From Diplomacy to Physics and Back Again: The Changing Roles of IUPAP in the Second Half of the 20th Century

This chapter charts the changing roles of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) in both the scientific and political realms from the end of World War II to the present. The analysis suggests a four-phase periodization of the centenary history of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) with the transformations between each phase characterized by negotiations concerning the functions and roles of the institution in the international arena. To properly understand these passages, one should interpret IUPAP as a hybrid science diplomacy organization rather than employing ahistorical fixed taxonomies or international non-governmental scientific institutions. After a first inactive period running from its foundation to the end of World War II, IUPAP underwent a re-foundation followed by a decade of growth as a predominantly Western organization. In the period from the mid-1950s to the end of the Cold War, IUPAP transformed into a bridge between the East and the West. Finally, in the post-Cold War period, IUPAP reconfigured itself as a global organization aligned with the UN sustainable growth agenda.