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Fifty years ago, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia was having a chilling effect on scientists working there

鈥淭HE scientists are getting out.鈥� Our headline on 9 January 1969 referred to a significant moment in cold-war history. Teachers, doctors, researchers and students were leaving Czechoslovakia in their thousands, and had been doing so since 21 August of the previous year.

That was when the tanks had rolled in. Around 250,000 troops from the USSR, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria invaded the country, bringing an abrupt and decisive end to the Prague Spring, a period of liberalisation and democratisation that had begun earlier that year.

鈥淲hen, in January 1968, the Stalinist party-leadership was replaced by new men who appreciated the importance of science, most scientists were convinced that the time of change had actually arrived,鈥� we wrote. 鈥淭he Soviet invasion鈥� came as a great shock.鈥�

By January 1969, several centres of research 鈥渨ere practically brought to a standstill by the depletion of their staffs鈥�. Many scientists had been actively involved in attempting to reform the regime, but 鈥渙nly a few left the country because of personal danger鈥�, we wrote. 鈥淭he real reason for this massive exodus is the justified fear that the bad old days will return.鈥�

Those days had not been favourable for scientists. 鈥淟eading posts in government and industry were taken over by people who not only lacked education but were hostile to it,鈥� we wrote. 鈥淪ubsequent purges made it quite clear that a university degree was not only a great disadvantage but often a source of danger.鈥� Even if someone managed to become a researcher, 鈥渢he classification of scientific theories and results as either 鈥楳arxist鈥� or 鈥榖ourgeois鈥� made it impossible for scientists in East Europe to take part in the important advances achieved in the field of genetics, cybernetics, information theory and psychology鈥�.

That situation was set to continue for 20 years. It was not until the Velvet Revolution of 1989 that Czech scientists could truly restart their work. By then, we wrote in 1990, the country had lost a generation of scientists.