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Astronomy for Development – A story from South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2021

Carolina J. Ödman Open the ORCID record for Carolina J. Ödman [Opens in a new window]
Carolina J. Ödman*
Affiliation:
Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville 7535, Republic of South Africa email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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In this article we describe the recent history of astronomy in South Africa from the perspective of development. We describe how all major astronomy initiatives have carried a component of development with them, be it capacity building or socio-economic development. We highlight some activities and conclude that South Africa’s coherent and ambitious strategy has led to substantial changes in the astronomy research community in South Africa and that the young astronomers now starting their careers are taking possession of a bright future.

Keywords

DevelopmentSouth Africa
Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 15 , Symposium S367: Education and Heritage in the Era of Big Data in Astronomy , December 2019 , pp. 168 - 175
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Astronomical Union

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