On February 18, scientists and academics around the world initiated a petition calling for the conviction of Dr. Bülent Sik to be overturned. Dr. Sik, a food engineer who until 2016 worked with Turkey’s Ministry of Health while a professor at Akdeniz University, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for releasing findings of a study linking environmental factors and cancer cases. The petition observes that Dr. Sik “acted as a responsible scientist defending public health” and calls for appellate court judges to nullify his conviction.
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