Sir

I was disappointed by the portrayal of east German scientists in your recent article on neuroscience research in Magdeburg (see Nature 393, 725; 1998). Having worked as a doctoral student in the Institute for Neurobiology (IfN) in Magdeburg between January 1993 and November 1996 — the first non-German westerner to do so — I feel well placed to comment.

You give the impression that, during the communist period, all east German scientists were either working for the Stasi secret police, or were uncreative or unproductive. But the publication records of IfN's departments during the five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall reveal that the department with the most impressive record was the one led by an east German; it contained several east German scientists. The most successful research group in the institute was led by an east German.

I would also like to point out that the only article produced by the IfN that has appeared in Nature was co-authored by an east German (Frey and Morris, Nature 385, 533–536; 1997), and that east German doctoral students compare very favourably in their grades for their theses with the “young, self-confident west German graduate students” that you describe.