Program

We look forward to your visit and to lively exchanges at our 14th International Science Festival Geist Heidelberg from October 18th to December 15th! Don’t miss our kick-off lecture with Patrick Cramer, President of the Max Planck Society, and talks by distinguished guests such as the Nobel Prize winners Venki Ramakrishnan, Benjamin List, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhardt and Aaron Ciechanover. As we strive to democratize scientific knowledge, be sure to listen to science communicators Harald Lesch, Mai Thi Nguyen Kim, Lucy Cooke and many more!

Further information and the entire program will be available here soon!

Aftershocks08.10.2024

Hendrik Streeck

The coronavirus pandemic is over, but the virus remains. Three years of a state of emergency lie behind us, characterized …
Humans - the evolution ...11.10.2024

Josef H. Reichholf

Humans are something special. With eight billion individuals spread across the globe, we are more successful than any other comparable …
Artificial intelligence - superior ...17.10.2024

Manfred Spitzer

The year 2023 marks the beginning of a new era in human history: for the first time, artificial intelligence will …
Opening of Geist Heidelberg
Future worlds18.10.2024

Patrick Cramer

Will we be able to develop alternative energy sources and thus avert the climate catastrophe? Will our democracies be able …
Hope22.10.2024

Jonas Grethlein

“Hope is a feather / That perches in the soul / And sings songs without words.” What the poet Emily …
The happiness of listening23.10.2024

Lisa Federle

Lisa Federle is a doctor who looks, asks questions and has been accompanying her patients, their fates and their dreams …
Astroseismology24.10.2024

Conny Aerts

Our sun trembles – and so do many other stars. These vibrations pass through the entire star and can be …
Nobel laureate
Why we die25.10.2024

Venki Ramakrishnan

Death is so frightening that we usually repress the thought of it for the rest of our lives. Yet it …
Spirits of the present30.10.2024

Wolfram Eilenberger

Winter 1949: Theodor W. Adorno returns from the USA to a destroyed Frankfurt, Paul K. Feyerabend returns to Vienna wounded …
Nobel laureate
Catalysis for our world07.11.2024

Benjamin List

Catalysis is an incredibly fascinating science. In the development of catalysts, which pave the way for the conversion of substrates …
Science and society08.11.2024

Harald Lesch

Climate change, coronavirus, 5G radiation – scientific discourse is currently polarizing society enormously. Although access to knowledge is lower than …
History and migration in ...09.11.2024

Johannes Krause

Migration is not a modern phenomenon. However, little is known about early migratory movements. Biochemist and paleogeneticist Johannes Krause is …
The new enlightenment10.11.2024

Markus Gabriel

The 300th anniversary of Immanuel Kant, the father of the Enlightenment, provides an opportunity to take stock: what values guide …
Energy source of the ...12.11.2024

Andrew Moore

Our entire ecosystem is based on carbon compounds. Despite this, many are now working to phase out carbon-based energy sources. …
Optogenetics and the loss ...14.11.2024

Peter Hegemann

When biophysicist Peter Hegemann investigated how algae react to light, it was not foreseeable that he would provide brain researchers …
Spikes in the wind15.11.2024

Julian Nida-Rümelin

Julian Nida-Rümelin has never pursued philosophy from an ivory tower, but has always intervened – courageously, committedly and passionately. At …
Nobel laureate
The beauty of animals17.11.2024

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard

Darwin’s theory of ‘survival of the fittest’ states: in nature, the species and the individual that can adapt best and …
Neurotechnology: When brains & ...20.11.2024

Surjo R. Soekadar

Our brain produces everything that makes us human: our thoughts, feelings and all our actions. Using neurotechnology, it is now …
How we can protect ...21.11.2024

Holger Krag

Flying debris in space is a problem. There are currently more than one million man-made objects in Earth orbit that …
Mathematics for eyes, hands ...22.11.2024

Jürgen Richter-Gebert

Mathematics is abstract and incomprehensible – it doesn’t have to be that way! It is often possible to make mathematical …
Who cares? - Networking ...23.11.2024

14th Empathy Conference

Public spirit is a sixth, social sense that is based on the fact that people are connected to other people …
Lead-free25.11.2024

Eva von Redecker

Rarely has freedom been discussed as intensively as during the pandemic: the freedom to travel, to move around without restrictions, …
The origin of man ...27.11.2024

Henrik Kaessmann

Since the origin of life around 3.5 billion years ago, an astonishing diversity of organisms has evolved – from simple …
Folding the world28.11.2024

Anders Levermann

We are at the end of the age of expansion – and we need an idea for the next big …
There's no such thing ...29.11.2024

Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim

On the importance of reach and attention for science journalism and science communication. Science communication is subject to an ‘attention …
Nobel laureate
Medicine made to measure30.11.2024

Aaron Ciechanover

If packaging has a green dot, we know: This is waste for the yellow garbage can. Waste disposal in our …
Continent without features01.12.2024

Peter Sloterdijk & Florian Schroeder

Peter Sloterdijk in conversation with cabaret artist Florian Schroeder about an analysis of Europe. What is Europe? There are many …
Don't believe everything you ...04.12.2024

Martin Korte

We all tend to make stupid decisions. Sometimes we oversimplify the world, but complicate it in many places at the …
Forecasts: past and present ...05.12.2024

Alyssa A. Goodman

Humans are the only creatures that worry about the future. We spend an enormous amount of time, energy and resources …
New findings from space06.12.2024

Mark McCaughrean

After more than three decades of development, construction and testing, the James Webb Space Telescope began its long journey into …
Sloth!07.12.2024

Lucy Cooke

We live in a hectic world in which speed and stress are idealized. But this fast pace is not only …
Bitch07.12.2024

Lucy Cooke

What does it mean to belong to the female sex? For a long time, the feminine in science was reduced …
Hannah Monyer, Wolf Singer ...11.12.2024

New world – new world views?

The world is becoming ever more complex and our worldviews are constantly having to adapt to new circumstances. The desire …
The physics of the ...13.12.2024

Metin Tolan

“That’s soccer. Sometimes the better team wins.” The physicist Metin Tolan proves what Lukas Podolski contritely confessed after the 2006 …
Virtual worlds and simulated ...14.12.2024

Reality & virtuality

The distinction between reality and appearance, virtuality and reality is of fundamental importance for people and their view of the …
Finale by Geist Heidelberg
What it means to ...15.12.2024

Eva Illouz

For years, Eva Illouz saw herself on the side of the progressive left and believed she knew her political camp …

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