Over 70 participants at the first annual meeting of Senior Expert Chemists; Interesting lectures and intensive discussions paired with the joy of seeing you again. Three invigorating conference days for young and old. Will there be a sequel? Eleventh eleventh, start of the carnival, the fifth season? For the Senior Expert Chemists of the GDCh, it was the start of the first annual meeting, which took place from November 11th to 13th, 2007 in Steinheim near Hanau in the historic tithe barn. Thus, the activities initiated in October 2006 by GDCh members who are no longer or no longer fully employed, reached a temporary high point: But only in order to go into the next year with enthusiasm and commitment.
The lecture program put together under the direction of Prof. Heribert Offermanns was the cornerstone for short conference days. Not only the topics of the Conference, but also the content presented by the invited speakers were characterized by the breadth that the GDCh local association colloquia often lack today. Regardless of whether it was about the basics of nanotechnology (Prof. Horst Hahn, Research Center Karlsruhe), nanotechnology in medicine (Prof. Helmut Ringsdorf), the German biotechnology industry (Prof. Axel Kleemann), the chemistry of aging (Prof. Gerhard Spiteller) or the question of whether and what dangers arise from the consumption of genetically engineered foods (Prof. Dieter Jany, Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Food), the audience followed the socially relevant explanations with great interest. The excellent speakers also contributed to the fact that there was hardly enough time for the discussion.
The topic of climate change was of particular interest. Prof. Christian-Dietrich Schönwiese, well-known book author, fascinated with the clarity of his explanations. "Alternatives to oil and gas as energy and chemical raw materials of the future" was then also the topic of the subsequent panel discussion, which was led by Dr. Herrmann Pütter, formerly BASF and today GDCh representative for energy issues, Dr. Winfried Hoffmann, Executive Director of Applied Materials and President of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, Prof. Jürgen O. Metzger from Oldenburg (?Wöhler Prize for Resource-Conserving Processes) and Dr. Ludwig Lindner (Citizen for Technology). The exchange of views was controversial and a general consensus could not be found on that day However, the lively discourse was undoubtedly a shared success of the conference and the discussions continued over dinner.
The program was rounded off by Ludwig Lindner's insights into the citizens' commitment to technology in Marl and Dr. Wolfgang Gerhartz, who introduced the Senior Expert Chemists' internet-based database. The SEC's database offers all interested seniors the opportunity to create a knowledge and experience profile in order to get in touch with people of the same interest and network partners.
The annual meeting ended with a conversation with Executive Director Wolfram Koch. The open discussion got it to the point: The seniors want to make their contribution to greater involvement in the interests of the GDCh. At the same time, however, the way must be structurally paved in order to better integrate the growing community of over 60-year-olds into the GDCh committees.
On the opening evening, Prof. Hans-Gert Bachmann drew everyone under its spell with his lecture "The Myth of Gold". Among the participants of the Conference were also three golden GDCh members with more than 50 years of loyal membership. Steinheim 2007 was also the start for a golden path for the GDCh towards intergenerational cooperation?
Holger Bengs, Steinheim
(From Nachr. Chem. 2008 , 56, 203-204 )
This page has been machine translated. If you have any feedback or comments please feel free to contact us. 
last modified: 06.07.2021 17:59 H from W.Gerhartz
