Nobel-winning microscope innovator named to Vatican’s science academy

JONATHAN NACKSTRAND | AFP

Romanian-born professor leads institutions in Germany

Pope Francis on Monday named the 2014 Nobel laureate in chemistry to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Professor Stefan Walter Hell is a director both of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, and of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, in Germany.

He was born in Romania on December 23, 1962, and was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on improving the resolution of microscopes.

Speaking to Vatican Radio’s Christine Seuss, Professor Hell welcomed his nomination. “I was very pleased by the nomination because the Pontifical Academy, of course, is one of the most prestigious academies in the sciences because it deals with many problems that are currently faced by humanity.”

One of the issues the Academy has recently tackled is the ethics of AI and robotics.

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