1140 



These are missing in the LDCs. As Pakistan's leading physicist, Dr. 

 Abdus Salam, explained in describing the rationale for the Inter- 

 national Center for Theoretical Physics at Trieste, Italy, men of genius 

 in the LDCs tend to go into mathematics and theoretical physics be- 

 cause their countries lack facilities for other kinds of research. Such 

 gifted men, he said, sooner or later are drawn to great centers of learn- 

 mg in the West or in the Soviet Union. Some never return home; 

 others after reaching first rank return home, but find themselves ut- 

 terly isolated. Before the Trieste Center was established, he continued, 

 this small group of men was too small to form a critical mass. There 

 were no good libraries, and there was inadequate communication with 

 similar scientific groups abroad. "There was no criticism of what they 

 were doing. New ideas reached them too slowly," he went on. "Their 

 work fell back within the grooves of what they were doing before they 

 left." These men were isolated, Dr. Salam declared, and he added, 

 "isolation in theoretical physics as in most fields of intellectual work 

 is death." 239 



PUSH or EMIGRATION 



Such conditions prevailing within many LDCs, as described above, 

 can create intellectual decay and ultimately fossilization in the sciences 

 and other fast-moving disciplines. The growth of a scientific spirit is 

 arrested by the forces of mediocrity. Stagnation sets in, and is per- 

 petuated by isolation from the mainstream of the international com- 

 munication, one of the main contributors of brain drain.^^" Frustra- 

 tion and dissatisfaction build within the intellectual community, for 

 as Dr. Frankel said in explaining why highly trained people leave 

 their own countries, "The scale of intellectual and cultural life is too 

 small. It does not satisfy the need of professional and scientific people, 

 and of teachers and intellectual leaders, for broad contacts and for 

 opportunities for important work." ^*^ 



As a result of the interaction of these forces, scientific and techno- 

 logical development in the LDCs is impaired, perhaps even consigned 

 to a chronic state without hope or expectation of reaching the "take- 

 off" stage to modernity. And as a consequence, scientists, engineers, 

 physicians, and surgeons, representing a form of human capital which 

 is universally marketable, are "pushed" by these internal forces into 

 going elsewhere. 



Social Factors Causing Brain Drain 



Social pressures generated within the LDCs add considerable force 

 to the "push" of outward migration of professionals. Traditions, 

 drawn from a nation's historical past and reinforced by the legacy of 

 the colonial experience, can be an obstacle to social change within the 

 LDCs. Past customs, habits, and values, deeply engrained in tradi- 

 tional societies, are difficult to change, much less expunge, yet many 

 conflict with the requirements of modernization and impose a special 

 burden on the progressive forces. 



23» Walter Sullivan, "Center for Physics In Trieste Tries To Checli Brain Drain from 

 Third World," The New York Times, Nov. 23, 1969, p. 82. 



««Dr. Michael J. Moravcsik, physicist. Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science 

 at the University of Oregon, and a student of brain drain, writes : "The problem of Isolation 

 must be faced also because it is one of the main contributors of the brain drain." Communi- 

 cations Among Scientists and Its Implications to Developing Countries (May 1970, p. 4). 



2*1 Hearings, Senate Judiciary Committee, International Migration of Talent and Skills, 

 1968, p. 22. 



