Mr. Speaker. I rise as a participant in the Spirit of Helsinki Vigil 1980 joining my concerned colleagues in bringing to the attention of the House the plight of Soviet dissidents who wish to emigrate from the Soviet Union. Today. I would like to speak about Prof. Nohim Meiman. a Soviet Jew and a mathematical scientist who has been actively seeking an exit visa since 1974. Professor Meimans case is typical of the harassment and threats Soviet scientists have suffered in their struggle for basic human rights. In 1935. Nohim Meiman received the highest degree awarded in the Soviet Union. doctor of physical and mathematical sciences. He is widely known for his work with quantum field theory and analytical function theory. and he worked at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics in the Soviet Union until he was dismissed. When Professor Meiman decided to emigrate from the U.S.S.R.. his application was refused on the grounds of "possessing state secrets." In a letter to Leonid Brezhnev. Meiman explained that the only time in his career when he dealt with secret subjects was in the years 194855. when he worked on theoretical calculations related to defense issues for the Institute of Physical Problems of the Academy of Sciences. Since the work had been done over 25 years earlier. it had since been published and had become obsolete. and could hardly be termed "state secrets." Meiman appealed: I declare categorically and can prove convincingly that I do not possess any state secrets . . . I am afraid that the possession of secret information of which I am being accused is not the real reason for denying me a visa . . . but is only a pretext. On January 25. 1978. an international appeal in support of Professor Meiman was signed by over 1.200 physicists and mathematicians. among them several Nobel Prize winners. from Belgium. Denmark.
Keywords matched
emigrate visa