Year: 2024
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: In the history of high-energy physics during the Cold War, the ways in which the East and West cooperated is often either overlooked or glorified as a purely scientific exchange. By focusing on the creation of the “Commission on High Energy Physics” in 1957 (later renamed “Commission on Particles and Fields”) and describing the organizational process behind its conferences, which were sponsored by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and held in the United States, Europe and the Soviet Union, this chapter demonstrates that physicists were unable to truly escape the hold of politics. By revealing how they served the interests of their administrations and intelligence agencies, it demystifies the social construct of purity, thereby offering insights into some of the mechanisms of science diplomacy, while also revealing that East-West cooperation was prioritized over the inclusion of other world regions.
Source: Oxford University Press eBooks
Author: Barbara Hof
Institution: University of Cambridge
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: CERN
OpenAlex ID: W4402655838