Soviet Scientists Face Perestroika's Challenge

[Editor's note: When the democratically elected Second Congress of People's Deputies met in Moscow in December, delegates expressed frustration with the slow pace of reform. Among these frustrated delegates were scientists and academics, many of whom had been chosen by their colleagues in special elections at their institutions. Under the leadership of Vitali Goldanski, the vice director of the Institute of Chemical Physics in Moscow, they formed a reform bloc and issued a public declaration of their aims (see story on page 1). Goldanski, a nuclear chemist, was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1980 and was named to the prestigious post of academician in 1981. He has recently done much of his work in tunneling phenomena. Russian scientists have a long history of involvement in politics, a tradition that continues today as great political changes roil their lives and their careers. Following explanatory comments by Goldanski, the declaration is excerpted ...