Jaime Requena. Interciencia, 480 DECEMBER 2021 VOL 46 N 12. 05_6889_E_Requena_v46n12_8.pdf (interciencia.net)
Contribución para el Portal de la ANM por: Lilia Cruz, Individuo de Número, Sillón XIX. ORCID: 0000-0001-6405-1059. 17/01/2022
SUMMARY
Prior to the mid-20th century, scientific research in Venezuela was relatively scarce. However, political, economic, and social conditions carefully constructed in the second half of the century eventually led to an impressive boom in local science and technology. In those fifty years, academic, social, and humanistic research together with technological innovations were accomplished and put to effective use. Milestones in the process were: the creation of the Instituto Venezolano de Neurología e Investigaciones Cerebrales, subsequently restructurated as the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas where Marcel Roche led the generation of an ethos for the Venezuelan scientific researcher; or the professionalization of the activity through the creation of the Facultades de Ciencias, fundamental part of the outstanding expansion of the higher education system within the reformulated autonomous universities. Today, chimeric policies –socialismo del Siglo XXI– have ruined Venezuela, bringing about a crisis of unimaginable proportions, as demonstrated by the massive exodus of Venezuelans, including almost a quarter of its academic community.