Top Astrophysicist Leaves U.S.

AndrewKemendo

I’d love to hear why someone shouldn’t migrate when the environment gets hostile to their way of life? Seems like an obvious move to me.

k310

Kelly Holley-Bockelmann https://kellyholleybockelmann.squarespace.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Holley-Bockelmann https://x02.me/i/mIORIX.jpeg

JdeBP

The Times is behind a wall again. What has further happened in order to make this news in November? The Dutch press reported this back in July. * https://nu.nl/klimaat/6403448/amerikaanse-topwetenschapper-z... * https://trouw.nl/wetenschap/sterrenkundige-uit-de-vs-zet-wer...

contemporary343

Of note is that recently, top US undergrads (in physical sciences) are actually going abroad for PhDs. I think at a statistically significant rate but we’ll have to do surveys.

bentt

I don't think links to paywalled sites should be considered without a mirror. What's the point of discussing something if not everyone can access it?

ocd

I realize this has been happening for a while since the current administration came into power, but for people from other G7 nations, it's kind of nice seeing this happen to the US for once.

peri-cl

https://archive.is/9R4M9 https://wallhop.io/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/07/scienc...

sashank_1509

> Super intelligence is coming in 1-5 years. > We need the best and brightest if very country to stay in US. These are not coherent positions at all. Frankly I think we need the best looking people, not the most talented/ hard working/ intelligent people anymore, because that might be the only thing AI won’t replace for a while (decades).

jarjoura

What is the takeaway from this article? This is just an essay of a family who is deeply privileged enough to have the freedom to relocate to a part of the world that is even more gatekeeping. That is definitely an achievement, but it’s not like this doesn't happen all the time. It would have been nice if this were a more detailed article that talked about wider trends or highlighted the sacrifices she's making and the students she's bringing with her.

lasky

tldr; Over decades, like all government institutions, NASA devolves into an ineffective bureaucracy with massive cost overruns and operational ineffectiveness. The economic pressure of national debt allows Trump and DOGE to kick much of the academic intelligentsia out of NASA; astrophysicist loses all her influence in NASA, dies her hair pink and moves to Europe. NYT continues to publish idealogical comfort food for its reader base about it (mostly liberal elite professional class) and claims it is “journalism”. People feel good reading it. Instead of the hard work of intellectual honesty and self reflection of views, people continue to devolve into polarized reptilian thinking.