Last week more than 5,000 people attended the sold-out 47th annual Nobel Conference: The Brain and Being Human, as eight presenters engaged audience members with topics and discussion in the field of neuroscience.
Now Gustavus Adolphus College will look ahead to the 48th Nobel Conference, which will be titled Our Global Ocean and take place Oct. 2-3, 2012.
The oceans have long been a source of fascination, from the tales of Sinbad to the popular Blue Planet nature documentary. The marine world provides us with seafood and medicines, fertilizers and petroleum. The oceans are also a wellspring of danger, from the exaggerated fiction of Jaws to the under-reported facts of climate change. Nobel Conference 48 will examine Our Global Ocean as a source of knowledge. Top researchers in biogeochemistry, oceanography, deep-sea biology, molecular genetics, and coral ecology will come together at Gustavus during the first week of October 2012. They will meet to discuss the marine realm: what we know, what we don’t know, and how we humans rely upon healthy, vibrant seas.
The following individuals will serve as presenters at the 48th Nobel Conference:
- Dr. Barbara Block, Department of Biological Sciences, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University
- Dr. David Gallo, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
- Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Global Change Institute, University of Queensland, St. Luica, Australia
- Dr. Marcia McNutt, United States Geological Survey National Center, Reston, Virginia
- Dr. Kathleen Moore, Spring Creek Project, Oregon State University
- Dr. Christopher Sabine, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, Washington
- Dr. Carl Safina, Blue Ocean Institute, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
“If a President or U.N. Secretary General was putting together a scientific panel on the oceans, I believe that these names would be at the top of his or her list,” said Joel Carlin, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies and a member of the Nobel Conference 48 Committee. “These scientists are incredibly famous for their scholarly work, but all of them started with a simple fascination with nature and a desire to know more. It is my hope that everyone, but especially the young, leave Nobel 48 a little humbled and a lot excited by our global ocean.”
Tickets for the Nobel Conference typically go on sale in early April, but check the Gustavus website often for an exact date.
The Nobel Conference, the first ongoing educational conference of its kind in the United States, is made possible through the generous support of Drell and Adeline Bernhardson, major legacy gifts, and annual contributors.
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Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
luch@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510