world are eminently solvable, if there is the political and intellectual will to
persist,” according to the statement, which was datelined Amman and New York,
where the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity is headquartered.
“Like evil, goodness, too, is contagious. Whatever one undertakes somewhere,
will affect people elsewhere,” Wiesel was quoted as saying.
“When human beings agonise in a small, remote village barely apparent on the
map, their tears and muffled cries wound our collective conscience. It is to
their call that we, scientists and educators, writers and industrialists,
journalists, researchers and philanthropists, physicians and statesmen, must
respond. This is what brings us back to Petra.”
Among participants in the three-day conference are the Dalai Lama, former Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev, President of Croatia Stjepan Mesic and President of
Senegal and Chairman of Organisation of the Islamic Conference Abdoulaye Wade.
More information can be reached at: http://www.petranobel.org