LONDON — European Union leaders gathering for a summit in Seville today and tomorrow no doubt already have a packed agenda. But now they have another contentious issue to mull over. Six Nobel laureates this week penned a joint letter to them criticising the EU's science policy and demanding a doubling of research funds to stem the 'brain drain' to the US.
In a stinging attack, the six leading figures said fundamental change is needed if the EU is to achieve its stated goal of creating "the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010."
The signatories are 1992 French physics laureate Georges Charpak, 1984 Italian Physics laureate Carlo Rubbia, 1982 British Chemistry laureate Sir Aaron Klug and three winners of the Physiology or Medicine Prize — Sweden's Bengt Samuelsson (1982), Italy's Rita Levi-Montalcini (1986) and Belgian Christian de Duve (1974).
They claim the current target of increasing spending ...
