Yasin El Abiead

Yasin El Abiead is a chemist who left the United States to return to Vienna, Austria, where he grew up and was educated, joining the Austrian Academy of Sciences as an APART-USA fellow — a programme created specifically to attract scientists leaving American institutions.

El Abiead had spent several years in the US primarily to work with a particular researcher in his field. Reflecting on why the US had drawn so many scientists for so long, he said, "[The U.S.] is where the money is, and that's what brings more people there. That's how it rolls. And if that ever turns around...I don't know." Now back in the city where Einstein once lectured, he described Vienna and Austria's historic scientific legacy with evident pride, noting the university buildings that look much as they did a century ago. "But things change," he said of the shifting balance of scientific power. "Let's see what happens."