Militant Science. European Physicists and the Emergence of Transnational Radical Science Movements

Project Information

MISHA

Grant agreement ID: 101026146

DOI

10.3030/101026146

Project closed

EC signature date 6 April 2021

Start date 1 January 2022

End date 31 December 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 251 002,56

EU contribution

€ 251 002,56

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI VERONA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MISHA (Militant Science. European Physicists and the Emergence of Transnational Radical Science Movements)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Drawing on largely unexplored archival sources, oral histories, and primary literature, MISHA studies the processes of emergence of transnational Radical Science Movements (from now onwards: RSMs) from the 1960s to the mid-1980s as forms of reflection on both the limits and the emancipatory potential of science. In particular, the research focuses primarily on the physics community (one of the most stressed in science and society relations) and transnational connections between the United States, Britain, France, and Italy.
The project fills some important gaps in the existing critical literature on these issues: 1) MISHA provides an innovative historiographical reconstruction of the emergence and development of such RSMs (until now almost exclusively based on national case studies such as the UK or US instead of transnational connections); 2), it thoroughly examines some case studies that have been little studied despite their extreme relevance (such as the Italian case); and 3), it analyzes the theoretical-epistemological stances internal to these movements in order to understand their eventual political relevance (especially in the context of the neutrality/non-neutrality of scientific knowledge debate).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In order to do this, Dr. Ienna eclectically developed an interdisciplinary research framework aimed at integrating research tools from the history of science, historical and political epistemology, sociology of science and political theory. MISHA project developed 5 main Research Actions (RA) each of which corresponds to specific Work Packages (hereafter WP) and obviously to research sub-objectives. Dr. Ienna collected unexplored archival material in Italy, the United States and Great Britain (RA1) and worked concurrently on the systematic reading of sources published as European and American journals, monographs, and translations of essays and articles (RA2). The material thus collected enabled him to reconstruct scientific networks relevant to a reconstruction of the transnational history of radical scientific movements RA4) and to trace politically oriented transnational collaborations among radical scientists, both at the institutional and informal level (RA4). Finally, Dr. Ienna worked on the theoretical, epistemological and methodological aspects related to his project (RA5).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In accordance with section 1.1. of DoA, MISHA aims to fill some gaps in the study of history of RSMs as well as to propose an innovative perspective in this research field. In the “State of the art” section of the DoA it was pointed out how, on the one hand, existing literature on the development of RSMs are often confined to national associations and journals," on the other hand, how some national cases (such as the Italian one) were still largely unexplored despite their importance. The MISHA project aspires to overcome these limitations through a transnational approach aimed at shedding light on the dynamics of international circulation of radical ideas about science, with a particular focus on the relationships among physics communities in Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

At the end of the project MISHA will have produced: 4 monographs, 5 edited volumes, 5 special issues, 15 peer reviewed articles, 9 book chapters, 1 seminar; 5 organized conferences/symposia; 10 international conferences; 4 invited lectures and 15 communication activities.

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