missing scientists
Definition
Scientists whose whereabouts are unknown, often due to disappearance, defection, or mysterious circumstances.
A phrase used in news or conspiracy contexts to describe researchers who have vanished, typically amid geopolitical tensions or lab accidents.
Informally, absent-minded professors who forget where they parked their lab coats.
Examples
The lab budget balanced perfectly once the missing scientists stopped ordering exotic isotopes.
Conspiracy theorists claim the missing scientists are hiding in a parallel universe inventing gluten-free black holes.
After the experiment went wrong, the boss shrugged and said, 'Blame the missing scientists—they're always vanishing at the worst times.'
The conference panel on quantum ethics felt incomplete without input from the missing scientists, who probably got stuck in a wormhole.