Nmero de Proyectos ejecutados por reas con financiamiento OIEA

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Landmarks in the modern history of scientific and
technological knowledge
Modesto Montoya Instituto Peruano de Energía
Nuclear
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Introduction

• All through the 20th Century many natural
  phenomena were discovered whose applications
  proved crucial for the determination of the
  countries roles in a world context.
• The advance of science and technology in some
  countries has been possible thanks to decisions
  that had been timely made by governments that
  understood its importance for the integral
  development of nations .
• Well review some historical facts that exemplify
  the role of science and technology in the history
  of mankind.

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Manhattan Megaproject

• World War II was in full heat when Einstein
  informed the President of the United States about
  the risk involved in Germanys building of an
  atomic bomb, based on the discovery of nuclear
  fission, in Berlin by the end of 1938.
• That was how the Manhattan Project was born, a
  megaproject aimed at the building of the atom
  bomb.

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Space project

• In 1945, when the war was over, the USA hired
  Werner von Braun and his collaborators so they
  could continue their rocket science work
  developed in Germany.
• Thats how the space race got started, which
  eventually got man into walking on the Moon.

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Brain drain

• Nowadays, more than a 50 of young scientific
  researchers living in the USA are from foreign
  countries.
• Many developed countries with a strategic vision,
  offer Masters and Doctors degree scholarships,
  and choose the most productive scientists who
  cant or wont return to their own countries.

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Scientific Competitiveness

• In 1945, Dr. Vannevar Bush presents his report
  "Science the endless border" to President
  Roosevelt, and in 1950, President Truman founds
  the National Science Foundation (NSF).
• Faced with the Soviet Unions project Sputnik,
  the United States created NASA in 1958, in this
  way consolidating the States role in the
  development of science and technology.

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Publish or sell

• Competitiveness is achieved with constant
  research and the publication of results.
• Some researchers sacrifice fame and recognition
  for larger financial incomes, so they dont
  publish their findings before patenting them.

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Free trade agreements

• The USA defends the results of its ST efforts
  with patents and intellectual property.
• To that end, the USA promotes the Free Trade
  Agreement (FTA).
• Countries that sign up the agreement should
  invest in ST otherwise, it will only experience
  disadvantages.

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Competitiveness in space

• Space travels bear an international,
  multidisciplinary feature, in which the State,
  the enterprise and the university take part.
• The collapsed space shuttle Columbia had a number
  of scientific experiments, but was also
  associated with enterprises that sought new
  products.

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An opportunity for developing countries

• India is betting on high technology centered on
  biotechnology, space technology, nuclear
  technologies and information technologies.
• Biotechnologies and information technologies
  dont require a vast amount of resources, but of
  knowledge.

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International cooperation

• The Commissariat à lEnergy Atomique (CEA) in
  France, in 2005, managed to have all participant
  countries in the ITER project decide to build the
  fusion reactor.
• It marks a new era of scientific development, an
  era of cooperation in world-interest megaprojects.

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Conclusions

• Some small countries invest in scientific and
  technological research, with an emphasis on
  technological innovation, which eventually will
  allow to recover the investment in order to keep
  on progressing.
• Other countries insist on wagering on raw
  materials, dooming themselves to long-term
  poverty a situation that might be over several
  decades after they decide to bet for knowledge.

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Closure

• Thank you for your attention
• www.modestomontoya.org