Yonsei Novel Forum
Since its first Yonsei Nobel Forum in 2006, Yonsei University has for more than ten years consistently hosted the academic event, ‘Yonsei Nobel Forum,’ which invites various Nobel Laureates. In particular, its 130th anniversary in 2015 was marked by the invitation of six prominent Nobel Laureates, in an intellectual jubilee consisting of four Yonsei Nobel Forums. These events were arranged to diagnose the current world and seek future dreams, as Yonsei University strives to become a research-centered university representative of the North East Asian region. As the first event in its 130th anniversary Yonsei Nobel Forum series, the university hosted the ‘Yonsei-Kim Dae-jung Forum on the World’s Future.’ At this first event, the 2008 Nobel Peace Laureate Martti Oiva Kalvi Ahtissari, former President of Finland, and the 1994 Nobel Literature Laureate Oe Kenzaburo were invited. At the second forum, the Nobel Economics Laureate Eric Stark Maskin was invited in March of the same year, and Nobel Physics Laureates Ivar Giaver (1973) and Toshihide Maskawa (2008) were invited in the third forum hosted in April. For the fourth and last forum, Randy Wayne Schekman, the 2013 recipient of Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, was invited for a two-day conference from May 27 to 28, 2015. In particular, Professor Randy Schekman, who first entered Yonsei’s circle through its Nobel Forum, has been formally appointed as a vising professor in 2016 and offers special lectures every year. Yonsei University plans to regularly host the Nobel Forum to invite various luminaries to our campus, enrich their exchange with its scholars and students, and arrange opportunities to learn international trends and circumstances through special lectures.
Yonsei Nobel Forum Participants (2006 ~ 2014)
| Date | Nobel Laureates | Field |
|---|---|---|
| 2006. 9. 11. ~ 12. | Masatoshi Koshiba | The Nobel Prize in Physics 2002 |
| 2006. 9. 11. ~ 12. | Aaron Ciechanover | The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2004 |
| 2006. 9. 11. ~ 12. | Murray Gell-Mann | The Nobel Prize in Physics 1969 |
| 2006. 9. 11. ~ 12. | Louis Ignarro | The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1998 |
| 2006. 9. 11. ~ 12. | Ferid Murad | The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1998 |
| 2006. 9. 11. ~ 12. | Robert Mundell | The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 1999 |
| 2006. 9. 11. ~ 12. | Edward C. Prescott | The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2004 |
| 2006. 9. 11. ~ 12. | Robert J. Aumann | The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2005 |
| 2006. 10. 18. | Kurt Wüthrich | The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2002 |
| 2006. 10. 21. | Robert H. Grubbs | The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005 |
| 2006. 12. 1. | Robert Huber | The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1988 |
| 2007. 6. 13. | Sir Harold Kroto | The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1996 |
| 2007. 9. 10. ~ 12. | James A. Mirrlees | The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 1996 |
| 2007. 9. 10. ~ 12. | Vernon L. Smith | The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2002 |
| 2007. 9. 10. ~ 12. | George F. Smoot | The Nobel Prize in Physics 2006 |
| 2007. 9. 10. ~ 12. | Barry Sharpless | The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2001 |
| 2007. 9. 10. ~ 12. | Ryoji Noyori | The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2001 |
| 2007. 9. 10. ~ 12. | H. Robert Horvitz | The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002 |
| 2009. 4. 14. | Finn E. Kydland | The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2004 |
| 2009. 9. ~ 2010. 8. | Eric S. Maskin | The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2007 |
| 2012. 5. 3. | Roger D. Kornberg | The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2006 |
| 2012. 5. 29. | Martin Chalfie | The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2008 |
| 2012. 10. 5. | Konstantin Novoselov | The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 |
| 2013. 6. 27. ~ 29. | Robert E. Lucas Jr. | The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 1995 |
| 2013. 6. 27. ~ 29. | Edward C. Prescott | The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2004 |
Nobel Laureates invited to the 130th anniversary Nobel Forum series
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2008 Nobel Peace Prize Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari |
Martti Ahtissari (1937. 6. 23. ~) is a Finnish politician known as a peace mediator and conflict resolver. After his career as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was elected president in Finland’s first ever direct elections. During his tenure, he realized Finland’s EU membership, established the non-governmental organization CMI for international conflict resolution, and contributed to the resolution of the Kosovo Crisis by persuading both Russia and Yugoslavia in 1999. After retiring from presidency in 2000, he served as an inspector to the IRA disarmament process and in 2005 mediated peace between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement. In recognition of his thirty years of contribution to resolving international conflicts in various continents, he was rewarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008. |
|---|---|
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1994 Nobel Prize in Litearture Oe Kenzaburo |
Oe Kenzaburo (1935.1.31 ~) is a Japanese novelist. He is an internationally renowned author who both writes on and actively partakes in various social movements involving universal values, such as peace, democracy, pacifism, and the antinuclear movement. He first debuted with the novel 《The Strange Work》 in 1957, and first acquired fame when he was rewarded the Akutagawa Prize in 1958 for his work 《Prize Stock》. In 1967, he became the youngest recipient of the Tanizaki Prize for his novel, 《The Silent City》, which was further rewarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994. In 2006, the ‘Oe Kenzaburo Award’ was established in recognition of the 50th anniversary of his literary career,and his eldest son Oe Hikari is a handicapped composer. |
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2007 Nobel Prize in Economics Eric Stark Maskin |
Harvard University Economics Professor Maskin (1950.12.12~ ) is an illustrious American economist and a master of game theory. How can airlines differentiate services and rates for first class, business class, and economy seats to maximize their profit when it is difficult to know each customer’s preference? What auctioning method should an auctioneer adopt to receive the highest possible price? How will the local government divide costs among the citizens for constructing public goods? The ‘mechanism design’ is a systematic analytic tool that can respond to such questions. Maskin and Myerson combined game theory with the mechanism design first created by Hurwicz, to improve on it immensely, and the three scholars were awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics in recognition of their contribution. Maskin had served as the SK Visiting Professor at Yonsei University in 2009. |
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1973 Nobel Prize in Physics Ivar Giaever |
Doctor Giaever(1929. 4. 5.~) is a Norway-born American physicist. In 1960, he first measured the electron tunneling phenomena through very thin layers of oxide in superconductors, and thus experimentally proved the existence of energy gaps in superconductors. This research eventually led to the discovery of the Josephson Phenomenon in superconductors, and Giaever was rewarded the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Brian Josephson and Leo Esaki, in recognition of this contribution. He has subsequently performed various research in biophysics, and continues to engage in activities related to science and society. |
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2008 Nobel Prize in Physics Toshihide Maskawa |
Toshihide Maskawa (1940. 2. 7.~) is a Japanese theoretical physicist. In 1973, he first presented the hypothesis that there are six types of quarks, the smallest unit of subatom particles, and Kobayashi theoretically proved this to establish the Kobayashi-Maskawa theory. Through this, evidence that the symmetry between matter and anti-matter maintained since the Big Bang was offset at some moment, so that the anti-matter disappeared, only matter remained, and the universe as we know it was crated, was offered for the first time. In 2008, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Makoto Kobayashi and Yoichiro Nambu, in recognition of his contribution to research on the ‘broken symmetry’ theory, which cons- titutes a central concept in modern particle physics. |
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2013 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine Randy Wayne Schekman |
Randy Schekman(1948. 12.30.~) is an American cell biologist, who is considered a founding father of modern cell biology for discovering the mechanism for cell membrane vesicle tra- fficking, by which matter created within a cell is targeted, transferred and then excreted out- side of the cell. Since the 1970s, he has conducted research on the DNA aspect of membrane assembly in yeast, and has discovered the three key DNA for controlling cell membrane vesicle training and the correlation between mutations in these DNA and diseases. In recognition of having discovered this crucial mechanism, he was rewarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, in addition to fellow recipients James Rothman and Thomas Südhof. |