America is shutting out its geniuses: let’s welcome them
- Donald Trump's assault on US academia poses a golden opportunity for Britain
- If we capture a fraction of the talent now looking to flee the US, we’ll supercharge our universities and economy
- We need to broadcast a simple message: Ambitious and innovative? Britain wants you
America’s top universities have long been magnets for global talent. But now, they’re being dragged into a political storm – and Britain should seize the moment.
On May 5, US Education Secretary Linda McMahon barred Harvard from seeking federal research grants. Further threats followed: to over $1 billion in grant funding, and even to Harvard’s tax-exempt status – undermining due process while torpedoing a revered global brand. This assault on academia runs deeper: National Institutes of Health grants are drying up, nuclear scientists are being made redundant and visa chaos reigns. This isn’t fair politics – it’s America turning on talent.
Well worth reading as another insight into the arm-wavy fog which seems to have become a permanent feature of the political/academic landscape. The possibility that the UK will merely attract grant-hungry dullards is nowhere to be seen.
The article leaves a lingering impression that we need to be selective about our geniuses, in certain areas we need fewer geniuses, not more. For example, ARIA is mentioned with approval.
The Advanced Research and Innovation Agency (ARIA) - a government backed body - is funding nearly £60m that could allow real-world experiments, including in the UK.
As part of the Exploring Climate Cooling programme, projects in Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) will involve trying to thicken Arctic sea ice and make clouds more reflective.
The Advanced Research and Innovation Agency (ARIA) - a government backed body - is funding nearly £60m that could allow real-world experiments, including in the UK.
As part of the Exploring Climate Cooling programme, projects in Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) will involve trying to thicken Arctic sea ice and make clouds more reflective.
8 comments:
There are some very clever people in the universities but damned few geniuses. The principal reason is that geniuses are rare everywhere.
There's been nobody in the physical sciences the equal of Newton, nobody in the biological sciences the equal of Darwin, nobody in literature to equal Shakespeare, no one to equal Rembrandt, nor Bach/Mozart/Beethoven and so on. You even run thin on genius mathematicians after a while.
Personally I'd be astonished if many US academics of the highest standards were prepared to work for the dismal salaries that most universities outside the US pay. On top of which you have the problems of Junk Science: fabricated results, plus all the plagiarism, favouritism, and so on. Have a care!
Isn't it being ignored that those "disaffected" souls are so because they are closet communists?
"The possibility that the UK will merely attract grant-hungry dullards is nowhere to be seen."
In one.
"If we capture a fraction of the talent now looking to flee the US, we’ll supercharge our universities and economy"
If we just recruit the American experts in supercharger research, then we can forget all about the others.
Aren't UK universities already overstocked with left wing 'progressives' of the type Trump wants rid of?
dearieme - yes, salary differences suggest we won't get anywhere near the best and do well to avoid results fabricators and plagiarists.
Jannie - that's my impression too, it's mainly political.
James - thanks, dismal times but it's where we are.
Sam - good idea, supercharger research must be specialised too, so we won't need to import many.
Woodsy - yes, that's the type we we're likely to attract, the rejects.
Oh goody! More bogus ' climate' scientists. Just what we need!
Tammly - it might be worth paying them to stay on their side of the Pond.
Post a Comment