6 minute read
‘City of know ledge since
interview
This year, Europe is celebrating 365 days of curiosity. Leiden European City of Science 2022 guarantees a programme with international allure, connecting science and society. Meta Knol and Lucien Geelhoed, the director and the editor-in-chief of the annual programme respectively, cannot wait for the programme to start.
Interview: Marleen Hoebe and Jim Jansen Photography: Bob Bronshoff
‘Phantasie ist wichtiger als Wissen, denn Wissen ist begrenzt’ is one of the memorable quotes of physicist Albert Einstein. Translated into English: ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge, because knowledge is limited.’ According to Meta Knol and Lucien Geelhoed, this quote encapsulates very well what Leiden, as a European science city, wishes to convey: curiosity, wonderment and imagination.
In 2022, Who Knows will be the main theme of Leiden European City of Science. This theme is in line with the era of post-truth, fake news and filter bubbles. Several questions play a role in this, such as: who has the authority to judge what is true and what is not? And who knows what the future will look like? The Who Knows theme is also about the importance of asking questions. That is why 22 big, topical yet timeless questions figure prominently throughout the programme, such as: ‘What makes us human?’
These 22 questions can recur in the programme throughout the year in a variety of ways. They are a model for the importance of science and for those scientists who are working to better understand the world we live in, says Meta Knol, director of Leiden European City of Science 2022. She hopes that other people will also get to work with the questions, for example in education, by organising their own workshops. Lucien Geelhoed, editor-in-chief of Leiden European City of Science 2022: ‘We want to be a platform in Leiden for everyone who is a curious Einstein.’
Why does Leiden make a good European City of Science?
Meta Knol: ‘Leiden has the oldest university in the Netherlands. From the very beginning, in 1575, it has had an international focus. For example, Leiden University has had a professor of Arabic for over four hundred years. The city has the potential – following the university’s lead – to become even more international. Leiden also has many beautiful locations where we can organise activities. It really is a festival city.’ Lucien Geelhoed: ‘Moreover, people from Leiden always make smart choices. According to one anecdote, the Prince of Orange gave the city two options at the end of the Spanish siege in 1574: no taxes for a year or a university. The question is whether this is true, but a university was founded at any rate. At the time, Leiden already aspired to become a real city of knowledge. As far as I am concerned, that is the answer to the question of why Leiden makes a good European science city.’
What can people expect in 2022?
Geelhoed: ‘Leiden European City of Science is one big ode to science. We are organising countless activities, from exhibitions and symposia to international conferences and award ceremonies. In addition, the year consists of three major components. We have 365 daily topics with which we will visit people in the 101 neighbourhoods in and around Leiden. This shows Europe how knowledge can be shared right down to the very foundations of society. The second component is the EuroScience Open Forum, the largest multidisciplinary scientific conference in Europe. And then, thirdly, we have the European Union Contest for Young Scientists. In this competition of Dutch origin, top scientists from 14 to 24 years of age, from as many as forty different countries, come together in a grand finale. They are the Einsteins of the future, all coming to Leiden in September 2022.’
CV
META KNOL
studied art history at the University of Utrecht. After that, she was curator of modern and contemporary art at the Centraal Museum. From 2009 to 2020, she was director of Museum De Lakenhal. Since 2020, she has been the director of Leiden European City of Science 2022.
Can you give an example of one of those 365 daily topics?
Geelhoed: ‘One of the daily topics is bats. We believe there are many questions about bats; think, for example, of the pandemic we are currently in. We want to organise a day with
people who know a lot about bats and can answer questions about them. The goal is to go to the neighbourhood where citizenscientists have counted the most bat species. Activities like this make the year-long programme hyperlocal.’ Knol: ‘We could have just called it ‘local’, but we say ‘hyperlocal’ to show the importance of equality and engagement. This local foundation is very important to us. Everyone can participate.’
So, visitors to Leiden and the surrounding area will not be confronted with scientists giving lectures on a stage?
Knol: ‘No, we have two rules for scientists participating in our local project: get out of your institute and don’t give lectures. Ideally, we would like to see them ride their bikes into town to take part in a conversation about the importance of their profession.’ Geelhoed: ‘Because scientists have to think about different forms of communication, we see different collaborations emerging. Archaeologists from the National Museum of Antiquities, for example, are now researching a grave in which pollen was found in a honey jar that was still open when the grave was sealed. Palynologists, experts in the field of pollen, are very enthusiastic about this and want to participate in the research. This makes a subject like this interesting for a very broad audience.’
What audience do you want to reach?
Knol: ‘We are targeting anyone with a curious mind, and we want to appeal to people’s interests as much as possible. If you love stargazing, we don’t care if you are a child or a Nobel Prize winner. We focus on the content and quality of the encounter, not the quantity. I would rather have three people go home after a meeting thinking “I’ve never looked at it like that, how cool”, than three hundred people sitting in a room who have forgotten they were there the next day.’ Geelhoed: ‘I think our year mostly revolves around giving context to wonderment, so that everyone has the space to ask questions. That is where our Who Knows theme comes in.’
What do you want to achieve with this theme?
Knol: ‘Our goal is to connect science and CV
LUCIEN GEELHOED
has been connected to the Leiden Knowledge Region as a strategist for quite some time and has been involved in this project since 2016. In 2020, he started as manager at the Leiden European City of Science 2022 foundation, where he is now editorin-chief. He is also a game designer.
society even more strongly. That is why we are expanding science in our programme to include knowledge, arts and craftmanship, for example.’ Geelhoed: ‘But modesty is also a virtue for scientists.’
Why must science remain modest?
Geelhoed: ‘We only know a fraction of everything. For example, we don’t know what happens under water in 95 percent of the oceans because we have never been there.’ Knol: ‘And we base our assumptions about the universe on only 4 percent of it. There is still a lot to be done.’
So, we should stay curious?
Geelhoed: ‘Yes, it is important that we continue to wonder and leave room for chance. Chance is the foundation of science. Someone like Leiden biologist Lex van der Eb, who is famous among dozens, laid the foundation for the current corona vaccines. He came across something by chance around 1990 when he was working on something else. That chance is the pot of gold at the end of the scientific rainbow.’
