The building of personal relationships that supersede individual cultures, traditions and political regimes is one of the glories of international scientific collaborations.
At the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, scientists still enjoy describing the diverse array of people who worked side by side a decade ago. When crews arrive at the International Space Station, they exchange bread and salt to symbolize the unity of the universe.
Even in Russia, where use of the word "invasion" is now a crime, opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to grow. Conferences and academic exchanges have been canceled. Open letters from winners of the prize have been published. The Russian and American space programs have been intertwined for 30 years.
Last week the waves of condemnation reached CERN, long an embodiment of the dream of international collaboration. The Russian Federation was suspended from its observer status at the lab until further notice after the governing body of the lab said it would not engage in any new collaborations with the Russians.
In the aftermath of World War II, the council was established to bring nations and people together for the peaceful pursuit of science.
The International Congress of Mathematicians, scheduled for Saint Petersburg in July, was changed in February to be held virtually. The Congress is the biggest gathering in math. An awards ceremony and assembly will be held outside of Russia.
There have been protests in other parts of the world. Russian scientists and science journalists wrote an open letter to the website Troitskiy Variant, an independent science publication in Russia, condemning the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia doomed itself to international isolation after unleashing the war and scientists will no longer be able to do their job.
The letter has been signed by some 7,750 Russians, according to a physicist from Russia. After the Russian parliament made it a criminal offense to call the invasion of Ukraine a special military operation, the letter disappeared from the website, but it can still be found on the Wayback Machine.
There is nothing criminal in the text of the letter, according to the new post.
That post has disappeared as well.
The Russian delegation to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was embarrassed when the head of the delegation interrupted his speech to apologize.
Dr. Anisimov apologized on behalf of all Russians who were not able to prevent the conflict.
The condemnation from CERN was particularly stinging.
The laboratory was formed to help bind Europe, and the effort has been spectacular. The Large Hadron collider is the center of particle physics and the discovery of the long-sought Higgs boson a decade ago was a global sensation. Physicists were able to easily share their data on the World Wide Web.
Scientists from 100 nations and territories work in the lab. The laboratory is governed by a council of 23 member states, each of which sends delegates, a scientist and a diplomat to the counsel. Each state has a single vote. Russia has observer status, meaning it can send delegations to meetings but not vote, like the U.S. and Japan. There are seven associate members. A two-thirds vote is needed to expel a member or observer state.
The meeting this week was called extraordinary by the president of the council.
In the days before the meeting, he said in an email that he was overwhelmed by decisions to be taken.
Many people were surprised by what happened.
In times of aggression, war and political divide, the director-general of the European Center for Nuclear Research said that the mission of the center was to build bridges between countries. When the time comes, such channels will be essential.
Physicists contacted by phone and email supported the decision to suspend the observer status of the Russian Federation.
Pierre Ramond, a physicist at the University of Florida, wrote that the decision was necessary. The lack of any would have been a black mark, since the first symbol of the new Europe was CERN.
The relationship between Russian and California Institute of Technology physicists dates back to the 1960s.
He said in an email that he believed that those contacts were of high importance.
It's not clear what this means for individual scientists. In a note to the lab, Dr. Gianotti insisted that nobody was being sent home and that ongoing collaborations were being maintained.
Joseph Incandela, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who led one of the teams that discovered the Higgs boson, said that those who are here can continue to do their work. They are allowed to enter the site.
Lisa Randall, a theoretical physicist at Harvard, noted in an email that she was not sure about the implications of continued collaboration.
After three years of repairs and improvements, the Large Hadron collider is expected to restart in April.
The promise of a narrow bridge of communication is still alive. In an email, Michael Turner, a physicist with the Kavli Foundation in Los Angeles and past president of the American Physical Society, stressed the value of these informal working relationships.
The entire world is trying to figure out what to do with regard to Russia's actions.
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