Peder Roberts

Peder's research interests focus on the history of twentieth century science, with a particular focus on the Nordic countries and the polar regions. He earned his doctorate from the Stanford University Department of History in 2010.

Peder's first book, 'The European Antarctic: Science and Strategy in Scandinavia and the British World,' is under contract with Palgrave Macmillan. Drawing on archival material from across the world, the book explores how Europeans came to understand the Antarctic as a space for science -- but also for commerce and political expression. Ranging across Norway, Sweden, and the British Empire, 'The European Antarctic' is a study of how cultures of science and exploration are embedded in social and political contexts.

As part of the TEUS project, Peder is examining the history of oceanography in the early Cold War, with particular attention to  decolonization. He is also preparing two article-length studies of Norwegian-South African relations in the context of the Antarctic, co-authored respectively with Lize-Marie van der Watt (Stellenbosch University) and Klaus Dodds (Royal Holloway-University of London). He also has articles forthcoming on Nordic cooperation in the polar regions immediately after 1945, on the historical legacy of the famous race to the South Pole between Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott, and on the function of polar history as a form of contemporary geopolitical expression during the 1930s.

Peder has previously been a visiting researcher at the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm), the University of Tromsø, the Royal Holloway-University of London, and the University of Strasbourg. He is an active member of the SCAR History Working Group and is affiliated with the research project 'Assessing Arctic Futures,' funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Swedish Riksbanks Jubileumsfond (through the project 'Arctic Norden), the Mellon Foundation (through the Stanford Humanities Center), the Center for the History of Science at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, and the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan.

Publications

• Peder Roberts (forthcoming). "Nordic or National? Post-War Visions of Polar Conflict and Cooperation". In Sverker Sörlin (ed.) Science, Geopolitics, and Culture in the Polar Regions. Norden Beyond Borders. Ashgate.

• Klaus Dodds, Peder Roberts, & Lize-Marié van der Watt (forthcoming). "'But Why Do You Go There?' Norway, South Africa, and the Antarctic in the 1950s". In Sverker Sörlin (ed.) Science, Geopolitics, and Culture in the Polar Regions. Norden Beyond Borders. Ashgate.

• Peder Roberts (2011). The European Antarctic: Science and Strategy in Scandinavia and the British Empire. Palgrave Macmillan.

• Peder Roberts (2011) “Heroes for the Past and Present: A Century of Remembering Scott and Amundsen”, Endeavour 35(4):142-150.

• Peder Roberts (2009). När Polarforskningen Blev Professionell, 1900-1960 [The Professionalization of Polar Research, 1900-1960]. Ymer, pp. 129-150.

• Peder Roberts (2007). ‘What Has All This Got To Do With Science?’ The Rhetoric of Scientific Devotion in British Government Plans for the International Geophysical Year. Proceedings of the SCAR History Workshop.

• Peder Roberts (2004). Fighting the Microbe of Sporting Mania: Australian Science and Antarctic Exploration in the Early Twentieth Century. Endeavor 28, pp. 109-113.