This project comprises a comprehensive institutional study about the history of the Aerodynamic Research Establishment (Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt—AVA) in Göttingen and its predecessor organizations (1907–1950). Several case studies focused on the interdependencies of politics, industry, and the military with regard to the epistemic and cognitive developments in fluid dynamics. How did local institutional arrangements shape epistemic objects in experimental practices and how was local research interrelated with national and international demands? Specific patterns of the adaptation of scientists and their research to armament purposes and to war conditions will be studied by analyzing essential research episodes in fluid dynamics during World War I and II, discussing aerodynamics of airplanes, submarine propellers, and projectiles. In particular, the project looked to discern how, under the influence of the military and war, certain hybrid, multi-disciplinary forms and reconfigurations of research developed. How were common epistemic patterns reshaped by military and industrial needs? To what extent did scientists of the AVA influence research programs and science policy beyond their local context? The study aimed to shed light on the international development of aeronautical research in Nazi-occupied Europe where the AVA established a network of outposts from 1940 onwards, exploiting research facilities and scientific resources for the purposes of German military aeronautical research. How did Allied military intelligence systematically organize the transfer of knowledge and scientists, evaluating and skimming the results of German war research in fluid dynamics?
The project comprised four dimensions, respectively:
- institutional development, structure, and profile
- dynamics in research (conjunctions of experimental research with efforts of mathematization and engineering technologies)
- hybridization of research
- networking with other research institutions and with military, political, and industrial agencies
Conference Appearances
| 7 November 2019 |
Winfkanäle, Überschall-Aerodynamik und Krieg: Das Fallbeispiel der Aerodynamischen Versuchsanstalt Göttingen bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Workshop: Windkanäle in den Wissenschaften und Künsten. Leuphiania Universität Lüneburg |
| 24-25 October 2019 |
Mobilization of Resources for Aeronautical Research of Nazi Germany. The Outpost of the Aerodynamic Experimental Station at Prague, 1940-1945. Workshop: Science, Occupation, War: 1939-1945, National Technical Museum Prague. |