II. Background of the IGY (1957-58) 



The IGY has been called "perhaps the most ambitious and at the 

 same time the most successful cooperative enterprise ever undertaken 

 by man." u This assessment was voiced by the late Lloyd V. Berkner, 

 originator of the proposal which ultimately led to the IGY, and 

 Vice President of the international body which coordinated all IGY 

 activities. 12 Yet this remarkable effort might never have taken place 

 had it not been preceded by a history of growing international 

 scientific cooperation from ancient times to the present day. 



Antecedents of the IGY 



Scientific cooperation appears evident even in ancient times, when 

 travelers exchanged information needed to develop maps for their 

 mutual use. 13 Francis Bacon, early in the 17th century, proposed 

 cooperative efforts as the best way of obtaining information about the 

 nature of the world. Such efforts as did take place, however, were 

 undoubtedly more a matter of happenstance and chance than of 

 premeditated planning. Not until the 18th century did coordinated 

 efforts by many men at many points become more common. Observa- 

 tions of the transit of Venus in 1761 represented an early attempt at a 

 concerted international effort, largely by European nations. In 1769 

 a subsequent transit of Venus, some portions of which were visible 

 in the American colonies, afforded the opportunity on the part of the 

 New World to link scientific observations with the Old. 



For the most part, these initial early cooperative efforts were 

 independently conceived and only poorly coordinated. During the 

 19th century, international efforts intensified and close coordination 

 became more common. Largely as a result of efforts by a group of 

 French scientists, a network of weather observation stations was 

 established, data first being published in 1800. To facilitate coordinated 

 weather observations at sea as well as ashore, an international con- 

 ference in Brussels in 1853 decided that warships of the participating 

 nations would utilize standard forms for data-taking, and the in- 

 formation would be distributed to all. This effort moved Matthew F. 

 Maury, an American naval officer who had initially proposed such 

 cooperation, to comment: 



Rarely before has there been such a sublime spectacle presented to the scientific 

 world : all nations agreeing to unite and cooperate in carrying out one system of 

 philosophical research with regard to the sea. Though they may be enemies in 

 all else, here they are to be friends. M 



The need to learn more about the earth's magnetism, as well as its 

 weather, led to other international cooperative efforts during the 19th 

 century. Worldwide magnetic observations were carried out from 



" J. Tmo Wilson, JOY; The Year of the New Moons (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1961), p. vil. 



" This group was known as the Bureau du Comlte Special de l'Annee Geophysique Internationale, or 

 C8AQI. 



" Much of the following material has been summarized from Sullivan, Assault, pp. 4-19. 



» Matthew F. Maury, The Physical Geography of the Sea (New York: Harper Bros., 1856), p. xiii. Maury, 

 known as the Pathfinder of the Beas fur his researches of ocean currents following an injury that incapacitated 

 him for sea duty, Joined the Confederacy during the Civil War and became its foremost naval officer. 



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