As he spoke those words, Nobel laureate Sir Harold W. Kroto stood before a crowd of some 5,000 people gathered at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., for the 37th annual Nobel Conference. This year's meeting was a special one, celebrating of the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prizes. The college had commissioned a symphony from Emmy-Award-winning composer Steve Heitzeg, and two special banquets were being prepared. One dinner would replicate the first Nobel Prize dinner served in 1901 in Stockholm, complete with a string quartet, Swedish toasts, dancers, and almost exactly the same four-course meal. The centerpiece of the conference-the presentations-were intended to be focused on the future.
When Kroto (1996, chemistry), the opening speaker, paused, a silence descended on the hall. The future had looked challenging enough in the months preceding the conference, with scientists concerned about global warming, the loss of biodiversity, polluted oceans and waterways, ...
