Committee of Concerned Scientists

An international non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.

An independent non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.

CCS Welcomes the Release of Vietnamese Professor, Pham Minh Hoang

We welcome the release from prison of Vietnamese professor of mathematics, Pham Minh Hoang on January 13, 2012. CCS was among the many human rights groups and academic associations advocating for Professor Hoang’s release. Pham Minh Hoang, a professor of mathematics and blogger in Vietnam, was arrested on August 13, 2010 and was later convicted of holding membership in Viet Tan, a banned political group. He was released on January 13, 2012 after serving 17 months in prison, though his conviction also includes a three-year house arrest sentence.

While CCS welcomes the release of Professor Hoang as a positive development, we urge the appropriate authorities in Vietnam to reconsider Professor Hoang’s additional sentence, which suggests retaliation against a scholar for the peaceful exercise of fundamental rights of free expression and association that are guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is party.

Our Previous Activities

Follow-up on the Arrest and Trial of Math Professor Pham Minh Hoang, August 2, 2011

Vietnamese Mathematician Pham Minh Hoang Arrested, March 17, 2011

Vietnamese mathematician arrested, September 12, 2010

Who We Are

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Paul H. Plotz, M.D., Washington, DC

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Astronomy – Arno Penzias, New Enterprises Associates*

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University

Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Medical Sciences – J. Joseph Blum, Duke University

Honorary Board Members

Nancy Andrews, Duke University

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deceased), Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser, Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy, University of Pittsburg

David Gross, (2004 Nobel Prize in Physics), Kavil Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara*

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Louis Nirenberg, New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Honorary Board Members

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, (1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine), New England Biolabs*

Myriam Sarachick, City College of New York

Harold Scheraga, Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Steven Weinberg, University of Texas, Austin*

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate

Committee of Concerned Scientists

c/o Alexandra R. Bender, Executive Director
P.O. Box 4525
Easton, PA 18043
Phone: (570) 994-2093
abender@concernedscientists.org