The government will finance the construction of a new research centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to the tune of 9.5 billion forints (EUR 34.13m), the Academy’s president Jozsef Palinkas told the press on Thursday.
The new centre, to be built on the university grounds and informatics park on the Danube bank in SW Budapest, will house research centres for chemistry, enzymology, applied physics and materials sciences.
The facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2012, Palinkas said. He added that the investment is the largest of its kind over the past 20 years, and is expected to create a research facility of the magnitude of large Western European centres.
To be honest, there is good and not so good in this.
It is good that there is investment in such a science park, however, the current technical universties are woefully underfunded and in need of equipment. I don’t know if that will help other universities or just make their situation worse.
If they actually get round to building it and operating it then time will tell.
I think the result will be a nice looking building but with low paid Hungarian staff, limited international interaction and mediocre interbred Hungarian scientist working in the new buildings – on topics relevant 20 years ago. All you have to do is look at any new university building in BP (ELTE, Corvinus) and see they just moved the old people and old ways of doing things into new digs.
But I hope the building looks nice. At least it could advance the architecture in Budapest. A shame about the science though.
They could name the building after Edward Teller. Maybe it will help generate the next Teller, Paul Erdos, von Neuman, Szillard.
As a mathematician (retired) I’d prefer a new Erdös, a new Teller and a new type of bomb we don’t really need…
I wish everybody a Happy New Year!
Palinkas… great name… wonder how his ancestors
earned that?
The Alchemists Institute will research the possibility of turning lead into gold.
They will also consider making a homemade variety of palinka and offer it as as an alternative to rocket fuel and/or petrol. If they can stay sober, that is!
If the latter project fails the palinka can still be sold on the open market at the going rate.
I heard that the new math center will try to answer the impossible: what is a hundred billion million hundred times 100 billion million trillion plus a billion ? Even Paul Erdos couldnt solve that one.
Another commitment of money that obviously doesn’t exist and, as JD points out, could have been spent on existing universities in need of equipment and improvement. What gets me though, not thought is taken about creating an entrepreneurial culture here that could actually harness the ideas that arise. The risk of trying something out here, that a small group might undertake – let alone the taxes, bureacracy, etc. could be simplified for a lot less money – and would have more of an impact.
Excellent reasoning Rolrox! Far too clever and straightforward for politicians and bureaucrats to take on board.
It is a vicious circle and a conundrum as to how we go about getting civilized and intelligent people
into positions where changes such as the ones you suggest can take place.
This new science institute will answer once and for all time the question: what is the marginal productive value of newly issued government debt- zero or less than zero?
A more proper investigation about the naming should be conducted since it’s a project of 34.13 m Euros.