Every year Lindau is the meeting point of highly motivated and talented young researchers. An entire week they pause with their work in the lab. Instead they have discussions with other researchers and Nobel laureates on their agenda until friday.

Nevertheless the Lindau comittee seems to fear that the participants, for whom solving problems is everyday work, might get underburdened. Therefore the conference always holds tiny opportunities to puzzle and work meticulously. Mysteries at the Lindau conference are the accreditation and release of the keychains.

But who wears which colour?

When the ceremony is officially opened by Countess Sonja Bernadotte, the view in the audience offers a truly “colourful” picture. There are young researchers from many different countries, renowned scientists next to young students. And as diverse the participants are, as colourful are their keychains.

A lot has been said about the sense and meaning of the different keychain colours. One watches curiously, who wears which colour around their neck. Which colour do young researcher have? What do orange keychains mean? And most importantly: How can I recognize a Nobel laureate?

The answers to these questions also interested us. Therefore we did some research and actually succeeded in figuring out the colour code of keychains. In total there are nine different colours:

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And here comes the solution:

  • Green is for members of the foundation and the curatorship as well as scientific leaders
  • Black is for members of the administrative office
  • White is for alumni
  • Orange is for service providers
  • Dark blue and red are for further guests
  • Grey is for young researchers
  • Light Blue is for laureates

Actually it’s quite easy :o)

 » Marc Scheloske ist Sozialwissenschaftler und Redakteur von ScienceBlogs i-f5ff0970053afb8ff0e127c37c02b17c-Marc_45_sw.jpg


 » Jessica Riccò is an editor at ScienceBlogs and translator of this blog. i-b1d38961410ec576e2bf2c7411f43df3-Jessica_45.jpg