Barack Obama @ MIT Source:MIT

Nobel Laureate and US President Barack Obama, in a historic visit to the MIT campus, praised the Institute's commitment to energy research and issued a strong call for the nation to lead the world in the development of new, efficient and clean energy technologies. 

President Obama's visit to MIT was only the second in the Institute's history by a sitting president, following President Bill Clinton's appearance for a Commencement address in 1998. This was the first such visit to include a tour of laboratories and meetings with MIT faculty members.

"Nations everywhere are racing to develop new ways to produce and use energy," he said in remarks delivered to a packed  Auditorium in MIT. "The nation that wins this competition will be the nation that leads the global economy. I'm convinced of that. And I want America to be that nation." he said in  his speech on "American leadership in clean energy".

"Extraordinary research [is] being conducted at this Institute," Obama said, citing work that could lead to windows that generate electricity, batteries that are grown by viruses rather than being built, highly efficient new lighting systems and ways of storing energy from offshore windmills so that it can be delivered when needed.

"You just get excited being here, and seeing these extraordinary young people," he said. "It taps into something essential about America," he said, asserting that the nation has "always been about discovery. It's in our DNA."
 

Obama's talk came as Congress gears up for hearings on clean energy legislation and as negotiators from around the world prepare for December's U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen.

So Obama government is all Set to the revival of science and education in US. Though his recent comments that Chinese and Indian students are more hardworking and catching up has gathered attention , the truth that US is well ahead in research(in any discipline) is indisputable. Ofcourse US development received all it's boost from advancements in education and science . And the US president very well knows that in this situation of recession the required  impulse which can bring back US on fast track and sustain it there, is required in the form of new discoveries and inventions. 

India should take a leaf out of this. We too have premium research institutes, the time has come  to enhance the education systems and give enough focus on Research and development. This is not just possible by government policies and funding, a collective effort from all quarters is highly required.