Does Science Need a Global Language?

In 2012, news broke that the elusive Higgs boson had been found. Scientists from 100 countries contributed to the discovery—proving, beyond doubt, that a new global era of science had arrived, made possible by a global language.

In truth, English defines the first global tongue that humanity has shared. Such is a key factor not only for research but for international relations in every aspect.
This book takes up questions of whether a global language is a good thing, particularly for scientific research, or not. What benefits and drawbacks does it bring? What historical forces made it happen? What are the impacts for student mobility, publication trends, language endangerment? How have the speakers of other world languages—Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, French, Russian—responded to the rise of English? Is it justified any longer to associate global English with the U.S. and Britain? And, in a linguistic sense, does global English define single form of the language, or are multiple, diverse varieties of the language involved?