The National Conference on Soviet Jewry has learned that Prof. Ilya Iossifovich Pyatetsky-Shapiro of Moscow, one of the highest ranking scientists to apply for an exit visa has received his permit to emigrate to Israel. Pyatetsky-Shapiro first applied in March, 1973. Formerly with the Institute of Applied Mathematics at Moscow University, his application for exit was first refused because he had supposedly had contact with “secret information.”
In a letter to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, Pyatetsky-Shapiro protested, “I am a specialist in the field of abstract mathematics. All of my works were published and accessible to both Soviet and foreign scientists. In my work I never needed and never used any secret information.”
Numerous appeals on the scientist’s behalf were made over the last two years. J.K. Goldhaber, chairman of the University of Maryland’s Division of Mathematical, Physical Sciences and Engineering, had previously invited Pyatetsky-Shapiro to accept an appointment as Visiting Professor of Mathematics for the 1975/76 school year.
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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.
