Abstract
Antarctica has become a topical news item in many countries. TV programs, radio reportage and popular journals portray its harsh beauty, unique wildlife and the growing impact of tourism. The number of scientific specialties in which this cold continent has become an important aspect has increased steadily, especially during the last twenty years. Since 1961 a treaty drafted by 12 nations has been in force, regulating relationships between countries involved in Antarctic affairs. Today there are twenty-six so-called Consultative Parties to the Antarctic Treaty (Table I). These make up the “club” of nations that hold decision-making powers over the continent’s future. An additional 13 countries are acceding members, or affiliates with observer status. Full membership comes only after a country has passed the test of science. According to the treaty the prior requirement for admission to the Antarctic club is the display of substantial research in the region. This has usually meant that a country has to place a research station there. The responsibility for overseeing science belongs to a non-governmental organization, the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), under the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). SCAR also responds to requests for advice from the treaty members, a function that has taken on increasing proportions during the past decade.
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Notes
For a popular review, see Popular Science,1990: 240, 62–67 and 90–91.
Epistemic drift refers to a reorientation of research agendas, and in the extreme a possible slackening of internalist criteria under strong external relevance and accountability pressures. See further Aant Elzinga, “Research, Bureaucracy and the Drift of Epistemic Criteria,” in Björn Wittrock and Aant Elzinga, eds., The University Research System ( Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell Int., 1985 ), pp. 191–220.
The Scientist, 1991: 6; see also Claude Lorius, “Antarctic Research,” Science International, 1991: Special Issue (September), pp. 59–60 — “let us hope that unrealistic regulations will not damage Laboratory Antarctica, a key area for understanding Planet Earth” (p. 60).
Ibid.
See for example James N. Barnes, “The Place of Science on an Environmentally Regulated Continent,” paper at a Symposium on “Changing Trends in Antarctic Research” 30 September–1 October 1991, organized by the Theory of Science Department at the University of Gothenburg.
Ibid, p. 8.
For an early presentation of this view see Richard S. Lewis, A Continent for Science: The Antarctic Adventure ( London: Seeker & Warburg, 1965 ).
Regionalism in this case refers to the Latin American countries who have to some extent begun to see themselves as one bloc within the ATS. Argentine and Chile have argued that Antarctica is in some sense an extension of their own land areas; Brazil has also been early to put forward economic and military strategic arguments having to do with geographic location.
Paul Forman, “Independence, Not Transcendence, for the Historian of Science,” ISIS 1991, 82: 71–86, on p. 74.
Richard Herr and Robert Hall, “Science as Currency and the Currency of Science,” in John Handmer, ed., Antarctica, Policies and Policy Development. Resource and Environmental Studies No. 1; Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies at the Australian National University (1989), pp. 13–24.
This and the earlier point about the highly visible, large scale capital intensive (i.e., “sexy” — in the words of some scientists — and media atuned) deep ice core drilling operations emerged from the interviews I conducted with Antarctic scientists.
D.J. Drewry, “Guest editorial, ” Antarctic Science, 1989, 1: 2.
Cf. for example the AAAS Project on Scientific Fraud and Misconduct (Washington, DC —reports Nos. 2 & 3, 1989, Final report 1990).
For the notion of “institutional motives” cf. Aant Elzinga and Ingemar Bohlin, “The Politics of Science in Polar Regions,” Ambio,1989, 18: No. 1, 71–76.
Cf. Elisabeth Crawford, “The Universe of International Science, 1880–1930,” in Tore Frängsmyr, ed., Solomon’s House Revisited: The Organization and Institutionalization of Science (Canton, MA: Science History Publications, 1990), pp. 251–269. Science is also discussed in Swedish by Catharina Landström, Farliga forbindelser, Formell organisering av internationellt vetenskapligt samarhete 1930–1939 (Science, technology, ideology, culture—project Gothenburg University 1990, report No. 2).
For an overview see Crawford, op. cit. Also Brigitte Schroeder-Gudehus, Les scientifiques et la paix (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1978), pp. 116–130. For the rupture see Daniel J. Kevles, “Into Hostile Political Camps: The Reorganization of International Science in World War I,” ISIS 1971, 62: 47–60; also Paul Forman, “Scientific Internationalism and the Weimar Physicist: The Ideology and Its Manipulation in Germany after World War I”, ISIS 1973, 64: 151–180.
Cited after F.W.G. Baker, “The first International Polar Year 1882–83,” Polar Record 1982, 21: 2. Cf. also F.W.G. Baker, “The International Polar Years,” Science International 1991, Special Issue (September), pp. 34–35.
Weyprecht put forward six principles for polar research, which if strictly applied today would call for the closure, relocation or international unification of several existing research stations on King George Island off the Antarctic peninsula. Some of his principles were: geographical discovery carried out in these regions has serious value only in as far as it prepares the way for scientific exploration as such; detailed topography is of secondary importance; in science the Geographical pole does not have any greater value than any other point in high latitudes; isolated series of observations have only limited value. Cited after Baker, ibid.,(1982), p. 3. The trend in Antarctic exploration around the turn of the century and even later involved a flagrant breach of these rules.
Gerald Bowman, From Scott to Fuchs (London: Evans Brothers Ltd., 1958), p. 58; see also Roland Huntford, Scott and Amundsen (London: Hodder Sc Straughton, 1979).
Schroeder-Gudehus, op. cit.
Kurt Haffert, Die Polarforschung (Leipzig: Teubner, 1907), p. 152; the last chapter (“Die internationale Südpolarforschung 1900–1905”) gives an excellent detailed review of the situation and the state of Antarctic science just before the Amundsen-Scott race to the pole.
Stefan Zweig, “Der Kampf um den Südpol,” in Sternstunden der Menscheit: Zwölf historische Miniaturen (Frankfurt a/M: S. Fischer Verlag. 1958), p. 224: “They no longer compete only to reach the pole, but fight to see what flag will first fly over the new land: a crusade of all races and peoples begins toward the holy place of desire. From all parts of the globe the attack is renewed. Humanity waits with impatience, knowing it to be the last secret of the planet. From America Peary and Cook rush towards the North Pole, to the South two ships: the one commanded by the Norwegian Amudsen, the other the Englishman, Captain Scott.”
Edwin Mickleburg, Beyond the Frozen Sea: Visions of Antarctica (New York: St. Martins Press, 1987), p. 143. For an account of Byrd’s and the early US involvement see e.g., William H. Kearns Jr. and Beverly Briton, The Silent Continent ( New York: Harper, 1955 ).
Cited after Baker, op. cit.,p. 8.
John Giaever and Valter Schytt, Antarktishoken: Med Norse! till Maudheim och Antarktis (Uddevalla: Bohuslänningens AB, 1952). Several chapters of this book are contributions of specialist chapters on the science done—see e.g. Fred Root’s report on topography and geology (Ch. 21, 2.5).
For accounts of exploits at the time by persons who travelled with Latin American expeditions see Hans Helfritz, Zum weissen Kontinent (Buenos Aires: Editorial “El buen libro,” 1947), and Bertil Frödin, Den okända kontinenten ( Stockholm: Bonniers, 1956 ).
Sir Vivian Fuchs, Of Ice and Men ( Shropshire: Anthony Nelson, 1982 ), p. 322.
For an account of some of the science during the IGY see John Euler. Antarctic World (London: Abelard & Schuman, 1960), and Carl R. Eklund and Joan Beckman, Antarctica: Polar Research and Discovery During the International Geophysical Year (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963 ).
Lisbeth Johnsson’s review from a political science viewpoint has been a source of importance here. Lisbeth Johnsson, Kontrollen dyer Antarktis-Suveränitetsanspr¢k och traktatreglering 1940–1982 (Licentiate’s thesis, Political Science Department, Gothenburg University, 1990 ).
Eleanor Honnywill, The Challenge of Antarctica (London: Anthony Nelson, 1969, 1984), pp. 90–100.
Cited after Mickleburgh, ibid., p. 143; and analysis of the military strategic significance of the polar regions and the need to develop and test cold climate military technologies and techniques, is given by Bertil Wedin, Soldat i Arktis ( Stockholm: Prisma, 1967 ).
Willy Ley, Polerna (Stockholm: Svalan/Life Naturbiblioteket, Bonnier, 1963), pp. 172, 176.
Antarctica has therefore been referred to as a “sink” (in thermodynamic terms)-cf. Stephen J. Pyne, The Ice: A Journey to Antarctica (New York: Ballentine, 1988).
In science fiction it figures as the last outpost that might survive in a nuclear conflagration. Cf. John Calvin Batchelor, The People’s Republic of Antarctica (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1984); a more appropriate name if the continent were liberated would be “The Penguin Republic of Antarctica”.
J.G. Roederer, “University Research: Competition with Private Industry?,” The Northern Engineer, 1978, 9: 26–31. For a definition of “strategic research” see also Ben Martin and John Irvine, Foresight in Science: Picking the Winners ( London: Francis Pinter, 1984 ).
SCAR Bulletin No. 91 (January 1991), p. 4.
Ibid., p. 5.
This is a concern expressed in the Working Group on Geology SCAR Bulletin No. 91 (January 1991), p. 13.
SCAR Report No. 6 (January 1991), p. 6.
CF. J.A. Crane, Origins and Evolution of the Antarctica Biota (London: The Geological Society Publishing House, 1989), a volume resulting from initiatives of a mixed group of paleontologists, biologists, geologists and geophysicists leading to an international symposium.
New York International,Sunday, December 17, 1989. Note that former USSR research stations now mostly go under the Russian flag, while some stations have been closed due to economic crisis.
This is a point based on information from interviews with Antarctic researchers in various countries; for further elaboration see also Ingemar Bohlin in his Om Polarforskning,report from the Department of Theory of Science No. 167 (University of Gothenburg, 10 September 1991), p. 109.
This is a point made by Ingemar Bohlin who introduced it in his Motiv och utvecklingstendenser i modern polar forskning, Rapport nr 98 serie 2, Institutionen för vetenskapsteori, Göteborgs universitet, 1990. It is further elaborated in Ingemar Bohlin, Om Pola,forskning at the same institution (see preceding note).
The distinction between practical and symbolic-instrumental research motives comes from Bohlin, ibid.,who uses it in a different way than Willy Ostreng, who interposes a third category, knowledge-instrumental use, referring to basic curiosity-oriented research. See Willy Ostreng, “Polar Science and Politics. Close Twins or Opposite Poles in International Cooperation,” in Steinar Andresen and Willy Ostreng. eds., International Resource Management: The Role of Science and Politics (London: Belhaven Press, 1989), pp. 88–113, esp. 89–90. Bohlin (1990) gives a critical discussion of the metatheoretical questions involved.
Cf. the National Science Foundation news release of November 18, 1991 (NSF PR 91–100) on the opening of a new Antarctic research laboratory devoted in part to the study of climate change, the ozone hole and the role of ice sheets in global change; it had been named the Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Centre (cost, 23 million dollars).
See Anders Karlqvist, “The Changing Role of Antarctic Science,” in Arnfinn Jorgensen-Dahl and Willy Ostreng, eds., The Antarctic Treaty System in World Politics ( London: MacMillan, 1991 ).
SCAR Bulletin No. 90 (July 1988), p. 5.
SCAR report no. 6, January 1991.
Many examples are given by R. Fifield, International Science in Antarctic ( Oxford: SCAR/ICSU Press, 1987 ).
D.J. Drewry, op. cit.,p. 2.
Peter-Noel Webb, “The Cenezoic History of Antarctic and Its Global Impact,” Antarctic Science, 1990, 2: 3–21.
D.J. Drewry, op. cit.
Cf. H.E. Le Grand, Drifting Continents and Shifting Theories (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, reprint 1990), pp. 221–226 for an indication of how successive versions of continental drift in the 1960s drew in more and more specialties and problem-fields.
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Elzinga, A. (1993). Antarctica: The Construction of a Continent by and for Science. In: Crawford, E., Shinn, T., Sörlin, S. (eds) Denationalizing Science. Sociology of the Sciences A Yearbook, vol 16. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1221-7_3
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