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)