Complex Network of Scientific Talent Migration in Discrete Dynamics from 2001 to 2013

Scientific talents can make great contributions, including scientific breakthrough innovations and discoveries, and coordinate and guide the actions of many others, propelling the scientific knowledge frontier. We investigate international scientific talent migration from 2001 to 2013 with the quantitative method. The relationship between complex network and international talent migration is introduced. Considering most of talents migrate between some countries with good economy and innovation, the migration network including 37 countries is analysed. The countries are noted by nodes of the migration network, and the migratory flow of talents from one country to another country is viewed as the directed weight edge between the corresponding nodes. The discrete dynamics of talent migration under complex network is proposed. The unknown parameters of the proposed model are identified. The overall situation and time evolution of international talent migration from 2001 to 2013 are given from the discussion on the indicators of complex network. Furthermore, we study the talent migration flows in the view of obstacle factors. It is found that the great majority of talents migrate between developed countries and emerging economies from 2001 to 2013, and this phenomenon becomes more significant. The USA has attracted a great number of talents all over the world, and the country is also the ideal destination for talents who want to live or work in another country for more job opportunities, attractive payment, and better innovation environment. China and India begin to attract talents. Talents emigrate from more and more original countries. It becomes more convenient for talents to immigrate to other countries. The effectiveness of obstructs to migration has become weakening. For immigrating to a certain country, the obstacles have a relationship with the country’s innovation.

George Ellery Hale’s Internationalism

Throughout his career, George Ellery Hale thought globally. “Make no small plans” he was often heard to say (Seares 1939). His early sojourns to Europe, encountering the talent and resources in England and the Continent, contributed to his outlook. He knew that their patronage was critical to reach his personal goals. Here I outline the steps Hale took to establish the new “astrophysics” as a discipline, by creating the Astrophysical Journal, establishing a common language and then, through the first decades of the 20th Century, building an international collaboration to coordinate solar and later all astronomical research. The latter effort, which began in 1904, had expanded by 1910 to encompass stellar astronomy, when the Solar Union deliberated over spectroscopic classification systems, a standard wavelength system and stellar magnitude systems. This work continued through the fifth Union meeting in Bonn in 1913, which turned out to be the last because of the First World War. During the war, Hale became Chair of the National Research Council of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, applying scientific talent to winning the war. He was also the Academy’s Foreign Secretary, so Hale became deeply involved in re-establishing international scientific relations after the war. In conjunction with Arthur Schuster and Emile Picard, he helped found the International Research Council in 1919, which formed the framework within which the worlds of science reorganized themselves. From this, the International Astronomical Union was born. It was not an easy birth in a world still filled with tension and anger over the war; formative conferences in London and Brussels reflected the extremes. Nevertheless, its first General Assembly was held in Rome in 1922. It would be years before it became truly international, “in the complete sense of the word” (Elis Strömgren), but many of the proposals made during the years of the Solar Union concerning disciplinary standardization were ratified. I will concentrate on this latter story, remembering Hale for his devotion to true internationalism.