BK21 연세바이오시스템 교육연구단은 노벨상 수상자 팀 헌트(Tim Hunt) 교수 초청 세미나를 지난 5월 22일 오후 2시 광복관 B105호에서 개최하였다.

팀 헌트는 세포주기의 핵심 인자를 발견한 공로로 2001년 노벨 생리의학상을 받은 저명한 과학자이다. 그는 이번 세미나에서 ‘Pain and suffering : The agony of not knowing (고통과 아픔 : 무지함에 대한 괴로움)’을 주제로 강연하였다.

이번 세미나에 학부생, 대학원생, 교수를 포함하여 150여 명이 참석하였으며, 교내 생명시스템대학, 의과대학, 사회과학대학, 공과대학 등 다양한 전공의 구성원들이 모여들었다. 강연 외에도 과학자로서의 삶에 대한 메시지를 들으며 여러 학생과 교수가 함께 교류하는 기회였다.

[강연 초록]

Pain and Suffering: the Agony of Not Knowing

Tim Hunt (2001 Nobel laureate of Physiology or Medicine)

Science is often called a “knowledge based” business, but to me it’s founded on ignorance. So many things about the world are still mysterious, and it’s those mysteries that lead people to wonder and explore. I will start my talk with an example of my own ignorance, revealed by a curious bedtime question from my then 7-year old daughter: “Daddy, why is the ceiling opaque?” I suddenly realised—’d been reading Newton’s book about light and looking at Einstein’s 1905 paper—hat I had no idea how light got through glass; specifically, how photons passed through windows. I asked a physicist friend if the photon that came out the other side was the same photon as the one that went in. “Tim” he told me “That is a meaningless question”. I gradually came to realise that simple questions do not necessarily have simple answers, but progress in science depends on questioning and finding good questions is not a simple matter, as I will hope to explain from what other great scientists have said as well as my own experiences. During my life we’ve seen astonishing advances in understanding and amazing technological developments, all made possible by curious people doing experiments to find things out. It hurts, not knowing.