301 



Peking, China, to Sitka, Alaska, and an international magnetic union 

 was established to fix, in advance, specific days for the simultaneous 

 recording of data. Increased cooperation led rapidly to the formation 

 of other international scientific organizations, including the Inter- 

 national Association of Geodesy (1864), the International Bureau of 

 Weights and Measures (1875), and the International Meteorological 

 Organization (1878). The most direct antecedents of the IGY, how- 

 ever, were the First and Second International Polar Years, which to 

 some extent may be considered models for the IGY. 



- THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL POLAR TEAR (1882-83) 



The First International Polar Year (FPY), which took place in 

 1882-83, has been called the grandfather of the IGY. During this 

 period, scientists from 20 nations carried out cooperative efforts in 

 the high northern latitudes, placing primary emphasis upon studies of 

 surface meteorology, geomagnetism, and the aurora borealis. 15 Al- 

 though no fundamental discoveries resulted from these studies, many 

 valuable data were obtained in many fields, including those of the 

 aurora, geology, geomagnetism, earth currents, meteorology, glaci- 

 ology, oceanography, and latitude and longitude. 16 The success of 

 these efforts led, 50 years later, to the much larger effort of the Second 

 International Polar Year. 



THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL POLAR TEAR (1932-88) 



Although the primary emphasis of the Secondllnternational Polar 

 Year (SPY), which took place in 1932-33, was also on studies of the 

 weather, the earth's magnetism, and the aurora, the program also 

 included studies of earth-sun relationships and of atmospheric elec- 

 tricity. Scientists from 40 countries participated, 17 publishing analyses 

 and observations in the fields of meteorology, radiation, ozone, 

 aerology, geomagnetism, earth currents, atmospheric electricity, 

 ionospheric physics, auroral physics, cosmic rays, hydrography, 

 glaciology, noctilucent clouds, nacreous clouds, biology, and as- 

 tronomy. 18 Substantial progress was achieved toward understanding 

 magnetic storms and other magnetic disturbances, associated auroral 

 and ionospheric phenomena, and wind and pressure systems in high 

 latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. 19 Perhaps the most important 

 result of the SPY, however, was increased knowledge of the ionosphere, 

 which greatly advanced the science of radio communications. 20 



Origin and Evolution of the IGY 21 



The success of the SPY, following the FPY by exactly. 50 years, 

 raised expectations that a Third International Polar (TPY) would be 

 held at an interval of another 50 years, or during 1982-83. However, 



» Allen V. Astin, "The Scientific Community and International Cooperation," Department of State 

 Bulletin 61 (July 14, 1969), p. 34. 



i« N. C. Oerson, "From Polar Years to IGY," Advances in Geophysics 5 (1958), p. 43. 



" Astin, "The Scientific Community," p. 34. 



" Gerson, "Polar Years," p. 44. 



'• Elliott Roberts, "The IGY in Retrospect," Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, Publication 4392 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960), p. 265. 



20 National Academy of Sciences, Report on the U.S. Program for the International Geophysical Year (Wash- 

 ington: National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, 1965), p. 50-v. Subsequently referred 

 to as NSF IOY Program Report. 



11 A brief chronology of the IGY is given in app. 2. 



