Publisher's Synopsis
In this book, leading figures in the international research and development communities provide various perspectives on the status of the basic sciences ? mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology? in the Third World. Particular attention is given to policies guiding support to development-oriented research and higher education in these fields. Most donors have allocated a negligible share of funding to the basic sciences, preferring instead to channel research support primarily to agriculture, health, and other applied sciences that seem directly relevant to development. Governments of many recipient countries have adopted similar funding priorities. Under these policies, both education and research in the basic sciences have seriously declined in parts of the developing world. Concern is growing about this deterioration and its consequences, including, ironically, the continued weakness of national capabilities in the applied sciences.
