The 2007 Annual Report has arrived

Download the complete report on our activities around the world last year.
Get the Annual Report

John W. Backus — 1924 - 2007

CCS sadly marks the untimely death of John W. Backus, a pioneering computer scientist and a staunch supporter of the Committee's work on behalf of human rights for scientists.

John W. Backus originated the I.B.M. team that created Fortran, the first widely used programming language. He was awarded the W.W. McDowell Award in 1967 for the development of Fortran; the National Medal of Science in 1975; and the ACM Turing Award in 1977. He was named an IBM Fellow in 1987 and awarded a Draper Prize in 1993. He died on March 17, 2007, at his home in Ashland, Oregon, at the age of 82.

Fortran, which was released in 1957, is considered the first successful higher-level computer language. With its speed, efficiency, and accessibility to non-programmers, it enabled many more scientists to use and develop computer software. Backus, in collaboration with Peter Naur, later developed the Backus-Naur form, which is a notation for describing the structure of programming languages. He is known as well for his work in the field of functional programming.

Following is an encapsulated account of his diverse activities advancing the human rights rights of scientists. In January 1979, Backus was instrumental in having a letter published in the February 1979 Communications of the ACM (CACM). The letter dealt with guidelines for IEEE/USSR Joint Workshops. IEEE insisted on guarantees that workshop participants would be the strongest representatives of their fields and that no participants would be denied access. These clauses were invoked several times to protect the rights of scientists and the integrity of the program. In August 1975, when a program was to be held in Moscow, the Soviets denied a visa to an Israeli scientist, Adrian Segal of MIT. The program was successfully delayed until Dr. Segal received his visa one day before the meeting in December 1975. A meeting to be held in the United States in October of 1977 was delayed because the Soviet delegation would not appoint representatives of sufficient standing. Finally the Soviets proposed Mark Pinsker and Roland Dobrushin as leaders for a meeting in October, 1978. These scientists were accepted, but IEEE canceled the meeting when it was discovered only a few days before the meeting date that the Soviets would not allow Pinsker and Dobrushin to attend.

Backus was one of seven Turing Award winners who signed a letter, published in 1979 in the CACM, which refused permission to ACM to permit the Soviets to translate their Turing Award lectures into Russian. They also refused to cooperate with Soviet scientific efforts. In 1982, Backus was among the signers of a cable sent to the USSR calling for the release of Anatoly Shcharansky, who was on a hunger strike.

Dr. Martin David Kruskal — 1925 - 2006

CCS regretfully announces the passing of Dr. Martin David Kruskal, a distinguished mathematician and longtime supporter of the Committee's work. He will be greatly missed.

Dr. Martin David Kruskal, a world-renowned mathematician, was a long-time Board member of the Committee of Concerned Scientists. Dr. Kruskal was intimately involved in supporting the human rights of refuseniks in the Soviet Union and of scientists throughout the world. In particular, he was intensely active on behalf of Irina and Viktor Brailovsky who had been dismissed from their jobs and denied exit visas on the grounds that Irina, who worked at Moscow State University, had access to 'secret' information.

Briefed by CCS prior to his visit to the USSR, Kruskal met with Academician Anatoly Logunov, rector of Moscow State University, in October 1978. He discussed the situation of Irina Brailovsky with Logunov, who stated that the University had no obection to her emigration and had so informed the visa office (OVIR).

This should have led to the Brailovskys receiving exit visas. However, contrary to what Logunov had told Kruskal, he did not transmit the required form, and in March 1979, the Ministry of the Interior informed Irina that OVIR had not received the University's clearance for her emigration. Kruskal then cabled Logunov twice. No reply impelled him to telephone Logunov repeatedly to no avail. Finally, a month later Logunov did accept Kruskal's telephone call, claiming that he had submitted the information as to the University's clearance to the head of the Ministry of Higher Education and not to OVIR as he had stated previously.

Then at a second meeting with Kruskal in September 1979 he alleged that, in accordance with standard operating procedure, he had communicated with the Ministry verbally and had never forwarded a written clearance document. Thus Irina was caught in a bind with Logunov refusing to yield to Kruskal's urging that he issue the necessary document to OVIR. Yet OVIR needed such a document to resolve the case.

Editor's note: Ultimately with the advent of glasnost, the Brailovsky's were allowed to leave for Israel.

When notified of his death, the Brailovskys who are now at Tel Aviv University in Israel, wrote, "It is really a very sad news. We loved Martin very much."

The Committee of Concerned Scientists mourns the loss of Dr. Kruskal, a great mathematician and humanitarian.

For additional information on Dr. Kruskal's distinguished career, see the obituaries in the New York Times and at Rutgers University.

Recent cases, regarding which
we have sent letters of protest

Myanmar: Dr. Than Nyein, National League for Democracy MP, physician and director of a private clinic, has been in prison since 1997 for arranging a meeting with NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Even though his sentence has been served, he has not yet been released and remains in custody without charge or trial. He is in ill-health and denied medical treatment.

Botswana: Professor Kenneth Good, an Australian citizen and Professor in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Botswana in Gaborone for more than 15 years, was ordered to leave Botswana on February 18th 2005 for criticizing, in an academic paper, the president,s decision to choose his own successor. He then submitted an appeal to the High Court. Professor Good was put on a plane to South Africa by the police and this month it has been determined that his appeal has been denied.

Iraq: Dr. Huda El Ammash, an Iraqi physician held without charge or trial for over two years in Cropper Prison, near Baghdad Airport

Cuba: Rene Gomez Manzano, Oscar Mario Gonzalez and Julio Cesar Lopez, pro-democracy dissidents, are to be tried under the Law for the Protection of Cuba,s National Independence and face sentences of up to 20 years. They were arrested on July 22nd for planning to attend a peaceful protest outside the French Embassy.

CCS Statement on the AUT Boycott of Israeli Universities

We, the Committee of Concerned Scientists, are an organization of scientists and academics long active in defending the human rights and academic freedom of colleagues throughout the world.

The Association of University Teachers Annual Council has voted to put in place an academic boycott against Haifa University and Bar-Ilan University.

We recognize the right of individuals openly to express their opinions regarding the policies of any government or of any university, but freedom in the conduct of science is one of the most basic principles of scientific ethics and one we have consistently upheld. A boycott of Israeli colleagues based on disagreement with the policies of the Israeli government is in direct violation of all academic and human rights standards. It takes science and scholarly research hostage, and places them at the service of politics.

Therefore we unequivocally condemn and deplore this academic boycott.

Download a pdf of an article written in the NY Sun on this subject by CCS Co-Chair Walter Reich
Download the article

Special Programs

The Mark Kac Memorial Fund has continued to support memberships in the American Physical Society and to sponsor subscriptions to its journals - this year again for 20 colleagues in Poland, Slovakia, Belarus and Ukraine.

Our Program for Refugee Scientists boasts a 13-year record of offering material assistance to colleagues who have immigrated to the United States. It defrays some of the cost of their job searches and facilitates their making professional contacts. Since its inception it has helped 136 participants, more than 90 of who found teaching and/or research positions in their respective fields during their one-year grant period. They are now full-fledged members of the U.S. academic community.