Three prominent American scientists who just returned from the International Conference on Magnetism in Moscow said today that they were “shocked that qualified Jewish colleagues were barred.” The three scientists, Dr. Fred Pollack, professor of physics at Yeshiva and Brown Universities, Dr. Earl Callen, professor of physics at the American University in Washington, and Prof, Robert Birgeeau of Bell Laboratories, made this report at a press conference held by the Committee of Concerned Scientists and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry.
The three scientists reported that in a rare protest to Soviet authorities, visiting scientists from several countries approached conference leaders seeking to have the issue raised before the conference’s Governing Commission. Not satisfied with the official response, 41 scientists left to attend a “rump session” in the apartment of the noted physicist Prof. Aleksandr Voronel. Voronel, together with Prof. Mark Azbel and Prof. Moisei Gitterman. were the three Jews denied admission to the conference.
The three are eminent Soviet Jewish scientists presently unemployed, who have been seeking in vain to emigrate to Israel. Despite the fact that they hold acknowledged credentials for participation in the conference, and that they had applied to attend, neither their applications nor the papers they submitted for presentation were acted upon. The conference was sponsored by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
