Russian Expats Challenge Government's 'Disastrous' Support for Science

摘要

On 2 October, 100 Russian researchers who permanently work abroad published a letter in the leading Moscow business newspaper Vedomosti complaining of "the disastrous situation in Russian basic research." The letter, addressed to Russia's president and its prime minister, pointed in particular to extremely low levels of funding and a continuing massive brain drain. "We certainly hope to draw the attention of the political leadership of the country to the dangers of neglecting fundamental science and education," says Andrei Starinets, a physicist at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and an author of the letter. "It takes years before investments in fundamental science and education pay off. These issues therefore require strategic rather than tactical thinking."