’A strong back and love for snow and ice’: Diversification in glaciological research from the 19th to the 20th century

• Main Author: Achermann, Dania
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: 550 Earth sciences & geology; 900 History; 940 History of Europe; 970 History of North America; Arctic; ice core
• Online Access: https://boris.unibe.ch/147661/; http://www.eshs.org/-Events-News-.html?lang=en

In the 19th and until the mid-20th century, European glaciology was a field science dominated by geological questions and characterised by a strong focus on glacier volume and dynamics. Observing and measuring volume and behaviour, as well as monitoring and mapping of glaciers were main objectives of glaciological expeditions. The knowledge gained from field work in the alps were transferred and expanded in the Arctic. After World War II, this began to change. Physicist and chemists developed a stronger interest in glaciers and ice, and set up a novel field of ice core research, characterised by laboratory studies of ice samples. The introduction of mathematical flow models, new instruments such as special radiation counters and ice drills, as well as a new interest in the relationship between glacial ice and climate history, led to a new kind of physical-chemical glaciology. However, this technology-intensive laboratory work has neither replaced nor marginalised traditional field research but expanded the range of research practice, approaches and questions in glaciology and led to a “close cooperation between the geochemist and the field glaciologist”. This contribution will shed light on the reasons of this diversification of glaciological practice by analysing the role of instruments, the shifts of epistemological interests, and the influence of regional as well as global politics.