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A good evening to all.

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The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014 [br]was awarded to three scientists.[br].

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Three researchers from Japan,

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for their fundamental role in[br]developing new light sources:

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the blue light emitting diodes[br]called LEDs.

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These light sources are effective[br]and environmentally-friendly.

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And then these light sources will be,

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as I put it here,[br]the lights of the 21st century.

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LED lights will be the lighting[br]of the 21st century,

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like Edison's lamp[br]was the lighting of the 20th century.

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This is a technological breakthrough.

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A technological breakthrough[br]that is based on a theory,

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the quantum theory.

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In fact, this quantum theory[br]was born in the early 20th century

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and led to a number of important[br]and fundamental applications:

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the transistor, which is[br]the basis of electronics;

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but also an object that was very[br]mysterious at first: the laser,

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which has become a valuable tool[br]for doctors in surgery

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but that is more commonly found[br]at every cash deck

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for reading bar codes.

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So initially, however,[br]quantum theory was not accepted.

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It was not accepted because[br]it was questioning

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our vision of physics.

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In fact, it was a breakthrough.

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Breaks are rarely accepted easily.

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At the same time,[br]in the early 20th century

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there was a break in art.

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Yes, abstract painting.

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Abstract painting also changed

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the vision we had of the world,[br]of representation.

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So, what did quantum physics[br]actually bring?

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What did it proposed?

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It proposed new objects.

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Neither particle nor wave,

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"totally crazy things",

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to quote the great physicist[br]Richard Feynman.

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It proposed another vision[br]of the microscopic world.

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It proposed to enter[br]a Terra Incognita

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which physicists occupied pretty soon.

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And in fact, this evolution of science[br]was possible only because

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science freed itself from dogma.

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Science has gained its independence.

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This long history of science

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is the history of intelligence[br]against obscurantism,

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of critical minds against dogmatism.

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This is the story of reason and doubt[br]against certainty.

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It's a long and beautiful story.

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We should tell it to our children,

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explain the perseverance of scholars,

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explain that scientists had to fight

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against those who did not accept[br]the ideas they were bringing

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because it was thought[br]these ideas would disturb beliefs.

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And, yes, scientists have had to fight[br]against a concept of knowledge

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locked inside a single idea[br]of what the truth was.

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Whereas, on the contrary it is necessary[br]to promote a knowledge

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open to the world, to civilizations.

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This is what Kheireddine,[br]whom you see here,

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who was Prime Minister of Tunisia[br]in the second half of the 19th century,

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wanted to introduce in[br]a new education system

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which was fundamental[br]for the evolution of Tunisia,

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this teaching called[br]the Sadikian education.

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What did Kheireddine want to do?

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Kheireddine wanted Tunisia[br]to catch up in science

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because for centuries,[br]Tunisia had forgotten science,

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like other Arab-Muslim countries.

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Yes, the Arab-Muslim world forgot[br]the science of its ancestors.

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Let me tell you the last episode [br]of Arabic astronomy.

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In Istanbul, in 1577,[br]an observatory was built.

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Beautiful... with the most efficient [br]instruments of the time,

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like this other observatory that[br]was designed in... "the North"

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by the great Danish physicist Tycho Brahe,

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(at the time, the term would have been[br]astronomer, not physicist).

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And this observatory was installed[br]in the Palace of Uraniborg.

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The two observatories,[br]in Istanbul and in this northern country,

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had completely opposite fates

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after the appearance of [br]a comet in the northern sky.

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For Brahe, it was fundamental observations

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which subsequently led [br]to the extraordinary development

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of astronomy in the European world.

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I think everyone knows about it.

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But in Istanbul, unfortunately,

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that was the end of a beautiful[br]scientific adventure.

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Why? Because in fact, this comet[br]had been interpreted differently.

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In Istanbul, on the orders of the Sultan,[br]the observatory was destroyed in 1580

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because the Sultan had not[br]accepted the astronomer's omen.

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So today, we know more about comets,

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you know more now...

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we even make appointments[br]from Earth!

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Science is also at the heart [br]of economic development.

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Europe was built, [br]was economically developed

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thanks to scientific development.

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And Kheireddine, whom I mentioned earlier,[br]understood this.

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Kheireddine who said we had to take[br]science wherever it comes from.

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Yes, we had to take science [br]wherever it comes from

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and our children had to[br]discover it early.

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We had to educate our children[br]in this double culture.

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Give them a traditional instruction, [br]of course,

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- at the time, in the 19th century,[br]it was hard to say otherwise -

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but also give them [br]the teaching of modern science,

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of foreign languages.

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Yes, it is thanks to this double[br]culture that modernity came into Tunisia.

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Yes, this modernity that is in me,[br]that I carry with me, that I am proud of.

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My parents taught me this modernity, [br]they instilled it in me.

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My grandfather, [br]a French and Arabic teacher.

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My father, a pharmacist-biologist.[br]Look at this picture.

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This photo -[br]my father is one of those pupils.

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These pupils of[br]the French-Arab school of Sfax.

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It was the school year 1921-1922.

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All dressed in jebba,[br]except the teacher,

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and all loving the[br]values of equality and freedom:

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the values of the French Revolution.

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All for opening up to other cultures.

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Yes, openness to other cultures...

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This is what allows to know the other,

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what allows to respect the other,

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what allows sharing.

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This must be at the heart [br]of the education system.

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Yes, a teacher's mission is a rich one.

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They are passers of knowledge.[br]They are passers of cultures.

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They are also passers of values.

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Values to share everywhere on the planet,

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I mentionned equality:[br]equality for all.

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Equality for women and men.

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Yes, equality for women and men.

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So as a Tunisian woman,[br]I want to say

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that being from a country[br]of Muslim culture,

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I believe that women in Islamic countries

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do not have to undergo[br]an inferior status. I do.

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Already, this principle of equality [br]between men and women,

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was stated by Tahar Haddad,[br]a Tunisian theologian, in 1930

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and his famous work "Our woman,[br]Islamic law and society "

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was translated into French -[br]you see here the book cover.

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And at the end of the book, [br]a figure which may surprise you.

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We don't have time to comment on that[br]but I'm going to read the small caption:

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"Our woman, between a faded past [br]and a promising present."

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Let's talk about the present.

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We are worried. We are.

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We are concerned by the violence,[br]by the acts of barbarism in the region.

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Yes, we are worried.[br]March 18, Tunisia, my country,

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the Bardo Museum was attacked,[br]there were victims.

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I pay tribute to them,[br]but the Bardo Museum

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is the museum of[br]the Mediterranean.

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This is the museum where all the[br]Tunisian history is present.

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Tunisia was Berber, Punic,[br]Roman, Byzantine, Vandal

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then Muslim and Arab.

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So what can we do?[br]How to deal with this violence?

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Yes, we must protect our children.

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We must protect our children [br]from those who invite

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to camp in "the field of the curse

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to maintain the henchmen of the Demon[br]and the sequence of destructive hatred".

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This is a quote from [br]a great Tunisian thinker

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Abdelwahab Meddeb, who died recently.[br]I pay tribute to him

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Yes, this violence...[br]how to react to this violence?

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Well all together, each of us [br]in our own way. Each of us where we are.

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So as a teacher and a scientist,

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I would like to mention very quickly[br]two examples.

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One is the story of my colleague,[br]Aroua Saida, a biologist and didactician,

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who understood that, in fact, students,

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our students in their final year,[br]studying the theory of evolution

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had a... shall we say[br]composite understanding

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of the diversity of life.

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They muddled up the scientific [br]and theological references.

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And she worked with them.[br]And the students understood.

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They understood you had to step[br]into the researcher's shoes

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That you had to accept the keys [br]to science, to knowledge,

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to accept questioning [br]and critical thinking.

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The second example concerns[br]the scientific community.

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The scientific community [br]must fight against obscurantists,

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who unfortunately,[br]are currently investing the Web.

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Yes, the scientific community

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that of Academies of Sciences

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made a declaration.

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It gathered the Academies of Sciences [br]of 68 countries

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Europe, Latin America,[br]USA, Africa, Asia,

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and among these countries[br]Arab Muslim countries:

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The Islamic Republic of Iran, [br]the Kingdom of Morocco

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Turkey, Palestine...

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perhaps I forgot some of them[br]but anyway...

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What did this declatation say?

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It shows that it is important[br]to teach the theory of evolution

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that is so attacked on social networks,[br]on the Internet

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and that teaching this theory

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which is actually accepted [br]by the scientific community,

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will bring students important knowledge

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since the theory of evolution is one[br]of the great advances of knowledge.

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And this declaration called[br]teachers, policy makers,

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parents to educate their children[br]so they can understand science.

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But it also reminds of[br]something interesting:

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that number of questions

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cannot be explained by science.

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Then we should take other approaches:

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philosophical, social, cultural, religious.

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These approaches have [br]different fields of action.

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They have different fields of action [br]and owe each other mutual respect.

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So this declaration is a wonderful call.

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A wonderful call from[br]a scientific community,

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of different culture,[br]diverse culture.

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But a call for young people to[br]understand what science is.

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For young people to understand[br]that science is universal.

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And I would add, because that is [br]what is implied in that declaration,

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human rights too,[br]are universal.

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And it is this universality[br]I'm fighting for.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)