Matthias Heymann

Winds of change: communication and wind power technology development in Denmark and Germany from 1973 to ca. 1985

Engineers play an important role in communicating technology and its socioeconomic implications. In this paper, based on research into the recent history of wind power technology in Denmark and in Germany, we will investigate the communication efforts of engineers and its role in the success and failure of new wind power technology. We argue that effective communication by engineers and technicians was a crucial component for the rapid success of Danish wind power technology, while a lack of communication contributed to early failures in Germany. As part of their efforts in developing and promoting wind power technology, Danish engineers not only built informal and professional networks of communication in which knowledge and objects could be shared, but also acted as public spokespersons for wind power interests. The case of wind power technology shows that engineering communication comprised different forms, modes, and tasks of communication involving different types of actors and serving different needs and scopes. Engineering communication is not a simple tool at hand, but requires favorable social conditions and adequate institutions.

Introduction: Perspectives on Cold War Science in Small European States

With this introduction we aim to illuminate Western Europes place on the map of Cold War science and, specifically, to draw attention to the differences in and the diversity of Western European Cold War science in comparison to the United States. By discussing narratives of Cold War science in small states and asking how they fit into the European condition, we suggest that the fact of being a small state affects the conditions for and the scope of Cold War science. As a whole, this special issue also emphasizes the importance of the spatial dimension; that is, the significant dependence of Cold War science on geographical relations and geopolitical interests.

Engineering as a Socio-technical Process: Case-Based Learning from the Example of Wind Technology Development

This chapter describes an example of teaching engineering students social perspectives of engineering by using the case example of wind technology. It is part of the philosophy of engineering course taught to undergraduate engineering students at Aarhus University. The case of wind technology development is suited to discuss a large number of different social issues related to engineering, such as engineering approaches (science-based versus practice-oriented), the role of engineering styles and traditions, forms of learning and interaction in engineering, requirements and problems of engineering communication , innovation strategies, research policies, market structures and ideologies. The case of wind technology shows that engineering is more than developing technical artifacts. It is a way of “mixing with the world” in a much broader sense than reflected in many engineering curricula.

The climate change dilemma: big science, the globalizing of climate and the loss of the human scale

This paper explores a crucial dilemma behind the failure of climate politics: the “dehumanization” of the concept of climate, i.e., the emergence of a predominance of global perspectives, conceptions, and knowledge of climate, which do not translate into local knowledge, experience, and political action. On the one hand, twentieth-century climate science improved understanding of global climate change tremendously. On the other hand, it focused on reductionist quantification and modeling and emphasis on large spatial and temporal scales. This research direction produced large- and global-scale knowledge and can aptly be described as knowledge from above. Climatology in its original Humboldtian conception, in contrast, focused on detailed local information. The human dimension—the support of human affairs—was at the core of it. This understanding of climatology involved priority of local-scale knowledge and can be regarded a version of knowledge from below, which still predominated in the first half of the twentieth century. In my paper, I will explore the question how the understanding of climate was “dehumanized” by globalizing research approaches and scientific conceptions through the twentieth century. Scientific and political interests pushed a globalizing agenda and produced a conceptual and discursive detachment of climate knowledge from human scales. The paper argues that it is important to understand the historical and ideological foundation of knowledge from above and its epistemic and social authority, if we aim at re-establishing recognition of knowledge from below and the lost links between both types of knowledge.

From Climatology to Climate Science in the Twentieth Century

This chapter provides a short historical account of major developments and shifts in twentieth-century climate research. It explores a pattern of changes in the study of climate: from a geographical to a physical science; from an empirically focused study to a theory-based one; from the collection of measurements and descriptions to a search for causes and explanations; and from a bottom-up, local-scale practice to an increasingly top-down, global-scale science. The chapter pays particular attention to the roles of temporal and spatial scales, namely to the globalization of climate knowledge. A globalization of climate science and knowledge shifted attention away from local and regional human–climate interactions and the role of climate in human affairs to the investigation of purely physical processes, represented in differential equations.

Introduction: Exploring Greenland’s Secrets: Science, Technology, Diplomacy, and Cold War Planning in Global Contexts

Ronald E. Doel, Kristine C. Harper, and Matthias Heymann reveal how Greenland became a focus of attention for the USA during the early Cold War. This introductory chapter provides a condensed history of Greenland through World War II and then addresses how the relationship between the USA and Denmark changed as the Cold War escalated. Doel et al. then discuss US efforts to gain environmental knowledge about Greenland, and US–Danish efforts to limit public awareness of those efforts. They also illuminate key dynamics of the Cold War through this significant small-state/superpower relationship, before introducing the volume’s chapters.

In Search of Control: Arctic Weather Stations in the Early Cold War

Matthias Heymann discusses the importance of meteorological data from Greenland not only for the successful prosecution of the Allied war effort, but also for support of aviation—both civilian and military—during the Cold War. The US military established and expanded weather observation stations in Greenland during the war, but immediately after, Denmark sought to regain control of the weather stations and their observational data despite a scarcity of resources. However, the US military not only wanted to continue operating these stations, but to build a chain of Arctic weather stations in northern Canada and Greenland. Although Canada and Denmark could not say “no” to the USA, they did work hard to guard their sovereign interests. Investigating the role of Arctic weather stations as contested scientific, political, and military installations, Heymann argues that weather stations not only provided meteorological information—they served as symbols for sovereignty, political, and military control.