The Network of Spanish Science in Exile

Abstract

Spanish science in exile operated as a network of networks. Its dynamics help us understand the deep imprint that exiled scientists left in their host countries. The network was characterized by its tendency to maintain links that had existed before the Spanish Civil War and the establishment of alliances with multiple actors, not just humans, that facilitated the legitimization and integration of exiles while allowing them to resume their research. In addition, those alliances produced shifts of goals that often led those exiled scientists to blaze new trails in scientific research and inaugurate new disciplines. Without doubt, this process fostered the vascularization of science in receiving countries.