Does science need a global language?

Early in 2012, researchers worldwide celebrated reports that the Higgs boson had probably been detected, a result that strongly supported the Standard Model describing how the universe functions. More than a hundred nations took part in that work, which many saw as the start of a more collaborative, multinational period in science. Globalization, the internet, and digital tools have made this shift possible, but a deeper force is also involved: scientists have always wanted to share what they know, and today they can do so largely through one language, English. Is that a positive development? Scott L. Montgomery takes up this question by tracing how English came to dominate scientific communication, why it happened, the different forms it takes, and the benefits and drawbacks it carries, and by considering where it may lead.

Montgomery pays particular attention to emerging and developing countries, where research is still taking shape and English has not yet become firmly rooted. Drawing on linguistics, history, education, and geopolitics, he weighs the wider effects of a single scientific tongue. Each chapter includes anecdotes from working scientists, some of whom have had to navigate English-based science firsthand. The discussion ranges across student mobility, publishing patterns, world Englishes, language endangerment, and second language learning. The book is written to prompt readers to reconsider their assumptions about where science is heading.