Opinion Hey Russia, we’ll take your disaffected scientists

The war in Ukraine is having serious ramifications for the global scientific community. Russia has always had strong capabilities in scientific research, particularly in high-energy physics, mathematics, astronomy, aerospace technology, and engineering.

Some of that technical prowess has sadly been commandeered to produce the thermobaric bombs and other grim innovations allegedly unleashed on Ukrainian soil.

But Russia’s scientists are heavily involved in more benign science projects, including the massive ITER nuclear fusion project in France, and the Cern particle collider on the border of France and Switzerland. The International Space Station represents a 30-year-old collaboration between the United States and Russia. It is not subject to the current sanctions on Russia but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a geopolitical football.

Russia’s space chief Dmitry Rogozin belligerently tweeted last month that Russia would consider rescinding its support of the ISS over the sanctions. That would be problematic. The Russian space agency Roscosmos is responsible for key aspects of the ISS, including its propulsion control systems. Russia has as much to lose as the US in abandoning the ISS. But already the future of space exploration looks less collaborative, as the US, China and Russia are planning separate missions to the Moon and Mars.

Any scientific endeavour that has potential for dual-use in military applications will be jealously guarded in future, ruling out the open, non-ideological collaboration that has characterised science in the past 30 years or so. For Russia, it comes just as its science sector was starting to recover from years of underfunding and neglect.

It’s a tragedy for Russia’s scientists. In an open letter signed by more than 8000 of the country’s researchers, they lament how Russia has ‘‘doomed itself to international isolation, to the position of a pariah country. Conducting scientific research is unthinkable without full co-operation with colleagues from other countries,’’ they point out.

The economic collapse that accompanied the end of the Soviet Union led to an exodus of scientific talent from Russia. The same could now happen. We should be inviting the best Russian scientists to relocate here, to contribute to our own research programmes, free of oppression and able to collaborate with colleagues around the world. If Vladimir Putin is happy to choose tyranny over progress, he should expect to lose his brightest. Let’s welcome them with open arms in the name of science.

Let’s welcome them with open arms in the name of science.