FESTIVAL INSPIRES A 'THINKING' GENERATION

The Festival of Thinkers 2007 may have come to a close, but the thinking has just begun for the 200 plus students who participated in the Higher Colleges of Technology event from 22-024 October 2007. Over the course of the three days, 16 Nobel Laureates and more than 100 ‘world thinkers’ joined the students in round table discussions focused on a number of global issues such as entrepreneurship, poverty alleviation, conflict resolution, environmentalism and a vision for children and women of the world.

Amongst the 16 Nobel laureates who participated in the Festival of Thinkers were:

• Professor Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner “for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace”
• Professor George Smoot, co-awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2006 “for discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation”
• Professor Mario Molina and Professor Franklin Sherwood Rowland, 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry (with Professor Paul J Crutzen) “for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone”.

The Festival of Thinkers is a biennial event which aims to inspire the youth to be proactive about their future and the Earth’s future.

A number of other events also took place during the Festival including the opening of the Nobel Museum exhibition, Cultures of Creativity, at Emirates Palace and the announcement of the establishment of Scientists Without Borders – UAE, in partnership with the New York Academy of Science and the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

The Nobel Museum exhibition is on display until 31 December 2007, and has previously visited 13 other cities throughout the world since 2001. Abu Dhabi is its final destination and the only location in the Middle East to host it.

Cultures of Creativity is open to the general public Sunday to Friday from 4pm to 8pm and Saturday from 10am to 2pm and 4pm and 8pm. Bookings are essential for school visits on weekdays from 10am to 2pm.Visit http://nobelmuseum.hct.ac.ae/groupbookings. Admission is free.