If China wants to produce a Nobel prize winner, scientists should be given free reign to determine their course of study, they suggested at a conference held by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). "In basic research, ‘guerrilla tactics' should be emphasized instead of ‘engineering tactics','' said Chen Ning Yang, a Nobel-prize laureate and co-founder of the Standard Model in particle physics.

Over-detailed plans and goals should not be made for scientists in basic research, he said.

To that end, CAS should be encouraged to continue its reform efforts, he said.

The six scientists, five Nobel Prize laureates and one Fields Prize winning mathematician, are all foreign members of CAS.

They came to Beijing at the invitation of CAS to review the Knowledge Innovation Program CAS initiated two years ago.

The program is aimed at reshuffling the CAS' current research institutions to make research more efficient.

Rudolph Marcus, winner of Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1992, suggested that the program give more money to fund young scientists' research while improving the current research review process. "A strict reviewing process by independent institutions is crucial,'' he said.

In response, Lu Yongxiang, CAS president, promised that more foreign scientists would be invited to participate in research review panels.

They also voiced support for the reform program, whose first phase is to be completed by the end of this year. The program is expected to be completed by 2010.

"Re-organization is needed to reduce swollen, inefficient institutions,'' said Yang, who has engaged in scholarly exchange with Chinese scientists for decades. "Some disagreements may arise, but the current reforms are moving in the right direction and should continue.''

(China Daily)