Nobel laureates Dr. Osamu Shimomura and Dr. Toshihide Masukawa expounded on how science can be fun at the seminar held on September 23 at “Knowledge Capital – Congrès Convention Center” in Osaka, stimulating an audience of approximately 900 who were primarily middle- and high-school students. The seminar, entitled “Science created through individuality – discussion by Nobel Prize winners,” was co-hosted by Congress Corporation and the Asahi Shimbun Company. The seminar was slated as one of the official events commemorating Congress Corporation’s opening this May of Congrès Convention Center in Grand Front Osaka, and simultaneously one of the Asahi Shimbun Company’s series “Summit for Knowledge and Learning” that features top scientists.

The lecture began with Dr. Osamu Shimomura, who discovered Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) fromAequorea victoria jellyfish and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008. Dr. Shimomura showed photos and talked about his early years collecting jellyfish and purifying the fluorescent protein, and the importance of never giving up. In the subsequent discussion session, Dr. Toshihide Masukawa, who garnered the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008 for the “Charge Parity (CP) violation” theory, reminisced about his life when he was a young researcher that fostered his free style of thinking, with the skillful interviewing of Keiko Nakamura, Director General, JT Biohistory Research Hall.

The day proved to be a memorable one, listening to the Nobel laureates speaking in person and getting glimpses of both Doctors’ research in the special satellite project workshops, etc., all in all discovering the fascination and incredible depth of science.

Knowledge Capital – Congrès Convention Center intends to continue to contribute to the promotion of science hereafter, as a hub for exchange of knowledge, information and culture.