ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

The Unseen Cohort: Women Scientists in the US National Interest Programs

• In Event: Shifting Perspectives: Diversity, Geographies, and Possibilities in the Physical Sciences (no 1)

English Abstract

In his 1945 report to the US President "Science - The Endless Frontier", the engineer and war-time research administrator Vannevar Bush (1890-1974) outlined a post-war program for scientific advancement and security. His vision aimed at having "plenty of men and women trained in science" by increasing efforts in teaching, but also through the reception of foreign scientists to the United States. The year 1945 also marks the onset of Project Paperclip, which sought to secure scientific manpower for American science and engineering by relocating experts and their families from Europe to the United States. While past histories of Project Paperclip and its follow-up programs have particularly focused on the contribution of immigrant men to the efforts of the Cold War and the Space Program, women, if discussed at all, have been mostly considered in the roles of spouses and family organizers. The present contribution analyzes the small and previously neglected cohort of women scientists, including physicists, within the US expert immigration programs between 1945 and the mid-1960s. Following previously highlighted observations noting that invisibility stems from structural inequalities and a lack of career opportunities, we argue that the relative obscurity of their scientific contributions also results from the national interest character of the programs placing many scientists - women and men - outside of public eyes.

Author

• Johannes-Geert Hagmann