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Cosmology and empire

Nature Astronomy volume 7, pages 368–370 (2023)Cite this article

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What is the link between the discovery of the relativistic expanding Universe and British imperialism? A public panel debate in the early days of relativistic cosmology shows how fundamental scientific research, whether there are obvious political stakeholders (like biosecurity and climate) or not, runs real-time risks of being repurposed for political ends.

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References

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank K. Ramanathan, J. Roussos, and audiences at Stockholm University for helpful discussion of this work. We are also indebted to the Archives Georges Lemaître (Archives de l’Université catholique de Louvain) for online access to their records. S.D.B. was partially supported by a grant from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (grant no. P22-0511).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Mike D. Schneider

  2. Department of Philosophy, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Siska De Baerdemaeker

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  1. Mike D. Schneider
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  2. Siska De Baerdemaeker
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Correspondence to Mike D. Schneider or Siska De Baerdemaeker.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Schneider, M.D., De Baerdemaeker, S. Cosmology and empire. Nat Astron 7, 368–370 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-01940-y

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