For half a century this city was shrouded in mystery, closed to foreigners for much of the Cold War. But in a sign of how life has changed since the Soviet Union broke up, Nizhny Novgorod is now spearheading an effort to lure foreign scientists to Russia for short stints of teaching or research. The idea is that distinguished colleagues from abroad will fire up students— and, perhaps, preserve high-level science in the fraying former superpower. The program "helps students feel they aren't doing provincial science," says Alexander Litvak, dean of the University of Nizhny Novgorod's (UNN's) Advanced School for General and Applied Physics.
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