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.

Ukrainian Geologist Missing After December Abduction

On December 13, 2022, Neighbors witnessed Dr. Volodymyr Petrovych Vorovka, 52, be taken from his home by men wearing Russian military uniforms. Since the abduction, his family has been unable to obtain any information.

Tatyana Moskalkova
Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner for Human Rights
Smolensky Blvd 19, Bld. 2
119121 Moscow, Russia

Cc: Dmitro Lubinets
Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner
21/8, Instytutska Street
Kyiv 01008, Ukraine
hotline@ombudsman.gov.ua

The Committee of Concerned Scientists is an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers, and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world.

We are seeking your help in finding a missing person and returning him to his family: Dr. Volodymyr Petrovych Vorovka, 52, is a geologist with many scientific publications and a Professor of Environment and Natural Resources at Melitopol Pedagogical University.

According to the neighbors of Dr. Vorovka, he was abducted from his private house in the village of Tambovka near Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia oblast) by men wearing Russian military uniforms on December 13, 2022. At approximately 7 am, a group of soldiers led by an officer arrived at the location in three cars and a minivan. After spending an hour and a half in Professor Vorovka’s house, they led him out, forced him into one of their cars, and left.

The family of Dr. Vorovka has been unable to obtain any information about his fate ever since. An appeal on his behalf has been circulated among science institutions worldwide by the Academic Council of the Institute of Geological Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

We urge you to obtain information about Professor Vorovka’s whereabouts from the Russian military authorities responsible for his abduction. As a noncombatant who devoted his life to science, he must be immediately released and returned to his family.

Signatures:
signatures
Joel. L. Lebowitz, Paul H. Plotz, Walter Reich, Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

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