Authors

Barbara Hof¹;  ¹ University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Discussion

This paper revisits scientific East-West cooperation in the field of accelerator physics during the Cold War, focusing on suspected espionage and proven information gathering. To this end, it focuses on the exchange relationship between the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva and the two Soviet high-energy physics institutes in Dubna (JINR) and Serpukhov (IHEP). Their cooperation involved the exchange of people, the supply of instruments, and the sharing of knowledge through scientific, diplomatic, and trade channels. The paper argues that the expansion of these channels to include joint work on accelerators must be seen as part of a European integration process involving different nations. However, the paper also shows that the onset of this East-West cooperation generated a hitherto little explored form of anxiety and jealousy in the US because this inner-European cooperation subverted the hegemonic position of the US in accelerator physics. In this context, the CIA closely monitored the CERN-Serpukhov exchange. Based on archival materials from CERN and documents from the communist party related to JINR and IHEP, the paper therefore not only examines science diplomacy between Eastern and Western European countries to argue for broadening our understanding of the Cold War, but also discusses suspicions of spies as well as anxiety and jealousy as a potential harm to science diplomacy.