RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS MARCH ON MOSCOW DEMANDING BETTER SCIENCE
It may be the first recorded instance of an organized protest march by scientists for scientists. In an effort to sway their government to take serious action toward improving the state of Russian science, approximately 150 scientists and researchers are assembling at a research facility 60 miles outside Moscow, there to begin a three-day trek, on foot, to the capital. There they plan to hold a rally urging the government to do something to reverse the crisis.
The complaints of Russian scientists are simple and straightforward. Living and working conditions there are appalling compared to what is offered to most qualified Russian scientists seeking work in western nations. The average salary for a scientist in Russia is $100, this for a researcher who could easily earn thousands in the US, Britain, or Japan, to name just a few countries. This fact has caused the biggest brain-drain ever seen. Since the Soviet Union�s collapse, fully half a million scientists have left Russia for lucrative jobs elsewhere. For example, it is estimated that over a quarter of Microsoft�s software was programmed by Russian-speaking coders. And it is feared that former Russian scientists have been paid well to help Iraq and others develop weapons of mass destruction.
Short of a major cash infusion to all of the nation�s research institutions, as well as somehow raising a scientist�s standard of living to one well above that of the average Russian citizen, little seems possible to remedy the situation in the short term. It was once the envy of the world and easily on par with American science. Now, Russian research has fallen so far behind that it is reckoned the total amount spent on science all over the nation is less than the budget for a small American university.
current science news posted by ted at 6/24/2002 06:17:00 PM
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