Developing countries have their own particular political, economic and cultural circumstances. There are, therefore, no unique solutions. However there are some factors which are common to all or most of them, namely the lack of human and financial resources and in most cases an absence of a political commitment to the advancement of science. Such situations are in a sense not peculiar to developing nations because in some developed countries astronomy has a ‘developing’ status. Even in countries where astronomy is well established, the commitment and allocations required to maintain the status quo need to be continuously addressed. Hence strategies for fighting this “constant battle” are relevant to all astronomers of the world, while being especially vital to those in the developing world.

Proposals on future astronomy facilities have been surveyed in China recent years. Among the others, the Large Multi-Object Spectroscopy Telescope (LAMOST) has been cosidered to have higher priority by the astronomical community because of its optimum fit of large aperture and large field of view (POV) in the design. The LAMOST has been approved as a national project this year.

Astronomy in Vietnam is still heavily underdeveloped. The few telescopes of the Observatory of Phu Lien (Hai Phong) were moved during the wars and become unusable. Most of the astronomers who graduated from the universities in the former Soviet Union are now working in other fields. Astronomy and astrophysics are among the basic sciences that Vietnam is willing to promote.

Modern astronomy came to India in tow with the Europeans and was institutionalized more than 200 years ago by the (English) East India Company with the establishment in 1790 of Madras Observatory for assistance in navigational and geographical surveys. One hundred years later, in 1899, it was replaced by a solar observatory at Kodaikanal set up by the government to meet the European scientists’ demand for sunny skies and in the hope that a study of the Sun would help predict the failure of monsoons, the key factor then as now in Indian economy. It is mildly interesting to note that, when the scientific agenda was laid down by the Royal Society, no mention was made of climate or rains [1].

The Soviet Union developed science (including astronomy) to a high level, although largely isolated from the rest of the world. In 1990 about 2% of GDP, i.e. tenths of a billion dollars per year, were invested in science. The USSR occupied fourth place in the world in respect of its investment in science. More than a million persons worked in scientific research, with about 3,000 of those in astronomy.

We aim to help the scientifically lonely astronomer in small astronomical institutions. Criterion: Any country or university the IAU helps to develop astronomy must contribute significantly.

The IAU program on Exchange of Astronomers is directed by Commission 38. The details of the program and the way it is carried out are decribed in the IAU Information Bulletins under the heading “Guidelines for Grants”. Here I only give some basic facts about the program.

First of all it is a general program. All astronomers can apply and until now Commission 38 has been able to offer a grant to those who fulfill the conditions in the “Guidelines for Grants”.

The IAU has as its task (Statute 1):

1. (a) to develop astronomy through international cooperation;

2. (b) to promote the study and development of astronomy in all aspects;

3. (c) to further and safeguard the interests of astronomy.

The Union to carry out its mandate is organized into 11 Divisions representing major branches of astronomical activity. The Divisions are composed of specialist Commissions -out of 39 Commissions, 31 operate within the divisional structure: of the 8 Commissions which do not, 6 may be regarded as representing “Services”. Additionally there are 4 Working Groups of the Executive Committee. Table 1 lists the Divisions and their constituent Commissions.

Of the 185 countries that are Member States of the United Nations, nearly 100 have professional or amateur astronomical organizations. Only about 60 of these countries, however, are sufficiently involved in astronomy to belong to the International Astronomical Union. Only about 20 countries, representing 15% of the world’s population, have access to the full range of astronomical facilities and information.

Education is a necessary part of the development of astronomy, both to train astronomers and teachers, and to increase public understanding and appreciation of our science. In all countries (and particularly the developing ones), astronomy can attract young people to science and technology. Much is known about how to teach astronomy effectively, at all levels, both in and out of school. The problem is to publicize and implement this knowledge.

Astronomy offers a unique opportunity for promoting the science teaching in its present crisis. Astronomy can be introduced at various levels and become the medium by which both primary science education and public understanding of science are stimulated.

At the University level, astronomy can be introduced in the curricula of university colleges and be a subject for M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees. Astronomy, can give students the opportunity to work scientifically from observations and known physical laws in order to derive knowledge in another field of science. Astronomy can be taught with less formalism and more experimentation, giving students a feel for the link between a phenomenon and its theoretical representation, and how and why a given observation can be represented by different theoretical models.

In the Soviet Union (SU) professional curricula were the same in each republic. After the dissolution of the SU the various states in the Commonwealth of Independent States gradually adopted quite different curricula. Some professions were narrowed in scope or were no longer provided for. Until recently there were, in Central Asia, three types of curricula for taining astronomers.

Similarly to other developing nations, Mexico is a country full of contrasts and contradictions; within the country there are many very backward conditions, and yet it strives to participate in advanced scientific activities.

The country has 95 million inhabitants, the median age of the population is 18 years, the fraction of teenagers that attend upper high school is 30% and the fraction of those in the 18-22 age bracket that attend college is 14%. Finally it should be pointed out that the expenditure in science amounts to 0.3% of the Gross National Product, GNP. These figures should be compared with developed countries, where 85 % of the youngsters attend high school, 45 % of those in the 18-22 age bracket attend college, and typically 1 % of the GNP is spent on science.

In the following article we present the way in which professional astronomers are trying to influence the general understanding of astronomy in Mexico. The long-term goal is to have a population that includes science as part of its culture. The paper is mainly a list of some of the many things that can be done to enhance understanding of science, descriptions of the different items can be found in the references, which include the proceedings of three meetings on astronomy education and magazines dedicated to the teaching of astronomy.

The ambiguity in this paper’s title is deliberate. Are we talking about astronomers or telescopes in developing countries? And are the countries concerned developing economically or astronomically? In practice I will cover both options in each case.

The list below summarizes six possible routes for the acquisition of astronomical observational data that may be available to astronomers in countries developing economically, astronomically or in both ways. Not all these options will be available in any one case; indeed most of them will probably not be available. However, examples of all of them can readily be found.

There is no question that relatively small telescopes are powerful tools for astronomy, just as they always have been. With the new detectors and full usage of computers, they have become even more powerful, enabling us to do with a one-meter aperture telescope today more than 4-meter or 5-meter telescopes could do only a few decades ago. And the small ones cost a lot less to build and operate than the large ones. As such, small telescopes are the main hope for observing time for the many astronomers worldwide who need them as part of their research (or educational) tools. They can make a major impact on many areas of research and will be of great value for scientific education as well. Astronomy is very interesting to students and to the general public, not just to astronomers. Furthermore, most areas of astronomical research are data poor and more telescopes are needed to effectively attack the problems. Only a very few of us have adequate telescope time for our research or educational needs.

Although the importance of astronomy as a field of basic science and a discipline of fundamental education is well recognized among us, it is not always easy to share this recognition with those people whose interests are tightly bound to their daily lives on the Earth, even within one country. The activities of the Japanese within the “Neighborhood Program” are reviewed and brief discussions of them are presented.

We want to help scientists in developing countries (DC) do research because of their intelligence and devotion to science. But frankly, observational and even theoretical research is very expensive. For a developed country an estimate of the average project cost that includes salaries, the equipment used, and the institutional overhead is roughly $100,000 (US). In DC the salaries are lower, but not necessarily the equipment.

There are several international organizations currently working towards raising the standard of science and technology in the third world countries (TWCs). It is being appreciated that instead of dealing with the issue on a country by country basis, it helps to view and solve the problem in a network mode. It is sometimes the case that one TWC may have resource persons, or facilities which can benefit by sharing with the other TWCs. Or, a group of workers from different TWCs can be brought together for a school or workshop in which experts drawn from different parts of the world participate as lecturers or guides.

Before going to the central theme it is perhaps necessary to say what science is, as opposed to other human knowledge. In a rather short statement science may be defined as a world picture, or it may be closer to the heart of the matter if it is said that science is the product of organized fantasy about the real world. Up to this point it must be hastily added that there are also many other branches in human knowledge that share the same characteristics with science. For example, experiment is thought to be peculiar to science. Actually the alchemists of the middle ages did undertake experiments. What was missing in their experiments -and only later applied by Lavoisier and other giants of science in that period- are the hypothetical-deduction methods that science multiplied. Again, observations and logic were also thought to be peculiar to science. We learned, however, the astrologers did make observations and that theologians had logic and that logic is is perhaps the most methodological component of all human inquiry. Thus, as such, one would not be able to discern science from the rest of human activities. But there are boundaries within which science can legitimately operate. The first one is that science denies two types of truth: truth by logic and truth by faith. On the other hand science accommodates only one truth. The other boundary is the constant test by internal logic of necessity and by external public record. These boundary conditions must always be observed, as otherwise one will fall into the realm of magic.