Dear Professor Richmond,
Dear guests of the NCCR Symposium on Structural Biology
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Every year, it is a renewed pleasure and honour to award  the Marcel Benoist Prize to an eminent member of our scientific community.

The fact that our Board of Trustees can identify researchers in Switzerland every year who have had a deep impact upon their fields is a clear testimony to the fact that our research enterprise is healthy, dynamic and imaginative.

As research minister, I am proud and happy about this. And I am very grateful to all the scientists who make this possible. Today of course my gratitude goes to those working in the field of structural biology and who are here today.

Dear Professor Richmond, nothing a priori forced you to come to Switzerland. Born in the United States, trained there and in England, you could just as well have pitched your tent somewhere else. Yet, fortunately for us, you came and you stayed!

I take this as evidence that you found in our country and, in particular, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, the environment which allowed you to fully develop your talents and your ideas. Thank you, Prof. Richmond, for having come and for staying!

It would be very interesting to hear from you what, exactly, you find attractive at the ETH. It would help us, at the political level, to maintain and further develop favourable working conditions for researchers in Switzerland.

Having become somewhat acquainted with your work, I have noticed the extensive use you have made in recent years of third generation synchrotron radiation sources.

Large infrastructures are essential research auxiliaries in several branches of science. Because of their costs, however, they can only be built in a concerted fashion with ad hoc financing coming from the highest political level.

It is at this point that our paths and our responsibilities cross: as  research minister, I share with the scientists, a responsibility for providing adequate research conditions. But I can only help you meet the challenges of modern research if we communicate.

And several years ago, Professor Richmond and his colleagues did exactly that. 

You approached the government and alerted us to the need of providing high quality X-ray sources for structural analysis.

You were heard and Switzerland has invested and still invests significant amounts of money in the E-S-R-F in Grenoble and in the SLS at the Paul Scherrer Institute, two facilities structural biologists could not do without.

This story is a good example of what a fruitful dialogue between scientists and politicians can do for the benefit of the research enterprise. And because it is a success story that has had a positive impact on your work, permit to say that I do share a little bit of the pride and pleasure in the 2006 Marcel Benoist Prize.  

One of the reasons we decided to award the prize today on the occasion of the 5th International N-C-C-R Symposium on New Trends in Structural Biology was the desire to reach young scientists. And I’m happy to note, that there are a large number of you in the audience.

During your careers you will see changes in your respective fields which we cannot foresee today. These changes will lead to renewed needs for novel large infrastructures. When the time comes, do not hesitate to let us know! Speak up! – We’ll listen.

Of course, your requests will have to be accommodated within, at times, tight budgetary boundaries. They may be questioned. You may be asked to provide additional evidence for your needs. At the very least, you will have to be patient. But this is all part of a fair dialogue.

I can assure you that we, the politicians, are deeply committed to help you make the best out of your talents by striving to provide the large instrumentation your work relies upon.

But back to you, Professor Richmond, and to your prize.

The work we honour today is the result of many years of effort and yet, in many respects and as often in science, it is just a beginning.

So, a celebration like today’s award ceremony is but a pause, a break, a time to reflect upon the past and to congratulate you very heartily for your remarkable achievements.

But it is also a time to wish you all the best in the future for the new ventures you have already initiated.

Over the years, many co-workers have been associated with your lab. You will agree with me, I am sure, that they all deserve a share in your prize, even if you have been the undisputed leading force.

Thus, allow me to extend the congratulations to you first and foremost and to your whole team. I wish you all very successful years to come.

Verleihung des "Prix Marcel Benoist 2006"