Blockades of the Mind – Science, Academies, and the Aftermath of the Great War

This volume continues the efforts by the Leopoldina to analyze the history of the academies during and after the First World War. Based on examples from scientific policy, astronomy, psychology and meteorology, it primarily examines the phase after the end of military hostilities following the armistice of November 1918 on up to the mid-1920s. The period was characterized by conflicts between the Allies and the central powers, also in the area of international scientific relations. The scientific representatives of five leading Allied countries elected to exclude the former central powers from the new structure of international science. This was formalized in a series of conferences in 1918 and 1919 and led, among other things, to the establishment of the International Research Council. This proved to be particularly problematic in the postwar years.