HUMANITY AND HUMANISM : THE BIOETHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

摘要

IT is for several reasons that I feel proud and highly honoured by having been elected by the Indian National Science Academy to present the 6th Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Medal Lecture. Honoured, because I am well aware that this is a rare and exceptional international distinction, which certainly has been bestowed upon me not only as an individual scientist, ― as such I might even not really qualify for it, ― but also as the past president of one of the world's distinguished scientific organizations, the Max Planck Society of Germany, which I had the privilege to lead and serve for a number of years, thus representing some of the best of science in Germany (I hesitate to say : "some of the best of German Science", since about one quarter of the leading scientists of the Max Planck Society are foreigners !).