During and after World War II, the U.S. rapidly gained ascendancy in science, propelled by government funding, such as for the National Science Foundation in 1950, plus vigorous private research, such as at Bell Labs – the laser, the transistor, the cell phone. Scientists both local and from war-ravaged nations and up-and-comers (read: China) flocked to the US.
In 2024 1/3 of all physicists, chemists, geologists, astronomers, and biologists were foreign-born. US science runs on a critical foundation, the brains of immigrants. Personally, I take the presence of Chinese nationals on articles in the top science journals as an endorsement of the value of the research. China has raced to the top in major measures of scientific productivity. Shockingly, the last three months have unraveled core parts of US science that will take decades, if ever, to restore.
American and foreign scientists are deported or are leaving the US voluntarily for China, France, and elsewhere, as if going into exile. Major universities may consider leaving. Their motivation is writ large in administration attacks on individual scientists such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, on DEI groups, on whole universities such as Columbia, and on whole scientific fields, some of them biomedical, and otherwise critical fields. US science is in for a very hard landing. English will remain the language of science; its authors will mostly be non-native speakers.
This has been an outreach activity of the Las Cruces Academy, viewable at GreatSchools.org.
Source: diverse news online and in print
Image: Columbia University, NY Times
