The National Science Council (NSC) has begun planning for its 50th anniversary celebrations next year, selecting 50 of the most influential projects it has sponsored for inclusion in a TV series, a book and a series of Internet video clips
“After an eight-month review and selection process, we have selected 50 outstanding projects from the past five decades,” said Hue Chih-wei (胡志偉), the council’s director of science education.
Although some reporters criticized the list of projects — which span the fields of medicine, information technology, sociology, architecture, seismology and biology — as unrepresentative of Taiwanese scientific achievements, Hue said that “what is more important is that we want to make the projects material for public science education … This is also to show people how the National Science Council had been spending their tax dollars.”
The selection criteria included scientific significance and the social impact of the projects, Hue said.
“For example, the No. 1 project on the list is a 28-year study conducted by Academia Sinica academicians Chen Pei-jer (陳培哲) and Chen Ding-shinn (陳定信) on hepatitis B,” he said.
Forty-two of the projects are in the field of science and engineering, while eight are in the humanities, Hue said, adding that the projects involve at least 198 researchers, 171 of whom were male.
While 13 hour-long TV episodes are planned and tentatively set to air next September, a book, which will include interviews with the researchers, will be published next October at the earliest, Hue said.
“In addition, three-minute to five-minute educational videos on each of the projects will be made and uploaded onto the council’s Web site for public download,” he said.
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