We all know that Greece and its people are suffering greatly from several years of severe economic austerity and because of this the country's gross national product decreased by almost 7% in 2011 and the unemployment rate exceeded 20%. At the same time, cutbacks threatened the very survival of Greece’s best centers of creative potential. With these points in mind, 21 internationally renowned leaders and Nobel prize winners in various fields of science and technology drafted and signed a petition/letter addressed to Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament; Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council; and José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the EU Commission. The signatories of this petition sincerely hope that scientists and science policy leaders will take these issues seriously and will take whatever steps are in their power to address them.
The petition follows:
Greece is in the midst of a prolonged and deep economic recession that has already changed dramatically the lives of its citizens and threatens the very existence of its structures necessary for future recovery. To regain its forward momentum, keep alive its competitive institutions, and implement its huge reform agenda, Greece needs our help. We are confident that Greece, which has contributed enormously to European culture, can do what is called for to create a brighter future. To succeed in this diffi cult task, special emphasis should be given among other things to science and technology, areas in which Greece possesses particularly strong institutions and human potential. By utilizing existing structural funds, and by promoting close cooperation between major European science and technology centers and existing Greek clusters of excellence, Greece can be enabled to sustain its scientifi c structures, build up its own technological future, and secure a competitive economy in the long run.
HARALD ZUR HAUSEN
Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. E-mail: zurhausen@dkfz-heidelberg.de
The signatories of the “Support Greece” petition include:
- Peter C. Agre, - Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2003;
- Elizabeth H. Blackburn - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009;
- Günter Blobel, - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1999
- Edmond H. Fischer - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1992
- Carol W. Greider - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009
- Jules A. Hoffmann- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011
- H. Robert Horvitz - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002
- Sir Richard Timothy (Tim) Hunt - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001
- Eric R. Kandel - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2000
- Wolfgang Ketterle - Nobel Prize in Physics 2001
- Roger D. Kornberg - Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2006
- Yuan T. Lee - Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1986
- Robert, Lord May of Oxford, Royal Swedish Academy’s Crafoord - Prize 1996
- John C. Mather - Nobel Prize in Physics 2006
- Prof. Iain Mattaj, Director General European Molecular Biology Laboratory
- Sir Paul M. Nurse - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001
- Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan - Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009
- Sir Richard J. Roberts - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
References and NotesT. Feder, “Science endures as conditions in Greece worsen,” Physics Today, April 2012, p. 24 (www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v65/i4/p24_s1?view=print).
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