What is Science?

Caesar Saloma
National Institute of Physics
College of Science
UP Diliman
caesar.saloma@gmail.com
www.science.upd.edu.ph

STS Clas s Lecture

1s t s emes ter SY 2008-2009
The Philippines
Area: 300,000 km2 (72nd)
Population: 90,500,000 (2008 estimate; 12th) Density: 290/ km2 (32nd)
88,574,614 (2007 census)
76,498,735 (2000 census)
GDP (2006 nominal): $117.562B (47th) Per capita: $1,352 (117th)

Republic of China (Taiwan)

Area: 36,188 km2 (137th)
Population: 22,911,292 (2007 estimate; 47th) Density: 633/ km2 (14th)
GDP (nominal): $364.563B (14th) Per capita: $15,482 (37th)

Sourc e: www.wikipedia.org

U SD per barrel (las t 2 4 months

ending 1 0 J une 2 0 0 8 )
 The Filipinos

Happiness Assessments (1-10)

HDI (Dec 2007): 90th

Gini Coefficient (0 - 1):

Inequality of wealth distribution

Japan (0.249), P hilippines (0.445), Nam ibia (0.707)

Wages & Productivity

www.econom ist.com
The Cost of
Doing Business

Source: www.econom ist.com

What is science?
 Goal of science: To make sense of the physical world.

Objective of scientific research: To extend

human knowledge of the physical, biological,
or social world beyond what is already known.

Keywords: Intersubjective testability, reliability,

definiteness and precision, coherence (systematic),
comprehensiveness (scope).

www.s c ienc ec artoons plus .c om

 What is a scientific theory?

• Criterion of the scientific status of a theory:

falsifiability, refutability or testability
Karl Raimund P opper (1 9 0 2 -1 9 9 4 )
(Popper 1953).

Every good scientific theory is a prohibition:

it forbids certain things to happen. The
more a theory forbids, the better it is.

All laws and theories are conjectures, or

tentative hypotheses.

Source: K Popper, “Science: Conjectures and

Refutations,” (Lecture given in Sum m er 1953)
Refutation of a scientific theory
Test for scientific correctness: experimental validation.
There is no science without measurement.

Dualism. Connection between

the brain and the mind.

www.ec onomis t.c om

Role of a scientist in society

 To contribute new knowledge that improves our understanding of the

physical world (technical competence).

 To mentor the future generations of scientists (guidance & supervision).

www.phys ic s today.org T he P hilippine Star (9 N ov 2 0 0 6 )

Measures of scientific productivity

 Scientific publications in high impact peer-reviewed journals

 Citations
 Ability to attract research funding (grants)
 Number of PhD graduates trained successfully
 Patents (novel and non-obvious)

Elements of a good scientific paper

 Originality
 Novelty
 Technical quality
 Scientific impact
 Clarity, conciseness, self-contained
Scientific Breakthroughs in 2007 (NATURE 450, 27 Dec 2007)
Scientific Breakthroughs in 2006 (SCIENCE 314, 22 Dec 2006)
“ A 3D space with a trivial
fundamental group must
be a hypersphere - the
boundary of a ball in 4D
space.” Poincaré 1904
G regori P erelman

5. See-through clothes
2 3 4. Neither fish nor fowl

6. Cure for age-related

m acular degeneration
9
10. Sperm cell
8 control by Piwi genes
Research and Innovation

Research is generation of new knowledge

Innovation is the application of new knowledge.

Technology improves through innovation.

www.apple.com
Science, Technology & the Economy

www.econom ist.com
The Business Cycle (Joseph Schumpeter, 1883-1950)

(1) A normal, healthy economy is constantly “disrupted” by technological innovation.

(2) Business cycles are unique, driven by entirely different clusters of industries

(3) Economic waves are shortening, from 50 - 60 years to around 30 - 40 years.

What technology will drive the next wave?
Research & Development: Expenditure

2005 R&D Spending (30 OECD countries):

$771.5B (2.25% of total GDP)

Annual R&D growth rate shrank by more than half

to 2.2% in 2001-05 compared with 1995-2001.

Annual growth rates in America, Japan, EU: 2.9%

China's R&D spending: 1/2 of EU (annual growth

rate of 18% since 2000)

Businesses paid for 68% of R&D in the OECD.

R&D spending in the Philippines: 0.15%

GDP (2001), 0.12% (2002), 0.1% (2006)

Sourc e: T he E c onomis t
 Research & Development: Pay-off

Sourc e: T he E c onomis t
Economic and scientific wealth

Sourc e: T he E c onomis t

Source: D King, Nature (London) 430, 311 (2004)

 Higher Education in the Philippines
Total (SY 2003-2004): 1,538 Universities and Colleges
Number of State Universities & Colleges
SY 1990-1991 81
SY 2003-2004 111 (37% increase)
175 (including LUC’s)

Number of Private Universities & Colleges

SY 1990-1991 412 (non-sectarian) + 225 (sectarian)

SY 2002-2003 991 (ns) 140% increase

325 (s) 44% increase

SY 2003-2004 1033 (ns) + 330 (s)

College Graduates (SY 2002-2003): 401,787 (SUCs: 145,172 )

(24.96% from NCR)

Enrollment (SY 2003-2004): 2,420,856 (829,181)

Source: www.ched.gov.ph
 Higher Education: Its most serious challenge

MA/MS (SY 2004-05): 30.6%

PhD: 9.1%

Faculty in AY 2000-01 (Total: 93,884)

SY 2009-2010
MA/MS: 60%
PhD: 18%

Sources: www.ched.gov.ph ; www.ncsb.gov.ph

Role of a university in civil society

 To train technically competent and self-assured PhD graduates.

 To render sound and reliable scientific and technical advice to

civil society.
What makes a university great?

2006 Rankings of Philippine Universities

(Times Higher Education)

299 University of the Philippines

392 De La Salle University
484 Ateneo de Manila University
500 University of Santo Tomas

Sourc e: M E ns erink, Sc ienc e 3 1 7 , pp. 1 0 2 6 -1 0 2 8 (2 0 0 7 )

Best Universities in the World

Largest Universities
University of Rome (180,000 students)
National Univ of Mexico (200,000+)
Anadolu University, Turkey (530,000)

Univ of the Philippines System (SY 2005-06)

49,146 (10,352 graduate students)

UP Diliman (SY 2005-06)

23,912 (6,543 graduate students)

Source: www.econom ist.com

The Cost of Higher Education

Tuition Fee Per Annum

US Private 4-year College (1971-72) - USD 840
US Private 4-year College (2002-03) - USD 18,273

Source: www.econom ist.com

Education as An Investment

Sourc e: www.ec onomis t.c om US Academic Median Salaries (in USD)

2005 2006
Male 74,832 78,382 (104,964)
Fem ale 57,270 60,809 (78,658)

SC I E N C E 3 1 4 (3 N ov 2 0 0 6 )
Knowledge-based Economy

Source: www.econom ist.com

The College of Science
since 6 October 1983

CO NSTITUENT UNITS (11)

 Mission
Nat’l Inst of Geological Sciences
Nat’l Inst of Mol Bio & Biotech
 (1) To generate new scientific knowledge
The Marine Science Institute that improves our understanding of how
Nat’l Institute of Physics
Natural Sciences Research Inst
Nature works (research and development).
Institute of Biology
Institute of Mathem atics
Institute of Chem istry
Inst of Env Sci & Meteorology
 (2) To train the next generations of Filipino
Materials Science Program scientists and researchers (mentoring).
Science & Society Program

PHD FACULTY (2S, SY 07-08): 144

GRADUATES (SY 83-84 to SY 07-08)
Professors: 53 PhD: 323
Associate Professors: 51
MS: 1,154
Assistant Professors: 36 BS: 5,905
Instructor 7: 4
No. of Regular Faculty Items: 257
The UPD Land Use Plan
Approval of UP Board of Regents: 23 June 1994
The National Science Complex
Established on 8 December 2006 (PGMA Executive Order 583)

 The College operates the National Science Complex (21.9 hectares) which is
located in the southeast sector of UP Diliman.

 The Complex provides an enabling and nurturing environment for scientists,

researchers, and students in the basic and applied sciences and mathematics. It
also offers technical support to other government agencies and the private sector
particularly the small and medium-scale enterprises.

BS DEGREE PRO GRAMS (7) MS DEGREE PRO GRAMS (13) PHD DEGREE PRO GRAMS (9)

Biology (IB), C hem istry (IC),
Mathem atics (IM), Geology
(NIGS), Molecular Biology &
Biotechnology (NIMBB),
Physics (NIP), Applied Physics
(NIP)
Biology (IB), Microbiology (IB)
Chem istry (IC), Mathem atics
(IM), Applied Mathem atics
(IM), Geology (NIGS), Marine
Science (MSI) Molecular
Biology & Biotechnology
(NIMBB), Physics (NIP),
Meteorology (IESM),
Environm ental Science (IESM),
Materials Science (MSEP),
Chem ical Education (IC)
Biology (IB), C hem istry (IC),
Mathem atics (IM), Geology
(NIGS), Marine Science (MSI)
Molecular Biology &
Biotechnology (NIMBB),
Physics (NIP), Meteorology
(IESM), Environm ental Science
(IESM), Materials Science
(MSEP)
Quality of CS Undergraduate Students
1st Sem, SY 2007-2008

Internal External
Courses Scholarships Scholarships
UP CHED-
Oblation Varsity Dependent TOTAL DOST OWWA NSP Others TOTAL
Chemistry 2 1 2 5 40 1 3 13 57
Physics 3 2 1 6 30 1 4 3 38
MBB 11 - - 11 28 - - 1 29
Math 5 2 3 10 51 - 1 15 67
Applied
Physics 2 - 4 6 33 - 2 - 35
Geology - 1 2 3 12 1 1 2 16
Biology 2 2 1 5 25 - 1 7 33
TOTAL 25 8 13 46 219 3 12 41 275

UPCAT (August 2006)

UPCAT (August 2007)
No. of UP Applicants: 71,478
No. of Applicants: 68,108
CS Applicants: 2356 (3.3%)
UP Q ualifiers: 12,234 (17.9%)
CS Q ualifiers: 815 (1.14%)
UPD Q ualifiers: 3826 (5.6%)
CS Q ualifiers: 428 (0.628%)
CS Absorption Capacity: 485 (UPD: 3820)
CS Freshm an Enrollm ent: 396 (1501)

PHILIPPINE SCIENCE HIGH SCHO O L SYSTEM

Cam puses: 8 (Main cam pus: Dilim an, Q .C.)
Student Population: 2821 (AY 2004-2005)
Freshm an intak e: 240 (Main) + 90 X 7

Source: www.wik ipedia.org

College of Science: Freshmen Per Year

QUOTA FOR FRESHMEN

PER ACADEMIC YEAR
Chemistry: 90

STUDENT POPULATION
PER SEMESTER (SY 07-08)
Institute of Chemistry
PhD: 10.5
MS: 100
BS: 276.5

AVERAGE ENRO LLMENT NEW STUDENTS PER YEAR (since SY 90-91)

(SY1983-84 to SY 2007-08) PhD: 25.7 MS: 135.1
PhD: 144.9 MS: 449.8 BS: 1401.3 BS: 381.9 (since SY 83-84)

PHILIPPINE SCIENCE HIGH SCHO O L SYSTEM

Cam puses: 8 (Main: Dilim an, Q .C.) Graduates Per Year
Student Population: 2821 (SY 2004-05) PhD: 12.92 (50.3% of new entrants)
Freshm an intak e: 240 (Main) + 90 x 7 MS: 46.16 (34.2%)
BS: 236.2 (61.8%)
College of Science: Advanced Manpower Development
80 PhD graduates MS Graduates

70 GRADUATES (April 1984 to April 2008)

PhD: 323 MS: 1,154 BS: 5,905
Graduates

60

50

40
Graduates Per Year
PhD: 12.92 MS: 46.16 BS: 236.2
30

20
GRADUATES (May 2007-April 2008)
10 PhD: 19 (+47%) MS:77 (+66.8%) BS:251 (+6.3%)
0
83-84
84-85
85-86
86-87
87-88
88-89
89-90
90-91
91-92
92-93
93-94
94-95
95-96
96-97
97-98
98-99
99-00
00-01
01-02
02-03
03-04
04-05
05-06
06-07
07-08
Schoolyear PHD FACULTY (2S, SY07-08): 144
Professors: 53 + (2)
Associate Professors: 51 + (1)
200 NewPhDstudents NewMSstudents Assistant Professors: 36 + (1)
180 Instructor 7: 4
160 No. of Regular Faculty Item s: 257
New Students

140
120
100
AVERAGE ENRO LLMENT
80 (SY1983-84 to SY 2007-08)
60 PhD: 144.9 MS: 449.8 BS: 1401.3
40
20 NEW STUDENTS PER YEAR
0 PhD: 25.7 MS: 135.1
BS: 381.9 (from SY83-84)
90-91
91-92
92-93
93-94
94-95
95-96
96-97
97-98
98-99
99-00
00-01
01-02
02-03
03-04
04-05
05-06
06-07
07-08

Schoolyear
ISI Publication Output

No. of Regular Faculty Items: 258

PhD Faculty: 146
Professors: 58
Associate Professors: 54
Assistant Professors: 34
Instructors: 141
Publications in ISI-indexed Journals

Indonesia
Philippines
Vietnam
Malaysia
Thailand
Singapore
Hong Kong
Harvard Univ
Taiwan
Korea
Russia
Italy
China
Canada
France
Germany
Japan
England

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000
No. of ISI Publications in 2003
The Marine Science Institute
www.msi.upd.edu.ph

CRTR: C oral Reef Targeted Research

Sponsors: Global Environm ental Facility, W orld Bank , Univ o f Q ueensland,
US National O ceanic and Atm ospheric Adm inistration

Sourc e: www.gefc oral.org

Complex adaptive systems

New Scientist (22 Sept 2003)

Proceedings of the National Academ y of Sciences USA Volum e 100,

pp 11947-11952 (14 O ctober 2003)

Spek trum Der

W issenschaft
(Nr 6/2003)

NATURE Science News

Update (23 Sept 2003)
W ired
(January 2004)
Photonics Research

Photonics Spectra [1 ] MRS Bulletin [2 ] Las er Focus World [3 ] Photonics Spectra [4 ] GI T I maging &Micros copy [4]
A ugus t 2 0 0 2 D ec ember 2 0 0 4 January 2 0 0 6 February 2 0 0 6 M arc h 2 0 0 6
Materials Res earch Society

1. V Daria, J Miranda, C Salom a , Applied O ptics 41, pp 4157-4161 (10 July 2002)
2. V C em ine, B Buenaobra , C Blanca, C Salom a, O ptics Letters 29, 2479-2481 (1 Nov 2004)
3. S Marcos, M Soriano, C Salom a, O ptics Ex press 13, p 8766 (31 O ct 2005)
4. C Blanca, V C em ine, V Sastine, C Salom a, Applied Physics Letters 87, 231104 (5 Dec 2005)
5. G Bautista, C Blanca, S Delica , B Buenaobra, C Salom a O ptics Ex press 14, 1021 (6 Feb 2006)

Photonics Spectra [5 ]
A pril 2 0 0 6

U S P atent 7 ,2 3 5 ,9 8 8 (2 6 June 2 0 0 7 )
I nventors : C Saloma, V D aria, J M iranda
One of most exciting research in imaging in 2006
Optical Society of America

Optics & Photonics News

D ec ember 2 0 0 6
Optical Society of America
 Issue: Faculty Salary

Professor 12 (UP) PhP 397,488 pre-tax

(USD 9,033.82)
Associate Professor 7 315,516
Assistant Professor 7 269,700
Instructor 1 165,612 (USD3,763.91)
Source: UP Accounting O ffice

Tax: PhP30T + 30% of excess of PhP250,000

Minimum Wage (US Federal): USD12,355 (USD5.85/hr)

SCIENCE Vol 314 (3 Nov 2006)

US Academic Median Salaries (in USD)

2005 2006
Male 74,832 78,382 (104,964)
Fem ale 57,270 60,809 (78,658)

Source: 2005 UP Ad-hoc Com m ittee

Cost of Higher Education

2004 Tuition Fee (in pesos per unit credit)

Ateneo de Manila University 2,200
De La Salle University 1,700
University of Santo Tomas 900
Ateneo de Davao 603
University of San Carlos (Cebu) 538
St Louis University (Baguio) 580
UP Diliman & Manila 300
UPLB 250
UP Visayas, Baguio, Mindanao 200

Source: 2005 UP Ad-hoc Com m ittee

Tuition Fee Per Annum

US Private 4-year College (1971-72) - USD 840
US Private 4-year College (2002-03) - USD 18,273

Georgetown University - USD 45T (2006)

Source: www.econom ist.com

The National Science Complex: Phase I

I ns titute of C hemis try

N ational I ns titute of P hys ic s

I ns titute of M athematic s
Asia on the rise
NATURE 447, p 885 (21 June 2007)

Asia Pacific share of world’s ISI publications:

15% (1990) to 25% (2006)

Asia Pacific is strong in the physical sciences.

www.vis c otek.c om

ISI publications (2006): Europe, Asia-Pac ~ US

Chemistry: Europe ~ Asia-Pac, US
Engineering: Europe ~ Asia-Pac, US
Photonics: Asia-Pac, Europe, US

Weakness: Asia Pac papers are less cited.

D. King, Nature 430, p 311 (11 July 2004)

 How many PhD’s do we need in the Philippines?

Sourc e: D King, “T he s c ientific impac t of nations ,” N ature (L ondon) 4 3 0 , pp. 3 1 1 -3 1 7 (2 0 0 4 )

Philippines (Population: 87.9 M) - 26,508 PhDs (Germany, 1 PhD per 3,316)

- 7,564 PhDs (Japan, 1 PhD per 11,621)
- 13,454 PhDs (US, 1 PhD per 6,533)

Philippines (2003): 1,374 PhDs (Natural Sciences, Eng’g, Agriculture, Mediicine, SocSci & Humanties)
Source: Compendium of S&T Statistics, DOST (June 2007)
 Why are Filipinos poor?
Why is Philippine society (perceived to be) corrupt?

Source: The Econom ist

LAST SLIDE
Contributions of Science to Society

The Nobel Prize

 The Nobel Prize is the first international award given yearly since 1901 for achievements in
physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. The prize consists of a medal, a personal
diploma, and a prize amount.

 In 1968, the Sveriges Riksbank (Bank of Sweden) instituted the Prize in Economic Sciences in
memory of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize.

 In the beginning, more than three prize winners could share a Nobel Prize. Amended in 1968,
restricting the number of prizewinners to only three.

 Previously, a person could be awarded a prize posthumously if the nomination was made
before February 1 of the same year. Since 1974, the Prize may only go to a deceased person
who has been named as prize winner for the year (usually in October) but who dies before
the Prize Award Ceremony on December 10.

Source: www.nobel.se
Nationalities (Nobel Prize in Physics)
1980 - 2007

United States 42
Germany 10
France 4
Netherlands 3
Switzerland 2
Russia 3
UK, Japan, Canada, Sweden 1 each

Since 1980, 66.7% of Nobel Laureates are based in the US.

1USD = PhP56.3
Private Sector: R&D Spending

www.econom ist.com
Top 10 Organizations Receiving Most U.S. Patents in 2005

1. International Business Machines Corp. (USA) 2941 (1 in 2004)

2. Canon K.K. (Japan) 1828 (3)
3. Hewlett-Packard Co. (USA) 1797 (4)
4. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Japan) 1688 (2)
5. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Korea) 1641 (6)
6. Micron Technology, Inc. (USA) 1561 (5)
7. Intel Corp. (USA) 1549 (7)
8. Hitachi, Ltd. (Japan) 1271 (8)
9. Toshiba Corp. (Japan) 1258 (9)
10. Fujitsu Ltd. (Japan) 1154 (1)

Source: www.uspto.gov
Patents & Technology

Approx. Cost Per Patent (2004)

IBM - USD1.7 Million
HP - USD1.9 Million
Microsoft - USD 11.1 Million

Source: The Econom ist

Top 10 Universities Receiving U.S. Patents in 2005

Rank in 2005/No. of Patents Rank in 2004/No. of Patents

1 390 University of California (1) (424)

2 136 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (3) (132)

3 101 C alifornia Institute of Technology (2) (135)

4 90 Stanford University (6) (75)

90 University of Tex as (4) (101)

5 77 University of W isconsin (8) (64)

6 71 John Hopk ins University (5) (94)

71 University of Michigan (7) (67)

7 64 University of Florida (13) (41)

8 57 C olum bia University (10) (52)

9 43 Georgia Institute of Technology 19) (37)

43 University of Pennsylvania (24) (32)

10 41 C ornell University (16) (40)

Source: www.uspto.gov
Energy

Source: www.economist.com
Energy

USD per barrel (last 24 m onths ending 10 June 2008)

Sourc e: www.marketwatc h.c om
Energy

Source: www.econom ist.com

Summary

 Science is fun.

 Science is a human enterprise.

 Science is a human tradition

(worldview)

 Science drives technological

innovation.