‘No science meets in US if entry ban is on’

Physicists from across the world, including those from India, have resolved that no scientific conferences will be organised in the US in 2018 if the Trump government continues with its ban on the entry of citizens from Muslim-majority countries.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), comprising 61 countries that includes India, said “bans on movement of people based on nationality will have adverse effects on physics in the US and worldwide.”

“Should any ban on the entry of citizens of any country to the US be in place in October 2017, when IUPAP determines which conferences it will support in 2018, the IUPAP Policy on Free circulation of Scientists will require it to refrain from supporting any conferences,” read a statement from Bruce HJ McKellar, president, IUPAP.

“It (the resolution) is in line with a long-standing policy of the Union that no bona fide scientist should be excluded from participating in an international conference on the grounds of national origin, nationality, or political considerations unrelated to science,” professor Deepak Mathur, chairperson of the IUPAP National Committee, and physicist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research told HT. “India consistently supported this policy, which is based on universality of science.”

The IUPAP Council has requested the US government to revoke the executive order. “Legitimate concern about the access of terrorists to the US can be addressed through more focused measures,” it said.

The council has also said that the ban is not in the interest of the US and is “an assault on the progress of physics in the US and around the world”.

“...The restrictions placed on free circulation of scientists by this Executive Order will have unintended consequences on the quantity and quality of physics research done in the US. And because many of the students, when they graduate, work in the US industry, the quality of industrial innovation, will also be adversely affected,” it read.

It (the resolution) is in line with a longstanding policy of the Union that no bona fide scientist should be excluded from participating in an international conference on the grounds of national origin, nationality, or political considerations unrelated to science. DEEPAK MATHUR, chairperson, IUPAP National Committee