Middlebury

HIST 0320

Soviet Science

Soviet Science from Sputnik to Chernobyl
In 1957, the USSR launched the world’s first artificial satellite. Just four years later, Yuri Gagarin was the first human to orbit Earth. Yet by the 1980s, Soviet development had fostered environmental devastation, a crisis made manifest with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. In this course we will explore the Soviet state’s fascination with science as a means through which to build a utopian future. How did science and technology interact with state power? How was science implicated in Cold War tensions? How did Soviet “atomic culture” affect ordinary citizens? (Counts for HSMT credit) 3 hrs. sem.
Subject:
History
Department:
History
Division:
Humanities
Requirements Fulfilled:
EUR HIS

Sections in Fall 2021

Fall 2021

HIST0320A-F21 Seminar (Mitchell)