Vol.. 6, 1920 INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION 
349 
REPORT ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL 
ASTRONOMICAL UNION' 
Presented for the American Section, International Astronomical Union 
By W. W. Campbkli., Chairman, and JoHh Stebbins, Secretary 
The American delegation to the conference of interallied academies 
held in London in October, 1918, had proposed that the existing organiza- 
tions relating internationally to one and the same subject, to Astronomy 
for example, should be succeeded by a single society so formulated as to 
serve the purposes of all the associations from which they should with- 
draw. This policy was approved by the conference. At meetings held 
later in Paris it was decided that representatives of Astronomy in the al- 
lied and associated nations should meet in Brussels in July, 1919, to create 
the International Astronomical Union. 
The American delegation of astronomers was organized under the aus- 
pices of the National Research Council. The Council proposed that the 
delegates be chosen by a subsidiary organization known as the American 
Section of the (proposed) Astronomical Union; this Section for the present 
occasion to be constituted as follows: 
National Academy of Sciences — 5 members: W. W. Campbeli., George E. Hale, 
A. A. MiCHEivSON, F. R. MouLTON, Frank ScheESinger. 
American Astronomical Society — 20 members: C. G. Abbot, W. S. Adams, R. G. 
AiTKEN, S. I. BaieEy, B. E. Barnard, L. A. Bauer, Benjamin Boss, E. W. Brown, 
W. S. EiCHELBERGER, E. B. Frost, J. F. Hayeord, W. J. Humphreys, W. J. Hussey, 
A. O. Leuschner, S. a. Mitchell, H. N. Russell, C. E. St. John, F. H. Seares, 
V. M, Slipher, Joel Stebbins. 
American Mathematical Society — 3 members: G. D. Birkhoff, W. D. MacMillan, 
R. S. Woodward. 
American Physical Society — 3 members: J. S. Ames, Henry Crew, Theodore 
Lyman. 
U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey — 1 member: William Bowie. 
U. S. Naval Observatory — 1 member: J. A. HoogewErfe. 
The members selected later by these organizations are as listed above. 
The American Section thus constituted held its first meeting in the 
office of the National Research Council, Washington, D. C, on March 
8, 1919. Twenty of the thirty-three members were present. Mr. W. W. 
Campbell was appointed permanent Chairman of the Section, and Mr. 
Joel Stebbins, Secretary. An Executive Committee of the Section was 
appointed, consisting of the Chairman, the Secretary, and Messrs. C. G. 
Abbot, E. W. Brown, and Frank Schlesinger. The Section gave assent 
to the acts of the London Conference, and formally approved the proposal 
that those nations which had remained neutral throughout the war should 
be admitted into the International Astronomical Union promptly upon 
^ Reprinted in Reprint and Circular Series of the National Research Council, Num- 
ber 10. 
