Exploring Greenland

EDITED BY RONALD E. DOEL, KRISTINE C. HARPER & MATTHIAS HEYMANN EXPLORING GREENLAND Cold War Science and Technology on Ice PALGRAVE STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology Series Editors James Rodger Fleming Colby College Waterville , Maine , USA Roger D. Launius National Air and Space Museum Washington, D.C. , USA Designed to bridge the gap between the history of science and the history of technology, this series publishes the best new work by promising and accomplished authors in both areas. In particular, it offers historical perspectives on issues of current and ongoing concern, provides international and global perspectives on scientifi c issues, and encourages productive communication between historians and practicing scientists. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14581 Ronald E. Doel • Kristine C. Harper • Matthias Heymann Editors Exploring Greenland Cold War Science and Technology on Ice Editors Ronald E. Doel Matthias Heymann Florida State University Aarhus University Tallahassee , Florida , USA Aarhus , Denmark Kristine C. Harper Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida, USA Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology ISBN 978-1-137-59687-1 ISBN 978-1-137-59688-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59688-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016936665 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © Henk Meijer / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Nature America Inc. New York CONTENTS Contributors ix Map of Greenland x Polar Projection Map xi Greenland and the World: Timeline xii List of Figures xiii 1 Introduction: Exploring Greenland’s Secrets: Science, Technology, Diplomacy, and Cold War Planning in Global Contexts 1 Ronald E. Doel , Kristine C. Harper , and Matthias Heymann Part I Arctic Challenges in the Cold War 23 2 Defending the North American Continent: Why the Physical Environmental Sciences Mattered in Cold War Greenland 25 Ronald E. Doel v vi CONTENTS 3 Small State Preoccupations: Science and Technology in the Pursuit of Modernization, Security, and Sovereignty in Greenland 47 Kristian H. Nielsen Part II Controlling Hostile Environments: Geophysical Research in Greenland 73 4 In Search of Control: Arctic Weather Stations in the Early Cold War 75 Matthias Heymann 5 Security and the Nation: Glaciology in Early Cold War Greenland 99 Janet Martin-Nielsen 6 Uncommon Grounds: Danish and American Perspectives on Greenland’s Geology (1946–1960) 119 Christopher Jacob Ries 7 Battling the Aurora Borealis: The Transnational Coproduction of Ionospheric Research in Early Cold War Greenland 143 Henrik Knudsen 8 Danish Seismic Research in Relation to American Nuclear Detection Efforts 167 Anne Lif Lund Jacobsen CONTENTS vii Part III Entanglement and Transformation: Diplomacy and Politics of Science in Greenland 193 9 Camp Century—Cold War City Under the Ice 195 Henry Nielsen and Kristian H. Nielsen 10 Cold War Greenland as a Space for International Scientifi c Collaboration 217 Henrik Knudsen 11 Cold Atoms: The Hunt for Uranium in Greenland in the Late Cold War and Beyond 241 Henry Nielsen and Henrik Knudsen Bibliography 265 Index 289 CONTRI BUTORS Ronald E. Doel is Associate Professor of History at Florida State University, Tallahassee. Kristine C. Harper is Associate Professor of History at Florida State University, Tallahassee. Matthias Heymann is Associate Professor, Centre for Science Studies, Department of Mathematics, Aarhus University, Denmark. Anne Lif Lund Jacobsen is an Assistant Professor at the Danish National Archives in Copenhagen, Denmark. Henrik Knudsen is an archivist and senior researcher at the Danish National Archives in Viborg, Denmark. Janet Martin-Nielsen is a postdoctoral researcher, Centre for Science Studies, Department of Mathematics, Aarhus University, Denmark. Henry Nielsen is Professor Emeritus, Centre for Science Studies, Department of Mathematics, Aarhus University, Denmark. Kristian H. Nielsen is Associate Professor, Centre for Science Studies, Department of Mathematics, Aarhus University, Denmark. Christopher Jacob Ries is an exhibition researcher at the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen, Denmark. ix x Arcc Ocean Peary Land Nord Greenland Sea QAANAAQ (NEW THULE) . Proposed site for Camp Century U.S. Army Project Iceworm . Clandesne German Thule Air Base (northern extent) weather staon (captured by U.S. forces in 1944) Camp Tuto Camp Fistclench Crash site of B-52 Inge Lehmann Station bomber, January 1968 Baﬃn Bay Mestersvig mine Werner Mountains TTOQQORTOORMIIT Eismitte (SCORESBYSUND) Route of Alfred Wegener’s final 1930 traverse (and where body later discovered) QEOERTARSUAQ (GODHAVN) Disko Bay KANGERLUSSUAQ (SONDRESTROM) Legend Davis Strait NUUK (GODTHÅB) Ionospheric stations Meteorological stations Seismic stations Air bases DEW Line radar sites Cryolite mine Denmark Strait Norse ‘Middle Settlement’ Narsarsuaq Air Base 0 200 400 miles Atlanc Ocean Kvanefjeld 0 0 200 400 kilometers xi Frontispiece maps. Credits: Map 1: Greenland physical map courtesy Uwe Dedering/Natural Earth Public Domain mapset, with overlay by James Mogle, College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, GIS, Florida State University, and the editors. Map 2 (global): courtesy of James Mogle, College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, GIS, Florida State University. xii LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1.1 Greenland’s Thule Air Base from the air 7 Fig. 2.1 North American Continental Defense: the role of Greenland 32 Fig. 3.1 Block P apartment building in Nuuk, the largest housing structure in Greenland 48 Fig. 4.1 Meteorological station in Thule, Greenland, 1948 88 Fig. 5.1 Ice core drilling at Camp Century, Greenland, 1964 105 Fig. 6.1 Mestersvig mine, one of Greenland’s most productive mines in the early Cold War 129 Fig. 7.1 Ionospheric station at Godhavn (Qeqertarsuaq), Greenland 144 Fig. 8.1 Construction of seismic vault, Greenland, for the International Geophysical Year 173 Fig. 8.2 Inge Lehmann, distinguished Danish seismologist, receives honorary degree, 1964 174 Fig. 9.1 Three views of Camp Century, Greenland: nuclear-powered city under the ice 205 Fig. 10.1 Native Greenlander with dog sled looks at giant radar dishes, Thule, Greenland 232 Fig. 11.1 Demonstrators protest uranium mining, Nuuk, 2013 258 xiii CHAPTER 1 Introduction: Exploring Greenland’s Secrets: Science, Technology, Diplomacy, and Cold War Planning in Global Contexts Ronald E. Doel , Kristine C. Harper , and Matthias Heymann Smoke was rapidly fi lling the cockpit. The plane—a massive US Air Force B-52 bomber fl ying a secret reconnaissance mission, its seven crewmembers now quite alarmed—was roughly six miles above the ice cap crowning the enormous expanse of Greenland. Local time was nearly 4 p.m. That far north in midwinter (21 January 1968, a Sunday), the sky was already bluish-purple dark. A gleaming last-quarter moon hung low in the south. The only hint of civilization on the dim icy landscape below was lights belonging to the US Thule Air Base in northwestern Greenland, some 500 miles from the North Pole, a tiny, comforting glow on the distant horizon. Only later would crewmembers realize what had caused the fi re. One of the seven, trying to free space in the cramped cockpit, had stuffed three R. E. Doel () • K. C. Harper Department of History, Florida State University , Tallahassee , FL , USA M. Heymann Centre for Science Studies, Department of Mathematics , Aarhus University , Aarhus , Denmark © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 1 R.E. Doel et al. (eds.), Exploring Greenland, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59688-8_1 2 R.E. DOEL ET AL. foam pillows under his seat. There, further wedged in by a metal box, the pillows blocked airfl ow from a crucial heating vent. As the B-52’s cockpit grew frigid in fl ight, a shivering crewmember toggled an emergency heater. Hot air blasted in from the engine manifolds. It struck the foam pillows, igniting them as if by a blowtorch. Flames leapt out from under the seat. Crewmembers shouted to one another over the roar of the engines, aiming fi re extinguishers on the blaze. When the fl ames instead intensifi ed, the plane’s pilot radioed Thule, requesting an emergency landing. 1 The Thule base toward which the crippled B-52 was descending was one of the largest military bases the USA had ever constructed. But at the time, relatively few Americans knew that it existed, and fewer still under- stood the great strategic signifi cance Greenland had gained in the Cold War struggle between the USA and the Soviet Union. World War II veter- ans who had served in the North Atlantic theater remembered Greenland as a crucial refueling stop in the air ferry route from North America to Britain and Western Europe, midway between Newfoundland and Iceland.

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