Chemical Engineer George L. Standart – between Science and Ideology

George L. Standart was one of the few western scientists who decided to emigrate to communist Czechoslovakia. He was driven to do that by his leftist mindset, his conviction that there lay a more just and peaceful world behind the Iron Curtain, and also the feeling that he was at risk in his homela...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Věra Dvořáčková
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Firenze University Press 2025-01-01
Series:Substantia
Subjects:
Online Access:https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/subs/article/view/3063
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1841545873514823680
author Věra Dvořáčková
author_facet Věra Dvořáčková
author_sort Věra Dvořáčková
collection DOAJ
description George L. Standart was one of the few western scientists who decided to emigrate to communist Czechoslovakia. He was driven to do that by his leftist mindset, his conviction that there lay a more just and peaceful world behind the Iron Curtain, and also the feeling that he was at risk in his homeland, unsettled by McCarthyism. Although he was recruited as an informer first by the Soviet, and subsequently also the Czech intelligence services, they never found his work satisfactory as an agent, a situation exacerbated by his increasing academic workload. Most of all, George L. Standart was an outstanding scientist, one of the best in his discipline and at that time, who made an unexpected and unprecedented contribution to the Czechoslovak chemical sciences and their practical industrial applications. The almost twenty years that George L. Standart and his wife spent in Prague nevertheless provides an opportunity to trace their personal and academic lives, the development of their attitudes shaped by their ideology and idealism and, partially, also the process by which the Czechoslovak security and intelligence services were established from the close of the 1940s to the late 1960s and the view they took of foreign nationals.
format Article
id doaj-art-fa4e7b7285954ae19442aa541b769fde
institution Kabale University
issn 2532-3997
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Firenze University Press
record_format Article
series Substantia
spelling doaj-art-fa4e7b7285954ae19442aa541b769fde2025-01-11T09:47:49ZengFirenze University PressSubstantia2532-39972025-01-0110.36253/Substantia-3063Chemical Engineer George L. Standart – between Science and IdeologyVěra Dvořáčková0Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Gabčíkova 2362/10, Praha 8, 182 00, Czech Republic George L. Standart was one of the few western scientists who decided to emigrate to communist Czechoslovakia. He was driven to do that by his leftist mindset, his conviction that there lay a more just and peaceful world behind the Iron Curtain, and also the feeling that he was at risk in his homeland, unsettled by McCarthyism. Although he was recruited as an informer first by the Soviet, and subsequently also the Czech intelligence services, they never found his work satisfactory as an agent, a situation exacerbated by his increasing academic workload. Most of all, George L. Standart was an outstanding scientist, one of the best in his discipline and at that time, who made an unexpected and unprecedented contribution to the Czechoslovak chemical sciences and their practical industrial applications. The almost twenty years that George L. Standart and his wife spent in Prague nevertheless provides an opportunity to trace their personal and academic lives, the development of their attitudes shaped by their ideology and idealism and, partially, also the process by which the Czechoslovak security and intelligence services were established from the close of the 1940s to the late 1960s and the view they took of foreign nationals. https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/subs/article/view/3063George L. StandartScience in communist regimehistory of chemical engineeringpolitical emigration West-to-East
spellingShingle Věra Dvořáčková
Chemical Engineer George L. Standart – between Science and Ideology
Substantia
George L. Standart
Science in communist regime
history of chemical engineering
political emigration West-to-East
title Chemical Engineer George L. Standart – between Science and Ideology
title_full Chemical Engineer George L. Standart – between Science and Ideology
title_fullStr Chemical Engineer George L. Standart – between Science and Ideology
title_full_unstemmed Chemical Engineer George L. Standart – between Science and Ideology
title_short Chemical Engineer George L. Standart – between Science and Ideology
title_sort chemical engineer george l standart between science and ideology
topic George L. Standart
Science in communist regime
history of chemical engineering
political emigration West-to-East
url https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/subs/article/view/3063
work_keys_str_mv AT veradvorackova chemicalengineergeorgelstandartbetweenscienceandideology