| ID | 172595 |
| Title Proper | Conscripting Leviathan |
| Other Title Information | Science, Cetaceans, and the Cold War |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Colby, Jason M |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | In June 1974, U.S. Navy scientist Sam Ridgway stepped off an airplane in Moscow. It was his first trip to the Soviet Union, and he was excited. As head veterinarian of the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program, he knew his Soviet counterparts were studying captive bottlenose dolphins, but Cold War tensions had long prevented the two sides from sharing much of their research. Months earlier, however, the Superpowers had signed an agreement to cooperate on environmental research, opening the way for this visit. At first, things went smoothly. Soviet handlers met Ridgway and his colleague, former Lockheed engineer Bill Evans, at the airport and whisked them to their hotel. Over the following days, they enjoyed access that would have been unimaginable a decade earlier. “We had free run of Moscow,” recalled Ridgway, “and we met many Russian scientists.” During those friendly conversations, the Americans were repeatedly surprised by their Soviet counterparts’ knowledge of U.S. research publications, which extended to a number of “obscure” journals. Marine mammalogy, it seemed, offered a bridge across the Cold War divide. |
| `In' analytical Note | Diplomatic History Vol. 44, No.3; Jun 2020: p.466–478 |
| Journal Source | Diplomatic History Vol: 44 No 3 |
| Key Words | Science ; Cold War ; Conscripting Leviathan ; Cetaceans |