The European Organization for Nuclear Research, otherwise known as CERN — domain to the world’s only Large Hadron Collider — has revealed the number of affected scientists on Monday, wrapping up on its promise that was originally made after the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This move is a significant break for the institution in Geneva.
While Russia isn’t a CERN member state, it has held observer status since the peak of the Cold War — a partnership that reflected CERN’s postwar original mission of “science for peace.”
However, Russia’s cooperation will be expiring — and not be renewed, as was customary — on November 30.
CERN had also broken off from the Russian associate Belarus earlier this summer and on its 70th celebration on Tuesday, emphasized that the move was stopping cooperation with Russian institutions, and not individuals but not everyone agrees with this decision.
Ukrainian scientists have condemned CERN’s decision not to completely cut ties with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Moscow — an institution considered by CERN to be an international institution, according to a report by Nature.
Additionally, a group of particle physicists known as Science4Peace, have objected to CERN’s decision. This group is known for campaigning against restrictions on scientific collaborations.
In light of this development, Russia accused CERN of playing politics in the realm of scientific cooperation.
Some of the state-controlled media had also cast the move as a net gain for Russian research and an ‘own goal’ for the West. Even pro-Kremlinoutlet, Sputnik had quoted a Russian nuclear-energy expert who said Europe was consigning itself to a “scientific slum.”
What They’re Saying
Scientific experts, including those with working ties to CERN have spoken about the consequences to Russia and the wider scientific community.
Kate Shaw, an experimental particle physicist at the UK’s University of Sussex had said, “If I or any of my colleagues had to lose access to it, it would be quite devastating.”
Roger Cashmore, who served as CERN’s director of research and deputy director general up until 2004, had equally said it would be a “blow” to Russia.
He also added that Russia was losing out on access to “the leading particle physics research center in the world today, so that’s quite a large loss.”
A Russian physicist who spoke on condition of anonymity to the independent Russian news outlet, The Insider, had meanwhile, said that they’d “describe it as the destruction of the entire field” of Russian experimental high-energy physics.
Robin Grimes, a professor at London’s Imperial College who was formerly the chief scientific advisor to the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, was also critical about the idea that the returning scientists would be a blessing to the Kremlin.
“I don’t believe for a second Putin cares an iota about 500 scientists coming back to Russia,” Grimes said, adding: “He might care about 500 more people that he can conscript into the army.”
Grimes equally said that CERN’s facilities were so “mind-bogglingly expensive” that almost no single country could make them itself.
“If your institutions are isolated from the main body of people carrying out work in this area, you are not going to be able to progress your thinking and your understanding in the same way as you did,” he further said.
According to Nature’s report, about 90 Russian researchers who had worked with CERN had found new jobs at international institutions since 2022.
In January, Novaya Gazeta Europe estimated that Russia had lost about 2,500 scientists since 2022.
