Attention Economy


Sunday, September 20, 2020

Can Science Bring Rivals Together?

The Clear Night Sky Over India and China’s Hostile Border
https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-clear-night-sky-over-india-and-chinas-hostile-border
“And yet, when it comes to the sky, the two countries enjoy a warmer relationship than their strategic rivalry might suggest. For the past decade, both China and India have leveraged “astro-diplomacy” to forge international ties and boost their scientific standing. In 2014, the nations deemed astronomy an area of collaboration, committing mutual support to projects like Merak’s solar telescope. Many I.I.A. graduates now accept postdoc appointments at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and senior faculty from both institutions co-author papers. India and China are also partners in a five-nation effort to build a Thirty-Metre Telescope (T.M.T.)—an instrument three times bigger than any telescope in existence—in Hawaii. Every few weeks, astronomers in Bangalore and Beijing video-conference with colleagues in the United States, Japan, and Canada to grapple with the T.M.T.’s challenges. If completed, the telescope will enable the most powerful observations ever made of the northern sky”.