By: Beryl Benderly
Source: blogs.sciencemag.org
Some time back, Science Careers reported on the push by Qatar, the tiny but hugely wealthy Persian Gulf emirate, to achieve scientific eminence. In that article we also noted the similarly vigorous ambitions of Qatar’s nearby and equally mega-rich neighbor, Saudi Arabia, to do likewise. And we mentioned how these efforts can spell real opportunity for scientists around the world who are willing and able to live and work in technologically advanced but socially conservative Muslim countries.
The opportunities in the Muslim world are even broader than we initially thought, suggests the 26 January edition of The Economist, because these two Arabian oil states are not the only Muslim-majority nations making rapid advances in building up science.
Jordan has a CERN-style particle physics laboratory, complete with particle accelerator, where an international array of scientists including Israelis, Iranians, and Palestinians work together. Turkish scientists’ production of published papers more than quadrupled over the first decade of this century. Turkey, which is also enjoying rapid (though not petroleum-fueled) economic growth, saw annual increases in research spending of 10% from 2005 to 2010, and its spending is now double that of Norway.