Many of UFTI’s leading members were arrested in the Great Purge and accused of fantastic plots against the state.95 The effect on the institute was devastating. Weissberg recalls that in arguments with his cell-mates he assessed the damage in this way: “Listen,” I said. “Our Institute is one of the most important of its kind in Europe. In fact, there is probably no other institute with so many different and well-equipped laboratories. The Soviet Government has spared no expense. Our leading scientists were partly trained abroad. They were constantly being sent to leading physicists all over
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