Veranstaltung: International conference on  ,,Science and the State: Governmental Research in War and Peace during the Twentieth Century”, 03 – 04 March 2022, online

International conference on 03 – 04 March 2022

Science and the State

Governmental Research in War and Peace during the Twentieth Century

Organized by Simon Große-Wilde, Helmut Maier and Carsten Reinhardt

as part of the project

 History of the research institutes of the German Federal Ministry of Economics (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Physical-Technical Federal Institute) during the National Socialist era and the post-war period.

The conference will take place online. For access please write: alice.neitzel@uni-bielefeld.de

Program

Thursday, 03.03.2022

Session I: Science and the State

9:00h: Welcome

9:15h – 9:40h

Rüdiger Hachtmann (Berlin): Profiteers or victims? Scientific institutions in the ›New Statehood‹ of National Socialism 1933 to 1945

9:40h – 10:05h

Julia Mariko Jacoby (Freiburg): Continuities and changes between prewar and postwar

Japanese research on water governance

10:05h – 10:30h

Uwe Fraunholz (Dresden): Path dependence of governmental research in East Germany and the early GDR

10:30h – 11:00h: Discussion

15 minutes break

Session II: Materials

11:15h – 11:40h

Malte Stöcken (Wuppertal): Testing and researching materials for the war economy: The State Materials Testing Office (Staatliches Materialprüfungsamt) Berlin-Dahlem in the Third Reich

11:40h – 12:05h

Ansbert Baumann (Tübingen): Armament research in the field of tension between scientific and state interests: From the Air Force Technical Academy to the Saint-Louis Institute

12:05h – 12:30h

Roland Wittje (Chennai): Acoustics, testing materials and state sesearch in Norway between the Wars

12:30h – 13:00h: Discussion

13:00h – 14: 00h: Lunch

Session III: Geological Sciences

14:00h – 14:25h

Martina Kölbl-Ebert (Munich): German Petroleum Geology from the Third Reich to the Iron Curtain

14:25h – 14:50h

Stanislaw Wołkowicz and Krystyna Wołkowicz (Warsaw): ‘Polish episode’ in the life of Roland Brinkmann: from the director of Amt für Bodenforschung to the prisoner – the story at a distance of 400 meters

14:50h – 15:15h

Sören Flachowsky and Björn Hofmeister (Wuppertal): Geology and the state in war, peace, and Cold War. The German Geology Offices 1914/18-1955/60

15:15h – 15:45h: Discussion

15 minutes break

Session IV: Chemical Sciences and Engineering Entangled with the State

16: 00h – 16:25h

Jeffrey Johnson (Villanova): From Heidelberg to Edgewood:  Technology transfer from Germany and American chemical and psychochemical warfare research, 1945-1971

16:25h – 16:50h

Helmut Maier (Wuppertal): Armament research on demand. Governmental research institutions and the German innovation system (1933-1945)

16:50h – 17:15h

Yvonne Schellhorn (Bielefeld): Structure, responsibilities and personnel organisation of the State Commodity Inspection Office Thuringia (Staatliches Warenprüfungsamt Thüringen) in the Soviet Zone

17:15h – 17:45h: Discussion

Friday, 04.03.2022

Session V: Physics

9:00h – 9:25h

Vivian Yurdakul and Jens Thiel (Wuppertal): Metrology between science and state. The Imperial Institute of Physics and Technology (Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt) and its successor institutions after 1945 in East- and West-Germany 

9:25h – 9:50h

Shaul Katzir (Tel Aviv): Between academy and industry: National laboratories research and development of frequency and time standards in the interwar period

9:50h – 10:15h

Dieter Hoffmann (Berlin): The Imperial Institute of Physics and Technology (Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt) and the Nazi plans to reshape the Meter Convention in the spirit of ‘Greater Germany’

10:15h – 10:45h: Discussion

15 minutes break

Session VI: Theory & Methodology

11:00h – 11:25h

Axel Philipps (Hannover): Scientists’ frames of orientation at governmental research agencies. Some sociological insights

11:25h – 11:50h

Richard Heidler and Jürgen Güdler (Bonn): GEPRIS Historisch – A new source for research and statistical analysis of governmentally funded science from the Weimar Republic to WW II

11:50h – 12:15h

Volker Roelcke (Gießen): Members of the German Academy of Scientists Leopoldina during National Socialism: Outline of a research project, and some conceptual considerations

12:15h – 12:45h: Discussion and farewell (Helmut Maier, Wuppertal and Carsten Reinhardt, Bielefeld)