Twenty Nobel Prize winners ask Javier Milei to stop the dismantling of science in Argentina

Through an open letter, addressed to Milei, his Chief of Staff and the authorities of the national science, technology and innovation system, a group of scientists of different nationalities denounced that the situation had worsened since a first statement they had made in March 2024, when 68 Nobel Prize winners warned that Argentine science was approaching a “dangerous precipice.”

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“Unfortunately, far from being reversed, those concerns have deepened, exceeding unthinkable limits even at that time.” then,” they stated in their open letter.

Among the signatories are the Nobel Prize winner in Medicine Paul Nurse, current president of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom; Harvey Alter, distinguished for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus; Steven Chu, former US Secretary of Energy and Nobel Prize winner in Physics; Barry Marshall, recognized for demonstrating that the pylori bacteria causes the majority of gastric ulcers: and Victor Ambros, Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2024.

The signatories denounced that public investment in science fell to 0.14% of Argentina’s GDP and stated that the sector is losing “almost 8 jobs per day since December 2023.”

They also mentioned the dissolution or reduction of scientific and technological organizations, the freezing of income and salaries in different institutions and the paralysis of strategic projects.

The deterioration, they warned, not only affects researchers, but also the country’s strategic capabilities, such as satellite, nuclear and biotechnological, and they recalled that Argentina is part of the small group of nations with its own technology in these areas.

“The destruction of a system that took many years to build, from which humanity as a whole benefited, is looming, and that would require many more years to be rebuilt,” they warned.

The new This statement coincides with protests in recent days by researchers and fellows from the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and other scientific organizations, who denounce almost 400 new layoffs, the freezing of programs and new budget cuts.

According to a recent report by the Ibero-American Center for Research in Science, Technology and Innovation (CIICTI), workers at the CONICET, the National Public Employment System and the National Universities have accumulated losses of between 22.2% and 40.5% in their salaries since November 2023.