Archive for Science for Ukraine
bombing universities
Posted in Kids, pictures, University life with tags Національного фармацевтичного університету у Слобідському, Khark, National University of Pharmacy, Russian invasion, Science for Ukraine, Solidarity with Ukraine, Spirit of Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukrainian resistance on October 15, 2025 by xi'an
Alexandre Grothendieck’s visit to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
Posted in Books, pictures, Travel, University life with tags Alexandre Grothendieck, Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Field medal, Hanoi, Ho Chi Min City, North Vietnam, Russian invasion, Science for Ukraine, Vietnam War on July 15, 2023 by xi'an
In connection with my incoming visit to Vietnam (Ho Chi Min City) for a PhD summer school, I was sent a report written by Alexandre Grothendieck of his 1967 visit to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, around Hanoi, teaching to (North) Vietnamese mathematicians (homological) algebraic geometry and inspiring future generations of local mathematicians. (Visit funded by the Cultural Relations Department of France Foreign Ministry.) This is a striking text, written in a fairly factual tone, and reporting the living conditions of students and faculty at the “evacuated University”, which was a relocation of the University of Hanoi in the countryside, following a general decentralisation of the North Vietnam economy facing massive bombings of urban centers by US forces. What is most impressive to me in this report is the ability to keep operating most aspects of a regular society under extreme duress. Which also finds itself repeated in the incredible resistance of the Ukrainian State against the Russian aggression. (Following this trip, Grothendieck gave his Field medal to the D.R.V. government.)
“Like most more or less public activities, the lectures were scheduled between about 6 and 10 a.m., because the bombing usually took place later in the day, rarely before 11 a.m.”
“Of the many impressions which I brought back from my visit to the D.R.V., perhaps the most striking is the calm confidence in the future which I noticed among everyone with whom I had occasion to speak.”
brave new worlds
Posted in Statistics with tags Brave New World, cover, elections, French Guiana, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Kent, Nature, Nigeria, Russian invasion, Science for Ukraine, Solidarity with Ukraine, twitter, unilateral nuclear disarmament on March 28, 2023 by xi'an
bombed classroom
Posted in Kids, pictures, University life with tags Donbass State Technical University, Lysychansk, Russian invasion, Science for Ukraine, Solidarity with Ukraine, Ukraine on July 27, 2022 by xi'an
Ukraine’s call [Національної академії наук України]
Posted in University life with tags boycott, України, EMS 2022, EU grants, HAH, ICM 2022, Iran, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Nature, publishers, Russian invasion, Russian Science Foundation, Science for Ukraine, Solidarity with Ukraine, Stop the War, Ukraine on March 20, 2022 by xi'an
A call for solidarity from the President of the National Academy of Sciences (HAH) of Ukraine as a letter in Nature. To help Ukraine scientists to relocate in European countries, if temporarily, #scienceforukraine is posting available positions. Worldwide. In a tribune, Nature has also opened a debate on whether or not “a comprehensive and worldwide boycott of all Russian research [should be enforced], and scientific journals [should] refuse to consider papers by researchers from Russia”. Reflecting on an earlier call from Ukraine’s scientific community to a similar effect, albeit limited to Russian Federation citizens getting access to EU grants [this is already in effect], academic mobility programs [as well], and to journal editorships. And to run international scientific events [like the ICM and EMS 2022 meetings]. While a complete boycott would add to the other sanctions adopted by some countries towards stopping the war, sanctions that impact the ordinary citizen more than the ruling nomenklatura, I doubt it would have any [short-term] significant effect: The Russian Science Foundation has already dropped its requirement to publish in indexed journals outside Russia. It would also most difficult to implement in practice (although I seem to remember SIAM journals rejecting papers co-signed by Iranian authors at some point…)
