To Professor Jason Chang, Dept of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University Each year I am glad to read about the work of all your colleagues under the Cross- Straits Symposium on Urban Transport, and thank you for sharing this with us once again. Your wonderful, resilient. far sighted, quiet Cross-Strait transportation exchanges over, how long is it now, two decades?, bring to mind another far-sighted quiet exchange effort between scientists that was established in the middle of the Cold War to create a sense of community and common values between scientists on both sides of the then-Iron Curtain. IIASA, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. # # # In October 1972 representatives of the Soviet Union, United States, and 10 other countries from the Eastern and Western blocs met in London to sign the charter establishing the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). It was the culmination of six years’ effort by US President Lyndon Johnson and USSR Premier Alexey Kosygin, and marked the beginning of a remarkable project to use scientific cooperation to build bridges across the Cold War divide and to confront growing global problems on an international scale. In the 1970s most research organizations focused on national issues. Few encouraged researchers from different countries or disciplines to work together for the greater good. To achieve its ambitious research vision, IIASA would have to break down the barriers between nations and disciplines. Today, more than two decades after the end of the Iron Curtain, Today, IIASA, with a set just outside of Vienna, in its time a divided city, addresses the global challenges of the 21st century. # # # The vision and wisdom of those who started and who work hard to continue the Cross-Strait Exchanges on Urban Transport is to be equally highly commended. Please accept my heartfelt applause for a great and courageous idea for knowledge, peace and prosperity at a hard time on our poor planet.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 06:54:14 +0000
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