Gustavus Looks Ahead to the 51st Nobel Conference

With the 50th Nobel Conference now in the history books, Gustavus Adolphus College now looks ahead to the 51st Nobel Conference, which will be titled “Addiction: Exploring the Science and Experience of an Equal Opportunity Condition,” and will take place Oct. 6-7, 2015.

The 51st Nobel Conference will bring together experts in medicine, neuroscience, sociology, economics, and philosophy to explore the science and experience of addiction.

“The definitions and descriptions of addiction are contentious. Some see it as a brain disease, some others as a psychological condition, some as a consequence of environmental factors, and others as a spiritual crisis. It may be all of these or some combination—no one knows for certain,” said Gustavus Professor of Philosophy Peg O’Connor. “What is certain is that the substances and behaviors to which a person can become addicted continues to grow as different experts argue the inclusion of food, sex, the internet, and exercise.”

The following individuals have already been confirmed as speakers for the 51^st Nobel Conference:

• Owen Flanagan, James B. Duke Professor and professor neurobiology at Duke University
• Carl Hart, associate professor of psychology at Columbia University; director of Residential Studies and Methamphetamine Research Labs at the New York State Psychiatric Institute
• Denise Kandel, professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health; research scientist and head of the Department of Epidemiology of Substance Abuse at the New York State Psychiatric Institute
• Eric Kandel, 2000 Nobel laureate in physiology/medicine; University Professor, Kavli Professor of Brain Science, and professor of biochemistry and celluar biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; Senior Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• Marc Lewis, professor at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
• Sheigla Murphy, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Studies, Institute for Scientific Analysis

Tickets for the Nobel Conference typically go on sale in early April, but check the Gustavus website often for an exact date.

About The Nobel Conference

Following the dedication of the Alfred Nobel Hall of Science in 1963 at Gustavus, the Nobel Foundation granted approval for an annual science conference to be held at the College. For five decades, Gustavus has organized and hosted The Nobel Conference, which draws about 6,000 people to the college campus in St. Peter, Minn. The Conference links a general audience, including high school students and teachers, with the world’s foremost scholars and researchers in discussion centered on contemporary issues relating to the natural and social sciences. The Nobel Conference is the first ongoing educational conference of its kind in the United States. It is made possible through income generated by a Nobel Conference Endowment and the support of annual conference contributors.