Limerick researcher, Jim O’Doherty, embarked on a voyage of discovery to Lindau in Germany this week to come face to face with some of his scientific heroes for the first time.

Along with two other Irish researchers, the Limerick native based at UL is attending the 58th Meeting of Nobel Laureates—which runs until this Friday

Each year, around 25 Nobel Prize winners attend a unique meeting on Lake Constance to share their knowledge with up to 500 young students from all over the world.

The attendees— selected by intermediaries from universities and research institutions based on very strict criteria—listen to the Laureates speak about their areas of expertise and engage in frank discussions with them.

The focus of this year’s conference, which is held in global esteem, is on the field of physics.

Mr O’Doherty has just completed a PhD in the Department of Physics at UL where he studied Biomedical Physics and Bio-optics.

He also designed a new device for non-invasively measuring red blood cell concentration in skin tissue and the device is now in commercial production.

“The opportunity to travel to Lindau to meet some of the brightest minds in physics is a really fantastic one and I am looking forward to meeting these Nobel Laureates whose research forms the basis for what I have been studying since I commenced my undergraduate work in applied physics,” he said.

“All scientists face the challenge of communicating their work to people outside their field and I will be interested to learn from the Nobel Laureates what their experiences have been in explaining the advances in physics to people who don’t have a background in the area.”

The trip is being supported by the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) and the Institute of Physics of Ireland.

Mr O’Doherty will be blogging about his experiences and updates are on www.ircset.ie

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