• iŵperial tool iŶtroduĐed iŶ the Ŷaŵe of ŵoderŶity // tool to peacefully connect world regions and facilitate the exchange of people and goods Contact: martin.meiske@gmail.com Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Helmuth Trischler (History) Prof. Dr. Wolfram Mauser (Geography) The birth of geoengineering Large-scale engineering projects in the early stage of the Anthropocene (1850-1950) Martin Meiske, Rachel Carson Center/Deutsches Museum - Munich  This is the age of gigantic schemes  (Mechanics Magazine, 1871) Introduction Large-scale engineering projects, like the piercing of the Alps for railway tunnels, the construction of sea canals in Suez or Panama and huge dam constructions, are flagship ventures of huŵaŶkiŶd’s attempts to change the geomorphological appearance of the earth. Since the 19th century these projects increased in number and magnitude and challenged existing balances of nature and culture and its perceptions. Altering the lithosphere was a fundamental shift and its history has the potential to inform more recent attempts like the geoengineering of the climate. A set of approaches from environmental history and history of science & technology will serve as a lens to uncover the history of geoengineering in the early stage of the Anthropocene (1850- 1950) in this PhD thesis. Railway Tunnels • Mont-Cenis Tunnel (FRA/ITA, 1857-1871) • Hoosac Tunnel (USA, 1851-1875) Preconditions What were the socioeconomic preconditions for realizing these megaprojects? • Three circulations stand out: 1. circulation of knowledge facilitated by the international institutionalization of geo-sciences and engineering 2. circulation of money enhanced by the genesis of global financial markets and international investments 3. circulation of goods and labour with the help of new transportation technologies Sea Canals • Kiel Canal (GER, 1887-1895/1907-1914) • Panama Canal (PAN, 1881-1914) Dams • Fontana Dam (USA, 1942-1944) • Roßhaupten Dam (GER, 1950-1954) … discover the Anthropocene! The birth of geoengineering Circulation of knowledge Circulation of goods and labour Circulation of capital Case Studies References: Blackbourn, David : The Conquest of Nature. Water, Landscape and the Making of Modern Germany, London 2006. Laak, Dirk van: Weiße Elefanten. Anspruch und Scheitern technischer Großprojekte im 20. Jahrhundert, Stuttgart 1999. Laak, Dirk van: Technological Infrastructure. Concepts and Consequences, in: ICON. Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology, Vol. 10, 2004, pp. 53-64. Marx, Leo : The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America, Oxford 1964. Möllers, Nina / Schwägerl, Christian / Trischler, Helmuth (Eds.): Welcome to the Anthropocene: The Earth in Our Hands, München 2015. Steffen, Will / Crutzen, Paul J. / McNeill, John R.: The Anthropocene: Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature?, in: Ambio, 36.8, 2007, pp. 616-617. Russel, Edmund: The Garden in the Machine: Toward an Evolutionary History of Technology, in: Susan R. Schrepfer / Philip Scranton (Eds.): Industrializing Organisms. Introducing Evolutionary History, London 2004, pp. 1-16. Fig. 3: Humans are altering the planet. – Map of the proposed Panama Canal showing the natural course of Rio Grande (green) and the planned piercing (red); by L. Gourtier, undated (Library of Congress). Fig. 4: Tunnel workers in the Mont-Cenis Tunnel with the new pneumatic drilling machines that revolutionized tunnel building in the 19th century (L'illustration: journal universel, vol. 39, 1862, p. 108). Fig. 5: The Bavarian river Lech was dammed with the Roßhaupten Dam to regulate the snow melt and to generate urgently needed electricity in postwar Germany ; 2005 (Kling Bohrtechnik). Fig. 9: Leo Marx‘s classic The Machine in the Garden (1964) illustrates shifts in the perception of nature and technology in 19th/early 20th century American literature. Impacts Geoengineering projects led to a variety of controversial impacts that this work aims to explore: • construction sites as centers of innovation for new technologies, and hygienic/epidemic ŵaŶageŵeŶt // iŵprovised Đities as centers of social tension, cheap labour, and epidemics Fig. 1: Construction site at the Hoosac Tunnel; photo by Thomas Doane, undated (State Library of Massachusetts). Fig. 8: A Panama Canal worker spraying oil to fight the mosquitos. Malaria and yellow fever had killed several thousand workers before effecitve sanitation methods were found; 1912 (US Army Corps of Engineers). Fig. 6&7: The Fontana Dam was built in WWII by the Tennessee Valley Authority; 1941 (TVA) (Wikimedia Commons). Fig. 2: Postcard showing the French Malpasset Dam (1952-1954) and its sourroundings before and after it collapsed in 1959. More than 400 people were killed in this disaster; undatet (Wikimedia Commons). Perceptions The Machine in the Garden – The Garden in the Machine Hand in hand with the material impacts of these transformations goes a shift in the perĐeptioŶ aŶd ĐoŶstruĐtioŶ of Ŷature aŶd teĐhŶology that ĐaŶ ďe traĐed iŶ contemporaneous sources. One aim is to reconstruct opposing perceptual frameworks like the conquest of nature and adversaries of technology, as well as harmonizing narratives of geoengineering. • stimulation of economic growth // non-profitability • reduction of risks // increase of new risks • destruction of old // construction of new ecosystems • introduction of new species (bioinvasion) // displacement of old species