Abstract:
Prior studies of modem scientific internationalism have been written primarily from
the point of view of scientists, with little regard to the influence of the state. This
study examines the state's role in international scientific relations. States sometimes
encouraged scientific internationalism; in the mid-twentieth century,t hey often
sought to restrict it. The present study examines state involvement in international
scientific congresses, the primary intersection between the national and international
dimensions of scientists' activities. Here we examine three comparative instances
in which such restrictions affected scientific internationalism: an attempt to
bring an international aerodynamics congress to Nazi Germany in the late 1930s,
unsuccessful efforts by Soviet geneticists to host the Seventh
International Genetics
Congress in Moscow in 1937, and efforts by U.S. scientists to host international
meetings in 1950s cold war America. These case studies challenge the classical ideology
of scientific internationalism, wherein participation by a nation in a scientist's
fame spares the scientist conflict between advancing his science and advancing the
interests of his nation. In the cases we consider, scientists found it difficult to simultaneously
support scientific universalism and elitist practices. Interest in these
congresses reached the top levels of the state, and access to patronage beyond state
control helped determine their outcomes
