成人大片

A sold-out crowd packed Queen鈥檚 University鈥檚 Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts for the rare opportunity to hear聽two Nobel Laureates discuss their roads to research success, together with Canada鈥檚 Chief Science Advisor聽Mona Nemer, and award-winning journalist and author Andr茅 Picard.

Nobel Laureate Martin Chalfie, who was awarded the prize for chemistry in 2008, visited Queen鈥檚 as part of the first-ever Canadian tour of the聽. Organized by Nobel Media, in partnership with biopharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, the NPII is an international outreach program striving to connect Nobel Laureates with scientific and student communities at universities and research centres worldwide.

鈥淲e are honoured to host the Nobel Inspiration Initiative and I鈥檓 excited to know that among our live audience and聽viewers online, we have potential future Nobel Prize Laureates who will be responsible for discoveries that make our world a better place,鈥� says Patrick Deane, Queen鈥檚 Principal and Vice-Chancellor, during his opening remarks. 鈥淎t Queen鈥檚, we believe in the fundamental value of research and want to create an environment where researchers can push boundaries, test limits, fail safely and take risks to achieve the kind of success talked about here today.鈥�

Picard moderated the engaging and often humorous 90-minute dialogue, which touched on the guests鈥� own research journeys, and topics ranging from basic research, gender imbalance in science fields, commercialization, and public trust in scientists. Richard Reznick, Dean of the Queen鈥檚 Faculty of Health Sciences, first introduced Picard and Chalfie, who spoke one-on-one before Dr. Nemer and Queen鈥檚 own Nobel Laureate, Arthur B. McDonald, joined in for expanded discussion and an audience Q&A session.

鈥淭he Nobel Prize doesn鈥檛 necessarily go to the smartest scientist or the most productive, or the one with the biggest group or most published papers; it goes, in my opinion, to scientists who do things that change the way we do science or we think about the world,鈥� says Dr. Chalfie. 鈥淔urthermore, most people don鈥檛 sit up at night thinking,聽How am I going to win a prize?聽The reward for many of us is in the discovery.鈥�

Dr. McDonald adds: 鈥淭he Nobel Prize is the icing on the cake. The real victory is in the breakthrough.鈥�

The panelists spoke at length about the formative years of their careers, discussing early obstacles. Dr. Chalfie brought up an early-career project that did not work out and drove him to abandon the field temporarily, which stood in contrast to part of the NPII public event鈥檚 title,聽Failure, persistence and joy: finding the right balance for research success.

鈥淚 was very fortunate to get back into it,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen I experienced this early disappointment鈥� I didn鈥檛 feel I should ask people for help. I didn鈥檛 have people telling me that the first time you do things, you鈥檙e going to fail. Persistence has to be coupled with mentorship and support.鈥�

As part of the day-long NPII event, Dr. Chalfie sat with some of Queen鈥檚 most promising graduate and post-doctoral students, and early-career researchers, prior to the public dialogue for an exclusive roundtable discussion about success and failure at the research frontier. He also toured two cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary research and learning spaces on campus 鈥� the聽Beaty Water Research Centre听补苍诲听Ingenuity Labs听补迟听newly-opened Mitchell Hall聽鈥� meeting with graduate and post-doctoral students, staff, and faculty.

During the public conversation, Picard posed the issue of the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields to the panelists for their comments.

鈥淚鈥檓 uplifted when I look at the audience today and see so many young people,鈥� says Dr. Nemer. 鈥淚鈥檓 looking at the many women in the audience and I want you all to know there is a place for you in these fields. Don鈥檛 let anyone stop you.鈥�

Dr. McDonald agreed, stating that his field 鈥� physics鈥斺�渘eeds a revolution of women in the discipline鈥�. He also urged current students to try a variety of things while in university to discover where their passions may lie.

鈥淪cience is fun. It鈥檚 an adventure,鈥� he says. 鈥淓mbrace it!鈥�

The event coincides with the launch of a聽brand new website聽highlighting Queen鈥檚 University鈥檚 vast complement of research pursuits and achievements. The site tells the stories behind research happening right here at Queen鈥檚 and highlights how research affects our lives and helps to shape our collective knowledge about the world.