From Backstage to Center Stage an Exploration of Hannes Alfvén’S Role(S) As an Expert Advisor 1945-1980
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Lunds universitet Masteruppsats i idé- och lärdomshistoria ILHM05 Handledare: Victoria Höög VT 2018 From Backstage to Center Stage An exploration of Hannes Alfvén’s role(s) as an expert advisor 1945-1980 David Bowling 1 ABSTRACT Hannes Alfvén is an all-important figure in the history of Swedish science for both his scientific discoveries and his contributions to developing Swedish research policy. He is also a controversial figure who would anger many in the government and the scientific community in Sweden when he openly expressed his opposition to their efforts. During his time as an expert advisor, he transformed from being pro-nuclear energy to opposing it, moving from developing Sweden’s nuclear energy program in concert with the ruling government to offering his expertise to the social movements fighting against the nuclear society. At all times, however, Alfvén needed to construct and maintain his identity as an expert, a process which is revealed by viewing Alfvén’s actions across these 35 years as a series of performances. Looking at Alfvén’s performances over such a long period of time and across different contexts exposes the disruptions and continuities in his larger beliefs about the role of science in society, resulting in a cohesive narrative that captures the complexity of his character. The narrative presented here also shows inherent contradiction in the hope for a pure, objective form of scientific advising that is free from involvement in politics, as Alfvén evolves from holding this position to realizing that it is too important to him to leave the products of scientific knowledge production in the hands of big industry and governments. Through his performances, Alfvén altered the way expertise was recognized in Sweden by expanding the role of the expert advisor from one who claims objectivity and stays out of politics to one who engages openly with political issues, advocating for specific uses of science and technology in the betterment of humanity. Keywords: expert, expertise, Hannes Alfvén, nuclear power, performance, science and technology, techno-science idealism, history of science, performativity, technocracy, science and democracy, anti-nuclear movements 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Theory and Research Questions ..................................................................................... 7 1.3 Previous Research ......................................................................................................... 21 1.4 Research Limits and Source Material .......................................................................... 27 1.5 Disposition ..................................................................................................................... 30 1.6 Note on Language ......................................................................................................... 32 2. Scientific career of Hannes Alfvén .................................................................................... 34 3. Planning the future society: Hannes Alfvén and research politics in Sweden 1945-1967 .................................................................................................................................................. 38 3.1. Research Politics and Atomic Energy 1945-1967 ....................................................... 39 3.2. Hannes Alfvén as Expert ............................................................................................. 50 3.2.1. Expert Performance – Act I: the early years in the atomic program .................. 52 3.2.2. Expert Performance – Act II: The Advisory Body on Science ............................ 57 3.2.3. Expert Performance – the final Act ...................................................................... 63 3.3. Performance Summary 1945-1966 .............................................................................. 71 4. Stopping the Nuclear Society: 1967-1976 ......................................................................... 75 4.1. Background to the Anti-Nuclear Movement ............................................................... 76 4.1.1 Scientists and the Anti-Nuclear Movement in the USA ........................................ 76 4.1.2 International scientists and the anti-nuclear movement: the history of Pugwash .......................................................................................................................................... 79 4.2 Hannes Alfvén and Pugwash ........................................................................................ 83 4.2.1 Planting of the seed: Alfvén’s early years in Pugwash ......................................... 83 4.2.2 The Presidential Years ........................................................................................... 89 4.3. The Expert Returns: Alfv́en and the Nuclear Debate in Sweden ............................... 97 4.3.1. An Expert to the People ......................................................................................... 99 4.3.2. An Expert for the Center Party ........................................................................... 102 4.4 Performance Summary 1967-1976 ............................................................................. 109 5. Epilogue: 1976-1980 ......................................................................................................... 112 6. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 121 6.1 Summary and discussion ......................................................................................... 121 6.2 Further Research .................................................................................................... 126 7. References ......................................................................................................................... 127 3 1. Introduction In 1966, a science fiction book hit the shelves of Swedish book stores entitled Sagan om den stora datamaskinen: en vision by author Olof Johannesson. Set far into the future, it tells the history of society’s evolution on Earth where the ultimate evolutionary actors are not humans but computers. (B.C. refers to the time Before Computers.) In this history, humanity is merely a stepping stone to the ultimate creation of super computers, which are better suited for organizing and running society. Humanity failed at this task due to its inability to keep up with a rapidly changing, technologically complex society along with its inability to behave morally. The most immoral persons to be found in this history are the politicians, who organized mass murder with their new weapons, and who gained their positions in society not due to superior intelligence but merely through a lust for power. The incompetence of politicians is a major theme of the book, and it would not be long before it was revealed that author Olof Johannesson was actually a pseudonym for the well-known Swedish physicist, Hannes Alfvén. At the time of the book’s publication, Alfvén was nearing the end of his 20- year career as an expert advisor to the Swedish government where he had worked intimately with various government ministers, including Prime Minister Tage Erlander the entire time. Upon the revelation of Alfvén as the true author of the book, Erlander asked him for a copy. Alfvén included a personal note along with the copy to Erlander which read, “thanks for the inspiration!”1 Alfvén’s career as an expert advisor began officially in 1945 and in his more than twenty years in that role he helped shape Sweden’s overall science policy in addition to being an advisor in the country’s atomic research program. As such, he is both a key player in two major reforms of Swedish research policy and one of the government’s key experts in its most expensive research project to date. Later in his career, Alfvén would leave his posts as an official advisor to the Swedish government and lend his expertise to the anti-nuclear movement, with many historians identifying him as a decisive influence in the Swedish nuclear debates in the 1970s. However, despite his ubiquitous presence in some of the country’s most important scientific events, as well as being arguably Sweden’s most well- known physicist, a thorough history of Hannes Alfvén’s life has yet to be written. This thesis will stimulate research on this important subject as it (un)covers previously unexplored areas in the expert career of Hannes Alfvén. One such area is his activities in the 1 Carl-Gunne Fälthammar, “Plasma Physics from Laboratory to Cosmos--The Life and Achievements of Hannes Alfvén,” IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 25, no. 3 (June 1997): 413. 4 early years of the Swedish atomic program, as his specific role during this time has not been thoroughly examined previously. The second unexamined area of his career that I cover is his key role in an international group of socially concerned scientists in the 1970s, an experience that has a significant impact on Alfvén’s views on science. In total, this examination covers working career of Alfvén between 1945-1980 with a specific focus on his role as an expert advisor. As such, it traces his journey from pro- to anti-nuclear by examining