Summary

Speakers 1977-2022

  • 1977 Dr. Alexander King, Director OECD, Paris,
    'The role of the engineer and the engineering sciences in future society'.
  • 1978 Prof.dr. Christopher Freeman, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK,
    'Technology and employment: long waves in technical change and economic development'.
  • 1979 Prof.dr. Carl Friedrich von Weiszäcker, Max Planck Institute, Starnberg, Germany,
    'Langfristige Energiepolitik als Beispiel technischer Zukunftplanung'.
  • 1980 Prof. Kevin Lynch, MIT, Cambridge, USA,
    'What is a good city? General theory of good city form; a new try at an old subject'.
  • 1981 Prof.dr. Hendrik B.G. Casimir, Philips N.V., Eindhoven, the Netherlands,
    'Gilles Holst, pionier van het industrieel onderzoek in Nederland'.
  • 1982 Dr. Michiyuki Uenohara, Nippon Electric Co, Kawasaki, Japan,
    'The Japanese social system for technological development; its merits and demerits'.
  • 1983 Prof.dr. Joseph Weizenbaum, MIT, Cambridge, USA,
    'The place of the computer in our world'.
  • 1984 Prof. John M. Ziman, F.R.S., Imperial College, London, UK,
    'Doing my own work: the individual in collectivized science'.
  • 1985 Prof. Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Laureate, The Solvay Institute, Brussels, Belgium,
    'Exploring complexity from the intemporal world of dynamics to the temporal world of entropy'.
  • 1986 Prof. Sir Hermann Bondi, F.R.S., Churchill College, Cambridge, UK,
    'The application of satellites in connection with the environment'.
  • 1987 Prof.dr. Dick Swaab, Dutch Institute for Brain Research, Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
    'De klok in onze hersens'.
  • 1988 Prof.dr. Abraham Pais, Rockefeller University, New York, USA,
    'Einstein's invloed (the impact of Einstein's relativity theory)'.
  • 1989 Sir John Maddox, Nature Magazine, London, UK,
    'How true is the promise of science?'.
  • 1990 Prof.dr. Cornelis M. Braams, FOM-Institute Plasma Physics, Nieuwegein, the Netherlands,
    'Kernfusie in historisch perspectief'.
  • 1991 Prof.dr. Philippe G. de Gennes, Nobel Laureate, ESPCI, Paris, France,
    'Bubbles, foams and other fragile objects'.
  • 1992 Dr. Arno A. Penzias, Nobel Laureate, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, USA,
    'The future of knowledge intensive industries'.
  • 1993 Prof.dr. Henk C. van de Hulst, University of Leiden, the Netherlands,
    'Het astronomisch spectrum'.
  • 1994 Prof.dr. Donald P. Greenberg, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA,
    'Imaging and the electronic age'.
  • 1995 Prof.dr. Hubert Curien, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France,
    'Big instruments and big programmes for research; where is the limit?'.
  • 1996 Prof.dr. Serguei P. Kapitza, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia,
    'World population growth and technology'.
  • 1997 Prof.dr. Nicholas Negroponte, MIT, Cambridge, USA,
    'Why Europe is so unwired'.
  • 1998 Prof.dr. Alan J. Heeger, Nobel Laureate, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA,
    '20 years of research into conducting and semiconducting polymers; is it worth the effort?'.
  • 1999 Prof.dr. H. Koenraad Hemker, University of Maastricht, the Netherlands,
    'Een bloedstollende geschiedenis'.
  • 2000 Dr. Rod C. Alferness, Lucent Technologies, Holmdel, USA,
    'Optical networks, enabler of the communication revolution'.
  • 2001 Dr. John L. Hennessy, Stanford University, Stanford, USA,
    'Directions and challenges in microprocessor architecture'.
  • 2002 Dr. Harold G. Craighead, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA,
    'Nanostructures for mechanical and biological applications'.
  • 2003 Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, Stanford University, Stanford, USA,
    'Imaging diseases with molecular detectives'.
  • 2004 Sir Richard Friend, FRS, University of Cambridge, UK,
    'Plastic electronics-new science, new technology, new products and new markets'
  • 2005 Dr. J. Craig Venter, Venter Institute, Rockville, USA,
    'From the human genome to environmental metagenomics'.
  • 2006 Prof.dr. Peter Carmeliet ,Center for Transgene Technology and Gene Therapy,
    'The Neurovasculair link of A. Vesalius revisited'.
  • 2007: Prof.dr. Henk A. van der Vorst, Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht, Nederland.
    'Men and Computers: an Upward Spiral'.
  • 2008: Prof. dr. Shuji Nakamura, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, USA.
    'Current and Future Status of Solid State Lighting'.
  • 2009: Prof.dr. Rutger A. van Santen, Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences Professor TU/e, Eindhoven, Nederland.
    'Energy Catalysis and Society'.
  • 2010: Dr. Denis Le Bihan.
    ‘Water: From Brownian Motion to the Mind’
  • 2011: Donald E. Ingber MD PhD, Harvard University,
    'From Cellular Mechanotransduction to Organ Engineering'
  • 2012: Prof. Russell Foster BSc, PhD, FRS, the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophtalmology Oxford University, 'Light and Time: the discovery of a 3rd photoreceptors system within the eye'
  • 2013: Prof. Cherry A. Murray, Ph.D, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 'Engineering for all; How the newest school in America's oldest university is transforming undergraduate engineering education'
  • 2014:Dr.ir. Robert Cailliau, Former Staff Member CERN, 'The Web Adventure'
  • 2014:Dr.ir. A.E. Pannenborg - Honorary Holst Medal
  • 2015: Prof.dr. Bastiaan Bloem, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. 'Healthcare Networks need Innovative Technology (and vice versa)'
  • 2016: Andrew B. Watson, PhD, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, USA, 'The Windows of Visibility'
  • 2017: Prof.Caroline Robert, MD, PhD, Gustave Roussy Cancer Center, Villejuif-Paris, France, ‘Cancer Immunotherapy: Blazing the Trail with Melanoma’.
  • 2018: Prof. Yann Le Cun, PhD, VP Chief AI Scientist at Facebook and Silver Professor  New York University, USA, ‘Self-Supervised Learning: the next Challenge in Artificial Intelligence’.
  • 2019: Prof.dr.ir. Joseph Braat, Professor emeritus TU Delf, the Netherlands ‘Optical Imaging, the diffraction limit and methods to surpass it’.
  • 2020: Cancelled
  • 2021: Cancelled
  • 2022: Dr. Michael Grieves, Digital Twin Institute, Florida, USA, ‘‘Digital Twins:  Driving 21st   Century Transformation’