Scientists in U.S. harried by Trump cuts turns towards Europe.

Trump is driving American scientists into Europe’s arms. John Von Neumann and Albert Einstein were part of a wave of great scientists who fled Nazi Germany, went to America and created new fields of research. The effect on innovation by American scientists was vast. Patenting in chemistry increased by 71% according to research by Fabian Waldinger, then of Warwick University, and co-authors. America later built on its huge wartime scientific boom to win technological races against its new communist rivals. For decades, America’s immense investment in research lured Europe’s best scientific talent across the Atlantic.

US scientists are increasingly looking towards Europe due to funding cuts and policies implemented during the trump administration.

These cuts have affected research institutions and universities, creating uncertainty and job losses for academics.

The threat to academics’ livelihoods at universities including Yale, Columbia and Johns Hopkins has given Europe’s political leaders hope they could reap an intellectual windfall.

A letter, reviewed by Reuters, signed in March by 13 European countries including France, Germany and Spain, urged the EU Commission to move fast to attract academic talent.

The European Research Council, an EU body that finances scientific work, told Reuters it would double the relocation budget for funding researchers moving to the EU to 2 million euros ($2.16 million) per applicant. That goes towards covering the cost of moving to a European institution, which may involve setting up a laboratory.