BRIGHT IDEAS FROM THE BOX CANYON

A monthly newsletter that includes a collection of important news and updates from Telluride Science.

IN THE NEWS

It is off-season but Telluride Science is busier than ever prepping for an exciting summer full of milestones including the grand opening of the Telluride Science & Innovation Center and a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Telluride Science.

We welcome our scientists back to town on June 3 for the start of our summer workshops, which run through August 16. Scientists will convene in small groups to share their latest research and work on a variety of challenges in fundamental and applied sciences including biomedicine, new materials, quantum computing, and climate. Click here to see the workshops being held in 2024.

This summer brings an expansion of our Town Talks, with a record-breaking total of nine talks planned. Town Talks will be held every Tuesday evening from June 11 to August 13 (with the exception of July 2). Held at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village, esteemed scientists will share their expertise and insights on topics ranging from atmospheric science to the nature of information. A complete speaker lineup will be available early June.

THE DEPOT CAMPAIGN

The view from the Aela & Don Morgan Lobby looking east to the Samueli Family Meeting Room.

The historic Depot is rapidly transforming into the Telluride Science & Innovation Center. The dry wall is installed, walls are painted, the wood floors are laid and the decks are built. Check out the recent video of our new deck.

The project is on budget and on track for our grand opening on July 20. We still have $2.55M left to raise, so if you have friends or colleagues who might be interested in supporting the Telluride Science & Innovation Center, please email Annie Carlson.

The Center will be available to rent for holiday parties, weddings, rehearsal dinners, nonprofit meetings and more starting July 2024. Reserve the Center

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SPOTLIGHT ON SCIENCE

BJARNE ANDRESEN

Professor of Physics Emeritus

Niels Bohr Institute

University of Copenhagen

When Bjarne Andresen finds something that he likes, he has a tendency to stick with it. For more than 50 years, he served as a Professor of Physics at the prestigious Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. “When I find a place that I like, I just stay there. I saw no reason to switch jobs as I was given a lot of freedom to go on sabbaticals, to take time off to spend with visitors, and explore the areas that I wanted to research. The institute always felt like a good place to be.”

Since retiring three years ago, Andresen has embraced the opportunity to delve deeper into his research in finite-time thermodynamics—examining e.g. the optimal conversion of heat to work, distillation, and biochemical reactions. Most recently, he explores the idea of extending thermodynamic principles to understand phenomena at extreme scales of time and space.

Andresen has also been a dedicated member of Telluride Science for 40 years. He is one of the founding scientists that helped launch the organization in 1984 with co-founders, Stephen Berry and Peter Salamon. They established the Telluride Science Research Center (now known as Telluride Science) as a place to explore new and wild ideas in an unstructured and informal setting. Even in the early days, Andresen and his fellow founders recognized the need for a permanent home for Telluride Science—a dream that has finally come to fruition with the transformation of the historic Depot into the Telluride Science & Innovation Center.

Andresen's generous support of the Depot project underscores his belief in the Center’s open-minded and unstructured workshop format. And Telluride’s gorgeous surroundings act as a catalyst to advance scientific collaboration and exploration. He looks forward to celebrating the grand opening, a dream that has been 40 years in the making.

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A small group of attendees enjoy one of the first picnics held by Telluride Science in the summer of 1984. Location: Stephen Berry's property on Sunshine Mesa

How did Telluride Science get started?

We had started attending workshops at the Aspen Center for Physics before we came up with the idea to start our own center. The facility in Aspen was great but it was challenging to find time slots to hold workshops to explore our areas of interest. Thus, we began discussing other scenic locations to start our own science center, and Stephen Berry suggested Telluride because he had a piece of land on Sunshine Mesa and knew the area. The town of Telluride was very accommodating to the idea and let us rent rooms in the local school, so now we had total freedom to build the program as we saw fit.

What is special about Telluride Science workshops?

I really enjoy the informality of Telluride Science workshops. There is very little pre-defined structure to most workshops—they essentially start with a clean slate of what we want to discuss and brainstorm for the rest of the week. The lack of hierarchy in the approach is appealing as well. Post docs and graduate students are valued just as highly as well-established professors so you can get close to people wherever they are in their career. There is a free range for new and wild ideas.

What is your scientific field of study?

My field of study is optimization of processes, in particular in thermodynamics, but also in seemingly unrelated fields like economics and biology. I like to transfer concepts into novel fields. The original thermodynamic optimizations turned into optimization of chemical reactions, of distillation columns, and of biological processes. Currently my Canadian colleague Christopher Essex and I are trying to extend thermodynamics from a human time and size scale to the size of galaxies, jumping up some 9 orders of magnitude in both time and space. This is roughly the same step as from the atomic scale to our scale. We investigate which concepts survive and which new ones may emerge if you go up there. This is inspired by the disappearance and emergence of quantities when going from the atomic to the human scale.

FULL Q & A

HOST A SCIENTIST

Finding affordable lodging for our scientists is a growing challenge. If you are interested in hosting a scientist for five or six nights at an affordable rate in your guest house, condo, or home this summer or fall, email Annie Carlson.

A SPECIAL THANKS

We are so grateful to the following people for offering to host a scientist:

Andi Alexander
Vadim Backman & Luisa Marcelino
Meg & Jay Bodnar
Miles & Nicole Cook
Sally Puff Courtney & Jim Harley
John & Sueanne Kim
Scott Pearson & Diana Farrell
Lori & Tony Petosa
Matt Porteus
Tom & Josie Preston
Jim & Joanne Steinback
Tom & Donna Stone

WHAT'S HAPPENING

EXCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN HEALTH & WELLNESS OPTIMIZATION PROGRAM

Dr. Alan Safdi, Chief Medical Officer of Quadrant Health, gave a special presentation "Unlocking Longevity" in March. Dr. Safdi’s presentation was packed with the latest research and information on the most effective ways to increase longevity. Many who attended the event sought Dr. Safdi out for medical advice so he created a special pilot program exclusively for supporters of Telluride Science & Telluride Foundation. The Quadrant Wellness Optimization Program is a groundbreaking, year-long individualized program designed to enhance your healthy years (health span) and optimize your longevity. Because the program is a not-for-profit pilot, it will be limited to 10 participants.

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