Scientific Personnel and the Professions

Abstract

Current interest in the migration of professional scientific and technical personnel is largely keyed to economic growth and development. Numbers of scientists, engineers, and physicians now emigrating to the United States are substantial and increasing. They now constitute an appreciable percentage of the annual increment to these professions. Their foreign origins include the traditional western European sources, particularly the United Kingdom and Germany; Canada; and, to an increasing extent, Asia. About 5 to 10 per cent of those currently engaged in each of these occupations are apparently of foreign origin in the sense of foreign birth and training, although the majority of these scientists and engineers are now American citizens. By such yardsticks as educational attainment in terms of degrees held, membership in the National Academy of Sciences, and Nobel laureates, the foreign-origin professionals compare very favorably with the native-born.