Table Of ContentA Political History
of Big Science
The Other Europe
Katharina C. Cramer
Palgrave Studies in the History of Science
and Technology
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Katharina C. Cramer
A Political History
of Big Science
The Other Europe
Katharina C. Cramer
University of Konstanz
Konstanz, Germany
Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology
ISBN 978-3-030-50048-1 ISBN 978-3-030-50049-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50049-8
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P
reface
This book is about light. It explores the history and science of the brilliant
light, synchrotron radiation, that is produced at two collaborative light
sources in Europe, namely, the ESRF as a circular-shaped synchrotron
radiation source and the European XFEL as a linear free-electron laser. In
the early decades after the first experimental observation of synchrotron
radiation in the late 1940s, research with synchrotron radiation was a mar-
ginal phenomenon in the scientific landscapes in Europe and the United
States that were largely dominated by particle physics research. Probably
nobody would have guessed at that time that synchrotron radiation would
become one of the most crucial experimental resources for multidisci-
plinary research in the twenty-first century and a kind of mainstream activ-
ity for the investigation of materials or living matter. But this book also
sheds new light on the history and politics of Big Science, Europe and the
European Union. One of its core aims is to enlighten the ways we see,
write and think about Europe and the European Union, as well as about
European politics and history. It introduces the other Europe as an alterna-
tive perspective to politics and integration in Europe besides the main-
stream political integration processes, arguing that Big Science
collaborations, such as the ESRF and the European XFEL, have played
crucial roles in both European politics and science.
This book is based on a doctoral dissertation that was carried out
between 2014 and 2018 at the Leibniz Prize Research Group “Global
Processes” at the University of Konstanz, Germany (date of oral examina-
tion: 30 August 2018, examiners: Jürgen Osterhammel, Olof Hallonsten
vii
viii PREFACE
and Anne Kwaschik). It is a great pleasure to thank my supervisors Jürgen
Osterhammel and Olof Hallonsten for advice and support.
The book relies to a great extent on personal encounters, correspon-
dences and interviews. The conduction of interviews served a very broad
purpose, namely, to gain access to the larger community of scientists and
administrators, to further identify key actors and close observers that
played important roles during the establishment of the ESRF and the
European XFEL and to get to know concerns that were missing or unlikely
to ever be displayed in official documents. Only a very small part of the
many interviews and correspondences were eventually used in this book.
It is impossible to name all those who welcomed me with hospitality at
DESY, ESRF and European XFEL, and who shared their knowledge and
expertise. But I would like to thank explicitly Chantal Argoud, Cerstin
Barmbrock, Karen Clugnet, Itziar Echeverría, Robert Feidenhans’l, Petra
Folkerts, Nathalie Godet, Petra Hendrikman-Verstegen, Martin Köhler,
Rainer Koepke, Olaf Kühnholz, Christof Kunz, Axel Lindner, Frieder
Meyer-Krahmer, Denes Laos Nagy, Luis Sanchez Ortiz, Frank Poppe,
Martin Sandhop, Hermann Schunck, Franscesco Sette, Christian Vettier,
Renata Witsch, Karl Witte and Thomas Zoufal for their time and efforts.
I would also like to thank the members of the Leibniz Programme
“Global Processes” at the University of Konstanz; the members of the
Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment at KTH
Stockholm; and Mats Benner, Thomas Kaiserfeld, Josephine Rekers and
Maria Moskovko at Lund University for encouragement, comments and
critics.
Alfter, Germany Katharina C. Cramer
c
ontents
1 Introduction: History and Politics of Big Science in Europe 1
Bibliography 21
2 What Kind of Europe for European Big Science? 27
2.1 The Other Europe 28
2.1.1 Technology 30
2.1.2 Spatiality 31
2.1.3 Politics 34
2.2 What Role for the European Economic Union (EEC) and
the European Union (EU)? 38
Bibliography 52
3 H istory and Science of Research with Synchrotron
Radiation 59
Bibliography 74
4 Founding the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
(ESRF), 1977–1988 79
4.1 Origins of the ESRF 79
4.2 Intergovernmental Arrangements 84
4.3 Putting the ESRF in Place 89
4.4 The Role of France and Germany 96
4.4.1 “Embedded Bilateralism” 99
4.4.2 National Agendas in France and Germany 104
ix
x CONTENTS
4.5 T owards a Convention for the ESRF 108
4.6 Concluding Discussion 111
Bibliography 123
5 Establishing the European X-Ray Free- Electron Laser
(European XFEL), 1992–2009 129
5.1 The Transformation of DESY 130
5.2 The TESLA Proposal for a Linear Collider 134
5.3 From the Free-Electron Laser at the TESLA
Test Facility to FLASH 138
5.4 Political Commitment to the European XFEL 144
5.5 Foreign Partners and In-Kind Contributions 151
5.6 The Role of Russia 157
5.6.1 German-Russian Collaborations in Science 158
5.6.2 Nanotechnology, Big Politics and the
European XFEL 161
5.7 Towards a Convention 165
5.8 Concluding Discussion 169
Bibliography 183
6 The Other Europe of Big Science: Historical Dynamics
and Contemporary Tendencies 193
Bibliography 200
Bibliography 203
Index 233
