The New York Times: Russian scientists face isolation after the war on Ukraine

The New York Times published an article on March 12 by Dennis Overby in which international scientific cooperation is now being unraveled by Russia's war on Ukraine, while scholars, including many in Russia, are vocal in their opposition. .

At CERN, outside Geneva, Switzerland, scientists are still happy to describe the diverse group of peoples who worked side by side a decade ago to discover the Higgs boson, the key to mass in the universe, Overby says. Just as astronauts are proud of the fellowship of the universe, symbolized by the festive exchange of bread and salt when crews arrive at the International Space Station.

But these relations are now under threat with growing opposition to the Russian war on Ukraine in the scientific community, even in Russia, where the use of the word "invasion" in relation to Ukraine is now a crime, according to the newspaper.

Academic conferences and exchanges have been cancelled. Open letters from Nobel Prize winners and other groups have spread. The Russian and US space programs, which have been intertwined for 30 years, now appear to be at a crossroads.

Russia and the European Organization for Nuclear Research

Waves of condemnation of the Russian war on Ukraine reached the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which for a long time was a symbolic image of the dream of international cooperation.

At a meeting of its board of directors, the organization's laboratory said it would not participate in any new cooperation with the Russian Federation "until further notice" and suspended its membership as an observer in the laboratory.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research was established in the aftermath of World War II to bring nations and peoples together for the peaceful pursuit of science, and a statement issued by the Council on March 8 said, "This aggression goes against everything the organization stands for."

The organization's laboratory was formed in 1954 to help connect war-torn Europe, and its operations involve scientists from 100 countries and territories. The lab is run by a council of 23 member states, each of which sends two delegates, a scientist and a diplomat, to the chancellor.

Each state has one vote. Russia is not a member, but like the United States and Japan it has observer status, which means it may send delegations to meetings but not have the right to vote.

Ukraine is among 7 associate members. The expulsion of a Member State or State as an observer requires a two-thirds vote; Votes are counted confidentially.

CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti noted in a statement that the organization's mission is to build bridges between countries.

"In times of aggression, war and political division, the sciences and the arts can play a role in keeping the channels of communication open. These channels will be necessary to rebuild when the time comes," she said.

support from physicists

The CERN decision elicited the support of a sample of physicists contacted by phone and email. "Compared to what is happening in Ukraine, the suspension of the observer status of the Russian Federation in CERN is a relatively minor issue," said Dr. Lindy.

“The CERN decision was necessary,” wrote Pierre Raymond, a physicist at the University of Florida and one of the creators of string theory. “The lack of any of it would have been a black mark: the organization is more than a scientific marvel; it was and remains the symbol The first for the new Europe after World War II.

Kip Thorne, a physicist at Caltech who won the Nobel Prize in 2017 for discovering gravitational waves and has working relationships with Russian astrophysicists dating back to the 1960s, said in an email: Of high importance, however, what Putin and the Russian military have done in the name of the Russian Federation is so terrible that I strongly support the decision of the Council of the European Organization for Nuclear Research."

But Lisa Randall, a theoretical physicist at Harvard University, said in an email that "unless scientists are responsible for the actions of their countries, it is unfair and against the organization's international collaborative spirit to take this step."

Joseph Incandela, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who led one of the teams that discovered the Higgs boson, explained, “Those who are here can continue to come to the lab and do their work, and those who come from Russia can still get here via trails.” "It's a bit more complicated to fly if the Russian authorities allow them. They are not denied entry to the organisation."

Russia's punitive stances for its war in Ukraine were not limited to CERN.

Other positions against the Russian invasion

CERN's decision follows an announcement in late February that the International Conference of Mathematicians, to be held in St. Petersburg next July, will be held virtually instead. The meeting, which takes place every 4 years, is the largest gathering of mathematics. The Forum and Awards Ceremony will be held at a location to be determined outside of Russia.

The protests were not limited to the West. On February 24, scientific journalists and Russian scientists published an open letter in the Troatsky Variant, an independent scientific publication in Russia, in which they described the invasion of Ukraine as “unjust and frankly meaningless.”

"After the war was unleashed, Russia condemned itself to international isolation and to the position of a pariah state," the letter noted.

"This means that we, scientists, will no longer be able to do our work normally: after all, it is inconceivable to conduct scientific research without the full cooperation of colleagues from other countries."

According to Andrei Linde, a cosmologist from Stanford University in Russia and one of the signatories, about 7,750 Russians signed the letter.

Another embarrassment for Russia came when Oleg Anisimov, a climatologist at the State Hydrological Institute in St Petersburg who led the Russian delegation to the February 27 meeting of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, interrupted his speech to representatives of 195 countries to apologize to the citizens of Ukraine for Russia's aggression. .

"Let me apologize on behalf of all the Russians who were unable to prevent this conflict, and those who are aware of what is happening have failed to find any justification for the attack," Dr. Anisimov said at the meeting.

Source : The New York Times