DocM Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Best to follow the link as the article is long, and very sad. Washington Post.... In Russia, the lost generation of sciencePUSHCHINO, Russia ? For the past decade, Russia has been pouring money into scientific research, trying to make up for the collapse of the 1990s, but innovation is losing out to exhaustion, corruption and cronyism. In a rut and out of favor, the labs are barely wheezing here at Pushchino, once one of the brimming engines of Soviet science, a special closed city devoted to prestigious biological research. The government has turned its focus to newer ventures. But the result has been like a great deal else in this country: expensive, flashy and largely hollow. Shot through with back-scratching and favoritism, the government?s science program has tripled its spending in the past 10 years ? and achieved very little. The number of papers published in scientific journals is the same as it was in 2000 and as it was in 1990, even while the rest of the world?s output has exploded. The impact could extend even to the United States, which depends on Russian rockets, troubled by engineering failures, to carry astronauts to the international space station. Twenty years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, a generation of scientists has been lost, young scientists say, and another is on the way out. Many are lining up to escape abroad, just as in the dark, poverty-stricken 1990s. > > Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mirumir Subscriber¹ Posted December 27, 2011 Subscriber¹ Share Posted December 27, 2011 A one-sided article on the state of science in Russia which exaggerates all the bad things and doesn't mention a single positive thing and neither Rusnano (a major state research corporation) or Skolkovo (a multi-billion research cite which is being constructed). Instead, they talk about an abandoned Soviet research city, Pushchkino. But hey, its Washington Post. You can't honestly expect them to write anything positive on Russia anyway. Muhammad Farrukh 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Better open your eyes because numerous Russian scientists, members of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the director of the Russian Space Agency are saying the same thing - in fact the RSA director specifically used the term "crisis." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mirumir Subscriber¹ Posted December 27, 2011 Subscriber¹ Share Posted December 27, 2011 And you'd better open your eyes to your debt problem or the manufacturing you've moved to China. 10-30% of the Russian scientists emigrated in twenty years, so what? There's a new generation of scientists coming who have been born in post-Soviet Russia and who are free from the dogma of that time. They have everything they need to succeed. And the scientific community is much more aware of its problems than a foreign journalist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Our issues matter not as regards the issue in question so quit deflecting. The problem is that Russia lost much of their middle aged scientists and engineers - the age at which they're most productive and run projects. Younger scientists and engineers are what we call book smart - mostly raw talent without real world hands-on experience. And that's not my opinion - it's Vladimir Popovkin's.. He and others over there call it a manifestation of Russia's growing demographic problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mirumir Subscriber¹ Posted December 27, 2011 Subscriber¹ Share Posted December 27, 2011 A country fell apart. Yes, Russia has suffered a major setback and science is just one of many. There have been more tragic things. Nevertheless, the country is getting back on its track, but you'd never read about these good things in WP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starbearer Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 There has indeed been a significant decline in Russia Sciences. I'm from India, and since the 70s, the two countries have had a long association in the field of scientific research. There used to be joint conferences, papers, publications, seminars and so forth. Hardly anyone talks about Russia and participation in Russia sicence forums in India now. Thus, perception about the excellence of Russian sceinces has declined. Even in medical, where Indians used to go earlier, most avoid it nowadays. Some of it can be attributed to the more global reach of India compared with the 70s-80s, but clearly, something has fallen off. The post-Soviet economic decline certainly had a big part to play in this. Funds were everely depleted and you require quite a lot of that for research. In a country facing upheavel, not that many would have wanted to become scientists on a paltry salary and an uncertain research scenario( sort of what we have in India today). Very rarely now, does one hear of a Russian scientist who has been commended by his peers. The last major was probably Perelman, a mathematician who was awarded the Clay Millenium prize. I wish Russia would excel in the sciences once more. The same nation which has given mankind its first space flight, and so many others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Isn't it a benefit to other countries for Russia to fall behind ... ? :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Not necessarily - they've contributed a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anibal P Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Isn't it a benefit to other countries for Russia to fall behind ... ? :laugh: Considering that we absolutely NEED them to get people up to the ISS, I would say no, who else has the capability to send people to space at the moment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArialBlue Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Russia's population is in decline as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qdave Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Isn't it a benefit to other countries for Russia to fall behind ... ? :laugh: No, scientific research should not have borders. It shouldnt matter who made something, if its of benefit to everyone. As for science program...there should really be some grand reforms! Its the only way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Russia's population is in decline as well.. That's a big part of the problem they have with space and Science in general - not enough young people to replace those experienced folks leaving the fields - or country. Can't depend on youngsters to catch the slack if their numbers are sinking. There's even UN studies they won't have enough young troops to secure their territory & borders. Read a Russian article the other day where various mitigation strategies were discussed; eliminating abortion and birth control subsidies, giving a subsidy for each child, etc. Other E. European countries with a similar problem are going further - outlawing abortion etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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