Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Poor basic science blamed for Korea's failure to produce Nobel Laureate
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By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
Korea has failed to produce a single Nobel Laureate in science, while Japan had its 23rd named Monday when Kyoto University professor Tasuku Honjo was named as the co-winner of this year's award in medicine.
Experts say Korea has had a short-sighted policy in nurturing basic science scholars, urging the government to build a sound ecosystem to cultivate more talented scientists.
“Under the idea of enhancing national prosperity, Korea has put its focus on the applied science and information technology sectors rather than investing in basic science. We should remember that investing more in basic science is essential,” said Lee Beom-hoon, physics professor at Sogang University.
There had been expectations that Korea could cultivate its first Nobel Prize winner as the state-run National Foundation of Korea recently announced a list of six scientists who may have had the potential to win the prestigious award this year.
However, no Korean nationals were featured in the list of possible Nobel Prize winners announced by academic research group Clarivate Analytics. With Honjo winning the Nobel Prize, Japan has produced 26 Nobel laureates while former President Kim Dae-jung, a 2000 Nobel Peace Prize winner, remains the only Korean national to win the prestigious prize.
“Nurturing talented scientists is different from cultivating Olympic medalists. Those who won the Nobel prizes in science are not an output of raising elite individuals such as we have witnessed in sport events,” said Lee, who was recently appointed president of the Korean Physics Society.
Stating that it took about 80 years after the 1868 Meiji Restoration for Japan to produce its first Nobel Laureate, Hideki Yukawa, who won the award in physics in 1949, Lee said Korea needs more time to have such a result.
“Since the Meiji Restoration, Japan began studying Western technologies and it took about 80 years to receive its first Nobel Laureate. Applying this to our case, Korean scientists began actively studying in Western countries starting in the late 1960s so we still need more time to have such a result,” Lee said.
“I understand many people want to see the first Korean scientist to win the award; and as a person in the academic field, I have seen many talented scientists who are full of devotion to their studies. I believe Korea could have a Nobel Laureate in due time.”
The government has been increasingly working to enhance the country's basic science sector. The government established the Institute for Basic Science in 2011 and has invested about 1.4 trillion won ($1.25 billion) in the field.
However, another scientist called for improvements in the research environment for local scientists.
“Though the government has been allocating more money to support local scientists in basic science, many of those scientists became obsessed with producing visible results to prove what they have done with the government grant,” said Lee Beom-hee, a professor at the School of Electrical Engineering at Seoul National University.
“Otherwise, they may have difficulties in receiving government funding. That consequently makes those scientists focus more on publishing papers in academic journals. On the other hand, researchers in the United States and Japan are not pressured to produce visible results such as listing their theses in academic journals like we do.”