ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Southern Skies, Global Rivalries: Chile, the IGY, and Science Diplomacy in the Cold War

• In Event: Science Diplomacy: Cooperation, Competition and Crisis 2

English Abstract

The International Geophysical Year (1957–1958) marked a milestone in global scientific cooperation at the height of Cold War rivalries. Conceived as a transnational endeavour, the IGY brought together scientists from around the world under the banner of shared inquiry — even as political tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union partially shaped its agendas. Among its fields, satellite research and tracking became both a scientific and diplomatic arena, revealing how cooperation and competition coexisted within the same framework.
Almost simultaneously, international astronomy took root in Chile and became an increasingly active field of science. Chilean narratives have often attributed this emergence to the individual initiative of the director of the National Astronomical Observatory (OAN). However, this paper reconsiders Chile’s participation in the IGY as a case of science diplomacy in times of upheaval. The IGY created the conditions for Chilean scientists to engage directly with both ‘superpowers’, establishing connections that later proved crucial for the country’s development as a hub for international astronomy. Far from being a passive participant, Chile strategically leveraged the geopolitical tensions between the USA and the USSR to advance its own scientific ambitions — positioning itself as an essential partner for astronomical observation in the southern hemisphere.
By revisiting the IGY from a southern perspective, this paper shows how moments of global contestation also enabled cooperation, reshaping the place of peripheral nations within the scientific and diplomatic landscape of the Cold War.

Author

• Barbara Kirsi Silva, Universidad Catolica de Chile