Scholar's Award: Chinese/American Scientists: Transnational Science during the Cold War and Beyond

本项目旨在了解“华裔美国科学家”的跨国历史，包括那些回到中国的科学家（他们中的许多人成为中国科学、核和空间项目的领导者）和那些留在美国的科学家（他们成为科学领导者并在美中科学交流中发挥了关键作用）。这一事件导致大约5000名中国学生和学者“滞留”在美国，其中大部分是科学和工程专业的学生和学者。最终，到20世纪50年代末，其中大约有1000人回到了中国，而其余的人留在了美国，这对两国的科学以及冷战期间及以后的中美科学互动产生了深刻但迄今为止尚未被探索的影响。本研究以档案研究和口述历史访谈为基础，将有助于解决科学史上的关键问题，如：战后国际科学的所谓“美国化”的程度和限制是什么？美国化的影响是如何反过来与美国科学界本身的跨国化联系在一起的，就像数以万计的华裔美国科学家和工程师的存在一样？潜在的更广泛的影响随着中国作为经济和科学强国的崛起，以及气候变化等全球性问题的出现，这些问题需要中美之间的科学合作，全面了解现代中国科学事业的形成比以往任何时候都更加重要。此外，随着美国越来越依赖移民科学家，对华裔美国科学家的系统研究也将有助于我们更好地了解美国的科学事业，并为美国国内和国际科学政策的制定提供信息。

IntroductionThis project seeks to understand the transnational history of "Chinese-American scientists" including both those who returned to China (where many of them became leaders in the Chinese scientific, nuclear, and space programs), and those who stayed in the US (where they became scientific leaders and played crucial roles in US-China scientific exchanges). The focal point is the period that begins in 1949 with the Chinese Communist takeover of mainland China, which drove the ruling Nationalists to Taiwan. The event left about five thousand Chinese students and scholars, mostly in the sciences and engineering, "stranded" in the United States. Eventually about one thousand of them returned to China by the end of the 1950s while the rest stayed in the US, with profound but so far relatively unexplored impact on science in both countries and on Sino-American scientific interactions during the Cold War and beyond.Intellectual MeritThis study, which is based on archival research and oral history interviews, will serve to address key questions in the history of science such as: What were the extent and limits of the so-called "Americanization" of international science in the postwar period? How was the Americanizing influence in turn connected with the transnationalization of the American scientific community itself, as exemplified by the presence of tens of thousands of Chinese American scientists and engineers?Potential Broader ImpactsWith the rise of China as an economic and scientific power, and with the emergence of global problems such as climate change that require the scientific collaboration between the US and China, it is more critical than ever to understand fully the making of the scientific enterprise in modern China. Furthermore, as the US relies more and more on immigrant scientists, a systematic study of Chinese-American scientists will also help us better understand the American scientific enterprise and help inform the making of American national and international science policy.