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American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history
Over the first half of 2025, the USA has cut science as never before. This disaster for American science is a gift to the rest of the world.
Credit: ESA-CNES-ArianeSpace/Optique Vidéo du CSG/NASA TV But today, the situation is one where even if “Plan A” works as well as one can imagine, there are still going to be devastating, unprecedented cuts, and the ones happening in the field of astronomy and astrophysics aren’t atypical; they’re part of a coordinated assault on the very foundations of a scientific American society. The National Science Foundation, responsible for all federal investment in ground-based astronomy, had 1800 employees lose their headquarters building, right on the heels of having dozens of staff members fired, facing a 57% budget cut proposal, and seeing 1700 grants canceled. Although Mauna Kea, based on physical characteristics alone, is the best site for astronomy in the Northern Hemisphere, the summit of La Palma in the Canary Islands is more than capable of hosting any cutting-edge optical or infrared observatory, including the long-awaited Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).
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