ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Scientific Diplomacy and Political Exclusion: Bernard Peters and the Globalization of Particle Physics

• In Event: New Perspectives on the History of Science Diplomacy 1

English Abstract

Cold War science, particularly in the United States, was defined by a contradiction: the ideal of an apolitical particle physics was profoundly shaped by political interests. This duality fostered both international collaboration and strategic exclusion. The trajectory of Bernard Peters (1910-1993), a physicist who remains largely underexplored, exemplifies this complex interplay.
Arrested by the Nazis in 1933, Peters fled to the United States, only to be later persecuted during McCarthyism and forced into exile again, in India. After his mentor J. Robert Oppenheimer accused him of communist sympathies, Peters rebuilt his career abroad. His story serves as a case study for particle physics’ transformation from a field marked by national security into a collaborative, globalised enterprise.
This paper analyses primary sources from the Niels Bohr Archive and US governmental records. Using a framework combining scientific diplomacy with Gramsci’s theory of ideology, it positions Peters as a node in transnational networks. It uncovers how he confronted political exclusion while leveraging scientific diplomacy to facilitate the international circulation of knowledge. By connecting Peters’ trajectory to the transformations of Big Science, this paper illuminates the impact of political persecution and reveals the crucial role of exiled scientists in shaping global collaboration, providing a deeper understanding of how political dynamics influenced particle physics throughout the Cold War.

Authors

• Sofia Guilhem Basilio

• Ivã Gurgel, University of São Paulo