282 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
demonstration that scientists of competitive political regimes can 
work cooperatively without fighting over questions of land owner- 
ship or jurisdiction. 
THE SOLID EARTH 
Solid-earth aspects of the IGY program included geodesy, gravity, 
and seismology, with overtones of oceanography, glaciology, and the 
flights of earth satellites. These subjects, unlike those dealing with 
transient phenomena which call for synoptic treatment, found places 
in the enterprise because they fell within the logistic resources 
organized for other IGY activities or because they could provide 
measurements of importance. Some results were fortuitous, as when 
geodesists found the orbital characteristics of satellites divulging 
unique information about the figure of the earth. The organized pro- 
grams in the solid-earth subjects were relatively small, and much of 
their technical results requires extensive study; few important impli- 
cations, therefore, have yet come to light. 
Geodesy—The framework of international cooperation established 
for the IGY was seen at the outset to favor establishing a new and 
better measure of the longitude differences between continents and 
major isolated island groups, such as Hawaii. This was realized 
through use of new instruments and techniques, including the Amer- 
ican dual-rate moon camera, which provided new precision in the 
relation of terrestrial positions to the celestial firmament. Better 
absolute knowledge of geographic locations of the earth’s landmasses 
was obtained, with advantages in mapping, operation of earth satel- 
lites, scientific studies of the earth, and the mechanics of its rotation, 
including problems of timekeeping. 
The incidental geodetic value of earth-satellite orbital observa- 
tions, particularly of Vanguard I, has been substantial. Observa- 
tions on such relatively near and fast-moving celestial bodies with 
well-determined orbits permit a new and higher order of positioning 
of isolated points beyond reach of the geodetic survey networks of 
the world. Analyses of orbital perturbations reflecting the irregu- 
lar distribution of the earth’s mass have already indicated that the 
theoretical or mean figure of the earth may be unsymmetrical— 
slightly pear shaped rather than ellipsoidal, although the dissym- 
metry is very small. Active planning is in progress in the United 
States for the launching in the near future of geodetic satellites 
carrying special instruments in selected orbits designed for the full- 
est exploitation of these possibilities. 
Gravity and seismology—These fields of study profited by the 
strong upsurge of interest in geophysics and the many fieldwork 
opportunities produced by the IGY. They contributed in unique 
ways to our knowledge of the structure of the earth. New gravi- 
meters, faster and more portable than the classic pendulum appara- 
