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Dire need for a Middle Eastern science spring

Nature Materials volume 13, pages 318–320 (2014)Cite this article

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The Middle East is rich in human and natural resources, but many of its countries need a cultural and scientific transformation to reach worldwide recognition in education, research and economic productivity. Several institutions are making a positive impact, kindling hope for a successful 'science spring'.

The outcome of the uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa may be uncertain, but what is clear is that a political transformation has taken place. People in countries such as Egypt and Tunisia will not allow a return to totalitarian governance. Not only can they demonstrate and bring down governments — they will no longer tolerate a degraded economic and educational status. Through social media and the Internet, they 'see' the world and ponder why they have not achieved what their counterparts in South Korea or China have. Pundits may argue that the outcome of these uprisings should be democracy, but equally important are the scientific and cultural transformations that are essential for development and diplomacy to flourish. Let us recall that in the evolution of Western civilization, the Enlightenment came ahead of modern democracy, and both before the current governance structure and social order.

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Figure 1: Demographic and economic statistics for some Middle Eastern countries and, for comparison, for Iran and South Korea.
Figure 2: Scientific production in the Middle East.
Figure 3: Research and education institutions in the Middle East.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ahmed Zewail is at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Zewail City of Science and Technology in Egypt,

    Ahmed H. Zewail

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  1. Ahmed H. Zewail
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Correspondence to Ahmed H. Zewail.

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Zewail, A. Dire need for a Middle Eastern science spring. Nature Mater 13, 318–320 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3918

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