The emigration of british scientists

Abstract

So says Professor P. M. S. Blackett,1 and the " talented children " of Britain have been taking his advice in ever-increasing numbers. British scientists and other professionals have been developing their talents and selling them on the world market. Ever since the middle 1950's there has been concern over the fact that British scientists, physicians, university teachers, engineers, technologists and other professionals have been emigrating, mainly to North America. Scientists have always been migrants and Britain has for more than a century been sending scientists to teach, study and do research overseas. However, during the early and middle 1950's, articles and letters 2 began to appear in the British popular press and in professional journals which raised the possibility that this flow of professional, scientific, academic and technological talent had become greater than Britain could now bear, that it was increasing, and that it included some of the more gifted persons now being produced in Britain. It was asserted that British scientists and other professionals were being attracted or " pulled " into North America by the greater professional and economic opportunities available there. It was also alleged that these scientists and professionals were being "pushed" out of Britain by a lack, relatively speaking, of funds, equipment, facilities and scientific enthusiasm, and by a lower standard of living; and that, although many returned to Great Britain in the course of time, many remained permanently in their new homes. This loss of well-trained scientists and professionals was distressing partly because the cost of educating them had been borne in the main by British society and their skills were now being employed in an economy which was competing with the British economy. That the outward flow of scientists was on the increase and appeared to be uncompensated by any significant counterflow of North American talent, and that it included some eminent and wellestablished persons, made the problem even more pressing. This article presents the results of an inquiry into this emigration