Abstract
THE Association of Scientific Workers has, through its Social Relations Committee, recently sent the following message to American men of science: “We British scientists, engineers and technicians organised in the Association of Scientific Workers send our greetings to our colleagues in the United States of America.... With the combined might and resources of the U.S.A., the U.S.S.R., China and the British Commonwealth of Nations, ultimate victory is certain. We are nevertheless faced by a powerful and desperate combination of powers. They too have large resources and the advantage of having planned for war many years before actual fighting started. Their scientists have been concerned with the specific problems of warfare and supply for many years longer than we have. We must make up this leeway. But we can do more than that. We, the scientists in the Allied countries, can by pooling our ideas, technical skill and cognate information, play in concert a most vital part in the common effort.... We are happy to recall the very close bonds which have united men of science of our two countries in the past. Many of us have personal friends among you. We have worked in your great laboratories ; you have worked in ours. This interchange will prove to be most valuable in the present situation. We have as well the terrific advantage of a common language, and, to a large extent, of a common cultural heritage. But we still have a lot to learn from each other and from our Soviet colleagues. By helping each other without stint, we shall help ourselves and we shall be laying the foundations of a truly international scientific commonwealth. American, Soviet and British scientists have the responsibility of preserving the scientific heritage of the whole world against the barbarism and obscurantism of Fascist 'ideology'. We shall do it, and we shall enrich and strengthen it by so doing. Our most sincere and best wishes to you.”
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Great Britain and the United States. Nature 149, 17 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/149017a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/149017a0