Even greater effort needed
Many wonder why more attention is not given in Greece to the work being carried out by Greek scientists at CERN, particularly since Greece spends 10 million euros a year to take part in the research. Greece has in fact been a founding member of CERN since 1954 but the country did not pay its contributions for a number of years. It is only recently that it has paid the amount due. After Dimitris Nanopoulos was nominated as Greek delegate to the research center the situation changed. Greece now pays 1.5 percent of the CERN budget and on time. Nevertheless, the country does not reap the benefits from its contribution, as it does not pay the extra 1 million euros required for experiments to be conducted by the Greek teams. CERN should in fact have 40 permanent Greek researchers on its staff and it should be regarded as a national research center, allowing Greece scientists to spend time there. This would bring benefits to Greek industry in terms of know-how and work contracts. The actual number of Greek postgraduate students is restricted at the moment, although it could function as a center for specialization and produce top Greek scientists. It is essential for someone to pursue and secure both programs and technologies at a faster pace.
