1 the state of science in south africa
I N T R O D U C T I O N
lishment of three key organisations still part was on strategic research in order to serve
of the macro-industrial landscape, namely the national goals of the then government,
the Iron and Steel Corporation (Iscor, now many of which were security-related. This
Mittal Steel South Africa), the Electricity eventually led, inter alia, to the develop-
Supply Commission (Eskom) and the In- ment of an indigenous nuclear research
dustrial Development Corporation (IDC). industry that was able, amongst other
The key mover in all three cases was the activities, to build a small number of atomic
physicist, HJ van der Bijl, who had been bombs (destroyed voluntarily in 1993). This
Director‐General of War Supplies in World was part of a powerful energy and defence
War II, and had come to the realisation dur- research industry built up in the 1970s
ing the execution of his duties that South and 1980s, centred on the Atomic Energy
African industry needed an organisation to Corporation (AEC), the arms manufacturer
promote the development and assimilation ARMSCOR and the oil-from-coal giant Sasol.
of new technologies. This gave rise to the Some of the research and development
establishment of the Council for Scientific (R&D) related to these developments was
and Industrial Research (CSIR), the biggest located in certain universities (which still
and best-resourced science laboratory have well-resourced engineering faculties
complex in the country. and spin-off companies). It is estimated
that spending during the mid-eighties on
Since its establishment in 1945, the CSIR energy and military/defence R&D, quanti-
has played a major role in carrying out and tatively the most significant research activ-
promoting cutting-edge scientific research, ity at the time, was higher than all civil R&D
and through its influence ultimately en- expenditure combined.
sured a wider appreciation of the devel-
opmental role of scientific research within Both these developments, the proliferation
the country. It also, directly and indirectly, of science councils and the development of
gave rise to the establishment of many a world-class energy and military/defence
of the other science councils which were research industry, together with an increa-
formed between the 1950s and 1970s: sing focus on research at most of South
the Mineral and Energy Technology Coun- Africa’s established universities, led to a
cil (Mintek), the South African Bureau of major increase in national knowledge
Standards (SABS), the Human Sciences production. In one of the very few biblio-
Research Council (HSRC) (1969), the Medi- metric analyses of South African science in
cal Research Council (MRC) (1969) and the the 1960s and 1970s, Reynhardt (1982) re-
Council for Geoscience. ferred to this period as the ‘golden years’
of South African science. He showed that
A siege society under apartheid South African-authored natural science
The emphasis within the science councils papers in the Science Citation Index (SCI)
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