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Science in Argentina
阿根廷的科學發展
Cristina the alchemist
煉金術士克里斯蒂娜
Argentina is trying to build a scientific establishment
阿根廷正努力打造一個科學機構
SOUTH AFRICA is not the only middle-income country which aspires to join the world's scientific powers.
南非并不是唯一渴望加入世界科學強國的中等收入國家。
Argentina would like to as well.
懷有同樣渴望的還有阿根廷。
The place is proud of its three Nobel science prizes—the largest haul of any Latin American nation—even if the most recent was awarded in 1984.
曾經三次榮獲諾貝爾科學獎，但即使最后一次獲獎發生在1984年，阿根廷仍然以此為傲，因為這是任何拉丁美洲國家都無法比擬的成就。
But many researchers fled in the 1990s, when budgets were slashed. Now the government is trying to attract them back, and to encourage younger talent to consider a scientific career.
但在20世紀90年代，預算大幅削減，許多研究人員抽身而去。如今，政府正在努力將其吸引回國，并鼓勵青年人才以科學為職業。
When Néstor Kirchner, the predecessor and late husband of the current president, Cristina Fernandez, took office in 2003, Argentina was spending just 0.41% of its GDP on research and development.
前總統內斯托爾·基什內爾于2003年上臺，當時阿根廷在研究和開發上的投入僅占其GDP的0.41%。
Now, that figure is 0.64%.
如今的投入占到0.64%。
Kirchner raised researchers' salaries, launched a scheme to repatriate departed scientists and gave tax breaks to software companies.
基什內爾總統提高了研究人員的工資，推出召回離國科學家的方案，允許軟件開發公司享受稅收上的優惠。
Ms Fernandez followed suit by creating a science ministry and putting a biologist, Lino Barao, in charge of it.
費爾南德斯夫人也相繼建立起科技部，并任命生物學家巴拉尼奧為部長。
She also increased grants to firms that try to develop new products.
她還提高了給新產品研發公司的撥款。
Many of the Kirchners' critics were sceptical, seeing the ministry either as a political marketing ploy or as a soft touch for lobbyists seeking unjustified subsidies.
許多針對基什內爾的批評家們持一種懷疑態度，他們認為科技部既是一種政治營銷策略，又會被那些尋求不正當補貼的說客輕易利用。
But the strategy seems to be working.
然而整個策略卻似乎正在發揮作用。
With help from the Inter-American Development Bank the government has, since 2004, lured back 854 expatriate scientists.
2004年，在美洲開發銀行的幫助下，阿根廷政府總共將854名移居國外的科學家吸引回國，
It has done so by providing new laboratories and equipment for them, moving their families, and forking out extra money for their salaries.
為他們提供新的實驗室和儀器，安置其家人，分撥額外資金作為他們的酬勞。
As a consequence, according to Dr Baraao,
根據尼奧教授所說，
Argentine researchers have published 179 articles in leading journals in the past decade, compared with just 30 in the 1990s.
之后阿根廷的研究員們在過去的十年里發表在前沿期刊的文章就有179篇，而90年代卻只有30篇。
Most of the returners are academics. But commercial science has benefited, too.
大多數歸國人員都是學術派，但商業科學卻也從中受益。
Indear, a joint public-private biotechnology-research centre based in Santa Fe, recently worked out how to transfer a gene for drought resistance from sunflowers to crops such as maize, soyabeans and wheat.
總部位于圣達菲的一家公私合營生物技術研究中心Indear，近日研發出如何將向日葵中的抗旱基因轉移到玉米大豆及小麥等農作物上，此舉可將旱地產量提升至40%。
That can increase yields in droughts by up to 40%. And the government has also doled out 54m in grants for the development of products that include coagulant factors to treat haemophilia,
同時，政府還發放5400萬美元開發包括發凝血因子在內的產品，
transgenic cattle which secrete valuable hormones in their milk, and better ways of probing for oil deposits.
以治療血友病，研究分泌珍貴激素的轉基因奶牛，以及提高石油儲備的勘探技術。
Help for high-tech innovation comes in other forms, too.
對高科技創新的扶持還不止這些。
The state offers, for example, to pay the cost of patenting inventions in foreign jurisdictions and of hiring lawyers to defend those patents.
例如，政府會為在海外司法審批的發明支付專利申請費用，并出錢雇傭律師為之辯護。
It also acts as a headhunter for information-technology firms seeking employees with PhDs, and will pay part of the salaries of such recruits.
同時還為信息技術公司充當獵頭，搜尋有博士學歷的員工，并支付其部分薪金。
None of these programmes has faced allegations of corruption.
所有的項目都沒有發生有關貪污的起訴。
Whether all this activity will have the effect of stimulating high-tech industry, as Ms Fernandez hopes, remains to be seen.
然而，整個方案是否會像費爾南德夫人希望的那樣推動高科技工業的發展，還得拭目以待。
Argentine scientists are happy to take taxpayers' money but according to Luis Dambra, a professor at the IAE business school in Buenos Aires, they look down their noses at the idea of actually getting their hands dirty by going into industry.
花著納稅人的錢讓阿根廷的科學家們十分高興，不過布宜諾斯愛麗絲IAE商學院的路易斯·丹布爾教授認為，進入工業領域就是自降身段的說法讓科學家們嗤之以鼻。
Mr Dambra, though, says industry is equally to blame.
盡管如此，丹布爾先生表示工業同樣應該被斥責。
In 2009, only 21% of Argentine R&D was paid for by the private sector, compared with 44% of Brazil's.
2009年，阿根廷研發領域僅有21%的費用是由私營部門支付，相比巴西就達到了44%。
Firms that might recruit academic scientists often do not see the point.
那些有可能聘請學術科學家的公司卻總是忽略了這一點。
Even those that do may struggle to accommodate people with a non-commercial background into the business world.
即便那些看到這一點的公司也可能爭搶著將非商科背景的研究員安置在商業領域。
Attitudes can change, of course.
當然，態度看法總是發生變化的。
In the 1980s many British academics were as snobbish about commerce as Argentina's are now.
19世紀80年代，許多英國學者看待商業的態度和今天的阿根廷人一樣不屑一顧。
These days, Britain's top universities are gung-ho for spin-outs and the revenue they can provide. But it takes time and consistent policy to make such changes and Argentina is notorious for sudden alterations in the political weather.
而現在英國的頂尖大學都在為其所能提供的額外產物和收益而狂熱。但是這些轉變都需要長久的時間和一貫的政策才能得以確保，而阿根廷卻因為在政界中風云突變而名聲狼藉。
That makes the country a perilous place to invest, whatever the current climate.
無論現階段狀況如何，整個國家都成了投資者的危險之地。
