ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Astronomy and the Geopolitics of Scientific Reintegration: Spain in the Early Cold War

• In Event: Histories of 19th and 20th Century Astronomy

English Abstract

This paper examines the interplay between astronomy, diplomacy, and Spain’s reintegration into international scientific networks after World War II. Following the diplomatic isolation that accompanied the United Nations’ condemnation of Franco’s regime in the late 1940s, Spanish astronomers mobilised the language and practices of scientific cooperation to regain international legitimacy. Episodes such as Spain’s offer to calculate asteroid ephemerides for the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the organisation of eclipse expeditions in Spanish Guinea, and the establishment of the Teide Observatory reveal how astronomy became a form of “space diplomacy” in which the Spanish government played a significant role, while scientists such as Antonio Romañá and José María Torroja helped to reshape national astronomical activity between the late 1940s and the 1960s. The paper situates these efforts within broader European and transatlantic frameworks of scientific collaboration, highlighting how early Cold War geopolitics intersected with astronomical infrastructures, expertise, and international visibility.

Author

• Pedro Ruiz-Castell, Institut Lopez Piñero, University of Valencia (Spain)