“We view with concern the elimination of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the
dismissal of administrative employees from Conicet
and other institutes throughout the country, and the early termination of many contracts next month.
“We fear that Argentina is abandoning its scientists, students and future leaders of science.”
With these words,
68 Nobel Prize winners
expressed, in a harsh letter addressed to President Javier Milei, their concern about the situation of defunding that the Argentine scientific system is experiencing.
The letter, which is specifically addressed to “Mr.
President of the Argentine Republic, Javier Milei;
to Mr. Head of the Cabinet of Ministers, Nicolás Posse;
to the President of Conicet, Dr. Daniel Salamone;
and to the Honorable Senators and Deputies of the Congress of the Argentine Nation”, has the signature of
several of the main world leaders of
current science in the fields of Medicine, Chemistry, Physics and Economics.
There they warn that they have been observing “how the Argentine science and technology system is approaching a dangerous precipice.”
“We are concerned that the dramatic devaluation of the budgets of Conicet and the National Universities reflects not only a dramatic devaluation of Argentine science but also a devaluation of the Argentine people and the future of Argentina,” the text states.
Part of that idea can be read at the end of the letter, which is almost two pages long and, although it is in English, it also circulated in a version translated into Spanish among the directors of the institutes that Conicet has throughout the country.
In that passage, it is explained that "economic and social progress in modern societies and the creation of wealth from a country's natural resources are closely linked to strong public investment in science and technology."
"For these reasons (they continue), we respectfully urge you to restore budgets subject to restrictions recently imposed on your country's very important scientific and technological sector."
And, emphatically, they warn: “Freezing research programs and reducing the number of doctoral students and young researchers will cause the destruction of a system that took many years to build, and that would require many, many more to be rebuilt.”
News in development
P.S.