IOCdo 



The brain drain process, as distinct from the term, predates Athen- 

 eus' reference by several centuries. However, only the most indirect 

 kind of historical evidence exists on the migration of scientists until 

 the birth of Ionian science soon after 600 B.C. To be sure, science had 

 developed in the ancient civilizations of Sumeria, Babylonia, and 

 Egypt. But with the exception of the Egyptian Imhothep (c. 2500 

 B.C.) there are no recorded names of scientists. According to the prac- 

 tice of the time, scientists and scholai-s did not sign their tablets or 

 papyri, nor did they reference the previous work of their colleagues. 

 Furthermore, nothing is knoAvn of their scientific institutions, that is, 

 their organizational structure, staffing, and support. Thus, the migra- 

 tion of scientists during these earlier civilizations cannot be substan- 

 tiated by historical evidence.^* 



AMONG THE ANCIENT GREEKS 



The mobility of scientists and other men of learning in classical 

 Greece is recorded in written history. Plato, for example, had traveled 

 extensively in Greece, Italy, and Egypt before settling down to open 

 his Academy in Athens. A systematic analysis of selected samples of 

 60 foremost Greek scientists has shown that despite the difficulty of 

 travel 45 of them migrated or were said to have migrated as students, 

 teachers, scholars, and researchers. 



Athens was the "pull" factor attracting scholars in the ancient 

 world until about 300 B.C. Plato had established his academy in 388 

 B.C., and Aristotle the Lyceum in 335 B.C.^^ Both institutions, com- 

 parable in purpose and functions with the modern-day university and 

 research institute, became the most eminent seats of learning in an- 

 cient Greece. A measure of the impact of Plato and his academy is seen 

 by the fact that all of the most important mathematical works of the 

 4th century were done by professional colleagues or students of Plato. 

 Moreover, Aristotle, along with Plato one of the world's greatest 

 thinkers, was one of his students at the academy.®" 



GREEK PHYSICIANS, A SPECIAL CASE 



A special case of mobilit}' and talent migration in ancient Greece is 

 that of the physicians. Most doctors were itinerant physicians who 

 moved about the Greek world dispensing their professional skills much 

 like any traveling American businessman of today. Larger communi- 

 ties were anxious to have a permanent resident physician of their own. 

 In order to attract a doctor they particularly wanted, the community 

 authorities created their own "pull" factor in a manner, at least in 

 principle, similar to the bidding of American industry for the services 

 of foreign scientists and technicians or the search of American hos- 

 pitals for the services of foreign medical graduates (FMGs). They 

 would offer the itinerant doctor an appointment as municipal physi- 

 cian; he would be paid an annual salary which was raised through a 

 special tax ; in addition to salary he was allowed to accept fees from 

 patients of financial means. That the practice was commonplace rather 



68 Ibid., pp. 12-13. 



« Ibid., pp. 13-14. _. 



*> George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science. Published for the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington. (Baltimore: Williams & Wilklns. 1927), chapters V and VL 



