Making Science Global:
Reconsidering the Social and Intellectual Implications of the
International Polar and Geophysical Years

Alphabetical List of Presentation Abstracts

Dian Olson Belanger

"The IGY in Antarctica: A Triumph of 'Apolitical' Science, Political Needs, and Peace"

Simply put, the International Geophysical Year in Antarctica was a logistical and operational victory over hostile ice and a breakthrough in scientific pioneering sandwiched between two political miracles–first, that it happened at all given the cold-war tensions of the time, and second that, thanks to the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, it never ended. Despite territorial claims and other rivalries only "put aside" for the duration of the agreement, peace prevailed on the polar continent, which is dedicated to the cooperative pursuit of science.

This paper will outline how disparate and mutually wary cultures, institutions, and governments, both within the United States and around the world, managed to create an 'apolitical' environment where science could flourish. It will consider if and how the cold mattered in this success.

Neil D. Broadbent

"Historic Archaeology and a History of Polar Flight"

This paper presents three case studies of archaeological investigations into historic aviation sites in the polar regions. The first investigation involves the camp site of the Swedish Andrée Ballooning Expedition to the North Pole in 1897. Andrée and his two companions perished on White Island in Svalbard, leaving behind their diaries, their supplies, and undeveloped rolls of Kodak film. Their camp was discovered in 1930 and still renders clues as to their fate. The second study involves the documentation and management of the first official United States government venture in Antarctica. Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adm. Richard Byrd organized the United States Antarctic Service Expedition in 1939, and two bases were built. One of them, East Base, survives today on the Antarctica Peninsula. This base was hurriedly evacuated by air on March 22, 1941, abandoned because of the looming threat of war. Today, East Base is a historic site recognized by the Antarctic Treaty nations. The final study is of a huge 10,000 foot runway site and base camp established at Marble Point in Antarctica during the 1957-1958 IGY. This "ghost" base was never completed. The three studies help to illustrate the nature and value of historic archaeology, not only with respect to the history of polar aviation and international exploration, but also with regard to what these places tell us about the everyday lives of people working and living in extreme environments. They are in situ testimonials to human courage, ingenuity and pathos.

Rip Bulkeley

"The IGY and the Opening of Soviet Science"

From 1945 to 1954 the Soviet Union remained outside both ICSU and UNESCO and was a member of only two international scientific unions, those for astronomy (on an individual basis) and chemistry. This was fewer than China. The USSR was however a member of the International Meteorological Organization and took part in its transformation into the WMO. Soviet delegations attended few international scientific meetings in this period. Arrangements for the exchange of scientific publications were sometimes quite effective but their cultural impact was hampered by the language barrier. Personal bargains for the transfer of Soviet geophysical and astronomical data that had been struck during the Second World War appeared to wither under the impact of the cold war, including such events as the transfer of an IAU Assembly from Leningrad to Rome.

Although Russia and the Soviet Union, respectively, had played leading roles in the First and Second Polar Years, the Soviet Academy did not respond to initial invitations to take part in the IGY. The first indication that it might do so was given in March 1954, one year after Stalin’s death and one month before the Soviet government announced that it was going to join UNESCO. A few months later the Academy joined first the IUGG and then, after private negotiations in Rome, the IGY.

Participation in the IGY was highly valued by Soviet scientists and their contributions were generally appreciated by other committees. But the effects went beyond Soviet and international geophysics, because this was the route through which the Soviet Union finally joined ICSU in 1955 after holding out for 36 years. It also influenced political developments such as the Antarctic Treaty and other arms control agreements.

The paper ends with some speculation about what may have been the motives for this far-reaching ‘turn’ in Soviet international science policy in 1954.

Christopher Carter

"Polar Politics: Negotiating Geoscience on an International Stage"

For much of the nineteenth century, national competition defined attempts to investigate the Arctic. International scientific cooperation was contingent on a variety of particular social and political factors. Mutual collaboration could only occur during periods of relative diplomatic tranquility. Just as the decades between the Congress of Vienna (1815) and the outbreak of the Crimean War (1854) provided such a space for scientific teamwork, so the political situation after the Congress of Berlin (1878) opened the possibility of another era of international scientific partnership. Indeed, rather than being novel, the efforts leading up to the coordinated study of the Arctic during the first International Polar Year (1882-3) represented the return to a model of intercontinental alliance first seen earlier in the century. These synchronized attempts to solve the mysteries of the Arctic momentarily blunted nationalistic bravado in favor of a cosmopolitan study of geoscience. However, political factors, both foreign and domestic, continued to play an important role in the success of scientific projects undertaken in this period. While the IPY benefited from a commitment to teamwork, it still demonstrated the effect that politics could have on the world of science. By comparing parallel efforts in Britain and the United States, it is possible to see the effect that partisan realities could have on the supposedly impartial study of science. In the end, politics could have as much of an impact on the success of a scientific venture as the theories and techniques utilized in its study.

Erik M. Conway

"The International Geophysical Year and Planetary Science, a Half Century On"

Much of the history written about the IGY has focused on the satellite program and the "space race" into Earth orbit and to the Moon. But the IGY has had other legacies too. A "race to the planets" followed the IGY's Earth satellite program that enabled the reconstruction of planetary astronomy into a diverse, geophysically-based discipline. In this paper, I'll examine the growth of planetary science and its key findings in the context of the IGY's initial goals, to argue that the IGY's principal impact has been to radically alter scientific understanding of the solar system and its place in the universe. The last half-century of planetary science has discredited dominant beliefs about planetary composition, climate, and the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Philip N. Cronenwett

"Publishing Arctic Science in the Nineteenth Century: The Case of the First International Polar Year"

This paper examines six specific aspects of the publications emanating from research conducted and observations obtained during the First International Polar Year. First, what was published and by whom? Was it the scientist or the sponsoring organization? Second, how long did the material "mature" before it was published? Was it relatively soon after the end of the expedition? Or much later? Third, do the scientific publications precede or follow the publication of the leader's narrative, traditionally the lead publication from any expedition. Fourth, are there patterns of publication that differ from nationality to nationality? Fifth, are illustrations produced from engraved plates or are photographs used? Finally, the publications will be placed in the context of the overall publication of Arctic science in the nineteenth century. The paper forms a portion of a larger work on the publication of Arctic science in this formative century.

Michael Aaron Dennis

"From Polar Projections to the Blue Marble:" Reimagining IPY History"

IPY historiography centers on the IGY, the International Geophysical Year of 1957 and the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik. What happens if one looks at the IPY through a different set of lenses--the various ways in which historical actors worked to create and maintain boundaries separating the technical and scientific from the political and diplomatic? Understanding just how scientific internationalism works as both rhetoric and practice is the goal of this assay of the field's history.

Steven J. Dick

"Geodesy, Time, and the Markowitz Moon Camera Program: An Interwoven IGY Story"

The Space Age ushered in an unprecedented need for precise time and geodesy. As Chairman of the Latitude and Longitude Committee of the IGY, astronomer William Markowitz of the U. S. Naval Observatory implemented a program using a dual-rate Moon camera, intended to provide more precise time and geodetic data. What became known as the "Markowitz Moon camera" had originally been designed in 1951 and began operation in 1952 to determine Ephemeris Time, a form of astronomical time based on the orbital motion of the Earth around the Sun. The Moon camera succeeded in 1958 in calibrating atomic time with the Ephemeris second, an achievement of lasting importance on which today's definition of the SI second is based. Meanwhile, some 20 Markowitz Moon cameras were deployed around the world for the IGY geodesy effort. The analysis of the international observations for geodetic purposes proved difficult, and the method was soon superseded. Nevertheless, the program continued until the mid-1970s to produce Ephemeris Time and the quantity known a "Delta T," the difference between Ephemeris Time and time based on the Earth's rotation. Thousands of photographic plates and data sheets from around the world remain housed at the U.S. Naval Observatory. This paper focuses on the successes and shortcomings of the Markowitz Moon camera program, but also places this episode in the context of the history of the determination of time and polar motion (particularly the International Latitude Service), and the relations of these efforts to NASA and the space program.

James Fleming

"Making Meteorology Global: Polar Weather and Climate Research in the Career of Harry Wexler, 1933-1962"

Harry Wexler was one of the most influential meteorologists of the mid twentieth century. Mentored by Carl-Gustav Rossby and Hurd C. Willet, Wexler held research and teaching positions in meteorology with MIT, the U.S. Weather Bureau, the University of Chicago, and the U.S. Air Force. He published his first article on air masses in 1933 during the second International Polar Year and his first on polar air masses several years later in 1936. As an acolyte of the Bergen school, Wexler developed operational techniques of air mass, frontal, and isentropic analysis.

As chief of research for the Weather Bureau, Wexler was involved in the development of a number of new technologies, including airborne observations of hurricanes, sounding rockets, weather RADAR, radioactive tracers, the use of electronic computers for numerical weather prediction, and satellite meteorology. As chief scientist of Antarctic Programs for the International Geophysical Year, he supervised the first census of Antarctic weather and formulated a complete and comprehensive model of the circulation of air over the high ice dome of that continent. He complemented this study with an analysis of the winds and temperatures of the Arctic stratosphere. Wexler also kept a detailed journal for the years 1955-59 which is a record of the organization and the conduct of the Polar missions.

In his 1957 article, "Meteorology in the International Geophysical Year," Wexler highlighted some of the fundamental issues facing the atmospheric sciences, meteorology's relationship to other geophysical sciences, and the importance of Polar science, climate science, and weather satellites. On the global level, he was closely associated with baseline measurements of atmospheric chemistry, including the carbon dioxide measurements established at Mauna Loa Observatory. He was an enthusiastic promoter of the idea of a World Weather Watch, which became a reality in 1963, one year after his life was cut short by a heart attack at the age of 51.

Gregory Good

"Sydney Chapman: The IGY Behind the Scenes and Before the Public"

In the mid 1950s, the geophysicist Sydney Chapman retired from his professorship at Oxford University, moved to the United States, and quickly immersed himself in the organizing group behind the International Geophysical Year. He served as president of CSAGI (Comité Spécial de l'Année Géophysique Internationale) in 1957 and 1958. When he addressed the closing IGY congress in Moscow in August 1958, he said: "The time will come when the International Geophysical Year will be viewed as an important but primitive contribution to the exploration of the cosmos." As self-deprecating and modest about his own accomplishments as he was about IGY, he is a neglected central figure of this massive international undertaking. As James Van Allen wrote, "Chapman's immense personal contributions to the science of geophysics provided many of the intellectual 'steel wires' which unified the diverse and multifold undertakings of the International Geophysical Year." This paper sketches Chapman's roles in the IGY, both behind the science and before the public.

C. Stewart Gillmor

"Eclosion, Synthesis, Conjugacy and Symmetry: Lessons from the History of Polar Research"

This paper comments on similarities and differences in the ways that the Polar Regions have been considered as a function of scientific field; on the public taste; on particular fields and their ripeness for exploitation; and on the advantages of international cooperation and competition in polar research. Some remarks are reflections on the author's fifty years of interest and participation in northern and southern polar research.

Adrian Howkins

"The International Geophysical Year in the Antarctic Peninsula: science, sovereignty, and internationalization"

I am completing a doctoral dissertation at the University of Texas on the history of the sovereignty dispute that took place in the Antarctic Peninsula between Great Britain, Argentina, and Chile from 1939 to 1959. Science played a played a major role throughout this period, especially during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58. As the holder of the 2006-2007 American Meteorological Society's Graduate Fellowship in the History of Science, my research pays particular attention to the interaction of science and politics throughout this dispute. At the Smithsonian conference on the history of the Polar Years I would like to present a paper that examines the impact of the IGY on the course of the sovereignty dispute.

In the traditional narrative of the impact of the IGY in Antarctica, science is portrayed as the political savior of the continent: the IGY fostered a spirit of scientific internationalism which put an end to the anachronistic struggle for sovereignty in Antarctica. In this account, the IGY led directly to the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, which suspended all sovereignty claims to the continent and put an end to the active phase of the dispute in the Antarctica Peninsula. With the ratification of this Treaty two years later, Antarctica became a continent "dedicated to peace and science." Through a detailed analysis of IGY research in the Antarctic Peninsula region I would like to suggest that, while there is some truth in this traditional narrative, the reality was actually a lot more complicated. The IGY had a major impact upon the course of the sovereignty dispute, but not simply because science generated international goodwill and co-operation. Beginning with the observation that only the four countries with a direct political interest – Great Britain, Argentina, Chile, and the United States (which was considering making its own sovereignty claims) – conducted IGY research in the disputed region, my paper will investigate three ways in which the IGY influenced the sovereignty dispute:

Firstly, the IGY offered the countries competing for sovereignty in the Antarctic Peninsula an international stage upon which to demonstrate the scientific legitimacy of their claims. This connection between science and politics was a direct legacy of the "enlightened" European imperialism of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. The trans-Antarctic crossing made by Vivian Fuchs provided a classic example of this scientific bravado: it was widely publicized that the expedition never once left territory claimed by the British Commonwealth.

Secondly, the IGY represented a scientific "audit of empire," which allowed all the participating countries, especially Great Britain and the United States, the opportunity to assess the economic value of their claims. For example, the IGY revealed that the Antarctic ice was a lot thicker than had previously been imagined. This discovery contributed to the realization that Antarctica was not brimming with economically exploitable resources. This realization, in turn, diminished some of the political attachment to the continent.

Thirdly, as in the traditional narrative, the scientific goodwill generated by the IGY did indeed contribute to the political solution of the question of sovereignty. However, I will suggest that this political solution did not come out of pure idealism, but rather that certain politicians, especially in Great Britain and the United States, used scientific co-operation as a tool to achieve the political outcome of internationalization that they had come to desire.

Rajesh Kochkar

"Science as a symbol of new nationhood: India and the International Geophysical Year"

It is a noteworthy coincidence that the International Geophysical Year 1957-58 was conceived at about the same time that newly independent India became a republic. The IGY enabled India to join the world club of science as an equal; modernize its existing institutions; support basic science unapologetically; and prepare ground for new initiatives directed towards nation building and national prestige.

IGY provided India with an opportunity to redefine the state's relationship with science. Modern science was introduced into India by the British rulers. But their agenda was strictly utilitarian. A small number of university and college teachers were engaged in scientific research. Thus Calcutta-based atmospheric physicist Sisir Kumar Mitra participated in the International Polar Year 1932 . British India requisitioned Indian scientific manpower for its war effort , through the formation of the Board (1940) and the Council (1942) of Scientific and Industrial Research. Independent India continued exclusively with this model of science support under government auspices, for ten years, until the IGY.

The new policy of state support for science outside the government system came about as a corollary of internationalization of Indian science spurred by the IGY. From seismology to the tracking of artificial satellites, a whole range of disciplines began to flourish. Kodaikanal's location near the magnetic equator (barely half a degree north, in Tamil Nadu) made it an ideal location for the study of the equatorial ionosphere. In 1958, as part of the IGY program, Kodaikanal Observatory acquired a 15 inch-aperture solar tunnel telescope. Sadly, no newer facility has been added since.

Science policy aspects of the IGY regarding India do not seem to have been discussed before. In addition to consulting published material, the paper will draw upon the personal memoirs of A. P. Mitra, the erstwhile science secretary of the high-powered Indian national committee for the IGY. The memoirs will be recorded as part of the preparation of this paper.

"Experiments in Concert: Advocacy, Agenda Setting and the IGY"

Skilled advocates for programs or projects understand that they must define for themselves their criteria for success and establish credible commitments to meet those criteria. Composing the narrative before, during, and after the planned event actually shapes the event itself. Marcel Nicolet described the IGY as sheer audacity. Lloyd Berkner urged the U.S. National Committee to design the IGY – the Third Polar Year –with a Fourth Geophysical Year in mind. Hugh Odishaw called the International Geophysical Year "experiments in concert." The combination of the humanities and science implied by this simple phrase permeated the presentation of the IGY long after the event had passed. Posters, films, books, and interviews have been resurrected as we enter into a Fourth International Polar Year. Today, the demands placed on science come from many sources – funding agencies, elected officials, indigenous societies in the Arctic, non-governmental organizations -- resulting in multiple narratives. In what ways did the IGY result from careful planning as opposed to responding to demands in an incremental, "satisficing" way? What can today's advocates learn from historians of science?

Lisbeth Lewander

"Swedish Polar Policies from IPY I to the Present"

What was the Swedish contribution to the formation of the Artic as a socially construed region? Here we argue that both polar areas have come to be understood as socially construed regions, constituted and institutionalised through discourse and social practice, and we look at the primary factors that have contributed to their definition. These include issues of access, national security, and the extraction of raw materials. All of these elements have put increased emphasis on the need to understand how these areas are seen and construed by relevant actors as a “region” or a set of “regions”. A main objective of this paper will be to pinpoint the discourses of security and safety in relation to conceptualisations of Nordic space for science, as highlighted by the IPY´s. The article will shed light on both the science and the politics of this largely under-researched topic.

Polar research and monitoring requires long term planning and considerable amounts of funding for logistics; conducting it therefore involves policy-making on a national level. Unlike Norway, Sweden has historically resisted forming clear national policies, and the question of a “polar policy” never engaged public debate over funding for polar research and the management of logistics.

The paper is divided into a series of short case studies of preparations for policy formation for previous international polar years as well as for the IGY. The NBSX 1949-52 as a forerunner to the IGY 1957-58 will be highlighted, among others. The following questions will be explored:

1) Who have expressed themselves on issues related to the Arctic and the Antarctic? What wordings and formulations have they used? Who might have been listening? Through which channels did these representations emerge?

2) What kind of problematic situations emerged? In what ways were contradictory interests, including those related to conflicting land use, described? In what way were issues of global climate change addressed in early polar research?

3) In what way are "other" actors depicted? Who is portrayed as partner, ally or prospective ally? What international organisations, and/or non-governmental organisations are seen as relevant partners? Do such relations appear as cooperative or antagonistic?

4) In what contexts do polar areas take on importance as regions? In what way are problems, solutions and developments surrounding polar areas represented?

To answer these questions, present Swedish polar policies will be analysed through text and discourse. This approach is necessary to counter the present historiography of Swedish engagement in polar areas since the late 20th century that has primarily represented it as a project entirely in the service of science.

Cornelia Lüdecke

"Approaching the Southern Hemisphere: The German Pathway in the 19th Century"

In Germany the investigation of the southern hemisphere is closely connected with Georg von Neumayer (1826-1909), who approached Antarctica step by step starting in the middle of the 19th century. The magnetic poles of the North and the South were discovered by James Clark Ross (1800-1862) in 1831 and 1842 respectively, while von Neumayer was growing up. After reading Ross' travel accounts in the mid 1840s, Neumayer became fascinated by exploration of the earth's magnetism. After his education at the Polytechnical School (today Technical University) in Munich and assistantship with astronomer and expert on earth magnetism Johann von Lamont (1805-1879), he acquired a commission from the navigation training college in Hamburg and sailed to Australia, where he searched for the best conditions for the establishment of the first Australian magnetic and meteorological observatory in the vicinity of the southern magnetic pole.

With financial support from the Bavarian king Maximilian II (1811-1864) Neumayer built his observatory on Flagstaff Hill in Melbourne and directed it from 1857-1864. After his return to Germany in 1865, he pleaded for a German Antarctic expedition. Whenever the network of meteorological stations was addressed during international meteorological congresses starting in the 1870s, he pointed to the importance of stations in high southern latitudes.

The first opportunity to come close to his goal came during the organization of the circumnavigation voyage of the SMS "Gazelle" (1874-1976), which was mounted to demonstrate the scientific power of the new German Reich, founded no later than 1871. In his new position as hydrographer for the Imperial Admiralty in Berlin (1872-1875) he could direct the expedition to Kerguelen in the southern Indian Ocean, to observe the transit of Venus on 9 December 1874.

When Carl Weyprecht (1838-1881) promoted the idea of an International Polar Year in 1875, Neumayer independently suggested a network of meteorological and magnetic stations in both polar regions. The meteorological congress in Rome (1879) took over the initiative and set up an International Polar Commission under the guidance of Neumayer, who had become director of the German Maritime Observatory (Deutsche Seewarte) at Hamburg in 1875. Arguing for German participation in the observation of the second transit of Venus on 6 December 1882, he could include the second German station of the Polar Year at the sub-Antarctic Island South Georgia, which was mainly valuable for the investigation of the solar-terrestrial relationship.

Neumayer's dream was finally realized during the first German Antarctic expedition (1901-1903) led by Erich von Drygalski (1865-1949). Additionally, five Antarctic expeditions as well as merchant and navy ships sailing south of 30°S co-operated during 1902 and 1904 and carried through meteorological and magnetic measurements according to the recommendations of the 1st International Polar Year. If nothing more, this enterprise showed that Antarctica is a continent covered by ice. A more detailed investigation was not carried out before the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958).

Craig McConnell

"Global Responses to the Launch of Sputnik"

The launch of Sputnik became an iconic moment in the International Geophysical Year, ushering in the Space Race and playing prominently on the stage of the Cold War. Ironically, one of the most dramatic moments in the IGY drew more attention to nationalistic competition than it did to international cooperation. Indeed, much of the subsequent historiography of Sputnik overlooks the role of the IGY in the satellite race and the role of satellites in the IGY, though much of the contemporary coverage of the event emphasized the international dimensions of the satellite project. In this paper, I will recapture the launch of Sputnik as it was presented throughout the world through major media outlets, particularly radio reports captured in the BBC's Summary of World Broadcasts and the Daily Reports of the U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service. These reports paint a strikingly heterogeneous impression of reactions to the launch of Sputnik and a variety of attitudes towards the role of science in the geopolitical arena. I will also examine the ways in which the United States Information Agency worked to measure and shape public opinion about American science in the weeks following the launch, efforts that met with mixed results.

Allan Needell

"Lloyd Berkner and the IGY Proposal in Context"

During President Harry Truman's surprise reelection victory in 1948, a great deal of effort behind the scenes in Washington was devoted to issues surrounding the potential that science (and scientists) had to promote American interests abroad. Early in 1949 James Webb, the future Apollo era head of the American Space Program (then Undersecretary in the U.S. State Department), established an internal review of "State Department Responsibilities in the Field of Science." This review lead to a detailed study of the adequacy of science-related organization and policies within the State Department directed by the man generally credited with initiating in 1950 planning for the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year. Chief among the science-related responsibilities listed were gathering scientific intelligence, carrying out the President's Point IV initiative to provide American technology to developing counties as a way to compete with inroads being made around the world by the Soviet Union, and managing the exchange in general of scientific information and personnel abroad. Berkner's study for the State Department provides essential context for understanding the origins of the IGY.

Stephen J. Pyne

"IGY: Announcing a Third Great Age of Discovery"

The polar regions were the last of the Earth's surfaces to be explored, and thus effectively conclude what William Goetzmann has termed a Second Great Age of Discovery. What began as a 3rd Polar Year, however, quickly evolved into an International Geophysical Year, and IGY announced a Third Great Age of Discovery for which Antarctica in particular would be a point of inflection before plunging into the deep oceans and interplanetary space. Ice, abyss, space – these would be the geographic realms of the Third Age; Modernism, its uneasy intellectual syndrome; and a reliance on remote sensing and robots its means. A defining trait of the Age is not only the absence of indigenes but of any sustaining biota.

Marc Rothenberg

"Placing the First International Polar Year in its Context: Collaboration, and Risk in Nineteenth-Century Science"

The first International Polar Year (IPY) was one of a number of efforts at collaborative research in the physical sciences among the scientific communities of Europe and the United States, stretching back at least a half-century, as well as but one of a number of attempts to conduct physical research in the unforgiving polar environment. This paper will look at earlier attempts at scientific cooperation and earlier polar research as the background for the first IPY.

F. Sherwood Rowland

"Stratospheric Ozone Depletion, Greenhouse Gases and the IGY"

Two of the year-long research efforts during the International Geophysical Year in 1957-58 were extended indefinitely after its close, and became of great value thirty years later because they established baseline documentation for the measurement of changes in the atmosphere. The British Antarctic Survey placed Dobson ultraviolet instruments at surface locations near Halley Bay (75.5°S, 27°W ) on the coast, and Faraday in the peninsula. The Halley Bay results during the IGY identified the very strong Antarctic polar vortex, and then in 1985 recorded the rapidly diminishing stratospheric ozone contents within this vortex. The latter finding played a critical scientific role in demonstrating ozone losses attributable to the man-made chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which led to the United Nations Montreal Protocol which essentially terminated the global manufacture of CFCs and their release to the atmosphere. Measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide were attempted by many during the 19th and early 20th centuries, but quantitative measurement and evaluation eluded them until C. David Keeling established stations during 1958 on the side of Mauna Loa, Hawaii, and at the South Pole for the IGY. During the first three years, the Hawaiian data showed the 2% annual fluctuation in concentration (maximum in May, minimum in November) caused by photosynthesis in the northern hemisphere during the spring/summer growing season. During the same period, the South Pole carbon dioxide data indicated an increasing atmospheric concentration. Measurements of carbon dioxide over the first decade showed a steady increase, with no cyclical variation other than the annual one. During the 1970s, concern arose about the enhancement of the natural greenhouse effect from the still increasing amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide. These concerns were amplified by the steady acceleration in the yearly growth of carbon dioxide, and then by the separate discoveries that methane, nitrous oxide, the CFCs and tropospheric ozone—also greenhouse gases--were each increasing in concentration as well. Control systems (e.g. the Kyoto Protocol) for the growth of greenhouse gases are slowly being developed, but to date have not made much impact in the atmosphere.

William R. Stevenson III

"The Polar Years and Japan"

From its inception, the 1882-1883 International Polar Year demanded a spirit of cooperation that challenged emerging national ambitions. This tension between internationalism and nationalism remained present in the International Polar Year of 1932-1933, as well as in the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958. To commemorate these years, I propose to explore the relationship between these national and international ambitions as experienced in Japan.

Perhaps more than any other nation of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Japanese were obsessed with achieving both national development and international, namely Euro-American, acceptance. Science played a significant role in pursuing both ambitions, and the International Polar and Geophysical Years featured prominently in this quest. The First International Polar Year of 1882-1883 witnessed a Japan that had only recently opened its doors to the outside world. Science meant progress, and the Polar Year inspired the Japanese to establish their own independent research facilities. By the Second International Polar Year of 1932-1933, Japan had already visited the Antarctic. Yet despite this earlier foray, her participation in the Polar Year was limited to recently constructed scientific centers built across the empire, reflecting a newfound imperialist ambition to which most of her scientists and explorers were equally committed. Finally, in the wake of military defeat, the International Geophysical Year proved the ideal opportunity to promote a peaceful internationalized Japan, which in turn fostered a new postwar strain of national pride. Through a synoptic look at nearly a century of such events, I will examine how tensions between Japanese national development and international association played out in the context of the International Polar and Geophysical Years.

Roger Turner

"The Spitsbergen School: Polar Aviation and Geophysical Meteorology between World War I and World War II"

The Second International Polar Year was one of many polar research and exploration efforts organized during the 1920s and 1930s. Variously funded by air ministries, weather services, geographic societies, newspapers, universities, airlines and private adventurers, these expeditions demonstrated the deep interest the polar regions provoked in the wake of World War I. At the center of many of these expeditions was the collection of meteorological observations. Why was Arctic weather important to such a diverse set of people? In answering this question, the paper focuses on the intertwined histories of aviation and meteorological knowledge. Many aviators believed the Arctic offered great promise for the development of aviation; the spectacular polar dirigible and airplane flights of Roald Amundsen, Richard Byrd, George Hubert Wilkins and others trumpeted the revolutionary capability of aircraft. Soon aircraft would wing over Arctic great circle routes, connecting the continents for commerce (and potentially for strategic bombing). The weather knowledge that made these impressive flights possible came from a small group of mostly Scandinavian meteorologists, trained under Vilhelm Bjerknes in Bergen, Norway. For Bergen School meteorologists, the Arctic was the source of the Polar Front, a key manifestation of the general circulation of the atmosphere. The Arctic represented a privileged place from which to understand the general circulation, and therefore was essential to predicting weather conditions across the globe. As weather bureaus, airlines and militaries institutionalized this understanding of weather, it transformed forecasting and the operations of the many technological systems dependent upon those forecasts. The careers of Harald Sverdrup, Sverre Petterssen and Jorgen Holmboe thus display how the confluence of polar exploration and geophysical theory helped make the condition of the Arctic atmosphere a daily influence upon the lives of millions of people.

Zuoye Wang and Jiuchen Zhang

"China and the International Geophysical Year"

In the history of science during the Cold War, the International Geophysical Year has been often viewed as a great success story of global scientific collaboration across the Iron Curtain, with the only exception being the withdrawal of the People's Republic of China from the endeavor when the IGY organizers admitted Taiwan. Thanks to research by Ronald Doel, we now know that the U.S. State Department played a central role in the controversy, but little is known about the Chinese side of the story. In this paper we propose to examine Chinese sources to reconstruct the considerations that led China to join the IGY in the first place and the reactions to the Taiwan issue that eventually led to the withdrawal. We will also examine the impact of the IGY on Chinese geophysical research even after its formal withdrawal from the collaboration.

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