A scientist looks for the
secrets of life. He cannot escape the fact that survival of mankind in
itself is one of the greatest and noblest of the goals. Physics in the
post-war world has ushered in a new era and given mankind unlimited
power for development and destruction. The Physicists cannot isolate
themselves from the consequences of this development for the world and
for the communities to which they belong. The very fact that they are
responsible for fundamentally altering the course of events and human
history saddles them with the moral responsibility to see that it is
used for the betterment and survival of mankind. Sometimes, it is
questioned whether science has brought any happiness to mankind by the
worst of all discoveries which have been made. The scientists must
re-assure the people.
During the Third College, Professor M.
J. Moravscik gave two inspiring lectures on the role of science for
development which would be of interest to all of us working in the
developing countries in the formulation of science policy matters. It
was emphasized that planning in the formulation of the science policy
should take the least effort. It is in fact the right decision and
effective implementation that should need the maximum stress and
efforts. He emphasised that it is important to make a distinction
between science and technology since the expectations from them and
their end products are different. Hence their evaluations are also
different. He also emphasised that modern technology is based on science
in contrast to old technology which had very little to do with science.
Moreover the time between a scientific discovery and its application in
technology is getting shorter. It has important implications in the
training of engineers and technologists since scientific knowledge
doubles itself in ten years. He also emphasised the importance of
scientific method and the attitude of problem solving and the optimism
that a problem has a solution. According to him the problems of science
and technology could be brought into three categories:
-
Science is the basis of
technology
-
Science is a human aspiration
-
Science has influence on the
man's view of the world
