Manchester's Nobel Laureate Celebration

Went to the Laureate's celebration today at the University Place Lecture Hall. The 2010 physics prizes were awarded to Professors Andre Geim, 53, and Konstantin (Kostya) Novoselov, 36, the youngest to get the prize in 40 years. It was a full house at the auditorium, which seats about 1000 people. The whole atmosphere at the ceremony was both very grand but yet very humbling, because they didn't spend excessively on unnecessary things - just a simple reception at a lecture hall followed by some talks .That's it - which should be all there is to it. Don't need to spend excessively of public taxpayers' money on some grand dinner at some extravagant five star hotel ballroom.

I'm just reflecting on how things like this would be done in Malaysia, where I bet millions of taxpayers RM would be spent just to serve dinner to some Tan Sris, Datok Seris, YBs and the like. And they don't usually finish all the food, which means all this would go to waste in the bins.

The talks were given by both Laureates, dame Nancy Rothwell (UoM VC) and Lord Martin Rees of the Royal Society. Kostya seems like a very humble guy - even saying that their students are now smarter than both of them (him and Andre), although that might be meant as a joke, but still. When asked what advice he has for other academics to get the Nobel prize at age 36 (yeah right!) he doesn't really seem to have anything to say for such questions, but then simply said "for me, don't listen to any advice, just believe in yourself".

The video for this celebration at the University of Manchester is here.