Article
ID: CBB838276303

Imagining a ‘Jewish atom bomb’, constructing a scientific diaspora (April 2022)

unapi
Zionism Nuclear weapons; atomic weapons Science and State Technoscience; science and technology studies International relations Transnationalism Jewish diaspora 20th century Israel Weitzmann, Chaim

The nexus between transnational mobilization and Science and Technology Studies (STS) offers a productive platform for studying the formation of scientific activism, the influence of mobilization on scientific developments, and the ways science is used to achieve government goals. Integrating concepts from both sets of literature – particularly national sociotechnical imaginaries and socio-spatial positionality – this article explores how Dr Chaim Weizmann, a prominent chemist and a Zionist leader, attempted to construct and mobilize a ‘scientific diaspora’. Empirically, the article draws on new archival evidence, revealing the hitherto unknown early efforts of the Zionist movement to acquire nuclear reactor and utilize the Jewish involvement in the American nuclear project for political leverage abroad. Theoretically, rather than beginning the analysis with a scientific-diasporic network that was ready to be mobilized, we trace the selective and tailored practices employed by Weizmann to animate the Jewish connection among nuclear scientists and professionals.

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Authors & Contributors
Paul, Septimus H.
Sigrid Vertommen
Aviles, Natalie B.
Ronald W. Zwieg
Fredrik Meiton
Ioana Popa
Journals
Social Studies of Science
Science, Technology and Human Values
Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society
Social Science Information
Science in Context
Israel Studies
Publishers
Oxford University Press
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Minnesota Press
State University of New York Press
Ohio State University Press
New York University
Concepts
International relations
Technoscience; science and technology studies
Nuclear weapons; atomic weapons
Science and State
Transnationalism
Zionism
People
Eisenhower, Dwight David
Teller, Edward
Sakharov, Andrei
Oppenheimer, J. Robert
Landau, Edmund
Kourtchatov, Igor
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
20th century, early
19th century
Places
Israel
United States
Palestine
Japan
France
Middle and Near East
Institutions
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
National Cancer Institute (U.S.)
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