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Interview with Eric R. Kandel: From Memory, Free Will, and the Problem with Freud to Fortunate Decisions

Eric R. Kandel shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Arvid Carlsson and Paul Greengard in 2000 for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system. Eric Kandel was rewarded for his discoveries of molecular mechanisms underlying learning and memory. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Senior Investigator at Columbia Universities Center for Neurobiology and Behavior.
In this interview given at Hertie Foundation's Neuroforum 2008 on April 18, 2008 in Frankfurt, Germany, Nobel Prize Laureate Eric R. Kandel takes us on an enlighting journey ranging from memory, free will, the problem with Freud , to scientific challenges and the rise of European science.
Starting with short- and long-term memory basics, underlying molecular mechanisms, and events affecting the formation of long-term memory, Eric Kandel then shares his thoughts on the issue of free will and makes a strong case for its existence. In addition to his outstanding scientific career, Eric Kandel developed an interest in business and today serves as scientific advisor at Memory Pharmaceuticals. Eric Kandel then talks about the use and abuse of drugs in children and the merging of scientific disciplines. In one of the most intriguing parts of the interview, Kandel shares his thoughts on Freud, Freud's mistakes, and the unique situation that the generations following Freud did not develop Freud's work further. The interview then turns to more scientific aspects and Eric Kandel talks about his confidence and courage during the initial phases of his scientific career, studying learning and memory, and employing a strictly reductionistic approach, best characterized by his simple model organism Aplysia. Eric Kandel then describes one of the most challenging phases in his scientific career when adult neurogenesis was discovered in the hippocampus, a structure so integral to Kandel's work. The final parts of the interview cover today's absence of epic battles and controversies and the rise of European science.

Eric R. Kandel shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Arvid Carlsson and Paul Greengard in 2000 for their discoveries "concerning signal transduction in the nervous system." In this interview given at Hertie Foundation's Neuroforum 2008 on April 18, 2008 in Frankfurt, Germany, Nobel Prize Laureate Eric R. Kandel takes us on an enlighting journey ranging from memory, free will, "the problem with Freud", to scientific challenges and the rise of European science.

Eric R. Kandel shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Arvid Carlsson and Paul Greengard in 2000 for their discoveries  concerning signal ...

An interview with Nobel laureate Roy Glauber, Physics 2005

The field of quantum optics rests on the work of Roy Glauber, who helped elucidate the nature of light as both particles and waves. According to Glauber, quantum optics allowed "all sorts of experiments...that never could have been done before." He suggests that it was not his "small revelation" that the Nobel Committee awarded, but rather the decades of research that followed his own. Nonetheless, Glauber received one-half of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence" while the other half was shared by John Hall and Theodor H&auml;nsch for their work on laser-based precision spectroscopy. Glauber admits that the behavior of light seems strange and unintuitive - yet the phenomena that Einstein called "spooky action at a distance" may have many practical applications.
In this candid interview, Glauber shares his thoughts about working at Los Alamos National Laboratory - his shock to learn that he was helping to build The Bomb, and his dismay about how it was used. At Los Alamos, Glauber met two of his major influences: Julian Schwinger, who was Glauber's thesis advisor at Harvard, and Los Alamos scientific director Robert Oppenheimer, who facilitated his early post-doctoral research. Glauber also tells a poignant account of how his marriage fell victim to the social upheaval of the 1960's, and how he was left to raise two children alone. Despite the difficulties of reconciling academia with family, Glauber is amused to find himself revered by women as "someone who has raised children and nonetheless had a successful academic career."

The field of quantum optics rests on the work of Roy Glauber, who helped elucidate the nature of light as both particles and waves. In this candid interview, the Nobel prize-winning physicist shares his thoughts about this strange and unintuitive behavior of light, balancing fatherhood with an academic career, and working at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he shockingly learned that he was helping to build The Bomb.

The field of quantum optics rests on the work of Roy Glauber, who helped elucidate the nature of light as both particles and waves. According to Glauber, ...

An Interview with Nobel Laureate Theodor Hansch, Physics 2005

Theodor H&auml;nsch was a co-recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics for "contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb." In this video, H&auml;nsch explains "in a nutshell" the frequency comb, its theories, its many applications, and the breakneck pace of the research leading up to the Nobel Prize. Much of the pivotal work occurred in the late 1990's, when H&auml;nsch's group at the Max Planck Institute and John Hall's group at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) raced to demonstrate the technique first. A few years later, H&auml;nsch and Hall shared one-half of the Nobel Prize in Physics; the remaining half was awarded to Roy Glauber for his work in quantum optics.
H&auml;nsch recounts his years at Stanford University, where his accelerated academic trajectory could have predicted the momentum of his future research. He joined the faculty an associate professor in 1972 after completing a two-year post-doctoral fellowship &#x2013; and after turning down an assistant professor position just one week earlier. By 1975, H&auml;nsch was a full professor. He acclaims the progressive intellectual climate of Stanford and the surrounding area during the time personal computers were introduced; H&auml;nsch describes the era as not only a technological revolution, but also a social revolution where an individual's ideas could thrive irrespective of academic rank. H&auml;nsch goes on to describe some of the common characteristics of Nobel Laureates, and why he believes that training with a Nobel Laureate quantitatively increases one's own chances of winning a Nobel Prize.

Theodor H&auml;nsch was a co-recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics for "contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb." In this video, H&auml;nsch explains "in a nutshell" the frequency comb, its theories, its many applications, and the breakneck pace of the research leading up to the Nobel Prize.

Theodor H&auml;nsch was a co-recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics for "contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, ...

An Interview with Nobel Laureate Douglas Osheroff, Physics 1996

At extremely low temperatures, certain materials conduct electrical currents without resistance &#x2013; a phenomenon called superconductivity. An analogous state occurs in extremely low-temperature fluids, in which molecules flow without internal friction or resistance. Such a state, termed superfluidity, was predicted for helium-3 shortly after the Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer (BCS) theory of 1957 explained the superconductivity of metals. The search for helium-3 superfluidity commenced; it continued for about ten years without success, and was all but abandoned by the time Douglas D. Osheroff began his graduate studies at Cornell University. "The general wisdom was that the superfluidity of helium-3 was a pipe dream of the theorists," says Osheroff. "But in fact, it did occur." In 1972, Osheroff &#x2013; together with David M. Lee and Robert C. Richardson &#x2013; demonstrated the transition of helium-3 to a superfluid state at temperatures near absolute zero (-273&deg;C). Twenty-four years after their discovery, Osheroff and colleagues won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Osheroff&#x2019;s scientifically inquisitive nature developed long before his landmark discovery. "A lot of people did crazy things when they were young" says Osheroff, whose wild experimentation including building a 100,000-volt X-ray machine as a teenager. Now as a faculty member at Stanford University, Osheroff stresses the importance of mentoring undergraduates to get them excited about science, and to guide them on what to do next. As for graduate school, Osheroff says that "it doesn&#x2019;t matter what is it that you study as a graduate student &#x2013; the important thing is learning how to study."

At extremely low temperatures, the molecules of certain fluids are able to flow without internal friction or resistance - a phenomenon know as superfluidity. In this interview, Nobel Laureate Douglas Osheroff (Physics 1996) describes the somewhat arduous quest to prove the predicted superfluid state of helium-3. He also shares his thoughts on mentoring undergraduates and his philosophy on getting the most out of graduate school.