Can expertise be a powerful force that both connects and fragments a continent like Europe? How were experts to cope with the dark side of their work from aligning with Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin to feeding the Cold War?
In this Podcast episode book authors Martin Kohlrausch and Helmuth Trischler introduce a story of experts (un)making Europe that has fascinated them in particular. It is the devastating story of Europe’s attempt to launch a rocket into space as the third nation behind the Soviet Union and the US. While the attempt seemed successful at first as the impressive rocket with the telling name Europa launched into the sky, only minutes later, catastrophe hit as spectators watched the rocket explode in front of their very eyes… What had gone wrong?
Also in this episode…
Martin Kohlrausch explains the fascinating interplay of experts’ biographies, institutions and technology, how those relate to the Europa rocket catastrophe and why the complexity of European organisations and institutions became so attractive to experts. He also dwells on the changing role and perceptions of experts in a societal context.
Helmuth Trischler illustrates how Europe is much more than what we see on the map. Europe has multiple faces and geographies, multiple Europes made by experts. He provides insights into how he perceives the future role of experts and scientists, considering the global challenges the world is facing – and what John Schellnhuber and Elon Musk have to do with it all.
Links
- You can purchase the book Building Europe On Expertise at Palgrave Macmillan.
- For more personal insights of the Making Europe book authors, visit our Blog.
