This is good reading, Jochen, thank you. Also, as usual, turns out I had many of my facts wrong. Probably from not understanding what I was told in the first place, and then fixing it into a wrong memory.
A few hours after writing, I remembered that the director I had met was Andreas Dress. One of my mistakes: he was a mathematician, not a physicist. But in looking him and the PICB up, to confirm that that was the place I remembered, I found this update: https://blogs.uni-bielefeld.de/blog/uninews/entry/bielefeld_mathematician_receives_china_s Among the other mistakes, the various older Chinese I knew must not have been supported in any institutional way by the Max Planck Gesellschaft (a whole generation too early), but rather were part of an ad hoc diaspora, which preceded the MPG outreaches. Nice to go back and fill in gaps I was too scattered to do at the time. Eric > On Mar 16, 2025, at 13:30, Jochen Fromm <[email protected]> wrote: > > I didn't know there were Max Planck institutes in China. I thought they were > a German institution. Apparently first attempts to cooperate with China > started in 1970 > https://www.mpg.de/16903179/china-history > <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.mpg.de%2f16903179%2fchina-history&c=E,1,RBEwOuleNJRXddZdSNgxHXVPk5ex90-d6LV8QhTQ8AM42LpliFecYx3sWVRetkO6eA7MUB44_ZHJgbExHssJKjXIdT3UAeTp7MG2cNfRaYMQaVuGBpWKZkbc&typo=1&ancr_add=1> > > Here in Germany Max Planck institutes are known for excellent research. Max > Planck institutes are doing theoretical research, while Fraunhofer institutes > are specialized on applied research. They are named after Max Planck, who > convinced Albert Einstein to come to Berlin 100 years ago > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck > > There are quite a few British and American directors: Richard McElreath is > director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in > Leipzig, Ruth Ley is director of the Max Planck Institute for Biology in > Tübingen, Erin Schumann is director at the Max Planck Institute for Brain > Research in Frankfurt and Iain Couzin is director of the Max Planck Institute > of Animal Behavior in Konstanz. > https://www.science.org/content/article/do-you-want-direct-research-institute-germany-s-max-planck-society-has-hundreds-top > > <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.science.org%2fcontent%2farticle%2fdo-you-want-direct-research-institute-germany-s-max-planck-society-has-hundreds-top&c=E,1,28-CkVRzVdmahBvLzIk9tBoLAKX55-8VHju9ZGTNIOT1BiooB3j5JAPLY2r9WJUDlEInOplyC3aCos2d41AB9JnLJyoU0bC-_qNIgP-pILR2Dla_fDcw54aM&typo=1&ancr_add=1> > > -J. > > > -------- Original message -------- > From: Santafe <[email protected]> > Date: 3/16/25 10:43 AM (GMT+01:00) > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] MUsk + trUMP's = MUMPS > > If there were institutional backing for this, I would take it very seriously. > Thing is, the European institutions already have their own stresses trying > to employ a number of people comparable to those that they have trained. I’m > not sure how many Americans they can take on, realistically. Also, how > appropriate it is to escape, even for those of us in the precariat who have > to move around constantly anyway. If they are people who want something > better out of the US than where we are going, the responsibility is knd of on > them to build that. Otherwise we just leave the 1/3 who think this is all a > great idea with posession of the territory and an unbelievable arsenal. > > I had something interesting explained to me a few years ago, when I used to > have opportunities to make work visits to China every year or sometimes a bit > more frequently. This one was to the Planck institute in Shangai, in the > district of Xu Jia Hui, if I recall. The director was a German, whom I used > to know about somewhat, but whose name I am currently forgetting. An older, > kind of disheveled guy, and a no-nonsense, fun and good scientist. > > He explained to me that the reason there were all these Chinese repatriated > from Germany (and I already knew several personally) is that during the > Cultural Revolution, the Planck Institutes had taken the initiative to > shelter science refugees from across China. Often their children were born > in Germany and had names honoring the place. One example was a high-ranking > academiciaion named Hao Bailin, whose name in his dialect could also be > pronounced Bolin, and was so named because he had been born in Berlin. Hao > spearheaded the development of Complex Systems studies in China, approaching > us to help him do that because he thought it was an important thing for the > future. He ran interference for us for years, with the establishment, to see > that things got done. In years since, when I have run into (sometimes shady, > possibly military-adjacent or espionage-adjacent) mid-career Chinese > physicists around the world (a case was in PyeongChang Korea during the > Olympic year), I mention Hao as a colleague, and with surprising frequency > they know him from having been in his classes. Such a small circle in such a > big society. But there were others too; a young physicist named Zheng Bo, > who came back to run the department in Zhejiang U. (Hao was from Fudan; long > story of what the Revolution did to those two universities too.) The science > community in exile that the MPIs sheltered and employed, for more than a > generation, made an outsised cohort of those who rebuilt science in China in > the re-opening by Deng and successors. > > Many versions of living that most Americans have not experienced heretofore, > but may lie ahead for us. > > Eric > > > > > On Mar 16, 2025, at 5:16 AM, Jochen Fromm <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > American scientists who want to come to good old Europe are welcome here. I > > believe we have better and healthier food too (which is not difficult > > because the U.S. is famous for fast food and fast food is as everybody > > knows really not good for you) > > https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/scientists-run-again > > <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.cartoonmovement.com%2fcartoon%2fscientists-run-again&c=E,1,4eMgMUjSgjO6CQEfFSvF7HoehqBrJacNGDlWGpuoSrgzgjvwGnlctFMdRuyHoiXz7loPrkCH75IClDIlM1j27swk1Nb9Dz0JAzH77ODaRK0,&typo=1&ancr_add=1> > > > > -J. > > > > > > -------- Original message -------- > > From: Nicholas Thompson <[email protected]> > > Date: 3/16/25 4:23 AM (GMT+01:00) > > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]>, > > [email protected] > > Subject: [FRIAM] MUsk + trUMP's = MUMPS > > > > If you agree that this is a meme that should be distributed, please spread > > it around. Artistic credit to George Patrick Tremblay IV. > > > > > > > > -- > > <image.png> > > > > “I told him to get vaccinated back in November” > > Nicholas S. 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