I was asked if I would be willing to be interviewed about the IGY and the U.S. IGY stamp for a column in a philatelic magazine. I don't want to steal the thunder of the writer or the column by revealing the name until the interview might be published, but the writer agreed that I could answer the questions here as an initial draft, and to double task for the benefit of my blog readers.
The suggested questions are as follows:
1. In 1958 the United States issued a commemorative stamp for something called the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958). Can you tell our readers what the International Geophysical Year was?
2. The issued stamp is rather dramatic. Just exactly what does it depict?
3. I understand that this stamp is one of your favorites. What is your fascination with this stamp? How did it become one of your favorites?
4. Can you tell us how this stamp came to be selected for issue by the Post Office Department?
5. Do you have any favorite background stories or anecdotes relating to this stamp?
6. Is there anything else you would like readers of our magazine to know about this stamp?
Today, I will address question #1: what was the International Geophysical Year?
The IGY was often called the largest international cooperative scientific effort in history. It actually lasted for 18 months, from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. Sixty-seven countries officially participated via national committees out of about 90 countries that existed at that time, involving thousands of scientists. This successful transnational effort involved countries with various political allegiances and philosophies in the midst of the Cold War.
The IGY was also the Third International Polar Year (IPY). The First International Polar Year had taken place in 1882-83, the first internationally coordinated effort for polar research. Observers from 11 countries made synoptic (coordinated in time, and with geographic coverage) geophysical measurements at multiple locations in the northern and southern polar regions. The Second IPY took place during 1932–1933, the 50th anniversary of the first IPY. Forty-four countries participated under the auspices of the International Meteorological Organization, which eventually became the World Meteorological Organization. The Third IPY (also the IGY) took place 25 years later. The fourth IPY took place 50 years after that, from 2007–2008, as the most comprehensive campaign ever mounted to explore the Earth's polar regions, with tens of thousands of participants from more than 60 countries (30% of those then existing) involved in over 200 projects.
Lloyd Berkner, a radio engineer and atmospheric physicist, suggested that the Third International Polar Year should be scheduled twenty-five years after the second, instead of after an interval of fifty years. Initial plans for this 3rd IPY took place in April, 1950, at a dinner party at the home of noted space physicist James Van Allen in Silver Spring, Maryland (where I lived from 1968-1972). Sidney Chapman, one of the preeminent geomagnetists of the 20th century, suggested it be called the International Geophysical Year. Berkner argued for an expanded IGY because: technologies developed during World War II would enable improved studies of Antarctica; 1957-58 would be a year of solar maximum, impacting many solar-terrestrial phenomena; and those present at the party would presumably still be alive and able to participate in such an endeavor in 1957-58 but not 25 years later in 1982-83.
The International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) accordingly broadened the scope from a focus on polar studies to a wider range of geophysical research. More than 70 existing scientific organizations formed national IGY committees. The ICSU established the Special Committee for the International Geophysical Year, better known by its French acronym CSAGI (Comité Spécial de l’Année Géophysique Internationale), to manage the effort. Chapman and Berkner served as president and vice president, respectively, of CSAGI. Atmospheric physicist Joseph Kaplan of UCLA and ionospheric physicist Alan Shapley were chairperson and vice-chairperson, respectively, of the U.S. National Committee for the IGY. Hugh Odishaw of the National Academy of Sciences was the executive secretary of this committee; when I was a graduate student in the College of Earth Sciences at the University of Arizona in the 1970s, Odishaw was the dean.
 |
| A meeting of the Special Committee for the International Geophysical Year, known by its French acronym CSAGI, in Brussels in June 1957, included Vladimir V. Beloussov of the Soviet Union, left, Lloyd V. Berkner of the United States, [Marcel] Nicolet [of Belgium], Jean Coulomb of France, and Sydney Chapman of the United Kingdom (NASA) |
There were 14 designated areas for scientific pursuits during the IGY. These areas were:
- World Days and communications
- meteorology
- geomagnetism
- aurora and airglow
- ionosphere
- solar activity
- cosmic rays
- longitudes and latitudes
- glaciology
- oceanography
- rockets and satellites
- seismology
- gravity
- nuclear radiation
Among the outstanding accomplishment and by-products of the IGY were:
- The launching of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, and then Sputnik 2 by the Soviet Union as the first two satellites to orbit the Earth. These missions were planned by the Soviet Union as part of the IGY, but came as a shock to the American public. Laika the dog was the first animal to orbit the Earth via a one-way ticket on Sputnik 2.
- The launching of satellites by the United States, after several embarrassing failures. Explorer 1 became the third artificial Earth satellite, and then Vanguard 1 orbited the Earth as the fourth.
- The discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts as a result of Geiger counter measurements made onboard Sputnik 2 and Explorer 1.
- The formation of the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958.
- The establishment of 28 permanent Antarctic research stations from 1956-58, by 10 countries. The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station was established by the United States as the first permanent station at the South Pole. It is the southernmost point under the jurisdiction of the United States, located on the high plateau of Antarctica at 9,301 feet above sea level.
- The impetus to develop the Antarctic Treaty, signed to regulate international relations regarding Antarctica. It was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War, designating the continent as a scientific preserve, establishing freedom of scientific investigation, and banning military activity. The original signatories on Dec. 1, 1959, were the 12 countries active in Antarctica during the IGY. The treaty currently has 56 parties.
- The mapping of the mid-ocean ridges on the ocean floors, information that would lead to the confirmation of the theories of sea-floor spreading and plate tectonics in the 1960s.
- The establishment of the World Data Center system to safeguard the millions of measurements made (many results of the 2nd IPY were lost as a result of World War II).
- The furtherance of science education in the United States. Partly in response to the Soviet development of a hydrogen bomb, the launching of Sputnik, and the existence of the powerful missiles that carried the Sputniks into space, Congress responded with the National Defense Education Act (1958). The NDEA, funded to the tune of 1 billion dollars, focused on scientific and technical education. These reforms were primarily put in the hands of scientists rather than educators. Some of these reforms, like an emphasis on laboratory experiences, persist to the present day.
Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the above information. I have also drawn on previous blog posts as useful.
Below are a few of many available references about the IGY.
Books that may be in your library, or can be purchased via eBay:
1. Walter Sullivan. 1961. Assault on the Unknown: The International Geophysical Year. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1961, 460 p.
Walter Sullivan was a prominent journalist and Chief Science Writer for the New York Times. The American Geophysical Union named its science journalism award after Sullivan.
2. J. Tuzo Wilson. 1961. IGY: The Year of the New Moons. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 350 p.
J. Tuzo Wilson was Professor of Geophysics at the University of Toronto. During the IGY, he was the president of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. He was co-author of Physics and Geology, a leading textbook of geophysics for two decades.
3. Sydney Chapman. 1959. IGY: Year of Discovery. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 111 p.
Sydney Chapman, one of the foremost physicists of the 20th century, was at the meting where the idea of the IGY was conceived, and became President of the Special Committee for the International Geophysical Year.
Online resources include:
4. Wikipedia. The International Geophysical Year, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Geophysical_Year.
5. National Research Council. 1965. Report on the U.S. Program for the International Geophysical Year: July 1, 1957 - December 31, 1958. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26118, https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26118/report-on-the-us-program-for-the-international-geophysical-year.
6. Fae L. Korsmo. 2007. The Genesis of the International Geophysical Year. Physics Today 60 (7), p. 38-43, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2761801, https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/60/7/38/686853/The-Genesis-of-the-International-Geophysical-Year.
7. The International Polar Years. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration,