Science in South Africa

Believe it or not, science is thriving in South Africa. At the moment, South Africa is trying to host the SKA, the square kilometer array. It is an array of 3000 telescope stretching out over a well, a square kilometer. Using complex software and instruments, the SKA will be able to see to the furthest parts of our Galaxy, at 50-100 times quicker than any other radio telescope. As of a law passed in 2007, the northern cape of South Africa (where the array is to be located) is designated as an “astronomy advantage area", where all interference (radio, television, phone etc) will be tightly regulated and kept to the bare minimum.

Also in South Africa at the moment, South Africa's Department of Science and Technology has acquired a new microscope. The electron microscope is one of 15 in order to technology institutes throughout the world. It is the most powerful transmission electron microscope in the world, and will advance Africa’s nano-science filed by a long way, and in related fields such as medicines.

This new microscope will help develop the way medicines are delivered to the people of Africa. The scientists will research using nanotechnology to hand out drugs, the actual medicines in tiny capsules to prevent them being contaminated so giving them a higher chance of working, as well as using very tiny robots to direct the medicine to where it should go.

Science in South Africa has only just kick started in the last few years, after the apartheid ended in 1994. However, even during the apartheid a few crucial discoveries were made in South Africa. The first heart transplant was made in South Africa, by Christiaan Barnard, a cardiac surgeon at Groote Schuur Hospital, in December 1967. This is not the only major breakthrough however.  Max Theiler developed a vaccine against Yellow Fever, Allan McLeod Cormack pioneered x-ray Computed tomography, and Aaron Klug developed crystallographic electron microscopy techniques. All of these discoveries or inventions were made in South Africa. Despite this, no notable companies or enterprises have been founded here.

Because of this, South Africa’s government has been trying to encourage growth into high technology areas, such as IT and biotechnology. However, so far it has done so with no real success.