Science and technology in South Africa
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The first significant work in astronomy in South Africa was performed by
The
Notable astronomers who have worked in the country include
The
Energy
Being rich in coal, South Africa has some of the largest
In 1955 Sasol opened the first commercial Coal liquefaction plant.[5][6][7]
Commercialization of copper indium gallium sulphur selenide (CIGSSE)
The South African Solar Challenge is held bi-annually over a distance of 2,500 miles (4,000 km).
As of 2011[update] the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station is the only commercial nuclear energy station on the African continent.
Kimberley, was the first city in the Southern Hemisphere and in Africa to have electric street lights – first lit on 1 September 1882 .[9]
Mining
South African companies hold a considerable number of high value patents related to mining.[10] 10% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of South Africa is generated by mining companies such as De Beers, Anglo American and others. They also produce over 50,000 jobs nationally. Mafube Coal Mine near Middelburg, Mpumalanga is one of the largest and is operated by Anglo Coal, a division of Anglo American. Since grassroots stages in September 2004, this project's estimated net worth is at ZAR$16 Billion Africa Mining IQ lists along with project history.
BHP, one of the foremost mining companies in South Africa as well as Sasol, Xstrata and PetroSA are also in large-scale operations.
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Nuclear weapons programme
During the 1960s and 1980s South Africa had been pursuing research into the development of
South Africa continues to use its surplus of Uranium as part of its nuclear energy programme, supplying the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station and SAFARI-1 research reactors.
Government policy
Despite government efforts to encourage entrepreneurship in biotechnology, information technology and other high technology fields, not many notable groundbreaking companies have been founded in South Africa.[12] It is the expressed objective of the government to transition the economy to be more reliant on high technology, based on the realisation that South Africa cannot compete with Far Eastern economies in manufacturing, nor can the republic rely on its mineral wealth in perpetuity.[13]
South Africa was ranked 61st in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, up from 63rd in 2019.[14][15][16][17]
Important advances made in South Africa
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- 1.5 Mya - Earliest evidence of controlled use of fire by humans at Swartkrans[18][19]
- 1882, 1 September – Kimberley becomes the first city in the Southern Hemisphere and in Africa to have electric street lights.[9]
- 1920 – Hendrik van der Bijl publishes The thermionic vacuum tube and its applications.[20] The standard textbook on the subject of vacuum tubes for more than 20 years.[21]
- 1937 – The 17-D Yellow Fever vaccine is announced by Max Theiler
- 1945 – Council for Scientific and Industrial Research was founded
- 1955 –
- 1959 – Trevor Wadley invented the Tellurometer, the first successful microwave distance measurement device.
- 1962 –
- 1963 – The Dolos was developed in East London
- 1965, 18 March – SAFARI-1, the first nuclear reactor on the African continent, goes critical
- 1967, 3 December – The first successful human-to-human heart transplant was performed by Christiaan Barnard at Groote Schuur Hospital
- 1974 – The first automated pool cleaner, the Kreepy Krauly, was introduced by Ferdinand Chauvier
- 1975 – Development is started on a helmet mounted sight system and the South African Air Force later become the first country to deploy these during combat.[24]
- 1978 –
- 1995 – Mark Shuttleworth founded Thawte, an early Internet security company which is now the second largest certificate authority on the internet.
- 1995 – The
- 1999, 23 February – SUNSAT, the first South African produced satellite was put in orbit by an American Delta II launch vehicle.[30]
Nobel Laureates
- 1951, Max Theiler, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on producing a Yellow fever vaccine
- 1979, X-ray computed tomography
- 1982, crystallographic electron microscopyand his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes
- 2002, Sydney Brenner, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for pioneering work in molecular biology
Objects named after South Africans
- Minor planet 5038 Overbeek, discovered 31 May 1948, is named after South African astronomer Michiel Daniel Overbeek.[31]
- Minor planet 23182 Siyaxuza, discovered 23 July 2000 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research team, is named after South African scientist Siyabulela Xuza.[32]
Research institutes and societies
- Academy of Science of South Africa
- African Centre for Genome Technologies
- African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
- Agricultural Research Council (South Africa)
- Astronomical Society of Southern Africa
- Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research
- Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
- Department of Science and Technology (South Africa)
- Engineering Council of South Africa
- National Research Foundation of South Africa
- Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital
- Operations Research Society of South Africa
- Royal Society of South Africa
- SEDS
- South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative
- South African Bureau of Standards
- South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity
- Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
- South African Journal of Science
- South African Marine Predator Lab
- South African Medical Research Council
- South African National Antarctic Programme
- South African National Bioinformatics Institute
- South African National Space Agency
- Technology Innovation Agency
See also
- Industry
- Communications in South Africa
- Mining industry of South Africa
- Military
- Computing
- Go Open Source
- Ubuntu
- Communication
- South African National Research Network (SANReN)
- TENET (network), the Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa
- Other
- SEDS South Africa
- South African patent system
References
- ^ Theal, George M'Call (1897). History of South Africa under the administration of the Dutch East India Company, 1652 to 1795. London: S. Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd. pp. 74–75.
- ^ Nicolas Louis de La Caille, Thomas Henderson, Francis Baily, John Frederick William Herschel (1847). A catalogue of 9766 stars in the southern hemisphere, for the beginning of the year 1750, from the observations of the Abbe de Lacaille made at the Cape of Good Hope in the years 1751 and 1752. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Clerke, Agnes M. (1893). A popular history of astronomy during the nineteenth century. p. 8.
- Bibcode:1847raom.book.....H.
- ^ SASOL. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ a b "Historical Overview of the South African Chemical Industry: 1896 – 1998". Chemistry International. 3. 21. May 1999. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ "SASOL: COMMITTED TO GTL SINCE 1947". Sasol takes the technological lead. Reed Business Information Limited. 1 May 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
- ISBN 978-92-79-10122-9. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
- ^ a b "Timeline of Firsts". Retrieved 11 January 2010.
- ISBN 978-1-77011-236-0. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
- ^ Von Wielligh, N. & von Wielligh-Steyn, L. (2015). The Bomb – South Africa’s Nuclear Weapons Programme. Pretoria: Litera.
- ISSN 1932-4391.
- ISSN 0305-750X.
- ^ "Global Innovation Index 2021". World Intellectual Property Organization. United Nations. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ "Global Innovation Index 2019". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ "RTD - Item". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ "Global Innovation Index". INSEAD Knowledge. 28 October 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- S2CID 4318364.
- ^ Rincon, Paul (22 March 2004). "Bones hint at first use of fire". BBC. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ The thermionic vacuum tube and its applications at the Internet Archive
- ^ "Dr H J van der Bijl". South African Institute of Electrical Engineers. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ "Sanae – History". South African National Antarctic Programme. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
- ^ "SANAE". Polarconservation. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
- ^ Dick Lord; Willem Hechter (2000). Vlamgat: The Story of the Mirage F1 in the South African Air Force. 30 Degrees South Publishers. p. 74.
- ^ "Speed Record Club". Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Pantograph testing in South Africa".
- ^ "SharkShield Testing". Australia's Marine Direct. Archived from the original on 11 March 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
- ^ "Electrical Shark Repellent". KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
- ^ "Background on the SUNSAT Experiment". NASA. Archived from the original on 7 September 2004. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
- Bibcode:2000MNSSA..59..101.
- ^ Farah Abdurahnam & Steve Rosenburg (June 2011). "South Africa's Unsung Rocket Scientist Superhero. Siyabulela Xuza". Beyond Sustainable Quarterly (11): 48–49. Retrieved 12 April 2013.