In this interview during the opening ceremony of IYBSSD, Karen Hallberg of Centro Atómico de Bariloche, Argentina, hopes that the celebration of IYBSSD will contribute to reducing all forms of global inequality.
Kids and Math
I don’t want to see kids telling me no, I don’t like math because it’s boring, because I don’t understand it. It is a perception that kids have, because we are not teaching it well.
I am a physicist, I work in Argentina, my main job is research and I am a teacher. My field of research is the quantum properties of matter. With my group we do computational developments to try to understand these materials that are very complex to understand, the behavior of electrons and quantum behavior.
What links can you establish between your research and sustainable development?
That of course, links then to developments and direct applications for the development of different areas of humanity. For example, if it had not been for basic science, we would not now have cell phones and all modern electronics, because transistors are based on semiconductors and semiconductors were discovered by basic science researchers more than half a century ago. So, basic science is a science that increases us as humanity, the awareness about the world around us, and then, at some point, applications come up as well.
Do you think there is any dysfunction in science education?
I don’t want to see any more children telling me no, I don’t like mathematics because it’s boring, because I don’t understand it. It is a perception that children have, because we are not teaching them well. Science is not only a set of knowledge and information. Science is also a way of thinking and that is very important too.
What is your greatest wish for this international year?
My dream, my greatest wish as a consequence of this International Year of Basic Sciences, is that this will contribute to reducing inequalities in the world. The great differences that exist, that it contributes to the large sector of the population that is relegated in several countries, to be able to get ahead not only through the applications of science, but also through the education that they can have. In other words, to reduce the differences around the world and help people who are totally relegated. For me that would be my dream. For me it is to advance in a universal knowledge where we are all included, young people too, and that there are many more women in Physics as well.
Interview by Laurent Orluc
