For freedom and research

In early March 2025, the two Nobel Prize winners Ferenc Krausz (Nobel Prize in Physics 2023), Director at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, and Serge Haroche (Nobel Prize in Physics 2012) returned from an emotional and impactful visit to Ukraine. Their journey was part of Krausz’s ongoing commitment to support a country devastated by Russia’s war of aggression. In protest against the invasion, the Hungarian-born scientist resigned from the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2022, founded the aid organisation Science4People, and donated a portion of his Nobel Prize winnings to its mission.

During their time in Kyiv and Kharkiv, Haroche and Krausz visited universities and research institutes, even delivering scientific lectures from underground bunkers. A documentary film captures powerful scenes from their trip, including the moment they presented an open letter — signed by 131 Nobel Laureates — to the Center for Civil Liberties, in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

The letter urges the release of approximately €200 billion in frozen Russian assets held in European banks to help fund Ukraine’s reconstruction and compensate victims of the war. “Countless lives have been lost in the defense of freedom, and nothing can undo that,” Krausz and Haroche wrote on https://peace4europa.org: “What can — and must — be done is to rebuild Ukraine, and to give the country and future generations a vision beyond a just peace.” The full film is also available on the peace4europa website.