Autonomy, Key for Nobel Prize in Science Says Top Researcher
By Park Si-soo, Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporters
The head of Germany’s top science research center stressed the autonomy of scientists as a means to reaching high achievements in their fields.
Peter Gruss, 58, president of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, revealed the secret behind its significant performances in an interview with The Korea Times, Friday.
“You need the best environment, a good personal salary and stable funding to get the best people to join your team. But besides this structure, the most important thing is autonomy, because scientists, in general terms, do not like taking instructions from others,” Gruss said.
Professor Gruss visited Korea for a scientific conference in biosciences and materials science at Seoul National University, Oct. 4-5 and was accompanied by three Nobel Prize-winning scientists from the research center.
They are Prof. Klaus von Klitzing, 1985 Nobel laureate in physics; Prof. Hartumut Michel, 1988 winner in chemistry; and Prof. Erwin Neher, 1991 winner in medicine and physiology.
Mentioning the prerequisite to draw best results, Gruss explained the funding system of his research center.
“Basic research has to be funded by the public. We are being funded with about 85 percent coming from taxpayers,'' Gruss said. ``So half of them are being funded by the federal government and half are funded by local states. We have mostly 1.4 billion euros from taxpayers every year.”
“For Korea, I think what is really needed is a strong community working in basic research and you need stable (third party) funding,” he added.
Lastly, he stressed Korea needs to strengthen basic science research.
“I think you need a very sound theoretical basis,” he said.