The Great Experiment: Scientific Cooperation Between the United States and the Former Soviet Union

Post-World War II scientific cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union marked the first time that governments embarked on large-scale, formal bilateral international science programs as instruments of foreign policy. Over the next seventy years, the forms and goals of these programs with the USSR and its successor states changed in response to new political conditions and relationships. This study traces that history and, through a series of sixty-two interviews, presents the direct experience of scientists, diplomats, managers, and others from both sides as a means to understand the broad outcomes of these efforts. Their testimony also unveils insights into the nature of the Soviet science system and the effectiveness of international scientific cooperation in general.