China Doubles Basic Research Science Funding In 2 Years

While nations such as the US are hampering science research in the name of cutting its budget deficit (a likely story), China has effectively doubled its basic science research in just two years! In a news article reported in Science this week (March 11, 2011), the budget for China's National Natural Sciences Foundation (NSFC) has been increased by 17% over 2010, doubling its budget from just two years ago!

NSFC is not the only science winner in China's 2011 budget, released here on 5 March. New spending plans promise massive investments in shared research facilities, such as new beamlines for structural biologists and materials scientists at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility that opened in 2009. The rationale, science officials say, is to erode barriers between scientists at universities and institutes.

Here, in the US, if the House budget bill passes through unchanged, synchrotron facilities throughout the US might face several days of shutdowns due to lack of money for operations. This is in addition to other major facilities, such as RHIC, the Tevatron, LCLS, CEBAF, etc., that are facing similar fates.

Compare and contrast, folks!

Zz.