The nonscientific aspect of a scientific expedition: The organization of the First Mongolian Paleontological Expedition, 1946, under the leadership of I.A. Efremov

Abstract

This paper discusses the history of the organization of the First Mongolian Paleontological Expedition in 1941 and 1946 based on archives and publications. It describes the bureaucratic “red tape” at the time, the questions faced by the administration of the Paleontological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the head of the expedition, and how they were answered in order to facilitate an expedition at a time when the international affairs of the Academy of Sciences in the 1940s were strictly controlled by the Communist Party and the Soviet Government.