At the college de France in the hall of the Academie des Sciences in France, the members of the Universal Movement for Responsible Science (Mouvement Universel pour la Responsabilité Scientifique, MURS) today elected Ismail Serageldin to head its international effort. The nomination, coming after the unanimous endorsement of the administrative body of the French chapter that includes distinguished Nobel Laureates Jean Dausset, Rita Levi-Montalcini, among others, was unanimously endorsed by the distinguished attendance.
Founded in the 1970s, the MURS aims at ensuring that scientists are actively engaged in the debates concerning the socially responsible application of scientific work, and to get scientists to communicate more with the general public, especially youth. The MURS has been an active force in France, Japan and Mexico and a bit in Switzerland. It lacks a truly universal presence. A new body is being therefore established at the international level, and the French chapter shall provide the Secretariat. Ismail Serageldin is to lead that international effort.
In his acceptance speech, Ismail Serageldin spoke of the importance of the vision of the MURS, today more than ever, and committed himself to make its presence reach many more countries in the world. He saw the revolutions in the information and biological sciences and their applications on a wide range of fields as particularly important. He promised an activist presidency.
Ismail Serageldin and Jean Dausset at MURS