Paper short abstract:

I will examine how political, cultural, and scientific ideas influenced the construction of the "Meteor" and the practices on board and how they shaped an image of the ocean in Germany.

Paper long abstract:

In 1959, the first World Congress of Oceanography was held at the United Nations Building in New York. Upon his return, Georg Dietrich, one of the leading figures in German oceanography, said: “We will have to draw consequences”. The USA, the USSR and the UK presented their latest advances in marine science and technology, while Germany did not even have a sufficient research vessel. So, what was the German contribution to international marine science and how did German scientists view the ocean?

Germany had a special situation in this early phase of marine science in the Cold War, which is still understudied. German oceanographers were caught between a glorious past and a difficult present. Under these circumstances, most German actors saw the solution in regaining German influence on the oceans by building research vessels. So, Germany built the ship “Meteor” II. Research vessels as instruments, laboratories, and social spaces have influenced what we know and don't know about the ocean. Therefore, I will illustrate the German perception of the ocean in the 1960s by examining the discussions about their construction and first voyages. I will examine how political, cultural, and scientific ideas influenced the construction and practices on board and how they shaped an image of the ocean in Germany. An important focus will be the difference between the discussion in Germany and the existing literature on ocean science and policy in this period.