Abstract
Whenever one talks of Astrophysics in meetings, like the present one, primarily devoted to Contemporary Needs, one has to justify the choice of subject. It is generally thought that even if Astrophysics is ‘contemporary’, it is certainly not a ‘need’. After all, it has no obvious applicability to technology (like Solid State Physics or Laser Physics have) or even a hope of supplying us with new energy resources in the near future (like Plasma Physics does). It can be argued that the underdeveloped countries (calling a spade a spade) cannot afford to ‘waste their time’ on star-gazing instead of solving their present problems which must be admitted to be numerous. We contend that the answer given by History to this question is an emphatic “No!” Only the star-gazers have progressed In fact the third world can not afford to neglect star-gazing. It certainly needs to acquire a technology, but it can not do so by trying to buy, or transplant, the highly developed technology of the West. Instead an indigenous technology must be developed which is suitable to the resources and conditions of the region. For this purpose the underdeveloped countries should concentrate on the fundamentals of physics and provide opportunities for its own scientists to work on the development of new technologies. If they merely try to solve their current problems they will be like the primitive man who refused to sit and make a spear because he could not spare the time from hunting. If the underdeveloped countries do not spare the time from hunting for solutions to immediate problems they will condemn themselves to a primitive existance.
Keywords
Black Hole Neutron Star Gravitational Wave Accretion Disc Globular ClusterPreview
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