Gerson Sher

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Gerson S. Sher, Ph.D. is a retired foundation executive and civil servant who has devoted his career to the intersection of scientific cooperation, international affairs and global security, primarily with the countries of the former Soviet Union. He is the author of The Great Experiment: A Critical History of Scientific Cooperation between the United States and the Former Soviet Union (forthcoming, Indiana University Press, 2018).
In the public sector, Sher was Program Coordinator for U.S.-Soviet and East European Programs at the National Science Foundation, where he served for twenty years and contributed to a variety of other programs, including a Presidential initiative with India and policy work in the White House Science Office on scientific communication and national security. He has also worked in several nonprofit organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, George Soros’s International Science Foundation (as Chief Operating Officer) and the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (now CRDF Global), of which he was the Founding President. As President and Executive Vice President of the United States Industry Coalition, he engaged extensively with private U.S. high-tech companies to bring them together with former Soviet weapons of mass destruction scientists to produce mutually profitable civilian technologies. As a Senior Advisor at the Henry L. Stimson Center, an independent nonprofit think tank, he worked on projects related to global nuclear security.
Sher received a B.A. (Summa Cum Laude) in Russian Studies from Yale University in 1969 and a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University in 1975. His doctoral dissertation, Praxis: Marxist Criticism and Dissent in Socialist Yugoslavia, was published by Indiana University Press in in 1977. He is the author and translator (from Serbo-Croatian) of numerous books and articles. In June 2008, he received an honorary doctorate from the Moscow Engineering-Physical Institute (MEPhI; now the Russian Federal Nuclear University), Russia’s premier university for educating nuclear scientists and engineers. The degree was awarded for the career work he has done to promote science and technology cooperation between the United States and Russia.
Supervisors: Robert C. Tucker, Princeton University (deceased), Stephen F. Cohen, Princeton University (now NYU), and Loren R. Graham, MIT (Emeritus) and Harvard

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Praxis: Marxist Criticism and Dissent in Socialist Yugoslavia

Labour/Le Travail, 1980

Praxis: Marxist Criticism and Dissent in Socialist Yogoslavia

Contemporary Sociology, Jul 1, 1979

Praxis: Marxist Criticism and Dissent in Socialist Yogoslavia

The American Historical Review, Dec 1, 1978

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Praxis: Marxist Criticism and Dissent in Socialist Yugoslavia

The Russian Review, Jul 1, 1979

From Pugwash to Putin: A Critical History of US–Soviet Scientific Cooperation

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: What Can U.S. Scientists Do?

From Pugwash to Putin

The Role of International Cooperation in the Development of the Scientific Potential of Ukraine

Nauka ta Innovacii, Jan 30, 2006

Between Ideals and Reality a Critique of Socialism and its Future

Oxford University Press eBooks, 1973

The Yugoslav social philosophers with whom Mihailo Markovif and Svetozar Stojanovid are most clos... more The Yugoslav social philosophers with whom Mihailo Markovif and Svetozar Stojanovid are most closely associated offer a "middle way" toward Marxist theory in which praxis, particularly through critical application of dialectical reasoning, has overcome the certainty of cant. In eschewing both Stalinism and Maoism for humanism, this approach has conformed, over the past two decades, to the apparent evolution of Yugoslav political practice. Indeed, for a brief time (1965-68), these Yugoslav philosophers seemed to enjoy the best of several possible situations: not only were they in general agreement with their government, but they were also sought —as guides to praxis—in other countries, including the United States. Their acknowledged relevance at home as well as abroad seemed even to imply that this way of thinking was historically correct. After 1968, however, Yugoslav President Tito and his colleagues ended their tentative welcome for critical social thought from outside their own ranks. Faced with rising prices, a querulous working class (excluding managers and civil servants), social demands which were easily translated into national-ethnic divisiveness, an increasingly well-informed public opinion and a national student body increasingly willing to appeal to it, the League of Communist leaders, especially after 1970, responded to the chaos that they perceived by restricting the initiatives to themselves. They saw no need to allow platforms for either critical philosophers or various claimants to the leadership of separatist ethnic groups. While drawing up laws (1973-74) to bring new people into politics and "strengthen" selfmanagement—actions superficially in line with the critical social philosophers—the Party leaders have really attempted to elevate politics and politicians to the authoritative pedestal from which they once addressed society. It is ironic that this behavior, indicative of the type of structural contradiction under socialism well elaborated by Markovic" and Stojanovic", partially victimized them.

The Great Experiment: Scientific Cooperation Between the United States and the Former Soviet Union

Bulletin of the American Physical Society, Mar 5, 2018

Does Research in the Former Soviet Union Have a Future?

Science, May 27, 1994

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Memoir of a Revolutionary. By Milovan Djilas. Translated by Drenka Willen. (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1973. Pp. 402. $12.00.)

American Political Science Review, Mar 1, 1977

The Political Ideas of Marx and Engels. Richard N. Hunt

The Journal of Modern History, Jun 1, 1976

Marxism and Philosophy

Contemporary Sociology, 1973

Marxist Humanism and Praxis

Science With an Impact: U.S.-Ukrainian Cooperation in Physical and Life Sciences

APS March Meeting Abstracts, Mar 1, 2001

The mission of the U.S. Civilian R&D Foundation (CRDF) is to conduct innovative activities of... more The mission of the U.S. Civilian R&D Foundation (CRDF) is to conduct innovative activities of mutual benefit that help sustain the civilian scientific and technical capability of the countries of the former Soviet Union. To this end, the CRDF funds cooperative research projects between U.S. and Ukrainian scientists in all areas of civilian science and engineering, with special interest in projects that promote economic development, build partnerships for long-term sustainability, and help redirect scientists formerly engaged in research on weapons of mass destruction to full-time civilian research. The active participation of researchers from both Ukraine and the United States in these projects is a key element of their capacity for long-term impact. The results of two specific CRDF-funded projects will be presented to illustrate the benefits of such cooperation: "Application of Geographic Information Systems to Environmental Health Problems in Ukraine," and "Liquid Nitrogen Refrigeration Systems for Transportation Applications."

Why are Competitive Grants Important—Especially in Ukraine?

Physics

Scientific funding through competitive grants is a key driver for innovation, but some countries-... more

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U.S.-Russian Scientific Cooperation in Changing Times

Problems of Post-Communism, Jul 1, 2004

GERSON S. SHER, an independent consultant, is the former president of the U.S. Civilian Research ... more GERSON S. SHER, an independent consultant, is the former president of the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation, a non-profit organization authorized by the U.S. Congress and established by the National Science Foundation in 1995. He was chief operating officer of George Soros’s International Science Foundation from 1993 to 1995 and, for the preceding twenty years, served the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences in managing cooperative scientific programs with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. U.S.-Russian Scientific Cooperation in Changing Times

The Great Experiment: Scientific Cooperation Between the United States and the Former Soviet Union

Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 2018

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: What Can U.S. Scientists Do?

Science & Diplomacy

Gerson Sher

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