A headline in today’s New York Times proudly proclaimed, “Three
Americans Share Nobel for Work in Cell Biology”. The three winners discovered
telomeres, thus solving a longstanding puzzle involving the ends of
chromosomes. Apparently the implications of their work extends to cell division
in both cancer and aging, which I must say, I’m very pleased about.
The article goes on to describe how two of the recipients
were women, and how rare an event this is, with only eight women having won the
Nobel Prize for Medicine previously. “Fantastic”,
I thought, as science needs more women role models for young women today.
Then the article took a slight turn – it seems that two
out of three recipients are immigrants. Dr. Blackburn came to the US in the
‘70’s, because it was “notably attractive as a place to do science, but goes on
to suggest that “while America is still a magnet for foreign scientists, one
shouldn’t take that for granted.”
Having previously blogged about the implications of an
unenlightened immigration policy (“US
Immigration Policy & Global Competitiveness”), I read on with interest.
Indeed, the point that was made by Dr. Szostak was that
the world was now much more competitive in science, and that “we have to work a
little harder to attract people from around the world and make sure they want
to stay here.”
But as noted by Dr. Cech, former president of the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute, onerous visa requirements are benefitting European
countries especially, as “Even now, there
is an implication when foreign scientists apply for visas that they should be
distrusted, denied several times, and should have to hire lawyers and jump
through a lot of hoops.”
Brains, like bits, abhor friction. It doesn’t matter whether
the electrical impulses are synapses firing or semiconductors crunching data, electricity
travels the path of least resistance. If US immigration policy makes it too
onerous for today’s brilliant young minds to move to the US, these future
scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and yes, even Nobel Prize winners, will no
longer be able to proudly call themselves “American”.
That’s my .02!
Martin Suter
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