Okay, welcome everybody to this press conference announcing our Young Scientists of 2019. So welcome. The Young Scientists community was established by the World Economic Forum to really bring together unique perspectives from some of the future leaders of the scientific community. So we wanted to make sure that the annual meeting of the new champions is not just about those in the tech community, it's not just those in business, but we're really bringing together, those who are really focused on cutting-edge research who are thinking differently, so that way they can not only learn from each other, but also interact with our other communities here across the World Economic Forum. And so I have the privilege of being joined here by three of those, four of those leading Young Scientists. Only day one here. And so I'd like to introduce each of them. They're going to then give a brief statement on what they think it, what it means to them to be a part of this community, what it means to be a role model as a scientist, and then we're gonna open it up to Q&A for some of our journalists who are joining us here in Dalyan. So I'd like to welcome Ying Liu from Peaking University, Ruth Morgan from University College London, Sabrina Schultz from the Smithsonian Institution, and Benjamin T. from the National University of Singapore. So thank you very much. I think let's kick off. Who would like to go first? I don't wanna pick on anybody. Would anyone, who would like to go first? Easy choice because it's ladies first, right? Yeah. Ladies first. Should we go with Sabrina first? Sure, we can go with Sabrina first. Yeah, so I am so pleased to be here and be part of this community and to specifically be talking about scientists as role models because I think that scientists should be role models for the public. I think that the public needs leaders who they respect and admire and trust and that we fit the criteria in that we solve problems and we share knowledge and we protect truth and we serve society. But I do think that we face challenges in accessibility and communication. I think that we need to make ourselves in order to be role models, visible. We need to be verbal about our work in a way that's easily understandable to the general public and I think that that is a lot more difficult than it seems. I'm fortunate that I'm a scientist at the largest natural history museum in the world and so I've got amazing support and so many opportunities for outreach but a lot of scientists don't have that advantage and so something that I've tried to do with my work is to help create opportunities for other scientists to engage with the public on matters of public health and so I'm the curator of an exhibit about emerging infectious diseases and the interconnectedness of human, animal and environmental health and we have a main message of One Health but the supporting message of working together so we showcase 42 scientists and other experts in the exhibit so that the public can see faces and read stories and have quotes that show them what these people do and why it's important. We've also created that space so that scientists can volunteer to interact directly with the public, with activities and conversations. We've got over 100 volunteers of epidemiologists and virologists and biologists and finally, I think most importantly, the Smithsonian for the first time has created a free customizable, translatable do-it-yourself version of this exhibit so that those experiences can happen in any community in the world and that's already happened in over 100 locations in the first year and so I think that these are examples of how we can be accessible and we can increase our communication and that is really important because, well, one, in some ways it's more impactful than some of the typical research products but also I think it just feels really good and it allows us to actually see the way that we can make difference. Very much, Benjamin, over to you. Great, well, I think Sabrina sums up really well. For me as an academic faculty in the National University of Singapore, for me personally, I feel like role models require a driving force and for me, my driving force is to really coach and mentor the next generation of STEM leaders. Personally, I'm involved, of course, in really challenging science, for example, restoring touch to amputees or paraplegics who have, you know, unfortunately lost the ability to navigate surroundings like us normally and that ability to create technologies that impact people is kind of important but what really hits me and what I'm really passionate about is to coach this next generation of STEM leaders that, you know, in everything that you do, you want to strive to be cutting edge but at the same time, you really need to think about sustainable technology consumption. All of us have, I can bet that probably more than half the room has more than one mobile phone.  Another thing that we're trying to do is also to develop technologies that can self-repair. Can your mobile phone, when you crack it, self-repair and I think so we can potentially reduce the 40 million tons of e-waste generated every year. So for me, being able to coach and teach students about this importance of, at the same time, driving cutting edge technology but also sustainability is important as a role model and as a role model, we almost cannot slip up and so, you know, but I kind of take up the challenge and because I really feel passionate about leading the next wave of innovators, right? I mean, we are still young scientists but not so soon anymore in the next 10 years. So it's important to keep this pipeline of leaders going forward. Thank you very much, Ying. Yeah, so I'm currently a system professor in the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Peking University. We work on cell biology, especially we want to understand how our cells sense and respond to different nutrient and energy levels. I think understanding those fundamental biological pathways would facilitate our understanding and also provide therapeutic potential for the treatment of age-related disorders and metabolic syndrome. So I'm really proud of myself and I'm really proud I'm a scientist because I think we work together to provide solutions for everyday life and also to create new knowledge to understand or to answer the mystery of the universe and also I think we are trying to increase the quality of our lives. So I'm really proud of that. But I also think, so, well, I think humanity is now entering into the scientific age and there's no turning back. So I think the world needs us. And two years, sorry, four years ago, UN set up this 17 sustainable development goals and I think as a scientist we can contribute a lot in order to achieve those goals. And I also think science nowadays also face great challenges as well. For example, I think one of the challenges is that scientific disciplines have been prioritized. And as a scientist, I think we need to go out and we need to popularize the science and also we need public understanding and public engagement from that. So in addition to my research area as a role model, I also try to reach out and participate in a lot of outreach activities in China. We mainly like to, for example, we have launched an online course called Life Sciences for Elementary Grades because I think childhood exposure to life science or other STEM subjects is one of the most important factors for children to explore in the future and also pave the path for a scientific career. And also I participate in the TV shows and social events such as our active forum to share my own experience as a female scientist. Because I think young girls, they need more encouragement. And also I'd like to, or maybe I want my effort can change the perception of what female scientists look like and what we do. So I hope my effort could empower the young girls to break the barrier and to pursue their interest in science. A tough act to follow. I agree with everybody to my left. I think what we see in a very complex world now is that there are lots of very big challenges that are not going to have simple solutions because they are so complex. And I think that's where science has a significant role to play partly because science is so diverse in and of itself but also as scientists, I would say we can take on a role of wanting to be the communicators between the science world and the policy world and the public. And I suppose from my point of view, I'm a professor of crime and forensic science at University College London. And we have a very, very specific remit to address a very significant societal issue in terms of how science is used in the justice system. And I would say we take that incredibly seriously. So we want to be making sure that all of our research is casework informed and that it brings together the key stakeholders who have a role and a voice in that scenario. And I guess just one example of how we've been trying to really get the science to where it needs to be to make a difference in these big challenges has been working with those in parliament and advocating for the need to address the serious challenges that science is facing in the justice system, particularly in the UK, but it's a global issue. The nature of science and justice is a global one. So I think ultimately, as scientists, we're in an incredibly unique position in terms of being able to rub shoulders with people who have a scientific background and we appropriate similar methods but we have completely different fields. And I think that really equips us to then be able to go into the world and hopefully be really excellent communicators of what the science can tell us, the kinds of answers that science can give. But I think, importantly, the limitations of science currently, where there are things that we don't know that we could know that warrant investment even if potentially they don't have ostensible economic value, they potentially have huge value to society. So I would say that's something that we are uniquely placed to be able to do and it's amazing to have opportunities to speak about that and to engage with a completely diverse group of people and see where real world challenges are at and see where the science is at and see where we can bring those two together. Well, thank you very much for your initial comments and I think you can agree with everyone in the room. We're really happy that you're a part of this new community and providing all these additional viewpoints to the annual meeting of the new champions. I'm gonna be very selfish and ask the first question to the group and then we'll open it up to everybody. For those who are in the scientific community who are not as active as you guys and gals are, what advice would you give to them to maybe help them take that first step to sharing more, to engaging with the public more, to not being afraid to kind of get out there and go whether it's on social media or anything like that? Where would you suggest that they start? Twitter is always a good place. Well, definitely I think taking advantage of some of these new social media tools is definitely almost a must in today's hyper-connected economy and also more of the reach that you can have is just tremendous. So with one tweet you could reach basically almost other than half the world. I mean, the penetration rate of the internet keeps increasing. One challenge for me when I kind of started trying to do outreach is, and communicating some of my science is, I have to be able to draft what I care about in a way that other people can relate to. And you have to find, so one advice is to really find a message that you genuinely is really interesting. It may take a few days or even months to distill what you really care about, but it's a process, right? So you've got to start. And so one easy way is to actually look up current some of the scientists that have a lot of media outreach and see what they're doing and maybe just say hi to them, right? And it's so easy to do that these days. Yeah, I mean, I certainly agree. Social media, science Twitter is actually fantastic in a professional way, I think, for many of us. Not only interacting with each other, but also communicating about our work and commenting on others and really allowing the public to see how our conversations can happen and how we can actually engage with the research products. And I also agree that in terms of just finding opportunities maybe through other people or certainly I think that it's something that is difficult to make time for and to find the energy for when it's not valued traditionally in the same way as our publications and the other ways that we tend to communicate and disseminate what we do. But it is important and it is difficult and I think there's also a lot of opportunities to get training. There are books out there and there are also people who make a living at doing this and so much other content I think that you can find to even get I guess an interest in it or maybe develop skills that you think you may have and that may help you direct those skills towards an audience that might be particularly good for the messages and the goals that you have. I totally agree. So we don't have Twitter here but we use WeChat and Weibo so another way of the social media. So I would think just don't be shy and try to explain your own story or your research study in a common way so the public can understand. I think that's the first baby step that you can go. Yeah. I think, yeah, I would add don't be afraid of failure. I think the thing that holds us back often is not knowing if it's gonna work out or if we're gonna fall flat on our faces and the thing I've learned is that until you try you don't know what you're good at and you don't know what opportunities might be out there so definitely don't let fear hold you back and then I guess the other thing I would say is I've learned so much by the questions that people ask me when I'm talking about my work with non-specialists. It's helped me refine what I'm doing. It's helped me refine where our focus needs to be. It's informed a lot of the research questions that we ask. So I think of it as a two-way conversation and if you can have that conversation it's just exciting where that might go and where your research could go as a result. Yeah. And I find that people are quite excited to get to talk to scientists. They actually, I think that in a lot of situations you couldn't ask for a better conversation partner or audience to talk about your work that people are looking for role models in many cases. Maybe they don't have enough or they don't have the ones that really embody everything that they value or wanna see in a person and scientists have a lot of that and I think we forget that. Thank you. I'd like now to open this up to questions from people in the room. Do we have any questions people would like to ask? In the back. He's coming. Yanwei from CGTN China Global Television Network. Two simple questions but maybe have your expertise in that. One is about ethnic issues. We see scientists trying to push boundaries which is part of your job but on the other hand there are certain ethnic issues that the society have to be accustomed to or you have to work with the society as well. So as young scientists particularly pioneering spirit I guess, how would you see that issue, the issue of so-called ethics while you're pushing the boundaries of science? That's one thing. The other thing is I guess we're all born of this internet generation. So I would assume that when you are doing your research you tend to be a bit different, I don't know with your previous generations of experts and the scholars professors. So how do you see that difference if there is any and how do you think what is the best way to do it from your perspective? Thank you so much. Thank you very much for the question. Thank you. Is there anyone who wants to jump in first? Well, I think thank you. Those are really tough questions but also very good ones. I think ethics is something that we all care about, right? I mean definitely we have to have integrity. I mean I think that's sort of the baseline if you don't have that nobody's gonna believe what we are saying. And we have to hold, as scientists, we definitely hold ourselves to a much higher standard. At least for me, I'm sure definitely everybody else in the Ruhua scientists do that. And we should not let, of course, there's always gonna be a few bad eggs sometimes but I think that as a whole being a scientist and holding ourselves to a higher standard is sort of the prerequisite. The other thing is ethics is an evolution in fact, a process. If you look at many of the changes that we're having in the last two or three decades, you talk about internet generation, I was born without the internet. And you know, iPhone came in 2008 when I started my PhD career, you know? So the trajectory and growth of connectivity is definitely disrupting hopefully more constructively the how people see and view how some of the artwork should be done and also communicated. As for previous generation versus our generation, I think it's so exciting to be in the current era. There's so much tools that we have now to look at objects from the, even smaller than a nanoscale and some of my colleagues work on co-atom technologies, Lohuan chain from NUS. This is some pretty amazing stuff we're doing and it's fantastic to be this generation, frankly. But at the same time, it's great to learn from the wisdom of the previous generation. I mean, they grew up without the tools and yet they have also managed to achieve a lot. So I feel like it's very important for, there should not be a generation gap between scientists. And one of the key criteria of science is to be as open as possible and it's something that I hope we can take away from as we continue to evolve as a human race and to better ourselves and to improve society. Thank you. Bruce, go ahead. I think on the ethical issue, it's an area very close to my heart. In forensic science, the boundaries of the technology innovations are, well, I don't think there are any boundaries anymore. It's a very exciting space, almost limitless opportunities. And I think one of the things that I reflect on is that we have technological abilities and often we think of them in isolation. And actually the way we can be thinking about it in ways that ensure we are mindful of the ethical implications is having people at the heart of that technology. So not just designing solutions that fix a problem in isolation, but actually thinking about the problem in a holistic way that incorporates the people involved. So how do people make decisions? How do people interact with evidence, say? And then how can we drive our technological innovation in a way that brings people together with that innovation that leads us to a place where we're not going down pathways, where we're potentially losing privacy and autonomy and potentially equality. And I think that's something that is across the board. It's very personal to me in forensic science, but I think we see that across the board, that if we bring people into that conversation with the technology innovations, then we start seeing the creative innovative solutions that actually have impact in the real world and are doing the good that they intend to do. Sabina or Ying, any additional points? I can say a bit more to the second question about the older versus new generations. And I think that one of the major changes that we see is in the diversity of scientists in our community, the people who are actually training the next generation, the future generations. Students are finding a lot more mentors and leaders and instructors and professors who they can relate to in ways that in previous generations maybe weren't as likely. Also, we are working across disciplines in ways that were previously not done. In our young scientist community, just yesterday, we had this activity where we were all going based on a category of interest or skill to meet each other, to speak. And I think so many of us didn't know which one to go to and we just decided, well, I could go here or here, but I'll go here. And to have those conversations at those interfaces and to be able to speak across those boundaries and even sit at the intersections between them, I think also creates more opportunities to mentor and engage with students in so many different ways. So for the ethics issue, I think it's our job to explain to the public what we are trying to do and what we are going to do. But I think it also, well, at certain point, it needs policy decision, but the policies should be made on the basis of a scientific understanding. So that's my point. For the second question, I think our generation, I think international collaboration is a big thing happening right now. And with the internet and other development, we can easily send emails and we can easily communicate with other faculties in different countries. So it actually helps us to establish international collaborations with different labs. Thank you very much and thank you for the question. Is there another question in the audience? Yeah, we have one in the front row. The microphone's coming your way. For Zhongwen. I will be using Chinese. Channel one, channel one. I work for a media with Chinese government authority. In the previous news release, we heard that there are more females among the young scientist communities. And I'm also happy to see three out of the four of you are ladies. So my question is from female young scientists. Sorry, I'm a little bit nervous. For female young scientists, in terms of science and innovation, what inherent advantage do you have? Or a little bit private question, how can you balance your work and your life? That's my question, thank you. For the room, if I could sum up the question, it's being a female scientist has many advantages, things we know. What can you describe, what those are, and then how you can balance, I think balance is a question everyone has. How can we better balance our work and our lives in general? Ruth, would you like to start? I think this is something that it is not just a female issue, it is actually a community issue. And I think, I don't know about you guys, but I definitely am here because I've had fantastic male and female colleagues and I've been given opportunities and I've had support. And I would see that it's a sign of how well our community is addressing this challenge together, that there are three of us here and lots of women within the Young Scientist program. So I think balance is something that every single person struggles with, particularly in science. It's one of those areas that because we're passionate about what we do, it can be very difficult to establish balance and it's something we've been talking about a lot, even in just one day. So I think I would just say it is something for the whole community to work on and I would like to thank the community I've been working with for working so hard at it and getting us to where we are and let's keep going because there's still a long way to go. Ying, do you have anything to further to add to that? Yeah, so I think the first question advantages. So in terms of science, I would think a female scientist would be more patient and pay more attention to the details when we are doing experiments. That's yeah, what I feel. But for the second question I would like to add is first of all, I think we need family support. That's very important for me.   Sabrina, any thoughts? I suppose that I feel that the best qualities of the scientists don't map to gender and that there's so much individual variation that I couldn't say that there are any inherent advantages that I have for that particular reason or others. But yeah, I mean, to the point that everyone said, I think that certainly I've had mentors and supporters, just from all, in all different ways, all different types of people. And that's just been so valuable and that's something that needs to be embraced and continued. And then as far as balance, how one balances, again, that's so hard to say. That's an individual situation and I'm not sure how one would do it or how I do it or if I do it. Only that when you're doing science, I think you are so rewarded. It's such a gift to be able to do it and I think that there are so many moments of joy and discovery and it's a privilege that I think makes it hard to even feel the weight of an imbalance should you have one. Great, I'm not sure if I should add anything but my wife is a female scientist. Why not go for it? So my wife is a female scientist. So I mean, it's perfect, I have fantastic female colleagues so I also at the same time for speaking from a male perspective, I really do try to balance gender equality as well in my group. I try to have at least a 50% ratio because I really think that this diversity between genders help generate tremendous creativity and it's something that I feel that as a male scientist, we should definitely encourage this kind of structure in science. I've benefited, my previous supervisor was female, she's fantastic, she balances the work-life balance. I'm learning from her, so I have no complaints at least from my point of view. Well, I think we can all agree that this is a very impressive panel except for myself, I clearly can't do math but I think I'd like to say thank you very much for your time, thank you for your insights and sharing with us your thoughts and also letting us get a glimpse into your work. I think it's very fascinating. So thank you very much and thank you to everyone who's here and on our live stream. Thank you. Thank you.


Welcome to a new precious plastic instruction video. All right, so today we're going to build the compression machine. It's a bit like baking cookies, but now we're going to bake plastic. The plastic goes in the mold and the mold goes in the oven. This is slowly heated and pressed until the final shape comes out. It's a relatively slow but easy process and the machine is quite affordable and easy to build. All right, so before we get started, you can download all the instruction, information and the blueprints. And if you have any questions feel free to post a topic in our forums. Let's get started. That's the machine we're going to build. And it consists out of four different parts. We have the oven, the framework, the press and electronics. And we're going to start off making the oven. This is where the mold goes inside and gets heated. And first thing we're going to need for this is an oven. All right, so we're currently at the scrap yard, which is a great way to find an old oven. I mean, they're like everywhere you can find these old electronics, which is still pretty good to use. We've found one. Things are a great starting point to start off with because they already have all the isolation and the heating elements. We just need to modify and strip it down so we can use it. So every oven basically already has temperature control installed. However, we cannot really use this because it's not accurate enough. So we're going to strip it down and get our own one. We strip down the oven and we clean it up. And now we're going to give it a nice jacket and use our blueprints as a reference. But since every oven is different in size, you might need to recalculate a few things. We've got a weld. So we finished the framework around the oven to make it nice and strong. But before we're going to close it down with metal sheets, we like to add some isolation in there. It's optionally to use this. You don't need to. But we like it because it's more energy efficient. So we're going to put it in here and then we're going to close it down. We finished the oven, isolated it, put some sheet metal on it, built a framework. And it should look something like this. All right, so we finished the oven and now we're going to build a framework. This is what holds the oven and the press together. So we finished the frame. It's made of some metal tubes, pretty straightforward. Add the little beads. These things which we have when we cut metal, these are the leftovers. We're going to weld them right here. We finished the frame for now. We're going to paint it later because first we're going to make the pressing system. All right, so we finished the oven, the framework, and now we're going to build the pressing system. And this will move a platform up and down in the oven that presses the mold together. We finished up the pressing platform that goes inside the oven. And this thing can go up and down. And in order to do this, we're going to use a car jack. And this should be pretty easy to find. And although they might look different, they are pretty much the same. But do make sure to double check your dimensions to make sure it all fits. And we're going to connect the pressing platform on the car jack so we can slide it up and down. And then we're going to connect all of this to the framework and it should be finished. It doesn't spin around, but we can also keep removing it by removing the bolt. We're going to install this metal plate on top of the oven. That's because some ovens are not as strong on the top. I want to make sure it can handle the pressure. So just to be sure, we're going to add this plate. However, if your oven is strong enough, there's no need to make this. We finished up the oven, the framework, installed the press and made a platform inside. Everything works, as you can see. And now we're going to make the electronics. So we finished the oven, the framework and the pressing system. And now we're going to finish up the electronics and wire it all up. First we're going to build this metal box and then we're going to connect everything together to make it work. We just finished the metal box. Now we're going to install all the electronics. We're going to install this switch to turn on the electricity, which makes this light go on, so we can see it's on. Then we're going to install this thermocouple in the oven. This will measure the temperature inside the oven, which will then be transferred into this controller, where we can measure the amount of temperature and set. And this one will go to the solid state relay, which will then again heat on the oven. And we're going to wire it up with some cables, if you're looking for a great way to find a cable. This one is from an old printer, and we will use this for the main power supply. Next to the oven, we're going to connect two heating elements, which are here, and then a little light, which is optionally, but we like to have a light inside. And it's basically an oven that heats and melts the plastic, and we can apply pressure. And the first thing we need to create something is a mould. So here we have a mould, and we're going to fill it up with plastic. So now we're going to put on the other part, which presses everything together, and then we're going to put it in the oven. So the mould is in the oven, and now we need to melt the plastic. So we're going to turn it on and set the right temperature. Once the plastic melts, we're going to apply pressure, so we squeeze everything together. This is a relatively slow process, and it totally depends on the type of plastic you use and the size of your object, how much pressure you need, and how long it takes. The oven is cooled down, and now we're going to take it out and see the result. So here we have the end result. It looks nice and smooth, no burnt edges. Now we made a solid block, but as you can imagine, if you make other moulds, you can make more complex parts, or even press two sheets together to create sheet material. And we would love to see where you can come up with. Thank you for watching the video. I hope everything was clear. If it wasn't, feel free to post the topic in our forums. And one thing to note is that the machines are built in a modular way, which means you can always upgrade or repair them, but also customize them to your needs. So if you happen to make a hack or customization, we would absolutely love to see it. Because in this way, we can all work together to create better machines. In the next video, we're going to make moulds and show you how to create things with these machines. And for now, thanks for watching. Good luck with building. I hope to see you in the next precious plastic video.


Nid yw'r president, gallwch yn gychaf, nid yw'n cael ei wneud, ond nid ddim yn du'r rhaglen. Y cwmgyst Y Konstantyn Obo, bydd y Oatryman Tewch, a'r 29 mai 1453, yn ychydig o'r ddefnyddoedd y bydd yn gweithio i'r holl yma, a'r holl yn bwysig yn gwneud. Mae'r rhaid o'r ffordd yng Nghymru, yng nghymru, mech Mechmedd II. Mae'r ffordd o'r panfodol yma, a ddechrau'r ffordd o'r ffordd mhwyaf mhwyaf mhwyaf, o'r ffordd o'r ffordd mhwyaf mhwyaf mhwyaf, yn ym 1313. Mechmedd wedi'u gweld yn 1451 oed, a'r ffordd o'r ffordd 19. Mae'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd was based primarily in the pursuit of holy war and the spread of Islam. The taking of Constantinople merely a prelude to territorial ambitions that would cast dark shadows across Europe over the following 30 years. The Ottomans became the most powerful presence in the Islamic world, defining Mehmed's reputation for future generations, described as religious as well as deeply superstitious. He was an avid reader of classical and contemporary texts with interests that also included theology, astronomy and poetry. While an inclination for western art, unusual for someone of the Muslim faith, has further informed his colourful legacy. The invitation for Italian artists to visit the Ottoman court in the latter part of Mehmed's life has left us with the well-known oil by Gentile Bellini, a watercolour depicting Mehmed the esteet smelling a rose, as well as a group of portrait medals. After casts of those by Bellini and Bertoldo, and an adaptation of Constanzo's portrait helped to satisfy a growing interest in Mehmed the conqueror, which would endure long after his death in 1481 at the age of almost 50. These elderly portraits have represented the only reliable iconographic sources. But impressive though they are in number, they have told us little of the young Mehmed, and that pivotal point in the history of the Ottomans and central Europe 25 years earlier, which continues to reverberate. The unexpected appearance of a far earlier portrait, for long in an old continental collection, has provided an entirely fresh perspective from which to consider the Ottoman prince, amidst a period notable for the absence of material evidence. Taken at a time when Mehmed was barely into adulthood and largely unknown beyond the Ottoman court, it confirms his interest in the medallic genre at a far earlier point in his life than previously thought, and represents an extraordinary alliance between consonants and cultures. It draws its influence from an art form synonymous with the Italian Renaissance. But it also engages, though less obviously, with far earlier traditions that are both Islamic and Judeo-Christian in affiliation, with a portrait encircled by a nominative inscription and cast in the permanence of bronze or lead. Medallic art was a new and distinctive form of evidential record. Proceeding the development of woodcut illustration and movable type, it drew interest from an Italian audience of humanist scholars and antiquaries, merchant classes and princely families. But unlike coinage, whoever wished could now be immortalised in this fashion by the spatula and crucible. One of its earliest and most influential practitioners was a celebrated North Italian draftsman and painter Pisanella, whose medals date from the late 1430s. Mehmed himself was born just a few years earlier in 1432 in the Old Ottoman capital of Edirne. The son of Sultan Murad II and Siddhu Mahatun, an enslaved convert of non-Muslim origin. And his early adolescence was largely spent in Manisa near the Aegean. Forming the mainstay of Muslim ambition over the centuries was the city of Constantinople, strategically situated between Europe and Asia, and to where the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, had transferred his capital from Rome around 330 AD. Since the 5th century, it had been the epicentre of the Byzantine Empire, whose disparate lands in Syria, Persia and North Africa had been subjected to diminution by Muslim incursions. Many unsuccessful Muslim attempts would also be made on Constantinople over the centuries, including those by the Ottomans, and most recently by Mehmed's father in 1422. Over the following 20 years, it would become entirely surrounded by the territory of this increasingly powerful tribe. An international forum convened in Ferrara in 1438 by Pope Eugenius IV, sought reconciliation of the eastern and western churches, and a universal crusade against the Ottomans. The convention had attracted much international interest, and Pisanello recorded the event in a series of drawings. He also made this imposing medal of one of the delegates, John VIII paleologus, the Byzantine emperor, affirming his leadership of this fragmented empire. In the spring of 1444, Mehmed was appointed regent of the province of Rumelia under the supervision of the sultan's grand vizier following the death of his older brother Aledin a year earlier. A significant Ottoman victory near Varna later that year may have encouraged Morab II to announce the throne entirely in favour of Mehmed. Not yet 13 years of age, the young prince was now sole ruler of the Ottoman state in what would be his first accession. As his biographer Franz Pabbinga observed, Mehmed would become a law unto himself, both by land and by sea. Having, for example, confirmed a treaty in February 1446 with the Venetians, initiated by his father. In circumstances that are not entirely clear, plans for an ill-advised attack on Constantinople hatched by a military faction attempting to influence the adolescent Mehmed, persuaded Morab to return a sultan in the autumn of 1446, effectively deposing his own son. Mehmed served as governor of Manisa over the following five-year interregnum, ruling the province as a sultan in his own right. And finally acceded to the Ottoman throne on the death of his father in February 1451, not yet 20 years of age. The medal was attracting growing interest with those of more than 40 different sitters having been produced in the 1440s by the Italian workshops of Piscinello and his pupil or close follower Matteo de Pasti. They include these portraits of Leonela Deste and Alfonso V and Sigismundo Malatesta and Isota de Liati. As a documentary record, as well as a medium for messaging and propaganda, they were produced in multiple castes and variously distributed, with some, for example, having been deposited in the cornerstones of new buildings. Specimens of Piscinello's medal of John VIII were being carried by envoys, as they were documents within Italy and beyond, and endorsed the sitter's long Byzantine lineage with Constantinople. A sense of vulnerability would be increasingly justified, for the capture of Constantinople had now become the focus of the hugely ambitious Mehmed following his deposition in 1446. In the elaboration of these plans over the following five years, the Ottoman prince would also embrace the medallic medium. However, the form that this was to take uniquely differed in its purpose and function to the medals of his Italian contemporaries, which were being made in their multiples for third-party consumption. The inscriptions around Mehmed's portrait on the bronze relief largely concur with those recently used on the treaty signed with Venice, and on a casket commissioned on the death of his mother in 1449. The flan measures between 90 and 92 millimetres across, and has a reddish-brown patina whose surfaces are entirely free of tooling or subsequent alteration. While small traces of wax provide residual evidence of the original model, a carefully positioned suspension hole not only enables Mehmed's portrait to hang at a perpendicular, but avoids masking any of the characters in the 46-lettered inscription, which it divides with equal measure. The Ottoman prince wears an ermine-coloured robe, or kaftan, upon which are signs and symbols of uncertain, though possibly calligraphic form. While similar elements are also incorporated within his hair and finely detailed turban. The formalised portrait finds some parallels with Roman imperial portraiture, such as that of the 2nd century Emperor Commodus. The portrait's compelling realism and the manner of its modelling suggest it to have been sketched from the life, but it is uncertain whether this was by an artist invited from the west, or one native to the Ottoman court. The style of portrait and lettering most closely accord with the work of Pietro D'Amelano and Francesco Lorana, who were medallists and sculptors in the 1440s in Ragusa. They came to Naples around 1452, and may have formed an ad hoc team in Pisanello's workshop. But what they produced at this time is without signature. Although there is little stylistically to connect the relief with Pisanello, her signed medallic work ceases in the 1440s. It is possible that he played an advisory role in developing a design that had been drafted at the Ottoman court. While an artist is yet to be firmly ascribed to the relief, the pleasing sense of texture and the characterisation of the portrait confirm it to be modelled by a skilled hand and factured in an experienced workshop, able to deal with such niceties as finish and patination. This is believed to have occurred sometime in the late 1440s or early 1450s. Constantinople had been subject to numerous Muslim attempts over an 1100-year period. And in 1204 suffered sacking and occupation during the Christian Crusade. By the mid-15th century, it represented the dying embers of the Byzantine Empire. And its inhabitants had become steeped with prophetic doom. Under quite different circumstances, aspects of Ottoman life had also been embedded with the prophetic culture, which was being facilitated by a network of religious scholars and mystics. One such figure was the Arabic letterist, Abdo al-Rahman al-Bistami, who had a preoccupation with apocalyptic themes and is described as a cultivator and disseminator of such material. The annual calendars and astrological compendia completed in the first two years of Mehmed's accession in 1451 were a spectacular manifestation of this culture and provided guidance to the Ottoman House as to future occurrences and events. The taking of Constantinople had featured in sacred and secular Muslim legend over the centuries, being one of the feats to be accomplished by the Messianic conqueror, with one particular hardist stating that the first among my people who will conquer the city of the Caesar will have their sins forgiven. It is in this climate that this relief was conceived, on which a prognosticative illusion, taking the form of alpha omega, has been inserted within the folium design of Mehmed's woven cap. The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet represent a metaphor for the beginning and end, occurring in the book of Revelation and making appearances in Christian art. The model in inspiration for its placement of this relief may have been provided by the Syracuse decadrams of the 4th century BC, which is signed in much the same place by its artist Caimong. The Ottoman Turks were an apocalyptic people and the fall of Constantinople was believed to be a sign of the approaching end. A witness to the culmination of history and the emergence of the Ottoman House. Thus, with some ingenuity, a vision long held in the Muslim subconscious had now achieved physical representation, embedded within the portrait of Mehmed himself. This heroic embodiment recalls Ali Alexander the Great, Mehmed's enduring role model. The Ottoman prince now presenting himself as the rightful successor to the new role of Constantin the Great. The addition of the feather, or a gred, incongruously positioned behind the woven cap, resonates with Roger Crowley's recent description of the young Mehmed, as a gazi warrior leading jihad against the infidels. The artist engaged in the relief was amidst a culture influenced by occultists and mystics, and upon whom it had been observed, men rely to tell them the future. It finds remarkably close parallels with the Tudor Court of Queen Elizabeth I, a century later, where Dr John Dee, the alchemist and occult philosopher, practised his own trade in divination, straddling science and magic in a direct read across to the Ottoman court of Mehmed. D's biographer, Francis Yates, describes this dominant philosophy of the age penetrating profound spheres of knowledge with visionary plans and the casting of horoscopes and an attempt to bring about the apocalyptic unity of mankind. I lied to this prophetic culture and deeply inculcated in Islamic society as it was in other faiths and traditions, was a talisman or amulet, offering a subliminal power and protection, it manifested itself in any manner of type or form, as objects inscribed with astrological references, religious narratives, and inscriptions thought relevant would affect, as Heather Coffey has described it, corporeal propinquity. Miniature books and amuletic silver were deemed beneficial to their wearers. And Mehmed's grand vizier, Mehmed Passar, is said to have always worn a magic square talisman to protect himself. An undergarment worn during battle also offered protection, and the personalised inscription on an example belonging to Mehmed's son further illustrates the relevance of his astrological exactitude, recording as it does the exact times of its commencement and completion. As well as the position of the sun. Neatly pierced at the top and without need for a design on its reverse, the medallic form was no less suitable for such adaptation. The addition of a portrait, if a little unorthodox for a Muslim sitter, was clearly a novel and irresistible attraction to Mehmed. Visual evidence for the wearing of a talisman in the 15th century is rare, but coincidentally or not, one such illustration is provided by Giovanni di Bartoldo's Medal of Mehmed. A commission from Lorenzo de Medici to the Sultan, who in 1480 was planning an audacious attack on Otranto in southern Italy and the conquest of a new kingdom. Scholars have grappled in their interpretation of the object hanging from the sultan's neck, which has been variously referred to as a pendant, a crescent, a medallion with a crescent moon, a crescent pendant and regalia, while there can be no certainty as to precisely what this represents. The significance of the depiction is to confirm the sultan's propensity to wear an object of talismanic form and to do so in this manner. The talisman is believed to have contributed to the great Muslim victory at Badra in 624. Leading to the overnight transformation of Mohammed from a mecan outcast to a major leader, praise be unto him, its significance could scarcely have been lost on Mehmed, who was himself about to embark on an enterprise in which his Ottoman forebears had all failed and upon which observed the sultan's biographer Cretovolus, he had much elaborated. The capture of Constantinople presented many strategic difficulties for Mehmed and his military advisers. But solutions to these obstacles famously included the erection of a fortress on the Bosphorus Straits, the conveyance of gallies across land, the building of a pontoon bridge and the employment of a revolutionary siege cannon. Prior to the engagement of Ottoman force, believed to have been some 60,000 strong and outnumbering the besieged inhabitants by 10 to 1. Consultation with the court's astrologer in order to confirm military decisions took place. While during the 53-day siege itself, the mystic Sufi Aksem Semadin provided Mehmed with divine signs he had seen prophesying victory. The grandeur of Mehmed's entry into Constantinople on 29 May 1453, which is said to have been made on a white horse, defines the sense of empire that would envelop every aspect of Ottoman rule. The title of Imperator having now been adopted on all documents, referring to Mehmed 25 years later as Turkorum Imperator. Constantinople's medal embodies that culture as did all such medallic portraits. Reliable observations of Mehmed at the time of his youth are rare, but an early reference to his upraised head and just-grown youthful beard, described as being of reddish hue, resonates with the magnus prinkeps portrait. The leanness of his face, neck and upper body and perhaps most notably his posture clearly separate themselves from the later portraits. Marking as they do, the physical changes that Mehmed would start to undergo in his 30s, suffering from bestial corpulence, as well as inherited gout and general ill health. Constantinople's portrait of Mehmed believed to have been taken when he was in his mid-40s. Moved one scholar to suggest that it provides a sense of the ruler who ceased Constantinople for the Ottomans. As an exercising propaganda, it was a clear success. For the magnus prinkeps portrait, now demonstrates how very different the sultan actually looked at the time of conquest 25 years earlier. Another portrait believed to have been of Mehmed from the life seems to have been based on no more than a poor sketch or the imagination, made in the late 1460s or 1470s when a law for the Grand Turk was taking hold but knowledge of his appearance was scant. It veers uneasily between caricature and stereotype. The artist responsible for this engraving was similarly unfazed by the absence of a reliable image of the sultan. On this occasion, Pisanello's medallic profile of John VIII forms the basic model on which to build a suitably exotic image of the Grand Turk. Made for Mehmed's private use at the very beginning of his career and when little known beyond the Ottoman court, there is no reason for considering the magnus prinkeps portrait to be anything other than an entirely faithful and unpoliticised account of its sitter. With interest in Christian art, which included drawings and books, it is no surprise that the medallic form should have also caught Mehmed's fascination. In trust as he was by the portrait and the ability of artists to conjure up living beings driven by superstition and prophecies concerning his future as a world conqueror. This novel medium provided a personal vehicle through which could be invoked by the words of the prophet, praise be unto him. While as a talisman, its divine power would remain undiminished. It could be seen as a repost to Pisanello's medall of John VIII, with the Ottoman prince now staking his own claim on the millennium old empire of Constantine the Great and the New Rome. With previous Muslim attempts having all ended in failure, including those by Mehmed's father and grandfather, it is little wonder that the significance of its capture had embedded itself in Mehmed at such an early age, with elements of resolve and self-belief palpable in this personal manifesto. Pisanello's medall might well have been the catalyst for its facture, but other influences during Mehmed's adolescence at Manisa some six or seven years earlier are likely to have defined an interest in this art form that would endure and to which these early sketches betraying their Western influence have been associated. There was no indigenous Islamic model upon which a formalised portrait such as this could be based, but the extent to which it engages with Western classicism suggests the influence of a collaborator and one likely to have had knowledge of Roman and Greek coinage. The well-traveled merchant antiquary, Syriac Vancona, is a possible candidate, intimately familiar with the Eastern Mediterranean and passionately interested in its ancient past. He had been granted free passage throughout the Ottoman territory by Mehmed's father Murad in the mid-1440s. Syriac was zealous in his espousal of Rome and its administrative structure and the belief that its coinage and representation of classical figures provided an admirable model for contemporary society of every hue. The remarkable nature of this project and its unprecedented conjunction between East and West seemed to closely align with these interests and with someone whose additional credentials included those of diplomat and spy. With no protocol governing the direction of Mehmed's portrait, one wonders why they all face left. Might it simply reflect a personal preference rigidly adhered to over a 30-year period? Or might this apparent intransigence be more easily explained by territorial ambition? Mehmed, having famously pronounced that while Alexander had marched his armies east, he would reverse that tide of history and march those of Islam West. The surviving iconography is impressive for its period and would indeed be even richer, had yet another attempt by Mehmed to secure a medal of himself in the early 1460s being successful. Having commissioned the services of Mattia de Pasti for this purpose, the artist was all-rubed to Istanbul and is sitting from Mehmed. But fate was to intervene with his arrest by the Venetians, believing him to be a spy. Although the intended medal did not come to fruition, the episode is nonetheless significant in pointing to this continuum of Mehmed's interests and illustrating the degree to which his appreciation of the portrait image was already known beyond his own court, having been thus complemented by de Pasti's patron, Sigismundor Malatesta. It further suggests that many drawings and sketches of Mehmed are likely to have been taken over the course of his lifetime, but whose absence might be explained simply by ephemeral fragility. Amidst the business of empire building, Mehmed had the time and inclination to indulge more aesthetic pleasures, and this entransement with the portrait reveals a humanist streak absent from many of his European contemporaries, let alone Muslim successes to the Ottoman throne. Little wonder that his iconoclast son Bayezid believed his father's liberalism towards the arts amounted to no more than godlessness. The sense of independence accords with the self-confidence recently ascribed to Mehmed by Cornel Fleisha, with regard to the commissioning of the astrological compendia at much the same time as the bronze relief. Both genres represent internal Ottoman sources from an extremely early period of his life, to which he would return on subsequent occasions. The ease with which Mehmed embraced multiculturalism is further conveyed, though on a somewhat grander scale, by the many architects, designers and craftsmen from both the east and west, employed in the reconstruction of Istanbul soon after the conquest, incorporating, as they did, Ottoman, Roman and Byzantine elements, as well as those of the Italian Renaissance. Mehmed's interest in the Christian world is set to have extended no further than his desire for its conquest. But though his establishment of an independent state and the means by which it was achieved find uncomfortable parallels with events around us today, they are in fact little different to what was similarly occurring in Christian Europe at that time. The sanctuary that Mehmed provided for persecuted minorities, such as Greeks and Jews, and his interest in cultural heritage suggests the appreciation of how centuries-old tradition might usefully contribute towards the empire that he was in the course of building, an emancipated view perhaps informed by parents with culturally different backgrounds. The belief by Murad II that his 12-year-old son had been ready to take the reins of power in 1444 had never been premature. But following successive failures by both his father and grandfather, Mehmed's meticulously laid plans for the taking of Constantinople had now reached maturity, as had the point at which he would sit for this remarkable portrait. Coming to fruition against seemingly impossible odds and surviving by dint of its fabric, the bronze relief shines an astonishing light upon its sitter and the prevailing culture at his court in the mid-15th century, governed as this was by the fortunes of the Ottoman people and the cataclysm about to engulf those of central Europe. Thank you.


Take on a simple identity. Take on the responsibility for your actions by discerning between the impulse that comes from the truth and the demandings and clamorings of the ego. Dishon, go with the truth. What happens after a while of this sadhana is that the eye falls away, actually. But there is no identification with the Supreme Soul. So there is complete responsibility without an experience of eye.


The aim is to identify potential risk factors for external apical resorption, K.R.R., of maxillary incisors. This article was authored by Rikshan Bahid, Natigian Nazanin, and Ordo Vizari Mortiza.