Honoured laureate,
President Saarma,
members of the Academy,
dear friends,
This is, in many ways, a week of awards.
Each day this week, messages reach us from Stockholm, honouring discoveries that have brought profound benefit to humanity or significantly transformed our understanding of the world.
The Endel Lippmaa Memorial Medal that we are awarding here today also recognises achievements that have challenged what seemed fixed and made possible what had previously appeared impossible.
This is a unique award, just as Endel Lippmaa himself was a unique person.
He was a scientist of the highest calibre. But he also contributed significantly to the restoration of Estonia’s independence and the rebuilding of our state.
In that spirit, the medal bearing his name recognises excellence in science, the spread of new ideas across disciplines and borders, and the wider mission of scientists in society.
Its recipients are people whose work has profoundly influenced science or society, and in whose lives scientific excellence is joined with service to the public good.
Both Endel Lippmaa and the laureates of this medal stand out for their ability to make the impossible possible.
Sometimes this happens in science: through a new method or a new way of seeing that opens an entirely new path for exploring our world. Lippmaa himself worked at the frontiers of nuclear magnetic resonance.
And sometimes it happens in society.
Estonia’s escape from the Soviet Union, the restoration of our sovereignty, and our later emergence as a country known for the quality of its education, its digital public sector and its technology entrepreneurship – none of this was inevitable.
At many moments, it was highly improbable.
And yet, here we are.
Perhaps this is why Estonia is particularly well placed to recognise achievements of this kind. We know, from our own experience, that the boundary between the impossible and the possible is not always where it first appears to be.
The title of Endel Lippmaa’s biography describes him as “the man with the best nose”. He had a remarkable instinct for sensing that beneath the surface there were always possibilities not yet visible – possibilities that could be reached only through persistence, rigorous work and a visionary belief.
His legacy therefore carries an important message for us today.
We need fundamental science, because everything that ultimately moves society forward is built upon it.
And we need scientists who are active citizens – especially at moments of disruption and uncertainty.
Scientists bring to public life a sober and analytical eye. But they also possess another, equally important ability: to see a feasible future in something that, to others, may still appear impossible.
We need that perspective when making important decisions.
It is true that the current atmosphere in our societies does not always encourage such engagement. At times, reasoned public debate, long-term thinking and faith in evidence can themselves seem almost impossible.
That makes them all the more necessary.
It is therefore my great honour to present the Endel Lippmaa Memorial Medal to its newest laureate, Professor Stefan Walter Hell.
Congratulations.
