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For most of the 20th century the UK did disproportionately well in the metrics of scientific research - Nobel prizes, key articles.. The UK has not had the kind
by sgt101 9y ago
For most of the 20th century the UK did disproportionately well in the metrics of scientific research - Nobel prizes, key articles.. The UK has not had the kind of outstanding economic success that should have accrued to it if these things matter economically. Especially once north sea oil is removed from the calculation.
- konschubert 9y agoMaybe because the upper class and the educated class have abandoned the lower classes. Scientific excellence is not worth very much economically if it does not trickle down into society. This didn't happen in the UK and that's why the economy is suffering.
- sgt101 9y agoIn what way would scientific excellence trickle down?
- ben_w 9y agoSolving problems that poor people actually care about. I’m rich enough I don’t even know what those problems might be.
- konschubert 9y agoSmart teachers being educated by good professors which really understand their field.
- bitL 9y agoUK does well in UK-based/influenced rankings. There is this magic "reputation score" where Oxbridge are near 100% while lacking significantly in other areas comparing to competition; yet due to this magic value are always in top 5. If this is the source of national pride, then good luck competing with China!
- sgt101 9y agoInteresting - could you elaborate ? What are the specific lacks of Oxbridge in your opinion?
- HarryHirsch 9y agoMaybe it has to do with deindustrialization. ICI in its days was a scientific and economic force. Nowadays no one does chemistry any longer, especially not in Britain. The only thing that is produced in Britain nowadays is financial malfeasance.
- sgt101 9y agoerrm - well I think that the folks at AstraZeneca and GSK may not think so...
- HarryHirsch 9y agoThe way research is done at companies like these has really changed - nowadays it's all mergers & acquisitions, look in Wikipedia at just how many companies AZ has acquired since the merger, it wasn't like that before the 1990s. These companies are knowledge brokers and what research is done is outsourced to contract research organizations. Back then, everything was done in-house. The Frythe employed people like Joseph Chatt and James Black. You don't have central research like that any longer, except at Facebook/Amazon/Google/Microsoft, and that's a problem. They can sell us ads but will not come up with the next antibiotic when the present ones have become useless.