Lest We Forget- Scientists Who Bore The Brunt Of Divisive Politics

Following my rant on scientists being quiet on the unconstitutional Citizenship Amendment Act, here are a few examples from history in a hope to stir their conscience to act now and stop this hegemonic brutality against students and academics. You see, they call it "brain drain" when academics and researchers leave India. I am hoping not lose next Obaid Sidiqqui, APJ Abdul Kalam or Salim Ali as a minion to this ugly and divisive politics and stop this "brain purge" before happening.

1. Dr Abdus Salam: Dr Abdus Salam obtained his PhD in Theoretical Physics from Cambridge in 1950. He returned to his home country of Pakistan in 1951 for a lectureship position. He left Pakistan in 1954 but continued to work with government on vital projects. He finally resigned from his post with Pakistani government when in 1974 a law declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims and depriving them of their rights was passed, a religion to which he belonged. He was the first Muslim to be awarded the Nobel Prize in 1979. He established International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. A documentary on him is available on Netflix. source: BBC
   
2. Dr Leonore Brecher: Dr Leonore submitted her doctoral thesis in 1916 on color adaptation in chrysalis. As a trained zoologist she found a teaching position. After working in various institutes on animal physiology including the Biochemical Institute in University of Cambridge, Brecher returned to work Biological Research Institute at Academy of Science in Vienna. In 1938, Brecher lost her job with 14 other university employees because of her religion. She eventually settled as a schoolteacher in a Jewish community- only to be deported in September,14 1942 to Maly Trostinez extermination camp. She was now called 'Prisoner 703' where she was murdered on September 18,1942. (source : Refugeescholars) 
3. Dr Rudolph Virchow: Virchow, renowned for Cell Theory " Cells arise from pre-existing cells" was banished from Berlin for demanding social reforms like freedom of press and universal healthcare. As per this article, "to avoid formal prosecution and imprisonment, Virchow went to Würzburg in Bavaria." 
4. Dr Hilda Geiringer: As per Refugeescholars, Hilda Geiringer did her PhD in Double Trignometric (Fourier) Series in 1917 from University of Vienna. a professor of applied mathematics at the University of Berlin, lost her position in 1933 as a result of a newly enacted law that barred Jews from working in state institutions, including all universities. In 1927 she was the first woman employed as a privat-docent at the University of Berlin, faculty of Mathematics. She spent the next six years traveling with her young daughter, trying to find refuge. She finally arrived in the United States in 1939 to take a position at Bryn Mawr College. By 1944 she was appointed at the chairman of the Mathematics Department at Wheaton College in Norton,Massachusetts. 
5. Dr James Wardrop: Trained as an ophthalmologist, he was awarded MD in 1834. He was a pioneer in identifying retinoblastoma and uveal melanoma. He learned about soft tissue cancers in Vienna, Austria, having fled from France in 1803, when Napoleon ordered that English residents in France be arrested and imprisoned 
6. Dr Tilly Edinger: As per Refugeescholars, Dr Tilly worked as the curator of the Vertebrate Paleontology department at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfort,. She held this position until 1938 when the Museum was unable to continue to employ her due to her status as a non-Aryan. By 1940, Edinger had arrived in the United States, and Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology had expressed interest in hiring her. With an Emergency Committee grant, Harvard retained her as a researcher the following year. Edinger was a renowned scientist when two Harvard professors, Harlow Shapley and Alfred S. Romer, requested the university hire her.iary. In 1943-1944, Edinger was a Guggenheim Fellow, and later earned a fellowship from the American Association of University Women (1950-1951). She served as president of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology in 1963-1964. She continued to work at Harvard, and was well respected in the field.
   
   source: Jewish Women's Archive
7. Dr Hans Bethe: Famed physicist who worked in the fields of solid state physics, quantum thermodynamics and received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1967 for his work in theory of stellar nucleosynthesis was one of the many scientists who had to quit their job in Germany due to his Jewish decent. He went to University of Manchester and later to Cornell University to become a famed physicist.
   
   
   source: By Los Alamos National Laboratory - Los Alamos National Laboratory, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71763