{"id":2162,"date":"2014-10-17T13:15:59","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T11:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.embl.de\/?p=2162"},"modified":"2025-02-19T13:38:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:38:31","slug":"1410_festakt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1410_festakt\/","title":{"rendered":"A toast to EMBL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Lena Raditsch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Director General Iain Mattaj was delighted to welcome guests of honour Johanna Wanka, Germany\u2019s science minister; Theresia Bauer, science minister of the state of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg; Eckhart W\u00fcrzner, mayor of Heidelberg; and Nobel Laureates and EMBL alumni, Christiane N\u00fcsslein-Volhard and Eric Wieschaus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to thank the German government for its enduring support over the past 40 years. Your visit is both acknowledgment of, and motivation for our continuing excellence,\u201c said Mattaj. \u201cToday, EMBL offers an extraordinary work environment for talented young scientists from all over the world.\u201d In her speech, Johanna Wanka highlighted the unique spirit on which EMBL\u2019s success is based, emphasizing that scientific freedom and joy of discovery fosters innovative, interdisciplinary research and is the hallmark of a democratic society.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019d like to thank the German government for its enduring support over the past 40 years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Musical interludes \u2013 which included Shakespeare sonnets performed as jazz pieces \u2013were presented during the gala dinner and a chaired discussion with the two Nobel Prize winners revealed some previously unknown anecdotes from their seminal time at EMBL. The event ended with breath-taking acrobatics, as performers suspended from the helix-shaped building soared through the air above the guests, followed by a whisky-tasting presented personally by Iain Mattaj in the rooftop lounge of the EMBL Advanced Training Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Theresa
Theresa Bauer received a special tour behind-the-scenes of EMBL, with (left to right) Director Matthias Hentze, Director General Iain Mattaj, and group leader Jan Korbel. PHOTO: EMBL Photolab<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Johanna
Johanna Wanka emphasised EMBL’s unique spirit. PHOTO: EMBL Photolab<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Theresia
Theresia Bauer, science minister of the state of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg was among the honoured guests. PHOTO: EMBL Photolab<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"N\u00fcsslein-Volhard
N\u00fcsslein-Volhard and Wieschaus shared anecdotes in a discussion chaired by Joachim M\u00fcller-Jung, science editor for the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper. PHOTO: EMBL Photolab<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Musical
Musical interludes included Shakespeare sonnets performed as jazz pieces. PHOTO: EMBL Photolab<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Suspended
Suspended from the helix-shaped building, acrobats performed a breath-taking routine above the guests. PHOTO: EMBL Photolab<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

German Science Minister and other honoured guests celebrate 40 years of \u2018Learning from life\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":2164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[80,81,43,406,331],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-2162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-lab-matters","tag-alumni","tag-anniversary","tag-heidelberg","tag-hentze","tag-mattaj"],"acf":{"article_intro":"

EMBL\u2019 s 40th anniversary celebrations culminated last month with a ceremonial event hosted at the headquarters laboratory in Heidelberg, attended by 180 special guests from local and national science, politics and industry.<\/p>\n","related_links":false,"article_sources":false,"vf_locked":false,"featured":false,"color":"#007B53"},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"yoast_head":"\nA toast to EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"German Science Minister and other honoured guests celebrate 40 years of \u2018Learning from life\u2019.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A toast to EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"German Science Minister and other honoured guests celebrate 40 years of \u2018Learning from life\u2019.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-17T11:15:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-19T12:38:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/1410_festakt1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest author(s)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest author(s)\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Guest author(s)\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b4d9366b2ebe691c4015c64c3619205b\"},\"headline\":\"A toast to EMBL\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-17T11:15:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-19T12:38:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/\"},\"wordCount\":334,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/1410_festakt1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"alumni\",\"anniversary\",\"heidelberg\",\"hentze\",\"mattaj\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Events\",\"Lab Matters\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/\",\"name\":\"A toast to EMBL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/1410_festakt1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-17T11:15:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-19T12:38:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"German Science Minister and other honoured guests celebrate 40 years of \u2018Learning from life\u2019.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1410_festakt\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/1410_festakt1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/1410_festakt1.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":425,\"caption\":\"Nobel Laureates and EMBL alumni, Christiane N\u00fcsslein-Volhard and Eric Wieschaus (seated left and right) were among the guests of honour. 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