A Turkish physicist specialising in dark matter and particle accelerators who lost his job and US visa after exposing radiation risks has been arrested while staging a solitary protest march to Canada.
Furkan Dolek, who holds a doctorate from Switzerland and has worked at CERN, Fermilab and Virginia Tech University, vanished near the end of his march, on 27th August.
Turkish physicist Dr. Furkan Dolek poses in undated photo. He was found in the Buffalo Federal Detention Center in New York. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
His sudden silence sparked fears for his safety among his family until, after several days without contact, Turkish officials confirmed he had been found in a US immigration detention centre.
What began as a promising career at the frontier of particle physics unravelled when his visa was abruptly revoked in April 2024, leaving him jobless and stranded in the United States.
In a recent LinkedIn post, Dolek claimed that "exploited researchers [were] forced to work under unsafe conditions," while "the most vulnerable [were] left unprotected" and misconduct was covered up.
He added that "fraud and retaliation" awaited anyone who dared to speak out. According to him, after reporting these issues through official whistleblower channels, he was met not with protection but with "false charges, dismissal and total institutional silence."
His complaints echoed issues highlighted in a March 2025 whistleblower report on Fermilab, cited by Chicago’s WTTW News, which detailed budget overruns, safety lapses and leadership failures.
Attempts to overturn the cancellation of Dolek's J-1 research visa failed in court, despite his family in Adana selling their home and sending him USD 50,000 (GBP 37,000) for legal bills.
He said the federal protections that were supposed to shield whistleblowers failed him, offering neither anonymity nor redress.
Instead, he turned increasingly to social media to describe how institutions silence dissent.
Turkish physicist Dr. Furkan Dolek poses in undated photo. He was found in the Buffalo Federal Detention Center in New York. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
In early August 2025, facing exhaustion and fearing deportation to a third country under refugee transfer rules, he embarked on what he called a "distress call from a scientist": a lone march from upstate New York towards the Canadian border.
He framed it as a test of international law and human rights in an era when non-citizens risk detention and removal for activism.
His final post on 27th August recorded him near the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne, "exhausted" and "blistered" but "grateful to have made it this far". Then all contact ceased.
On 3rd September, officials from Turkey’s New York consulate confirmed he had been located in US immigration custody, transferred to the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility.
He has not yet been given a court date and remains at risk of deportation.
His sister Esra, who was able to speak briefly with him by phone, said he sounded well but the family's priority is securing his return to Turkey.
For the family, the ordeal is not only financial but deeply frustrating.
His parents say their son, whose research record includes more than 500 publications and over 20,000 citations, has been abandoned despite raising concerns about safety standards in labs central to high-energy physics.
Instead of protection, they argue, he has faced silence from institutions and little support from the wider community, leaving him to fight alone.