For 60 years, scientists from the United States and the Soviet Union participated in state-organized programs of collaboration. But what really happened in these programs? What were the hopes of the participants and governments? How did these programs weather the bumpiest years of political turbulence? And were the programs worth the millions of dollars invested in them? From Pugwash to Putin provides accounts from 63 insiders who participated in these programs, including interviews with scientists, program managers, and current or former government officials. In their own words, these participants discuss how and why they engaged in cooperative science, what their initial expectations were, and what lessons they learned. They tell stories of gravitational waves, classified chalkboards, phantom scientists, AIDS propaganda, and gunfire at meteorological stations, illustrating the tensions and benefits of this collaborative work. From the first scientific exchanges of the Cold War years through the years following the fall of the Soviet Union, Gerson S. Sher provides a sweeping and critical history of what happens when science is used as a foreign policy tool. Sher, a former manager of these cooperative programs, provides a detailed and critical assessment of what worked, what didn't, and why it matters.

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From the first scientific exchanges of the Cold War years through the years following the fall of the Soviet Union, Gerson S. Sher provides a sweeping and critical history of what happens when science is used as a foreign policy tool. Sher, a former manager of these cooperative programs, provides a detailed and critical assessment of what worked, what didn't, and why it matters.

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Sher captures the human side of scientific exchanges while still giving appropriate attention to institutional and structural components. He is informed, experienced, and a natural storyteller whose style effortlessly infuses heart into what might have been dry policy analysis. The result is a stunning portrait of Cold War scientific cooperation, shining with the voices of those who sought to bring their ideals to life.

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Sher thus brings special knowledge to this study. He addresses such issues that administrators—and scientists—faced in their efforts to carry out exchanges as finances, logistics, disagreements over intellectual property, secrecy, corruption, and other concerns. Sher draws on a variety of primary and secondary sources, but the most important are excerpts of his over sixty interviews—conducted in a three week period—with scientists, diplomats, and officials from the United States and the USSR.

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Gerson Sher's From Pugwash to Putin: A Critical History of U.S.-Soviet Scientific Cooperation is an important contribution to the literature on U.S. and Soviet/Russian relations. After a lifetime of service, including twenty years as a program coordinator for National Science Foundation exchanges, Sher draws on his personal experience as well as interviews conducted with sixty-two participants—both Soviet and American—to construct an engaging narrative of international scientific cooperation during and after the Cold War. As such, the book offers new insights for historians, public policy scholars, and diplomats. . . . From Pugwash to Putin is a significant work and one that suggests that borders may enrich science because of different cultural approaches to research.

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From Pugwash to Putin is part participant memoir, part sober reflection on the efforts made, their successes and failures, and part organized summary of about fifty oral history interviews which Sher conducted with former participants (scientists, diplomats, negotiators, and intermediaries).