Find out what the program has in store each day. Also, see brief interviews with some prominent figures from the program who can highlight particular sessions. It’s not just an introduction, it’s where each day begins.

Welcome to the digital 8th Heidelberg Laureate Forum!

Moderators: Elena and Martin Lichtenthaler

Theresia Bauer
Minister of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg

Beate Spiegel
Chairperson Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation and Managing Director Klaus Tschira Foundation

Anna Wienhard
Scientific Chairperson Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation

Carlos E. Kenig
President of the International Mathematical Union (IMU)

Gabriele Kotsis
President of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

Hans Petter Graver
President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (DNVA)

Bernhard Eitel
President of Heidelberg University

Eckart Würzner
Mayor of the City of Heidelberg

Leslie Lamport
ACM A.M. Turing Award 2013

Fernando Castro-Prado
6th HLF 2018 Alumnus

Musical setting by the saxophone quartet "Balanced Action"

The Value of Errors in Proofs   (a fascinating journey from Turing's seminal 1936 R ≠\neq RE to the 2020 breakthrough of MIP* = RE)

Last year, a group of theoretical computer scientists posted a paper on the Arxiv with the strange-looking title "MIP* = RE", impacting and surprising not only complexity theory but also some areas of math and physics. Specifically, it resolved, in the negative, the "Connes' embedding conjecture" in the area of von-Neumann algebras, and the "Tsirelson problem" in quantum information theory. You can find the paper here https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.04383

As it happens, both acronyms MIP* and RE represent proof systems, of a very different nature. To explain them, we'll take a meandering journey through the classical and modern definitions of proof. I hope to explain how the methodology of computational complexity theory, especially modeling and classification (both problems and proofs) by algorithmic efficiency, naturally leads to the generation of new such notions and results (and more acronyms, like NP). A special focus will be on notions of proof which allow interaction, randomness, and errors, and their surprising power and magical properties.

The talk does not assume any special background.

Quantum Computational Supremacy

In Fall 2019, a team at Google made the first-ever claim of "quantum computational supremacy"---that is, a clear quantum speedup over a classical computer for some task---using a 53-qubit programmable superconducting chip called Sycamore.  Since then, a group at USTC in China has made several additional claims of quantum supremacy, using both superconducting qubits and "BosonSampling" (a proposal by me and Alex Arkhipov from 2011) with ~70 photons in an optical network.  In addition to engineering, these experiments built on a decade of research in quantum complexity theory.  This talk will discuss questions like: what exactly were the contrived computational problems that were solved?  How does one verify the outputs using a classical computer?  And crucially, how confident can we be that the problems are really classically hard?

What is the fastest way to get to know as many people as possible? Meet fellow participants and wire the network that could lead to connections that not only last throughout the 8th HLF but have the potential to extend beyond.  

Young researchers have the opportunity to exchange directly with laureates in a small group setting. These sessions are exclusive to young researchers to provide a more personal atmosphere for effective discussion.

The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, artificial intelligence, the opioid epidemic, and the Mars expedition are just a few of the complex science topics in the news today. Regrettably, many of these topics have been politicized, leading to vaccine hesitancy, climate change denialism, and other undesirable outcomes. Fortunately, a recent Pew Research Center survey found that public confidence in scientists exceeds that of confidence in elected officials. Scientists who are willing to engage with the public – via writing, exhibitions, TED talks, infographics, art, and more – not only have an opportunity to enhance public science literacy but may find the experience personally and professionally rewarding. In this panel you will hear from mathematicians, a computer scientist, and a science journalist who engage the public in science in creative ways, including writing and editing books and articles aimed at nonexperts, curating public exhibitions, and producing videos that go viral.

Discussion groups following the panel: 20:00 - 20:30

Moderator: Susan D’Agostino
Mathematician and associate editor at the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists", a magazine that equips the public, policymakers, and scientists with the information needed to reduce man-made threats to our existence.

Vinton Gray Cerf
Vint Cerf is the Chief Internet Evangelist for Google and contributes to global policy development and continued spread of the Internet. Cerf is widely considered to be one of the "Fathers of the Internet."

Bill Andrews
Senior editor at "Quanta Magazine", an editorially independent online publication to enhance public understanding of science.

Jürgen Richter-Gebert
Mathematics professor at the Technical University of Munich. Recipient of the Communicator Prize of the German Research Foundation.

Talithia Williams
Associate professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College.

Each day draws to a close in our VR space where participants can exchange about the sessions, develop connections or simply chat with each other. Take advantage of the program’s momentum to expand your network and maybe find some inspiration. 

Young researchers have the opportunity to exchange directly with laureates in a small group setting. These sessions are exclusive to young researchers to provide a more personal atmosphere for effective discussion.

Find out what the program has in store each day. Also, see brief interviews with some prominent figures from the program who can highlight particular sessions. It’s not just an introduction, it’s where each day begins.

Instead of diving straight into the program, take the opportunity to collect yourself so that you can proceed with a clearer mind and better prepared to absorb whatever the day may bring.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put an intense spotlight on the little-known field of epidemiological modeling. Computer models, built with thousands of formulas, have helped scientists understand key aspects of the pandemic and provided forecasts of its future path. Policy makers have based important decisions on models, including whether to lock down entire countries, order people to wear face masks, how to deploy COVID-19 tests, or who to vaccinate first.

Computer models have existed long before the current pandemic. They have been used to forecast many outbreaks of almost every disease, including HIV, malaria, and Ebola, and have inspired and informed policy makers to take action. In every instance, scientists must deal with a range of uncertainties, from basic properties of the pathogen, routes of transmission, the strength of immunity, and human behavior. And models are never perfect. In the case of COVID-19, some have contradicted each other, and some have been spectacularly wrong. At times, they have left the public confused.

In this Hot Topic, two epidemiological modelers will explain how they construct their models, what they are designed to do, and what their limitations are. We'll also discuss with them and two 'consumers' of models what makes epidemic modeling useful, how epidemiologists, policy makers, and the public at large deal with the uncertainties, and how best to communicate about the outcomes of modeling exercises.

Panel discussion followed by small discussion groups.

Moderator: Martin Enserink
Martin Enserink is International news editor at Science magazine. His writing focuses on infectious diseases, global health, research policy, and scientific integrity. He has covered outbreaks and epidemics around the world and won multiple journalism awards.

Amrish Baidjoe
Field-epidemiologist and microbiologist, director the LuxOR operational Research Unit for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF-OCB), honorary Assistant Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and president of the European Alumni Network for Field-Epidemiology (EAN).

Julia Fitzner
Dr Julia Fitzner is the team lead for data and analysis in the Global Influenza Programme and leads the data management and acquisition team for the COVID19 response in the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.  She is working in WHO since 2001 in different areas focusing on global surveillance data collection and analysis. She has been involved in several crisis responses, including yellow fever outbreaks, SARS, the 2009 influenza pandemic and currently COVID19 pandemic.  She graduated from Charité medical school in Berlin where she also did her doctoral thesis on antimicrobial resistance, and completed the field epidemiology training (EPIET/FETP) at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.  

Sebastian Funk
Sebastian Funk is a Professor of Infectious Disease Dynamics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a Senior Research Fellow at the Wellcome Trust. His work focuses on statistical mathematical models of infectious disease dynamics. He is a member of the EpiForecast team, which produces real-time modelling of infectious disease outbreaks online.

Sheetal Silal
Prof Sheetal Silal is the Director the Modelling and Simulation Hub, Africa (MASHA) and Associate Professor in the Department of Statistical Sciences at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She is an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow in Tropical Disease Modelling at the Nuffield Department of Medicine at Oxford University.

ACM A.M. Turing Award and Nevanlinna Prize recipient Robert Endre Tarjan sits down for an informal discussion with Jeffrey David Ullman and Alfred Vaino Aho, who received the 2020 ACM A.M. Turing Award earlier this year.

30-minute dialogue followed by 15-minute Q&A

Young researchers have the opportunity to exchange directly with laureates in a small group setting. These sessions are exclusive to young researchers to provide a more personal atmosphere for effective discussion.

ACM A.M. Turing Award recipients Whitfield Diffie and Leslie Lamport sit down for an informal discussion.

You’re a scientist or science journalist who wants to write a timely news story or op-ed in a national newspaper or magazine as a means of enhancing public science literacy and expanding your professional platform. We are science news and magazine editors who want to hear from you – especially about math and science stories that we might consider for our publications: "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists", "Quanta", "Slate", "Math Horizons", and "MIT Technology Review". But first, you must pitch your idea. In this workshop, editors will share common pitch mistakes and insider tips on must-have elements for a just-right pitch. You will also engage in a short, fun exercise designed to jumpstart your pitch for a compelling story (not a topic!) that editors will love. Several participants will share their pitch drafted during the workshop and learn from live editor feedback in a supportive setting. You’ll emerge with a start of a pitch on a math or science topic of concern to you, insight into the pitching process, and resources that will help you to find a good home for your science story. HLF laureate alert: Martin Hellman, one of the fathers of public key cryptography, will volunteer his pitch first.

Moderator: Susan D’Agostino
"Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists"

Martin Hellman
Martin Hellman is a pioneer in cryptography and a passionate advocate for reducing existential risks to humanity, especially nuclear war. He is Professor Emeritus at Stanford University.

Bill Andrews
"Quanta Magazine" (math, computer science, physics, and biology)

Tom Edgar
"Math Horizons" (math)

John Mecklin
"Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" (disruptive technology, climate change, nuclear risk, biosecurity, and the COVID-19 pandemic)

Amy Nordrum
"MIT Technology Review" (technology)

Each day draws to a close in our VR space where participants can exchange about the sessions, develop connections or simply chat with each other. Take advantage of the program’s momentum to expand your network and maybe find some inspiration.

Find out what the program has in store each day. Also, see brief interviews with some prominent figures from the program who can highlight particular sessions. It’s not just an introduction, it’s where each day begins.

Each day draws to a close in our VR space where participants can exchange about the sessions, develop connections or simply chat with each other. Take advantage of the program’s momentum to expand your network and maybe find some inspiration. 

From Nonlinear Optics to High-Intensity Laser Physics

The laser increased the intensity of light that can be generated by orders of magnitude and thus brought about nonlinear optical interactions with matter.  Chirped pulse amplification, also known as CPA, changed the intensity level by a few more orders of magnitude and helped usher in a new type of laser-matter interaction that is referred to as  high-intensity laser physics.  In this talk, I will discuss the differences between nonlinear optics and high-intensity laser physics.  The development of CPA and why short, intense laser pulses can cut transparent material will also be included.  I will also discuss future applications.

To signify the close bond between the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings and the HLF, each year a laureate is selected to give a guest lecture at the respective meeting. This year’s Lindau Lecture is given by Donna Strickland, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 together with Gérard Mourou for developing chirped pulse amplification. Strickland is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo. The Lindau Lecture is preceded by a special introduction leading up to the session. Tom Crawford, our emcee of the 8th HLF, conducts an informal interview with Donna Strickland and Countess Bettina Bernadotte af Wisborg for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.

This panel of laureates analyzes the "Ethical, Societal and Environmental Implications of Information Technology." These sessions highlight the strong connections between mathematics and computer science and their implications for society at large.

45-minute discussion followed by 15-minute Q&A

Young researchers have the opportunity to exchange directly with laureates in a small group setting. These sessions are exclusive to young researchers to provide a more personal atmosphere for effective discussion.

Head into VR to check out the 20 young researchers who were selected to present their work. During the session, they will be running their presentations live so take advantage of the chance to directly exchange with them about their work. Also, get prepared in advance by watching the Poster Flash videos in the Media Library.

An ideal opportunity to showcase your knowledge, exercise your competitive side and bond with other participants. Organized by local Pub Quiz legend here in Heidelberg, Lewis Stannard, this is sure to provide plenty of entertainment and the chance to learn something new.

Find out what the program has in store each day. Also, see brief interviews with some prominent figures from the program who can highlight particular sessions. It’s not just an introduction, it’s where each day begins.

This panel of laureates analyzes the "Advances in Computer Science, Mathematics and Computing." These sessions highlight the strong connections between mathematics and computer science and their implications for society at large.

45-minute discussion followed by 15-minute Q&A

Host and Moderator: Vinton Gray Cerf
Vint Cerf is the Chief Internet Evangelist for Google and contributes to global policy development and continued spread of the Internet. Cerf is widely considered to be one of the "Fathers of the Internet."

Maria Leptin, newly appointed President of the European Research Council (ERC), discusses the future of science and offers sound advice to young researchers on how to maintain a keen perspective.

Science as a vocation and institution undergoes rapid institutional changes in the 21st century. The question of where, by whom and by which research institutions major breakthroughs and scientific discoveries are made more often remains an issue of international cooperation and competition. Everybody is looking for talents and “brains” to advance knowledge and technology for national gain. But what will scientific discovery look like in the future? Will Artificial Intelligence have an impact on how we discover new knowledge? This panel of experts will review state of the art methods in scientific discovery, analyzing some trends to see whether there is a role to play for Artificial Intelligence in creative research.

Discussion groups following the panel: 17:10 - 17:40

Moderator: Volker Stollorz
Volker Stollorz is the managing director of Science Media Center Germany. A passionate science journalist, he has been reporting at the sometimes difficult interface between science and society since 1991. He was involved in the launch of three science desks first-hand (ZEIT, Die Woche, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung) and is a long-standing member of the Association of German Science Journalists, WPK. Stollorz has won multiple awards for his print, online and radio reports.

Jeffrey A. Dean
Jeff Dean joined Google in 1999 and is currently a Google Senior Fellow and SVP of Google Research and Google Health. Dean has a broad set of interests ranging from large-scale distributed systems to finding new applications for machine learning.

Harry Collins
Cardiff University. Google ‘main books’. c25 on sociology of scientific knowledge, artificial intelligence, expertise, tacit knowledge, technology in sport. Studied gravitational wave detection from 1972 to success. Now, internet and science

Dafna Shahaf
Dafna Shahaf is an Associate Professor in computer science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the co-director of CIDR, the Center for Interdisciplinary Data Science Research. She studies novel ways computers could augment human cognition.

Over the last few years, the Scientific Interaction “Career Paths for Mathematicians and Computer Scientists in Academia and Business“ has become a compelling fixture of the program. During this session, young researchers will not only collect practical guidance, but hopefully tools to shape their future. In a short plenary session, experts from academia and business provide insight into their careers. Then in the breakout sessions that immediately follow, the young researchers have the opportunity to exchange directly with the experts.

Career Paths in Academia (Mathematics)
Moderator: Dietmar Kilian (MCI – The Entrepreneurial University)

Experts:

• Ragni Piene (University of Oslo, Norway)
• Makrina Agaoglou (HLF Alumna and Researcher in the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) at ICMAT – Institute of Mathematical Sciences)

Career Paths in Academia (Computer Science)
Moderator: Peter J. Mirski (MCI – The Entrepreneurial University)

Experts:

• Barbara Liskov (ACM A.M. Turing Award 2008)
• Norine Coenen (HLF Alumna and CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security)

Career Paths in Business (Mathematics and Computer Science)
Moderator: Christine Regitz (Member of the Supervisory Board SAP)

Experts:

• Daphne Koller (Founder and CEO, insitro; Co-Founder and Board Member, Engageli; Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Coursera)
• Dean Hildebrand (Technical Director, Office of the CTO at Google)
• Tobias Regenfuss (Senior Managing Director, Accenture; Cloud First Lead for Accenture in Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Russia)

A blend of highlights from the week and looking forward toward the future. 

Perhaps the scientific program has drawn to a close, but the party has only begun. Step into the VR, dust off your avatar’s dancing shoes and enjoy the music. This is the ideal chance to catch up with previous connections and establish new ones before ‘last call.’