International Workshop on the Future of Physics and Society, Debrecen, Hungary, 4-6 March 1999, Workshop Summary

Abstract

The Debrecen workshop was one of a number held in preparation for the UNESCO-ICSU World Conference on Science, which will be held in Budapest, June 1999. A report representing the views of the workshop, prepared for that conference and containing a number of recommended actions, is included with this summary. The workshop affirmed the ongoing importance of physics for its own sake and as part of our culture, as a key element in our increasingly unified science and as an essential contributor to the solution of environmental and energy problems. The problems faced by physics as an activity and as an educational subject were discussed and actions for both society as a whole and the physics community itself were put forward.