A century ago, science was an activity pursued by very few people, understood by few others and directly influenced a relatively small circle. This was the time of discoveries such as the electron, X-rays and relativity, discoveries that changed the world a few decades later. Science did not play any role in politics, military decisions, economics or the daily life of common people. Wealth of nations was determined by raw materials, even though the industrial revolution has had its impact.
Fifty years ago science entered, for the first time, the domain of political leaders and decision makers. Cryptography, Radar and Nuclear Science played a crucial role in World War‡U. The transistor, the Laser and the structure of DNA were discovered soon after. However, the daily life of the common citizen was still far removed from the domain of scientific research and its immediate implications. Wealth was still partly determined by raw materials and partly by industrial machinery.
Today, as we enter the next millennium, science and technology are everywhere. They penetrate every corner of our life, regardless of our education or profession. From medical diagnostics to agriculture, from internet shopping to preventing airplane highjacking, from environmental issues to cellular phones, the human genome, plant biotechnology, laser surgery, brain imaging, cruise missile, solar energy, compact discs, and millions of other products of science and technology are everywhere around us, in the news, in our homes, in our routine existence. Every single citizens is touched by the science revolution.
Knowledge has become the leading economic asset, largely replacing machinery and raw materials. The wealth of nations, companies and individuals is mainly determined by intellectual property of one sort or another. The richest man on earth is a software producer and not an oil Baron. The per capita incomes of countries with advanced science and technology far exceed those of countries rich in oil or minerals. International boundaries gradually fade away in many parts of the world while, at the same time, boundaries between science and technology and boundaries among different scientific disciplines are also disappearing.
In this world, the common citizen does not have an elementary understanding of the language of science, of rudimentary scientific thinking and does not possess a minimal level of scientific literacy. This creates a danger to economic development and even to Democracy. If knowledge, especially scientific, is the most important economic resource, then education, especially science education, is the best investment. Science education must become an integral part of general education to all citizens. This is a relatively new concept. Providing it to humanity is a new experience and no one knows exactly how to do it. We must urgently address this issue on a global scale.
We have an urgent need to solve environmental problems, feed a growing world population, create renewable energy sources, fight against superstitions, fundamentalism and fanaticism and provide better health care and standard of living for all. Only if we achieve these, humanity can live in harmony with nature. But this harmony can be reached only if every member of the human race becomes a partner, major, active or passive, in the science and technology revolution. The goal cannot be achieved if most people remain outsiders who cannot even begin to understand where we are going. The necessary change can be achieved only by education.