Abstract
IN the editorial article in Nature of August 14, in criticizing a recent statement of the Atomic Scientists' Association, it is argued that collaboration between scientific men east and west of the 'Iron Curtain' may be undesirable, because it is likely "to promote, for the present, a one-way traffic to the disadvantage of the Western democracies". This view was expressed in the same words on July 14 by the editor of the Economist, who, professionally concerned as he must be with economic policy and its effect on foreign affairs, may be excused for including scientific ideas among the commodities available for exchange. But the same view expressed in Nature suggests a change in the traditional policy of the journal, which has always stressed the international aspects of science, and it shows strikingly the way in which military considerations can affect the outlook of scientific workers and lead them to adopt against their will a totalitarian view of their function. It is therefore necessary to inquire whether these military considerations really make it necessary to abandon the whole tradition of science, and to break off such contacts as are still possible with the scientific workers of Eastern Europe.
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MOTT, N. International Exchange of Scientific Information. Nature 162, 417 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162417b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162417b0
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