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Scientific Unions (ICSU). An ICSU Special Committee for the IGY 

 was established in ISS** and planning was initiated for a start 

 in 1957-58. The Special Committee adopted as its major goals 

 for the IGY the exploration of two great regions that modern 

 technology had brought within human reach; the Antarctic 

 continent and outer space. 



With regard to the continent at the bottom of the world, the 

 committee stated: the Antarctic represents... "a region of 

 almost unparalleled interest to the fields of geophysics and 

 geography alike. In geophysics, Antarctica has- many significant 

 unexplored aspects: for example, the influence of this huge ice 

 mass on global weather; the influence of ice mass on 

 atmospheric and oceanographic dynamics; ... the possibility of 

 conducting original ionospheric experiments northward from the 

 south polar plateau during the long total night season to 

 determine the physical characteristics of the ionosphere during 

 prolonged absence of sunlight...," etc. 



From mid-1957 to the end of 1958, forty thousand scientists 

 and technicians from 67 nations manned some 4,000 observing 

 stations spread over the earth from pole to pole. The crowning 

 achievements in space were the launching of the Soviet Sputnik 

 in 1957 followed in 1958 by the U.S. Explorer I, which 

 discovered the Van Allen radiation belts. 



