UK Nobel winners back EU in Brexit
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LONDON, June 11, (APP): UK Nobel winners back EU in Brexit
Thirteen of Britain's top scientists signed a letter backing the campaign to remain in the EU Saturday after a dramatic new poll boosted the momentum behind the Brexit campaign less than two weeks before the June 23 referendum.
Nobel Prize winners including Peter Higgs -- after whom the Higgs Boson, believed to explain how matter acquires mass, is named - and geneticist Paul Nurse said the loss of research funding would be one consequence of leaving the bloc.
"The prospect of losing EU research funding is a key risk to UK science," the scientists wrote in a letter published by the Daily Telegraph.
"Science thrives on permeability of ideas and people, and flourishes in environments that pool intelligence, minimise barriers, and are open to free exchange and collaboration.
"The EU provides such an environment and scientists value it highly."
Ahead of the June 23 referendum on European Union membership, the race is looking close.
An online ORB poll for the Independent newspaper Friday sent sterling falling after indicating that 55 percent of Britons want to leave the EU, compared to 45 percent who want to stay.
