Nobel winner presses for funds

Alferov receives congratulation from his colleagues

By Russian affairs analyst Stephen Dalziel

Russia's Nobel Prize winner for Physics, Zhores Alferov, is using his award to press for greater state funding for Russian science.

It is without doubt a symbol of international recognition of our Soviet and Russian physics

Zhores Alferov

Dr Alferov, who is also a member of parliament, is calling on his colleagues in the State Duma to provide money for the scientific community to build on his success.

Dr Alferov is the first Russian to win any Nobel prize in the post-Soviet era.

He and two American scientists, Herbert Kroemer and Jack Kilby, are sharing the almost $1m prize money.

Soviet research

When news of the award came through on Tuesday, Dr Alferov was quick to point out that it was as much for the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute which he heads in St Petersburg, as for him personally.

Just one device reliant on technology pioneered by Alferov

And he was keen also to hail it as a triumph for Soviet, not just Russian, science.

Much of the research which helped gain Dr Alferov the award was done in Soviet times.

And it had practical applications readily grasped by even the most non-technical of people.

Every time someone plays a compact disc, or uses a mobile telephone, they are putting into practice technology pioneered by Dr Alferov.

Budget problems

This international recognition could provide a welcome boost for Russian science.

In our country it is difficult for us because research spending is constantly shrinking

Zhores Alferov

In Soviet times, science never lacked funding, especially if it had some military application.

But in the post-Soviet world, when government budgets have had to be more realistic, and have faced huge problems in such basic areas as paying workers in the state sector, scientific research has had to take its place in the queue for funds alongside social welfare, defence and other needs.

Dr Alferov - a Communist deputy in the State Duma - is now appealing to his colleagues that if a Nobel Prize could be achieved in such dire straits, how much better could Russian science do with the proper level of funding?