Event sponsor
Society of Physics Students
Event location
Virtual & American Center for Physics, College Park, MD
Event description
Freedom's Laboratory: The Cold War Struggle for the Soul of Science
Presented by Audra J. Wolfe, Ph.D.
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
SPS Virtual Meet & Greet: 4:30 p.m.
This special event just for SPS students will provide a behind the scenes look at Dr. Wolfe's research and an exclusive opportunity for Q&A. Participate in-person or virtually. RSVP here for access to the online portion.
Reception: 5:30 p.m.
Talk: 6:30 p.m.
American Center for Physics
1 Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740
RSVP Here to attend in person
Abstract:
Why do so many U.S. scientists continue to lean on the language of apolitical science, even as political leaders display less and less interest in scientists’ claims to expertise, or even the existence of facts? In a new book, Freedom’s Laboratory: The Cold War Struggle for the Soul of Science, historian Audra J. Wolfe suggests the answer lies in Cold war propaganda.
From the late 1940s through the late 1960s, the US foreign policy establishment saw a particular way of thinking about scientific freedom as essential to winning the global Cold War. Throughout this period, the engines of US propaganda amplified, circulated, and, in some cases, produced a vision of science, American style, that highlighted scientists’ independence from outside interference and government control. Working (both overly and covertly, wittingly and unwittingly) with governmental and private organizations, U.S. scientists tried to come to terms with the meanings of “scientific freedom” and “U.S. ideology.” More often than not, they ended up defining scientific values as the opposite of Communist science.
Science, in this view, was apolitical.
The Cold War ended long ago, but the language of science and freedom continues to shape public debates over the relationship between science and politics in the United States.
Event contact:
Zone 4 AZC, Tori Palmaccio, toripalmaccio [at] yahoo.com