Ronald Plasterk
(1957, The Hague) was appointed Minister of Education, Culture and Science in February 2007 for the Dutch Labour Party in the Cabinet of prime minister Balkenende. Plasterk is a biologist, specialised in molecular genetics and has won various prizes in biology, including the EMBO-award for Communication in the Life Sciences in 2002 and the Prix Louis D of the Institut de France in 2005. Between 1993 and 2003 he was among other things professor at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Universiteit van Amsterdam and the Universiteit Utrecht. Before his appointment as minister Plasterk was director of the Hubrecht Laboratorium, Nederlands Instituut voor Ontwikkelingsbiologie (KNAW) in Utrecht. As a columnist for tv, de Volkskrant and Intermediair Plasterk was noted for his outspokenness. A number of his columns were published in Leven uit het Lab (Living from the Lab) (2000)
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Archive available for: Ronald Plasterk
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Between fear and hope. Part 1: science
A test tube? A revealing line of poetry? Moving music? In a programme lasting all evening in the main hall of the theatre, prominent figures from the world of art, culture and science talk to Michaël Zeeman about the question: what do they see as the imagination of hope? The guests each bring an image they derive hope from and illustrate their choice. A tryptich with six modern words, images and sounds of hope – which one will convince you?
Part 1 science: for a long time science was at the centre of of the faith in progress. But can it still fulfil its glorious role? Louise O. Fresco, writer (of among other books The Utopists) and brightest person in in ther Netherlands, opens the programme with a column. Together with Ronald Plasterk, natural scientist and Dutch Minister of Education, she will try to answer the question as to what extent science can still be a source of optimism. In Dutch.
