Seminar given by Clara Florensa, Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC-IMF, Barcelona), doctor in history of science and graduate in biology and physics.

Thursday, December 18th at 10:00 am.

Format: Presencial. Saló d'actes Palau de Cerveró.

The seminar will be held in Spanish.

Biography: 

Clara Florensa is a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC-IMF, Barcelona), doctor in history of science and graduate in biology and physics, her main research lines and publications focus on the mutual construction of science and the Franco dictatorship in Spain (1939-1975), with a special interest in scientific discourses disseminated in the public sphere and their role in this construction.

Abstract:

Through the historical episode of the Palomares nuclear accident (1966) and the diplomatic crisis it generated, I will reflect on the intersections between science and diplomacy and on how they shape one another. In particular, I will show how scientific-technological images and imaginaries shaped diplomatic practices, and we will see the diplomatic roles that some instruments played. Through an analysis of the politics of instruments, we will understand how an instrument ineffective for its original purpose was able to effectively mediate a diplomatic crisis. I will also show how the visibility of certain scientific aspects or practices conditioned diplomatic decision-making. I will reflect on the importance of visibility and audiences in scientific diplomacy by comparing the diplomatic-media strategy of Palomares with that of the major American tobacco companies. Finally, we will see how diplomatic decisions can shape science itself.