Letter to The Times
9th March, 2016
Sir, The EU has boosted UK science in two crucial ways. First, increased funding has raised greatly the level of European science as a whole and of the UK in particular because we have a competitive edge. Second, we now recruit many of our best researchers from continental Europe, including younger ones who have obtained EU grants and have chosen to move with them here. Being able to attract and fund the most talented Europeans assures the future of British science and also encourages the best scientists elsewhere to come here.
Switzerland pays into the EU and was a popular destination for young scientists. It now has limited access to EU funds because it voted to restrict the free movement of workers, and is desperately trying to find alternative ways to attract young talent. If the UK leaves the EU and there is a loss of freedom of movement of scientists between the UK and Europe, it will be a disaster for UK science and universities. Investment in science is as important for the long-term prosperity and security of the UK as investment in infrastructure projects, farming or manufacturing; and the free movement of scientists is as important for science as free trade is for market economics.
We are all scientists, mathematicians, engineers and economists in Cambridge, are all Fellows of the Royal Society and are writing in an individual capacity.
Sir Alan Fersht
Michael Akam
Ali Alavi
Ross Anderson
Shankar Balasubramanian
Andrew Balmford
David Barford
John D. Barrow
Michael Bate
Sir Patrick Bateson
Sir David Baulcombe
Jeremy J. Baumberg
Harshad Badeshia
Michael Bickle
Mariann Bienz
Sir Tom Blundell
Martin Bobrow
Alexander Boksenberg, CBE
William Bonfield CBE
Paul Brakefield
Andrea H. Brand
Kenneth Bray
Barbara Bretscher
Mark S. Bretscher
Lord Alec Broers
L. Michael Brown
Malcolm Burrows
Chris Calladine
Sir Roy Calne
Michael Cates
Anthony K. Cheetham
Jennifer A. Clack
Jane Clarke
Nicola Clayton
Tim Clutton-Brock
John Coates
Andrew Crawford
Jon Crowcroft
Sir Partha Dasgupta
John Davidson
Nicholas Davies
Anthony Dickinson
Christopher Dobson
Dame Athene Donald
John Duncan
Peter Duncumb
George Efstathiou
Phil Evans
Barry Everitt
Andrew Fabian
Douglas Fearon
Malcolm Ferguson-Smith
John Field
James Fitzsimons
Norman Fleck
Ian Fleming
Derek Fray
Ray Freeman
Daan Frenkel
Sir Richard Friend
Zoubin Ghahramani
Gary Gibbons
Gerry Gilmore
Keith Glover
Michel Goedert
Raymond E. Goldstein
Michael Gordon
Sir Timothy Gowers
Michael Green
Clare Grey
Gillian M. Griffiths
Geoffrey Grimmett
Jean-Pierre Hansen
Roger Hardie
William Harris
Stephen Hawking, CH
Sir Brian Heap
Volker Heine
Richard Henderson
Richard Hills
John Hinch
Christine Holt
Andy Hopper
Archie Howie CBE
Sir Colin Humphreys
Christopher Hunter
Herbert Huppert
Robin Irvine
Martin H Johnson
Richard Jackson
Steve Jackson
Brian Josephson
Frank Kelly CBE
Robert C. Kennicutt, Jr
Eric Keverne
John Kilmartin
Anthony J. Kirby
David Klenerman
Sir Aaron Klug OM
Tony Kouzarides
Sir Peter Lachmann
Ronald Laskey CBE
Simon Laughlin
Peter Lawrence
Andrew Leslie
Malcolm Longair
Jan Löwe
Ruth Lynden-Bell
Sir David MacKay
Michael McIntyre
Simon Maddrell
Lord Robert Mair CBE
Nicholas Manton
Paul Midgley
Keith Moffatt
Brian C. J. Moore
Sean Munro
Kiyoshi Nagai
Sir Stephen O’Rahilly
KJ Patel
Ian Paterson
Karalyn Patterson
Timothy Pedley
Hugh Pelham
Sir Bruce Ponder
Michael Proctor
John Pyle
Randy J. Read
Lord Martin Rees OM
Trevor W. Robbins CBE
John Robson
David Ron
Daniel St Johnston
Eckhard K.H Salje
Jeremy K. M. Sanders CBE
Wolfram Schultz
Pat Simpson
Henning Sirringhaus
Geoffrey L Smith
Maria Grazia Spillantini
Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer
Simon Tavaré
John C. Taylor
Paul Townsend
Dame Jean Thomas
Sir John Meurig Thomas
Roger Thomas
John Todd
Sir John Walker
Mark Warner
Bryan Webber
Nigel Weiss
Sir Mark Welland
Robert White
Sir Gregory Winter
Eric Wolff
Daniel Wolpert