South Africa

=== Science and technology ===
{{Main|Science and technology in South Africa}}
[[File:Mark Shuttleworth NASA.jpg|thumb|[[Mark Shuttleworth]] in space]]
Several important scientific and technological developments have originated in South Africa. South Africa was ranked 59th in the [[Global Innovation Index]] in 2023, up from 63rd in 2019.<ref>{{Cite book |last=WIPO |title=Global Innovation Index 2023, 15th Edition |url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2023/index.html |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=www.wipo.int |date=2 November 2023 |publisher=World Intellectual Property Organization |doi=10.34667/tind.46596 |isbn=9789280534320 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Global Innovation Index 2019|url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2019/index.html|access-date=2 September 2021|website=www.wipo.int|language=en|archive-date=2 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902101818/https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2019/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=28 October 2013|title=Global Innovation Index|url=https://knowledge.insead.edu/entrepreneurship-innovation/global-innovation-index-2930|access-date=2 September 2021|website=INSEAD Knowledge|language=en|archive-date=2 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902101622/https://knowledge.insead.edu/entrepreneurship-innovation/global-innovation-index-2930|url-status=live}}</ref> The first human-to-human [[Heart transplantation|heart transplant]] was performed by cardiac surgeon [[Christiaan Barnard]] at [[Groote Schuur Hospital]] in December 1967; [[Max Theiler]] developed a [[Yellow fever vaccine|vaccine]] against [[yellow fever]], [[Allan MacLeod Cormack]] pioneered X-ray computed tomography ([[CT scan]]); and [[Aaron Klug]] developed [[Electron crystallography|crystallographic electron microscopy]] techniques. Cormack and Klug received [[Nobel Prize]]s for their work. [[Sydney Brenner]] won in 2002, for his pioneering work in [[molecular biology]].

[[Mark Shuttleworth]] founded an early Internet security company [[Thawte]]. It is the objective of the government to transition the economy to be more reliant on high technology, based on the realization South Africa cannot compete with Far Eastern economies in manufacturing, nor can it rely on its mineral wealth.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

South Africa has cultivated a burgeoning [[astronomy]] community. It hosts the [[Southern African Large Telescope]], the largest [[optical telescope]] in the [[Southern Hemisphere]]. South Africa is currently building the [[MeerKAT|Karoo Array Telescope]] as a pathfinder for the €1.5&nbsp;billion [[Square Kilometre Array]] project.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.skatelescope.org/news/2nd-april-news/|title=SKA announces Founding Board and selects Jodrell Bank Observatory to host Project Office|publisher=SKA 2011|date=2 April 2011|access-date=14 April 2011|archive-date=29 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029041532/http://www.skatelescope.org/news/2nd-april-news/|url-status=live}}</ref>