Symposium: Does Science Need Heroes?

Presented by Rijksmuseum Boerhaave and the Institute for History, Theory and Ethics of Medicine of the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany.

This symposium seeks to investigate how prize cultures have changed in the course of time, and what role prizes have (or should have) in current scientific practices.

Prizes in the sciences are a barometer of how we look at scientific excellency and how we value scientific practices and results, both within and outside the scientific community. Studying prize cultures therefore can help to unravel social aspects of the scientific practice and how science is regarded in society.