Freedom and fun, key to science: Gajdusek

Freedom and fun, key to science: Gajdusek

JAKARTA (JP): A visiting Nobel laureate yesterday reminded
researchers of the two essentials to boosting science -- freedom
and fun.

"A researcher would rather be given an empty warehouse, than a
laboratory based on someone else's idea," American Daniel
Carleton Gajdusek, 1976 Nobel prize winner in Physiology and
Medicine, said in a speech before the National Research Council.

A strong sense of fun in seeking the unknown guarantees "a
great career in science," Gajdusek said.

He said that it pays for any country to invest in scientists.
"It is not all that expensive to invest in young people, as the
ones most willing to be scientists will not be those looking for
very large salaries," he said.

Gajdusek was invited to speak as part of the Council's 10th
anniversary.

The council announced on Monday the eight winners, out of 410
entries, of the national research contest.

Gajdusek's address on boosting scientists hit home, as
researchers said freedom is a luxury where essentials, even
journals and research time, are lacking.

The biotechnology inter-university center at the Bogor
Institute of Agriculture, for instance, has not subscribed to a
single journal for a long time, until funds were recently
obtained from the research fellowship of the Research Council.

"It's even hard to find what you need at the library of the
Indonesian Science Institute although the catalog lists all the
titles," said Antonious Suwanto, who won this year's research
selection in the biotechnology category.

Gajdusek stressed that research agencies must allocate part of
their budget for studies in basic science and not simply spend
them all on applied science.

Coordinator of the National Research Council, Samaun
Samadikun, said that from 4,500 entries in this year's
selection, almost all were in the fields of applied science and
new technology.

Only few were in basic sciences and practical, production
technology, he said. "This was surprising," Samaun said.

Gajdusek, a 71-year-old pediatrician and neurologist, was
awarded the Noble prize mainly for his studies in the field of
child growth and development and disease patterns.

The Research Council requested his advice on fostering
research, to which he responded he had never been an
administrator, and that good scientists must never be asked to
hold administrative positions.

Among some of the winners of the research contest were the
teams under Umar Anggara Jenie in medical technology, Djarot
Sasongko Hami Seno in biotechnology for husbandry and Indarto
Katim in process technology.

Hadi Prasetyo from the Ministry of Mining and Energy won the
geology category, Ihsan Hariadi from the Bandung Institute of
Technology in microelectronics and Achiar Oemry from the
Indonesian Science Institute won in the development of new
material. Riwanto Tirtosudarmo, also of the Institute, was
selected for the social sciences category. (anr)