Will we be able to treat all cancers in the future?
What does the fabulous life of bacteria look like?
Will the hydrogen revolution go crazy?
Here are some of the themes that will be addressed during the first Paris-Saclay Summit - Choose science.
From February 29 to March 1, the Saclay plateau, more precisely the EDF lab located in Palaiseau (Essonne), will host 80 internationally renowned researchers.
The event, organized by the urban community, the regional council and the weekly Le Point, will be open free to the general public and aims to “make people love science” and “bring to the public’s attention a variety of subjects high stakes for the future.
A press conference was held this Tuesday in Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis), at the regional headquarters, to unveil its contents.
This first edition, Grégoire de Lasteyrie, president (Horizons) of Paris-Saclay, has been thinking about it since 2020. “But Covid forced us to postpone,” he confides.
Faced with growing doubt among populations regarding science, it is urgent to create the conditions for a genuine debate on its role.
We must lay the foundations for a new age of enlightenment that meets the challenges of the 21st century.
If I may dare to say so, we must think about scientific rearmament.
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15% of French scientific research installed in Paris-Saclay
For the elected official, also mayor of Palaiseau, the Saclay plateau is the ideal location because it is “a weapon of massive innovation”.
“The territory ranks in the top 8 in the world for innovation centers.
More than 15% of French research is based there, with a target of 25% by 2030. This concentration over a few km2 is unique in the world.
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This international summit must be the first in a series.
“We must give science back the place it deserves, in society, in the professional environment,” insists Grégoire de Lasteyrie.
According to an Ifop study from January 2023, only 33% of 18-24 year olds think that science brings more good than harm, compared to 55% in 1972. One in six young people think that the earth is flat, and In the United States, 42% of Americans believe in the creationist theory.
We are organizing this event because we are lucid and responsible science activists.
Not blind followers, but aware that nothing will be done without the contribution of science.
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Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis), February 6, 2024. Valérie Pécresse, regional president, Grégoire de Lasteyrie (left), mayor of Palaiseau and president of Paris-Saclay and Étienne Gernelle, director of the weekly Le Point, gave a press conference to unveil the content of the international scientific summit.
LP/C.CH.
Valérie Pécresse, the president (LR, Libres!) of the regional council is even more direct.
“We are Scientophiles, not Sciento-skeptics.
Conspiracy theorists obscure and boycott scientific truth.
This first international summit must reconcile society with researchers, who must guide society and public policies.
It’s an act of faith in science.
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“Make science exciting and fun”
For two days, 80 internationally renowned researchers and those from the sector's academic centers (Paris-Saclay University and the Paris Polytechnic Institute) will discuss with the public on a wide variety of themes.
Among the guests, several Nobel Prize winners such as the physicist Alain Aspect who will discuss his work on quantum and entanglement, but also the astrobiologist Nathalie Cabrol who detects traces of life in space, the physicist and philosopher of science Étienne Klein , the paleoclimatologist Jean Jouzel, the activist for social and climate justice Camille Étienne, Julia Joung, American researcher at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) named innovator of the year, or even Thierry Marx who will offer a master's degree with Raphaël Haumont class on culinary innovation.
Also read: Teenagers angry with science: “When you don’t understand, you become suspicious,” says Jean-François Clervoy
“We have around ten nationalities,” rejoices Romain Gonzalez, editorial manager of events at Le Point.
The scientists present come from South Africa, the United States, Ethiopia, Iran… Science can be complex and traumatic.
The objective of this summit is to make it friendly, exciting, intelligible.
This is not a given because France is not a country with an immense scientific culture.
But the event will not be academic, it is free and open to all, well beyond students and researchers from the Saclay plateau, Île-de-France and France.
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Organizers hope to welcome 1,000 visitors per day, with debates that will be “accessible” and bilingual, translated into English and French.
“Science is a political and journalistic battle,” concludes Étienne Gernelle, director of the weekly Le Point.
Science is fun and exciting.
It will also be fun, we will learn, we will laugh.
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Paris-Saclay Summit - Choose science, from February 29 to March 1, at the EDF lab in Palaiseau.
Free, but registration at
https://evenements.lepoint.fr/paris-saclay-summit/programme
.