Nobel Laureates Sign a Protest Letter over Russia's Anti-gay Law

An open letter to Russian Government and people has been co-signed by 27 Nobel prize winners, protesting its law banning so-called "homosexual propaganda to minors". The letter has been published in the UK’s The Independent newspaper.

The group of Nobel laureates is leaded by Sir Ian McKellen and his childhood friend the chemist Sir Harry Kroto, and they speak out against Russian homophobic legislation.

Their goal is to show that many senior members of the international scientific community express solidarity with politicians, artists, sports people and many others who have already expressed their abhorrence for the Russian authorities' actions against its gay citizens.

The signatories are:

Ian McKellen (aka Henry V/Gandalf)

Harold Kroto (Nobel Chemistry 1996)

Mairead Maguire (Nobel Peace 1976)

Eric Cornell (Nobel Physics 2001)

Sheldon Glashow (Nobel Physics 1979)

Brian Josephson (Nobel Physics 1973)

Martin Perl (Nobel Physics 1995)

Roald Hoffmann (Chemistry 1981)

Gerhard Ertl (Chemistry 2007)

Susumu Tonegawa (Physiology/Medicine 1987)

Tony Leggett  (Nobel Physics 2003)

Dudley Herschbach (Nobel Chemistry 1986)

Paul Nurse (Nobel Physiology/Medicine 2001)

Robert Curl (Nobel Chemistry 1996)

Martin Chalfie (Nobel Chemistry 2008)

Richard Roberts (Nobel Physiology/Medicine 1993)

John Polanyi (Nobel Chemistry 1986)

Edmond Fischer (Nobel Physiology/Medicine 1992)

Timothy Hunt (Nobel Physiology/Medicine 2001)

Jack Szostak (Nobel Physiology/Medicine 2009)

John Coetzee (Nobel Literature 2003)

Eric Wieschaus (Nobel Physiology/Medicine 1995)

Leon Lederman (Nobel Physics 1988)

Peter Agre (Nobel Chemistry 2003)

John Sulston (Nobel Physiology/Medicine 2002)

Herta Müller (Nobel Literature 2009)

Brian Schmidt (Nobel Physics 2011)

Thomas Steitz (Nobel Chemistry 2009)

McKellen leads the protest letter 

and signed as aka Henry V/Gandalf