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 Urges Reinstatement of Russian Scientist Punished for Attending Stony Brook Workshop

Cheremushki manor (ITEP), Palace

Cheremushki manor at ITEP (Photo credit: Lotzman Katzman)

Four scientists at Russia’s Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP) resigned in protest after their colleague Alexander Gorsky was fired for attending a workshop at Stony Brook University. As a condition for his attendance, where Gorsky was to deliver a paper published a year earlier, ITEP’s administration allegedly demanded a cooperative agreement with Stony Brooks and a security clearance for the paper. Gorsky refused to comply with these “illegal” and “absurd” demands.

CCS wrote to administrators joining their Russian colleagues demand for Gorsky’s reinstatement.

Dr. Michael Kovalchuk, Director
National Research Center, Kurchatov Institute
1 Akademia Kurchatova Pl.
Moscow 123182, Russian Federation

April 30, 2014

Dear Mr. Kovalchuk:

We write now in concern for Dr. Alexander Gorsky.

Dr. Gorsky was fired from the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP) for alleged truancy, according to news reports, after attending a workshop at Stony Brook University in the United States. Gorsky was invited to deliver a paper that had been published a year earlier. His trip was paid by a research grant and Stony Brook.

As a condition for authorizing Gorsky’s trip, the reports allege, ITEP’s administration demanded a cooperative agreement between Stony Brook University and ITEP, as well as a security clearance for the paper Gorsky was to deliver. Gorsky refused to comply with what he deemed to be “illegal” and “absurd” demands. He attended the workshop . Deputy Director Sergei Gorchakov then fired him for “truancy.” Four veteran scientists at ITEP, Drs. Mikhail Vysotsky, Viktor Novikov, Roman Mizyuk and Tagir Aushev resigned in protest, saying that preventing Gorsky’s attendance at the workshop failed to protect the interest of ITEP scientists.

We join our Russian colleagues in protesting what seems to be an arbitrary and unsupported action against Dr. Gorsky. His attendance at a scientific workshop to which he was invited appears to be a part of his professional duties and to be in the interest of ITEP. The international scientific community recognizes the value of international travel for professional reasons. Similarly the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Russia is a signatory, recognizes in Article 15 the benefits of encouraging and developing international contacts and cooperation in science. We therefore urge you to immediately reinstate Alexander Gorsky to his position at ITEP.

Sincerely,

Joel L. Lebowitz
Paul H. Plotz
Walter Reich
Eugene M. Chudnovsky
Alexander Greer

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

cc: President Vladimir Putin

 

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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 273
Mountainhome, PA 18342
Phone: (570) 994-2093
abender@concernedscientists.org