Before it was a strategy, science was already diplomatic

Part 1 of a two-part note on how science diplomacy evolved before it had a name — and why that history matters now.

U.S. President Eisenhower delivers his “Atoms for Peace” speech before the U.N. General Assembly on December 8, 1953. (U.N.)

In August 1955, scientists from East and West gathered in Geneva for the first Atoms for Peace conference. The Cold War was entrenched. Nuclear weapons defined global power.

Yet physicists from rival blocs sat in the same hall exch…