Neutrinos in Peru: environments and responsibilities in cosmic research

Speaker: Jaco de Swart (University of Cambridge and Leiden University)
Series: Departmental Seminars in History and Philosophy of Science

Studying the universe has earthly consequences. Cosmic research infrastructures depend on precious resources, build on extractive histories, and take up fragile land – be it pristine Antarctic ice or arid deserts in the Global South. In this talk, I discuss how the search for cosmic invisibilities has depended on, and impacted, its social and natural surroundings. In the first part, I discuss the history of the search for invisible neutrino and dark matter particles since the 1980s, and how environments have become important actors in the success of such experiments. In the second part, I ask what it would take to better integrate social and environmental responsibilities in this type of research. I discuss my involvement in TAMBO, a planned 'neutrino observatory' in the Peruvian Andes – a region known for its pre-Inca rooted inhabitants, condor habitats, and illegal mining activities. How can the inclusion of humanities scholars in the collaboration help integrate care and responsibility in a physics project from the start? I reflect on the progress of our experimental collaboration, including our first field visit, where Andean cosmologies met those of the involved physicists.