The Prime Minister of Luxembourg visited our lab this morning. This was our lab’s very first visit by a head of state.
Prime Minister Xavier Bettel is a wonderfully charming man, very gracious, friendly and approachable. He is also extremely interested in technology.
We asked him if he wanted to try our shared Future Reality experience. It was fun to see him jump right in, and order the three ministers in attendance to go in with him.
The four of then proceeded to spend a very happy twenty minutes or so together, drawing in the air and running around the 3D sculptures they were making like little kids. I’m not sure what they were saying when they were together in Future Reality, because they quickly slipped into Luxembourgish, but they were clearly having a good time.
One of my NYU colleagues told the Prime Minister that I had won an Academy Award. I sheepishly deflected the congratulations. “My mom,” I said, “is very proud of that.”
He replied that his mom would be jealous of my mom, because my mom has a son with an Academy Award. I then responded that I’m pretty sure my mom would be jealous of his mom, because his mom has a son who is a Prime Minister.
We may have both been right.