The most important aspects of science and technology in Argentina are concerned with

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies th ...

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

, space and rocket technology and several fields related to the country's main economic activities. According to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

exports in high-technology are products with high R&D intensity, such as in aerospace, computers, pharmaceuticals, scientific instruments, and electrical machinery. Benefiting from

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

's highest literacy rates since shortly after

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was President of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. He was a member of a group of intellectuals, known as the '' Generation of 1837'', who had a great influence on 19th-century Argent ...

made primary education universally available in the 1860s and 1870s, Argentine researchers and professionals at home and abroad continue to enjoy a high standing in their fields. Argentine Bernardo Houssay was the first Latin American awarded with a

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

in sciences. Educated in a

National University A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. In the United States, the term "national university" connotes the highe ...

, Houssay went on to establish Argentina's National Research Council, a centerpiece in Argentine scientific and technological development, fifty years on. Many other Argentines have contributed to scientific development around the world, though sometimes having to

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to do so. Probably for that, the Argentine education is referred as the ''Latin American docta'' (in Spanish: ''La docta Latinoamericana''), which originates from the Latin ''docta'' (learned). Argentina was ranked 76th in the

Global Innovation Index The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for and success in innovation, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and ''World Business'', a Britis ...

in 2024.

Eminences in their fields

Despite its modest budget and numerous setbacks, academics and the sciences in Argentina have enjoyed international respect since the turn of the 1900s, when Dr. Luis Agote devised the first safe and effective means of

blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's Circulatory system, circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used ...

as well as

René Favaloro René Gerónimo Favaloro (July 12, 1923 – July 29, 2000) was an Argentine Cardiothoracic surgery, cardiac surgeon and Teacher, educator best known for his pioneering work on coronary artery bypass surgery using the great saphenous vein. Ear ...

, who was a pioneer in the improvement of the bypass surgery . Argentina is the Latin American country with the most Nobel Prize laureates; and has three Nobel Prize winners in the sciences: Bernardo Houssay in Physiology or Medicine in 1947, Luis Federico Leloir in Chemistry in 1970, and César Milstein in Physiology or Medicine in 1984. Dr. Domingo Liotta created the first artificial heart in 1969, revolutionizing the heart transplant field. They have also contributed to

bioscience ''BioScience'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal that is published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. It was established in 1964 and was preceded by the ''AIBS Bulletin'' (1951–1 ...

in efforts like the

Human Genome Project The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...

, where Argentine scientists have successfully mapped the

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

of a living being, a world first. Argentina has its own satellite programme, nuclear power station designs (4th generation) and public nuclear energy company

INVAP INVAP S.E. is an Argentine company that provides design, integration, construction and delivery of equipment, plants and devices. The company operates in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and delivers ...

, which provides several countries with nuclear reactors. Aquarius SAC-D satellite

Other projects are focusing on IS, nanotechnology, biotechnology, helicopters, farming machinery and military defensive systems. Established in 1991, the

CONAE The National Space Activities Commission (Spanish language , Spanish: ''Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales'', CONAE) is the civilian agency of the government of Argentina in charge of the national space programme. History Sociedad ...

has since launched 8 indigenous built satellites successfully, AMSAT, MuSat, SAC-B, SAC-A, SAC-C, SAC-D/Aquarius, ARSAT I and ARSAT-2. In June 2009, secured an agreement with the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

on for the installation of a 35-m diameter antenna and other mission support facilities at the

Pierre Auger Observatory The Pierre Auger Observatory is an international cosmic ray observatory in Argentina designed to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays: sub-atomic particles traveling nearly at the speed of light and each with energies beyond . In Earth's atmosphe ...

. The facility will contribute to numerous ESA space probes, as well as CONAE's own, domestic research projects. Chosen from 20 potential sites and one of only three such ESA installations in the world, the new antenna will create a triangulation which will allow the ESA to ensure mission coverage around the clock.

Social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

have a particularly strong tradition in Argentina. Home to 122

think tanks A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-gov ...

specializing in

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

issues, Argentina ranks fifth in the number of these institutions worldwide. In April 2009, Dr. Sandra Díaz, researcher from the Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal (IMBIV - NU of C), was elected as a foreign associate member to the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.) in recognition of her outstanding work on climate change, being the first Hispanic woman to achieve this honor. Moreover, Dr. Diaz won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Leloir festejando

Currently there are further outstanding Argentine researchers in the mentioned institution as Alberto Carlos Frasch ( NU of SAM), Armando Parodi ( NU of SAM - Leloir Institute), and Francisco de la Cruz ( Balseiro Institute - NU of Cu). Among the public institutions devoted to research and development in Argentina are: * CITEDEF:

Defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

Scientific and Technical Research Institute * CNEA: National Atomic Energy Commission *

: National Space Activities Commission *

CONICET The National Scientific and Technical Research Council (, CONICET) is an Argentine government agency which directs and co-ordinates most of the scientific and technical research done in universities and institutes. History The National Scient ...

: the National Research Council *

INTA Inta (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in the Komi Republic, Russia. Population: History Inta was founded around 1940 as a settlement to support a geological expedition to explore coal deposits and projecting of mines. The ...

: National Agricultural Technology Institute *

INTI Inti is the ancient Inca mythology, Inca solar deity, sun god. He is revered as the national Tutelary deity, patron of the Inca state. Although most consider Inti the sun god, he is more appropriately viewed as a cluster of solar aspects, since t ...

: National Industrial Technology Institute *

: Argentine high-technology research & development company

A well-educated work force

Four out of five Argentine adults have completed grade school, over a third have completed their secondary education and one in nine Argentine adults have college degrees. Likewise, Argentina has the highest rate of university students in Latin America, besides having more within the southern hemisphere with professors and institutions awarded prestigious prizes and fellowships from philanthropic institutions like the John S. Guggenheim Foundation awards or the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, to name a few. Official sources recently reported roughly 1,500,000 college students within the Argentine University System; this represents the highest rate - relative to its total population - of academic students in Latin America and exceeds the ratio in many developed countries.

Overview of policy environment, 2015–2019

Upon taking office in December 2015, the Macri government set out eight goals and 100 priority initiatives to foster socioeconomic development. A number of these have links to the SDGs. Accordingly, through the National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies (CNCPS), the government established the National Inter-Institutional Commission for the Implementation and Monitoring of the SDGs, of which the Vice-Ministry of Science and Technology is a member.Dutrénit, G.; Aguirre-Bastos, C.; Puchet, M. and M. Salazar (2021) Latin America. In UNESCO Science Report: the Race Against Time for Smarter Development. Schneegans, S.; Straza, T. and J. Lewis (eds). UNESCO Publishing: Paris. A review found that progress had been made by 2018 towards aligning national priorities with the SDGs and in setting up adequate monitoring mechanisms. The government budget dedicated to research and development (R&D) and higher education also supports most of the national research institutes. This budget has decreased since 2015. Although research intensity has dipped only slightly since 2015, other signs suggest that a lower priority is being accorded to science, technology and innovation; research and infrastructure projects have been cut back or cancelled in the following areas: the extension of satellite networks and radar; the expansion of the nuclear industry; and support for industrial and agricultural R&D through their respective technological institutes. In 2018, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation was downgraded in the administrative hierarchy to a Secretariat of State under the Ministry of Education. These quantitative and qualitative changes are likely to have perturbed the growth rate of scientific articles, which has been slow and irregular since 2011. Meanwhile, sectoral funds remain important programmes in Argentina, particularly FONSOFT, promoting the software industry and FONARSEC, the Argentine Sectoral Fund which focuses on medical, optical and precision instruments, machinery and electrical appliances. These sectoral funds are managed by the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion (ANPCyT), with public and private counterparts.

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