Earlier this week the University of Liechtenstein hosted a lecture on fluorescence microscopy in the 21st century. It was held by the Nobel Laureate of Chemistry 2014, Stefan Hell, who called on young scientists to go against the flow.

On Monday evening the University of Liechtenstein offered the rare opportunity to “get to know a Nobel Laureate during a lecture and question time”, writes the University of Liechtenstein in a statement. During the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, the university secured the renowned biophysical chemist, Stefan Hell, to give a lecture. Hell won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2014 for his research into fluorescence microscopy. 

The scientist, who currently works at the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, succeeded in improving the resolving power of the fluorescence microscope, which had been previously limited to about 200 nanometres. 

In his lecture at the University of Liechtenstein, he highlighted “the difficulties he faced as a young scientist, when nobody believed his theories”, according to the statement. He called on young scientists to go against the tide, like he did. “Scientific consensus does not always correspond to reality. Challenges to consensus are not always welcome. And fundamental discoveries are often simple and have economic relevance,” he said in his lecture, as reported in the statement.   

Back to overview