We Should--And We Can--Help Lift Eastern European Research Back Onto Its Feet

When East VGermany fused with West Germany, the state support of science in the former communist sector came to an end. However, despite some inevitable job insecurity, it appears that East German scientists will, for the most part, be able to go on working as the fusion of the two nations continues. Some of them will be displaced, of course, by job-hungry young scientists of West Germany; but others will be able to hang on to their university positions. For a while, their salaries will be a fr

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In Czechoslovakia and Hungary, however, as well as in other Eastern European nations, the outlook for scientists is brutal. There now is no money for research, and talented scientists there need help to get their science, their economies, and their nations running again. Inside Germany, a program for upgrading East German scientists to West German standards has begun. Perhaps such a program could be mimicked to benefit other Eastern European nations. They need a Western equivalent of what West Germany is doing for East Germany.

One can infer from the number of career opportunity ads in the well-read science journals that there is reasonable funding available in the United States for postdoctoral fellows and research associates. Of course, the great majority of funding disbursed to scientists by the U.S. government is for American citizens only. But if the rules were to be disengaged for a brief time, some funding could ...

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