Many historians serving the field of the history of technology have concentrated their research efforts on a handful of nations deemed the sole interesting actors participating in the race for technological innovation. This almost exclusive focus on a very small number of nations, to the detriment of the supposedly uninteresting multitude, has led to the conception of the technological transfer as a bipolar and mono-faceted process that comprises an active “transmitter” and a more or less passive “receptor”, and involved no significant transformation. Following in the footsteps of some trailblazing historians of science and technology who have challenged the above-mentioned views and practices, we would like to present a case study that reveals extensive cooperation between a scientifically and technologically advanced nation and one located on what was conventionally regarded as the edge of the developed world of the time. Built by American contractor Ulen&Company from 1926-1929 to provide water to Athens, the Marathon dam was by no means a purely American product as Greek engineers played a key role in many aspects of its planning, design and construction. And paradoxical as may appear, they were the Greek engineers involved in the project who injected “high” science into the Marathon dam design and building process, while their American counterparts demonstrated in their practices a series of qualities that made them practical rather than “theory-minded” men.

This presentation is based on work co-authored by Georgia Mavrogonatou.