Get glimpses of Nobel laureates' inspirational lives

A bicycle and a book on mathematics belonging to economist Amartya Sen, a notepad of Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa and a wooden bear that was on the desk of Finnish politician Martti Ahtisaari - personal collectibles belonging to various Nobel laureates are coming to India, with the Stockholm-based Nobel Museum's exhibition making its debut in this country.

The timings of this exhibition, "Nobel Prize: Ideas Changing the World" ,couldn't have been better, as the welcoming news of child-rights champion Kailash Satyarthi sharing the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize has enthused Indian audience with renewed vigour.

Though the exhibition won't have any personal object from Satyarthi's life, there would be a "short piece" on him.

The exhibition is coming to India during the "Sweden Indian Nobel Memorial Week" and would travel across Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune from Oct 30 to Nov 6, along with an extensive series of lectures and seminars.

According to Mattias Fyrenius, CEO of Nobel Media which develops and manages programmes and productions relating to the Nobel Prize, the exhibition is a good way of "inspiring future generations" so that they take more interest in research.

"We are trying to inspire people and showing them different areas of their (Nobel laureates') work," Fyrenius told IANS in an interview over the phone from Stockholm.

"Through these objects, artefacts and personal collectibles we are narrating stories of how certain things inspired them during their journey. We want to tell the stories about them," he added.

The Nobel Museum is devoted to circulate information on the Nobel Prize, Nobel laureates from 1901 to present, and the life of the founder of the prize, Alfred Nobel.

This is a temporary exhibition that expands the museum's permanent exhibitions.

The museum also aims to spread knowledge as well as to create interest and discussion around the natural sciences and culture through creative learning.

"We (museum) are very vague when it comes to collecting objects from various laureates. We don't have physical objects of each and ever laureate. So in these cases we find stories that people would find interesting and are told through interactive media," Fyrenius said.

"We try to get the audience engaged with these laureates," he added.

This multi-city cultural activity is in its eighth year.

Fyrenius said the reason they have come to India is because they felt Indians have great interest in research.

"Indians are curious about finding more about research ... we too want Nobel laureates to educate people about their lives, research and contribution to the world," he said.

The week-long activities will begin in Delhi with Nobel laureate George Smoot's (Physics/2006) keynote address at the Indian Institute of Technology, where the question "How did this universe begin" would be explored.

Finn Kydland, 2004 laureate in economics, would delve into "Economic Policy and the Growth of Nations" at Mumbai and Pune respectively.

"We really want to celebrate the life of the Nobel laureates who were behind many innovations and have given immense contribution to society," Fyrenius concluded.

(Shilpa Raina can be contacted at shilpa.r@ians.in)