Shanghai Master Forum shines light on science

The first Shanghai Master Forum on Science was launched on Tuesday, and professor Michael Levitt, laureate of the 2013 Nobel Prize in chemistry, was invited as the keynote speaker of the platform that will support Shanghai in becoming an international technological innovation center, officials said.

"We are targeting building a great platform for the world's top scientists to be able to explain scientific thoughts, as well as boost Shanghai in becoming a global technological innovation center," said Dong Yunhu, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Shanghai Committee at the opening ceremony of the forum.

Shanghai is fast developing as a modern and international socialist metropolis with global influence, so the city is more than ever in need of education, science, the fundamental and strategic support of talent, as well as the guidance of scientific thoughts, said Dong.

He added that the city will continue to engage in technological innovation and fully support scientific activities.

Jiao Yang, Party secretary of Fudan University, said: "Closely interacting with the city's existing scientific events including the World Laureates Forum, the World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the Pujiang Innovation Forum, the Shanghai Master Forum on Science will try its best to transform the wisdom and experience of top scientists into innovative practice, and help nurture more scientific discoveries, technological inventions, industrial directions, as well as new development ideas."

The inaugural forum kicked off immediately after the launch ceremony at Fudan University's Xianghui Hall.

During his 60-minute speech entitled AI for Science: Frontiers in Computational Biology, Levitt described how computational biology has grown from being a fringe discipline in modern life sciences to a leading discipline, and how it reveals profound methodological implications and the law of scientific development.

"I think bringing together scientists who are different … to talk about something like AI is a very good idea. And I hope this series will continue … Talking about science is something that scientists do all the time… scientists meeting is very important," said Levitt.

Levitt, who is also a member of the American National Academy of Sciences and a tenured professor of Structural Biology at Stanford University, is a pioneer in developing a molecular dynamics simulation method for protein and DNA.

In 2018, Levitt joined Fudan University, where he founded the Multiscale Research Institute of Complex Systems.

Two co-speakers, professor Ma Jianpeng and professor Qi Yuan, both from Fudan University, were also invited to make presentations.