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News from ICTP 89 - Dateline
He has been called "the Isaac Newton of our time" for his genius in turning what others present as complex phenomena into simple truths. Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Nobel Laureate in Physics (1991), lectured this June at the Adriatico Research Conference on 'Wetting.' The conference examined such topics as interactions and phase transitions between liquids and solids, a field with important technological implications in materials science and biophysics.
De Gennes, who received the Nobel Prize for his theories on polymers and liquid crystals that have become commonplace features in digital watches and visual display screens, is considered one of France's-indeed one of Europe's-most influential scientists. Currently, a professor of physics at the College de France and director of the Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles, both in Paris, his theoretical work on ferromagnetism and superconductivity has led some observers to call him the prophet of soft matter.
In a recent interview with the editors of News from ICTP, de Gennes cited his admiration for Benjamin Franklin, the 18th century American scientist, inventor and statesman. "He was a man with enormous common sense," explains de Gennes. "Although less well known than his kite flying escapade, not the least of his accomplishments was a remarkable experiment in which he poured a spoon of oil on the surface of a pond."
By measuring the droplet, Franklin was able to extrapolate the volume of oil that would be required to coat the lake with a layer of this substance. "This experiment," de Gennes asserts, "represented the first rational measurement of the size of a molecule."
"Ancient Greeks believed that matter couldn't be divided eternally, but their notion was derived solely from logic." Through simple, yet insightful, experiments, de Gennes notes, "Franklin helped transform philosophy into science."
In fact, de Gennes considers the 'oil-on-the-pond experiment' a landmark in science that still carries valuable lessons for students, researchers, and engineers today. "Before asking for more money for expensive equipment," de Gennes says, researchers should pass 'the Franklin test' and "be sure that there isn't a simpler method for obtaining the same results."
"It cannot be emphasised enough how vitally important it is to involve scientists from developing countries in global climate change research, and to provide the means for them to contribute meaningfully to this research."
G.O.P. Obasi from Nigeria, who recently was elected to a fifth term as secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), made those remarks at the opening ceremony of ICTP's Global Change Conference held on 7 June in the Centre's Main Lecture Hall.
Obasi went on to note that "the formulation and implementation of many global environmental and climate-related activities have been dominated by scientists from the developed world."
Such tendencies, Obasi observed, should not be surprising. The developing world, confronted with so many immediate challenges, has been hard pressed to invest money in basic science, including climate research. Yet, he maintained such geographical imbalances in scientific research not only "impede the advancement of science, but mean that global programmes may not adequately address regional needs and are not fully implemented."
For all these reasons, Obasi congratulated the ICTP for launching a Physics of Weather and Climate Group.
This new group, he noted, "is a very exciting development that will offer new opportunities for research and educational activities. In particular, it will provide scientists from the Third World with an excellent foundation for exploring pressing environmental and climate change issues."
The Global Change Conference, attended by some 170 researchers, marked the first large event hosted by the ICTP Physics of Weather and Climate Group. The two-day opening conference was followed by three weeks of lectures and workshops devoted to the detection, modelling and theories related to regional climate change. Opening-day presentations were also made by Robert Watson, director of the Environment Department at the World Bank, Klaus Hasselmann, director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, and Jagadish Shukla, director of the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies.
Bangalore, India. "Nehru, India's first prime minister, called for the creation of a modern society nurtured by science," notes T.V. Ramakrishnan, ICTP Scientific Council member. "That sentiment has persisted throughout India's post-independence era regardless of the government in power."
"For example, over the past half century, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, where I work, has been increasingly well supported. My institute recently created a Centre for Condensed Matter Theory. Researchers there work closely with the Institute's Department of Physics and the nearby Raman Research Institute. We also collaborate with the Institute's Departments of Chemistry and Materials Science."
As Ramakrishnan notes, "The strength of India's research efforts reside largely in institutions supported by government agencies and ministries like the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Atomic Energy, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and Indian Council for Agricultural Research. The university system, woefully underfunded for two generations, remains the weak link in India's intricate chain of scientific research. This, with the declining attraction of a career in science among the young, are two worrisome concerns."
Another issue relates to India's historic inability--with few exceptions--to connect its scientific research initiatives to effective economic development strategies. "The gap between scientific knowledge and social and economic progress," Ramakrishnan says, "is largely due to the economic model that shaped India's development initiatives during the first three decades of independence." The model, based on centralised planning and state-controlled enterprises, effectively decoupled scientific research from product development.
Ramakrishnan contends that India is currently addressing shortcomings in its scientific research agenda by requiring CSIR institutes, particularly those involved in applied research, to generate more revenue from sources other than the government. The National Chemical Laboratory now derives nearly a third of its income through licensing fees and royalty agreements. Meanwhile, research centres and laboratories involved in basic research will continue to be supported almost exclusively by the government.
Despite the progress that has been made, Ramakrishnan acknowledges that high technology is not the answer to all of India's problems. "People in India's remote villages often do not have access to safe drinking water and students continue to be taught in one-room school houses."
"Many such problems," Ramakrishnan says, "are driven by social and political forces that reside beyond the reach of science. India must devise effective strategies for addressing these issues if it hopes to spread the benefits of science and technology more equitably throughout the nation."
Moscow, Russia. "In the former Soviet Union, science was everything," says A.F. Andreev, a member of the ICTP Scientific Council for the past 4 years. Andreev currently serves as director of the P.L. Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems in Moscow, Russia.
"Soviet officials claimed that the nation's prevailing ideology was based on scientific principles and that the Soviet Union's industrial progress was driven largely by its scientists, engineers and technicians."
"You can imagine how the people reacted towards science--and scientists--when communism collapsed," Andreev notes. "In some sense, they felt as if science had failed them."
As a result, Soviet scientists lost their lofty standing in society and funding for science plummeted. In fact, Andreev calculates that the overall budget for science "fell by a factor of 10 to 15 over the last decade."
Despite the severe obstacles that have brought Soviet science to a virtual standstill, Andreev cites several positive factors that have emerged from what may be the most dismal period in the long history of Russian science.
"Our scientists now travel more," he observes. "We do it to earn hard currency to supplement our paltry salaries at home. Continual interaction with colleagues from other nations--for example, I spent the month of April at Helsinki University of Technology in Helsinki, Finland--has helped to energise our research agendas."
Due to the crisis, the Russian government has been forced to open other potential sources of revenue for both scientists and scientific institutions. The primary reason has been to create emergency funds for survival. Yet, these decisions have had the added benefit of making Russian science more accountable and efficient.
Andreev hopes that the scientific crisis in the former Soviet Union has reached its lowest point and that research throughout Russia will soon be on the upswing. "Both our government and people now recognise that we must invest in science and technology if we are to achieve economic and social progress in the future."
"This summer, for example, the Russian (formerly the Soviet) Academy of Sciences celebrated its 275th anniversary, and the Kremlin organised a large celebration to honour the contributions that science has made to the nation's well being."
"The key to the future of Russian science," Andreev concludes, "lies in my nation's ability to solve its financial and political problems. Only then will the funding and management be in place to ensure that first-class scientific research can be pursued."
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