Brain gain

Hosting the planned Square Kilometre Array could help South Africa develop world-class research, says Naledi Pandor, the country’s science minister

South Africa and Australia are competing to host the world’s biggest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array. Why South Africa?

The SKA needs to be located in a region with very little interference from radio transmissions. We have a geographic advantage: it would be built in the sparsely populated Karoo region, one of the most interference-free areas in the world. It is also a location on the planet that lets us probe the deepest recesses of the universe and study cosmic magnetism, galactic evolution and dark matter.

Are other African countries involved?

Absolutely. We didn’t want to be the lone African partner on the SKA so we included eight other African countries, which are developing parts of the project. What was, frankly, a science of older gentlemen is producing a new cohort of young people intrigued by the thought of probing dark matter, so you have all these young engineers and astrophysicists from Mozambique, Rwanda, and Namibia suddenly working together.

It’s lovely to see Africa become a leading player in an area where many of us would not imagine the continent playing a role, and the effects this has. Mozambique, for example, is building a new science park because of this interaction.


South Africa is not a rich country. Why do you want to host the SKA?

One challenge we have in Africa, not just South Africa, is brain drain. An important global science project creates brain gain: we can attract scientists from all over the world because they want to be part of it. If you lock yourself out of innovative projects like this, you lock yourself out of talent, and that we cannot afford in South Africa, nor in the rest of Africa.

South Africa and its partner countries are already building a radio telescope. Why?

The MeerKAT is a demonstrator radio telescope for the SKA. This itself will be the most sensitive radio telescope in the southern hemisphere. It will consist of 64 dishes. So far a test bed of seven dishes has been constructed.

Are you doing anything else to encourage the next generation of South African scientists?

We plan 144 new university chairs in research – 82 are already funded. We also support 27 science centres throughout the country, where young people can go after school, do experiments and hear stories. We hope this will lead to a better understanding of scientific issues by the public too.

South Africa launched its own space agency last year. What are your plans?

I believe we should be doing much more with satellites. We spend $80 million a year purchasing satellite images from other countries. We can save that money and invest it in developing our own satellites, useful both to us and the rest of Africa.

Will the next Einstein come from Africa?

I hope we’ll get a Nobel science prize. If we’re successful with the MeerKAT and the technology we want to develop, there may be a prize lurking.