Statement of Nobel Laureates on Academic BDS Actions against Israeli Academics, Israeli Academic Institutions and Academic Centers and Institutes of Research and Training With Affiliations in Israel

Believing that academic and cultural boycotts, divestments and sanctions in the academy are:

* antithetical to principles of academic and scientific freedom,
* antithetical to principles of freedom of expression and inquiry, and
* may well constitute discrimination by virtue of national origin,

We, the undersigned Nobel Laureates, appeal to students, faculty colleagues and university officials to defeat and denounce calls and campaigns for boycotting, divestment and sanctions against Israeli academics, academic institutions and university-based centers and institutes for training and research, affiliated with Israel.

Furthermore, we encourage students, faculty colleagues and university officials to promote and provide opportunities for civil academic discourse where parties can engage in the search for resolution to conflicts and problems rather than serve as incubators for polemics, propaganda, incitement and further misunderstanding and mistrust.

We, and many like us, have dedicated ourselves to improving the human condition by doing the often difficult and elusive work to understand complex and seemingly unsolvable phenomena. We believe that the university should serve as an open, tolerant and respectful, cooperative and collaborative community engaged in practices of resolving complex problems.



Sidney Altman
Yale University
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1989


Walter Kohn
University of California, Santa Barbara
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1998

Kenneth Arrow
Stanford University
Nobel Prize in Economics, 1972

Roger D. Kornberg
Stanford University
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2006


Robert J. Aumann
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Nobel Prize in Economics, 2005

Harold Kroto
Florida State University
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1996


Mario Capecchi
University of Utah
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2007

Finn Kydland
University of California, Santa Barbara
Nobel Prize in Economics, 2004

Aaron Ciechanover
Technion
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2004
Leon Lederman
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1988

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
École Normale Supérieure
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1997

Tony Leggett
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Nobel Prize in Physics, 2003


Robert Curl
Rice University
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1996

Robert Lucas, Jr.
University of Chicago
Nobel Prize in Economics, 1995


Edmond H. Fischer
University of Washington
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1992

Rudolph A. Marcus
California Institute of Technology
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1992


Jerome Friedman
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1990

Eric Maskin
Institute for Advanced Study
Nobel Prize in Economics, 2007



Andre Geim
Manchester University
Nobel Prize in Physics, 2010

Roger Myerson
University of Chicago
Nobel Prize in Economics, 2007


Sheldon Glashow
Boston University
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979
George A. Olah
University of Southern California
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1994


David Gross
University of California, Santa Barbara
Nobel Prize in Physics, 2004

Douglas Osheroff
Stanford University
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1996


James Heckman
University of Chicago
Nobel Prize in Economics, 2000

Martin L. Perl
Stanford University
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1995


Avram Hershko
Technion
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2004
Stanley B. Prusiner
University of California, San Francisco
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1997

Roald Hoffman
Cornell University
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1981
Andrew V. Schally
University of Miami
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1977

Russell Hulse
University of Texas, Dallas
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1993

Richard R. Schrock
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2005


Tim Hunt
London Research Institute
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2001

Phillip A. Sharp
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1993


Daniel Kahneman
Princeton University
Nobel Prize in Economics, 2002

Steven Weinberg
University of Texas, Austin
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979


Eric Kandel
Columbia University
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2000

Elie Wiesel
Nobel Peace Prize, 1986



Lawrence Klein
University of Pennsylvania
Nobel Prize in Economics, 1980
Torsten Wiesel
Rockefeller University
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1981