Looking for the origin and beginning of life: Leopoldina Annual Assembly opens with Nobel prize winner and NASA expert

The Annual Assembly of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, taking place today on Thursday 26th September and Friday 27th September on the theme “Origin and Beginning of Life” in Halle (Saale)/Germany, has begun. NASA’s former Head of Science Professor Dr Thomas Zurbuchen opens the event with a speech on the search for life in space. Physics Nobel Prize winner Professor Dr Didier Queloz is scheduled to give a speech in the evening. All speeches and lectures at the Annual Assembly will also be available via livestream.

“How life originated is one of the biggest questions facing humankind,” says Professor (ETHZ) Dr Gerald Haug, President of the Leopoldina. “In line with its interdisciplinary efforts, the Leopoldina is dedicating its Annual Assembly to the origin and beginning of life as seen from various scientific perspectives. The lectures cover a wide range, from the requirements a planet must fulfil in order to create life, to the first organic molecules that formed on Earth and developed into complex life forms over the course of evolution. The Annual Assembly facilitates an in-depth look at the scientific insights on the emergence of life that we already have and at the same time emphasises how many questions remain unanswered.”

Gerald Haug opens the Annual Assembly for the last time as Leopoldina President. At noon the Leopoldina Senate elected Professor Dr Bettina Rockenbach as President of the Leopoldina. She will take over the office on 1 March 2025 from Gerald Haug. More information about the XXVIII President of the Leopoldina: https://www.leopoldina.org/en/president

The Senate Session re-elected the physician Professor Dr Thomas Krieg for another five years as Vice-President of the Academy, an office he has held since 2019. Before that, he was Senator of the Leopoldina from 2011 to 2015 as well as Speaker of Class III – Medicine from 2016 to 2019.

At the Annual Assembly biochemist Dr Georg Hochberg is awarded the new prize “ZukunftsWissen – the Early Career Award from the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Commerzbank Foundation”. He researches the evolution of the structure and function of proteins in existence today.

In addition, the Leopoldina honours Member Professor Dr Roger Goody with the 2024 Cothenius Medal for his scientific achievements. The biochemist decoded basic biological mechanisms of metabolism processes and thus significantly contributed to research into cancer, eye and brain diseases.

The long-serving Vice-President of the Leopoldina Professor Dr Gunnar Berg is awarded the Medals of Merit for his extraordinary, decade-long voluntary commitment to the Academy.

Guests at the Annual Assembly this year also include talented students from all over Germany. They follow the scientific lectures of the Annual Assembly and talk with researchers. This is funded by the Friends of the Leopoldina Academy. Furthermore, (post) doctoral fellows were able to once again apply for funding of their participation, with the finances likewise provided by the Friends of the Leopoldina Academy and the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach Foundation.

Professor Dr Thomas Carell, chemist, and astrophysicist Prof Dr Thomas Henning were responsible for the scientific coordination of the 2024 Annual Assembly.

All lectures are held in English and are simultaneously interpreted into German. The Leopoldina offers a livestream of the Annual Assembly on its YouTube channel www.youtube.com/NationaleAkademiederWissenschaftenLeopoldina. It can be watched in German and English with no sign-in or registration required. It will be available today until 7.30 p.m., as well as Friday from 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. To the complete programme of the Annual Assembly: https://www.leopoldina.org/en/annual-assembly-2024

About the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina:
As the German National Academy of Sciences, the Leopoldina provides independent science-based policy advice on matters relevant to society. To this end, the Academy develops interdisciplinary statements based on scientific findings. In these publications, options for action are outlined; making decisions, however, is the responsibility of democratically legitimized politicians. The experts who prepare the statements work in a voluntary and unbiased manner. The Leopoldina represents the German scientific community in the international academy dialogue. This includes advising the annual summits of Heads of State and Government of the G7 and G20 countries. With around 1,700 members from more than 30 countries, the Leopoldina combines expertise from almost all research areas. Founded in 1652, it was appointed the National Academy of Sciences of Germany in 2008. The Leopoldina is committed to the common good.

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