Impressions of IAU-Symposium 200

Hans Zinnecker has asked me to express my impressions of this conference. My first impression here was this very modern lecture room. It contains no blackboard any more, and instead very modern tools for projecting slides and films. The room also has a supply of fresh air at EVERY seat of this room, so nobody has an excuse any more to fall asleep. When I heard the lectures on Monday, I had the feeling the whole universe was made out of binaries only. This impression reminds me of a story I have heard about Bohr and Pauli: Pauli visited Bohr at his summer cottage one day for a discussion on Quantum Theory. When Pauli approached the cottage, he saw a horse-shoe over the entrance door - a sign of good luck as you may know. Pauli, a very critical person, asked Bohr: “Do you believe in it, and that it will bring luck to you?” Bohr answered: “No, I don't believe in it. But I was told that it helps even if one does not believe in it.” This story shows you the deeply positive way of how physicists think, and may therefore also encourage us to solve our problem.