Szemenyei István (főszerkesztő): 12 Scientists on the 21st Century

The book contains the perceptions and opinions of 12 world-famous scientists and science politicians on the relationship between science and society in the 21st century. The book was completed and published for the recent World Science Forum in November 2009. The International Council for Science (ICSU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) considered it an important contribution to their international activities in popularizing science so they supply their organizations with copies of the book.  

The collection of interviews makes an attempt to build an intellectual bridge between the biannually held World Science Fora, providing an intellectual flow between the events. 

The scientists interviewed are personalities who in addition to being outstanding in their own fields have also influence on other disciplines or on the advancement of science internationally.  

The issues discussed in book mainly relate to the major challenges faced by humankind. The Editorial Team wanted to find out how world-famous scientists would respond, if asked: "Where are we, humankind, coming from and where are we human beings heading for?"  

The questions on which the interviews are based were compiled by the Editorial Team. The interviewers are members of the team journalists of the Hungarian monthly science magazine The World of Nature (Természet Világa).  

The interviewees were invited to express their ideas and thoughts by József Pálinkás, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and President of World Science Forum 2009, who also wrote the Foreword for the book.  

The 12 Scientists interviewed:  

Werner ARBER 

Albert-Laszlo BARABASI 

Catherine BRÉCHIGNAC 

Catherine CÉSARSKY 

Mihaly CSIKSZENTMIHALYI 

Mohamed HASSAN 

Rolf-Dieter HEUER 

Laszlo LOVASZ 

Yongxiang LU 

Erwin NEHER 

Ferenc PAVLICS 

Ahmed H. ZEWAIL