One of the great pleasures of being Ambassador in Stockholm is the opportunity to host a lunch for our Nobel laureates. Yesterday Professors Peter Higgs and Michael Levitt, with their friends, family and colleagues came to the Residence.
It was a chance to celebrate their discoveries. I noted what another British academic had given as a layman’s description of the significance of Professor Higg’s great discovery – the Higgs boson is “the stuff that tells you stuff about stuff”. ‘Nuff said!
Professor Higgs, in his Nobel lecture, told us that at his first summer school as a young researcher in the 1960s, more experienced students, who went on also to be great names in the field of physics, lubricated their scientific discussions with bottles of wine hidden in a grandfather clock. So at the conclusion of lunch, I extracted from our clock, a couple of bottles of Bordeaux for our wine-loving laureates.
I also quoted Professor Levitt’s inspiring conclusion to his Nobel lecture, with advice to young scientists, but which on the day of Nelson Mandela’s memorial service and indeed international Human Rights day, has, I think, wider application:
– Be passionate, be persistent, be original and do kind and good.
