Duelling Scientists

This article examines the debates between scientists who explored the Patagonian Andes in the context of the Chilean-Argentine border negotiations in the 1890s. Two of these figures, Hans Steffen (Chile) and Francisco Moreno (Argentina), produced reports, maps, and articles based on their findings. This scholarly production reveals a facet of border negotiations where scientists negotiated the borderline based on their analysis of the geography of the Andes. Scholarly debates underpinned the negotiations, but they also highlighted the narrow distance scientists navigated between their call to contribute to (Western) science and their loyalty to the governments that supported their explorations.