On Thursday, October 16, we were pleased to host the second virtual lecture of our 2025 Cold War Series with Dr. Matthew Wiseman. Dr. Wiseman is an assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Waterloo, with his research and teaching concentrating on the history of twentieth-century Canada and the development of science and medical research ethics. He is also the author of Frontier Science: Northern Canada, Military Research, and the Cold War, 1945–1970.
Dr. Wiseman’s talk, Duty or Opportunity? Canadian Scientists and Military Research in the Early Cold War, shared some of the history behind the evolution of Cold War science and military research — specifically, scientific research conducted with a purpose to protect and prepare the military during the Cold War. Military research contributed to Canada’s broader defence efforts and had an extended influence on Canadian policy and scientific innovations.
He began with background on the organizations leading these efforts. The National Research Council formed in 1916 as a civilian body to advise the federal government on funding science during the First World War. While not meant to perform research, the connection between science and the military became apparent — if Canada wanted to bolster its national security, there would need to be an increased investment in scientific research to support the military.
As a result, the Defence Research Board of Canada was created in 1947, which became a fourth branch of Canada’s military — led by a civilian, but with equal power and influence as senior officials in the army, navy, and air force.
Through the Defence Research Board, a significant investment was funneled into grants for Canadian universities to support military research, attracting a range of academics. Dr. Wiseman’s talk focused on two of the Directorate’s funded through the Defence Research Board: the Human Resources Research and Arctic Medical Research programs. These existed to understand human interactions within military environments like the Canadian Arctic, and how innovations could help the human body adapt to these environments.
Much of the research was conducted at the Defence Research Northern Laboratory in Churchill, Manitoba. Dr. Wiseman elaborated on experiments related to cold weather acclimatization, testing conditions like extreme cold, wind, snow, darkness, and light, and the impacts on human bodies. While earlier studies employed racialized experimentation on Inuit, other research benefitted from collaboration with Indigenous guides to understand traditional knowledge on living, working, and fighting in cold climates. Other experiments looked at insulated properties of different materials, and how heat escapes the human body.
Results of this research informed military efforts in creating new clothing to allow the human body to better work in and withstand cold air environments, supported the development of equipment and machinery that would perform optimally in an arctic setting, and contributed to more comprehensive training for new recruits to prepare for being stationed in northern Canada. These efforts also led to other innovations outside of the Canadian military, including in space technology and advancements that supported NATO allies.
Nevertheless, innovation still comes at a cost. Some of the military research performed had questionable ethics related to human experimentation, caused disruption to local populations including Indigenous communities, and took a toll on local ecosystems. While the specific research programs Dr. Wiseman discussed slowed by the 1960s, and the Defence Research Board became Defence Research and Development Canada, military research continues to evolve to this day, adapting to modern needs and challenges.
We are grateful to Dr. Matthew Wiseman for this engaging glimpse into some lesser-known histories from the Cold War. You can watch a recording of the virtual lecture here:
Dr. Matthew S. Wiseman is an assistant professor (teaching stream) in the Department of History at the University of Waterloo. His research and teaching concentrate on the history of twentieth-century Canada, with special emphasis on the development of science and medical research ethics. He is the author of Frontier Science: Northern Canada, Military Research, and the Cold War, 1945–1970 (UTP, 2024) and co-editor of Silent Partners: The Origins and Influence of Canada’s Military-Industrial Complex (UBC Press, 2023). With an eye to understanding the social and political dynamics of science, Wiseman’s publications examine the complex dimensions of military- and state-sponsored research conducted at government, private, and academic institutions. He also studies gender equity in the professional scientific community and is currently writing two books, one on the history of military medicine in Canada and a second on the history of women scientists at the National Research Council.
Website: matthewswiseman.ca
We invite you to join us for an upcoming event in our 2025 Speaker Series:
- November 20, 2025: Canada, Africa, and the Cold War, with Dr. Kevin Spooner