As someone who works with plenty of Chinese students who come here to learn physics, I know Sen. Cotton is wrong in about every way I can imagine. https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1254428558224736257

First of all, we are so fortunate that the best and brightest students from all over the world come here to work with us. American research is the best in the world because it is done by the best people from all over the world. One cannot exist without the other.

Second, pretty much every physicist I know understands that this knowledge doesn't belong to any one person. We are all part of a worldwide effort to build knowledge for everyone. In the US, we play a huge role in that, but do not have the right to lock others out of it.

Great people exist everywhere. Most of the best people I work with are not from the United States. This kind of xenophobia will only set us back. It will prevent us from maintaining any technological edge and hurt research across the world.