The Future of Physics and Society

The present Workshop was supported by the UNESCO–Physics Action Council, the European Physical Society, OMFB, OTKA, MTA and MALÉV. It affirmed the ongoing importance of physics for its own sake and as part of our culture, as a key element in 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.

A principal function of the Workshop was to submit a report making recommendations to the UNESCO/ICSU World Conference on Science (WCS), to be held in Budapest, June, 1999. Nevertheless, a great many important points were raised which are addressed to the international physics community rather than to the WCS.