Thursday 24 August 2017

Thanks to the EU, scientists could flee Germany in the 1930s.

From The Evening Standard:

We should learn from post-war Britain, when scientists from abroad made this country a research superpower.

The article then lists some examples of famous scientists who fled Germany for England (primarily to Oxford colleges, of course) in the 1930s. You can't blame the author of the article for the by-line - post 1945, scientists went to the USA.

If British universities are to thrive for the next century, as they have done for the last, it is important to learn lessons from history... Of all the things that Brexit will deliver, let us all hope that it does not threaten scholarship, research and teaching. Things do not turn out well when that happens.

3 comments:

Curtis said...

He doesn't say that the EU was responsible for Britain's refugee policy in the 1930s.

However the premise of the article is flawed, since the academic mentioned was not targeted because of her position, but merely the victim of incompetent mail merging at the Home Office. The other victims include housewives and retail workers, so I look forward to a newspaper article arguing specifically for such people to be welcomed.

Mark Wadsworth said...

C, exactly. Tilting at windmills, intellectual snobbery, project fear and a factual inaccuracy, all in one article.

barnacle bill said...

What were the scientists fleeing from in the 1930s?

The evolution of a fascist state in Germany. Whilst those post 1945 were probably influenced by the growing communist threat from the East.

As for how are our universities to thrive in the next century, maybe if they did actually go back to actual research and teaching. Instead of the pandering to the snow flakes and SJWs they seem to be accepting/accommodating nowadays.