Serge Haroche (Nobel Laureate in Physics, 2012) and Ferenc Krausz — together with a small delegation of volunteers — visited Ukraine in the first week of March 2025 to give academic lectures and to express their solidarity with the academic community and the people of Ukraine. The Nobel Appeal they brought with them, signed by 131 Nobel Laureates from around the world, was a clear sign that we were doing so on behalf of many colleagues from a wide range of disciplines. Here you can read Ferenc’ report:
On 4 March we held a Nobel Symposium entitled “100 Years of Quantum Physics”. Serge and I gave examples of how curiosity-driven science — this time in the field of quantum physics — has led to groundbreaking discoveries and breakthrough technologies that have changed or promise to change our lives.
For security reasons, the event was held in the shelter of Kyiv National University, an unprecedented experience. The memorable experiences continued the next day with a visit to Kharkiv. On the way to Kharkiv National University (KNU), we visited a secondary school that housed one of the first underground educational facilities in Ukraine. It was depressing to walk through the empty building above ground, before descending to meet the students some 10 metres below. I was moved to hear from them how lucky they felt to be able to receive an offline education despite the lack of sunlight. We were told that most children in the Kharkiv region have been out of school for more than 5 years (!!) due to the pandemic and subsequent war.
Before arriving at the KNU’s central building, we also visited the School of Physics and Technology and an abandoned residential area in the north of Kharkiv, near the Russian border, both of which were badly damaged at the start of the full-scale invasion. It was devastating to see war crimes on the ground and heartbreaking to listen to colleagues who had worked in the demolished building share their feelings about losing their jobs and homes.
The resilience and determination of the Ukrainian people to defend their freedom and their country against unlawful aggression is exemplary and deserves our utmost respect, solidarity and support. They are defending not only their own freedom and unity, but also the common values — civil liberty, democracy, human rights — that we share in Europe. These values suddenly disappear just a few kilometres beyond Kharkiv, making it the eastern bastion of Europe. The way the Ukrainian people are defending these values, while going about their business as normally as possible, makes them true heroes in our eyes. They are defending the most precious assets we have in the free world and we should support them with everything we have.
Being in Ukraine has given us a direct experience of how the lack of comfort and security taken for granted in the happy part of Europe affects everyday life, and what it means when the values we take for granted have to be defended against drones, missiles, gliding bombs that terrorise — physically and psychologically — the everyday lives of children and adults. Ukraine deserves a lasting peace and Europe’s strong support to rebuild the country.
Slava Europe! Slava Ukraine!
Ferenc Krausz
