Description:
An exploration of international science collaborations during the Cold War, with a focus on cooperative exchanges between Czechoslovakia and Poland in the 1960s and 70s. It provides a nuanced understanding of socialist hierarchies and the knowledge transfers during the era, challenging the perception that socialist scholars acted solely according to rigid, reciprocal plans.
Brief description:
Jan Jakub Surman is a historian specializing in the intellectual and scientific history of Central and Eastern Europe. He earned his Ph.D. in History at the University of Vienna and has held fellowships in Vienna, Moscow, Princeton, and Marburg. His research explores the intersections of science, language, and politics. He has published widely on multilingualism in academia, the history of positivism, and knowledge circulation, and serves on editorial boards of several international journals in the history of science.
Review Quotes:
"This excellently composed volume brings together eminent experts in the history of science of East Central Europe. ...The focus on two East Central European countries allows for an innovative view of the history of scientific relations, because it brings regions into focus that cannot simply be classified within narratives of post- or decolonial relations. In this way the volume successfully contributes to a de-centering of the history of science." - Claudia Kraft, University of Vienna