Science Diplomacy, internationalism, and the formation of the International Seismological Association, 1885-1922.

Research on early international scientific unions and congresses has traditionally emphasized collaborative efforts among scientists to overcome national conflicts, fostering discipline development and advancement of knowledge. The perspective of science diplomacy provides insights into the power dynamics between nations and individual scientists' capacities for trust-building. The focus is on understanding these dynamics in the context of negotiating technoscientific standardization and the exchange of data within internationalization efforts.
This paper explores the establishment of international cooperation and the negotiation of technoscientific standards in seismology during the first two decades of the 20th century, with a specific focus on the formation of the International Seismological Association (ISA) in 1901.
The establishment of ISA was prompted by the development of reliable seismographs in the late 19th century enabled the recording of distant earthquakes. This technological advancement led scientists to recognize the benefits of comparing seismograms from various locations, highlighting the necessity of global cooperation.
Once stablished the ISA played a pivotal role in providing an international framework for standardization, compilation, and distribution of seismic data. Additionally, it initiated a program for the development of the discipline. Despite being founded to address a scientific imperative for global cooperation, the ISA faced challenges due to national rivalries between Germany and Great Britain.
The paper concurrently explores the interplay between the concepts of internationalism and the principles of science diplomacy, for a more nuanced and novel understanding of 20th century institutionalization of international science.