Interview questions about the IGY and the U.S. IGY stamp, #1

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:

1. World Days and communications
2. meteorology
3. geomagnetism
4. aurora and airglow
5. ionosphere
6. solar activity
7. cosmic rays
8. longitudes and latitudes
9. glaciology
10. oceanography
11. rockets and satellites
12. seismology
13. gravity
14. nuclear radiation

Among the outstanding accomplishment and by-products of the IGY were:

1. 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.
   
   
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.
   
   
3. The discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts as a result of Geiger counter measurements made onboard Sputnik 2 and Explorer 1.
   
   
4. The formation of the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958.
   
   
5. 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. 
   
   
6. 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.
   
   
7. 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.
   
   
8. 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).
   
   
9. 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.

The IGY symbol (Chapman, 1959), adopted in 1955, shows the Earth partly lit, partly dark, to indicate the influence of the Sun on the Earth. The South Pole is shown, to stress the special attention given to the Antarctic during the IGY. The Earth is also encircled by a satellite in orbit to indicate the intention to launch satellites during the IGY, successfully done by the Soviet Union and by the U.S.

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,

https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/arctic-zone/ipy.html.

A bit of the IGY at the Thailand 2023 World Stamp Championship

In a recent post, I talked about my geophilately presentation at the Geological Society of America meeting. A conclusion I reached was that if I sought to reach a greater audience with my thoughts on geophilately, the best way to do so would be via written articles for philatelic newsletters, magazines, and journals. I am not sure how much energy I have to travel down that path, but I took a first stab with a short informal piece I did for the newsletter of the Philatelic Society of Lancaster County. You’ll find my article, “A serendipitous visit to the Thailand 2023 World Stamp Championship” on page 10 of the current issue. Don’t worry, there is a little bit on an IGY stamp in there. (You also might find one typo which snuck its way into the production process.)

 The web page for the expo is here.

Logo for the expo

Antarctic ice thickness sounding, and the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition during the IGY

I try to be careful about expanding the scope of my two topical collections (IGY and North American earthquakes). This is a short explanation of the decision to expand of my IGY collection to include the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1955–1958.

I was catching up on reading some old issues of magazines and journals, and I came across an article entitled "How Thick Is Antarctic Ice, and What Is Underneath? Scientists used electromagnetic fields to determine the thickness of fast ice," by Saima May Sidik, in Eos, 104, published by the American Geophysical Union,  22 February 2023.

This news article describes a paper by Langhorne et al. that provided more reliable estimates of Antarctic fast ice (sea ice that is "fastened" to the coastline, to the sea floor along shoals, or to grounded icebergs - see figure below) thickness by using a technique of airborne geophysics, specifically electromagnetic induction sounding. A sensor called a “bird” is towed beneath the aircraft at an altitude of 15 meters above ground level. A magnetic field is transmitted through the ice into the conductive seawater  below which then induces electric currents that the bird can detect. The resulting data are used to infer the ice thickness. This technique has several advantages over previous methods: a wider geographic range than drilling into the ice; penetration of saline sea ice, unlike radar; and more certain estimates than satellites.

Some of the most common sea-ice related features, including  fast ice. The bear provides an approximate scale for this scenario (Wikipedia)

The researchers used the system to survey a 700-km-long section of coast in the Ross Sea, home to the Scott Base, McMurdo, and Zucchelli research stations (see a map of the stations in this post). The area is known for its floating glaciers and ice shelves which are stabilized by fast ice. Fast ice in the region was found to be typically 2-3 meters thick. 

A search revealed that a stamp issued in 2022 by New Zealand's Ross Dependency depicts this method (Scott NZ-RO L177), showing a helicopter towing a bird (see right). This image is from colnect, not my collection. This stamp is one of four stamps comprising a Science on Ice miniature sheet.

Determining Antarctic ice thickness was also a goal of the IGY, although more for the continental ice sheet rather than for fast ice. For example, right after I left off my reviews in this blog of the IGY Bulletin with Number 9, issue Number 10 started with an article on "IGY Antarctic oversnow traverses." It describes three major oversnow traverses planned by the U.S. IGY Committee for the 1957-58 summer season, shown on the map below.

Traverses across the Ross Ice Shelf from the Little America Station, over parts of Marie Byrd Land and the Ellsworth Highland from Byrd Station, and across the Filchner Ice Shelf and parts of Edith Ronne Land from Ellsworth Station.

On these traverses, coring along with ground-based geophysical methods of seismics, gravity, and geomagnetism were used to infer continental ice sheet thicknesses of as much as 10,000 feet (3000 m).

Simplified cross-sectional profiles of the continental ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica (https://opentextbc.ca/geology/chapter/16-2-how-glaciers-work/)

Scott GB-AT 47, my collection

I wondered if there were any IGY stamps that focused on Antarctic ice thickness. Another search in colnect led me to such a stamp on seismic depth sounding from the British Antarctic Territory (Scott GB-AT 147, shown at right), issued in 1988 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition of 1955-58. This was from a four-stamp series which I then bought. 

The other three stamps in the series, shown here, have themes of the aurorae, aircraft, and a Sno-cat.

I also bought this first day cover with cachet including all four of the stamps.

Cover showing all four stamps from the BAT 1988 set commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (scanned from online, since my purchase has not yet arrived).

I decided this Expedition and its anniversary would be legitimate components of my IGY collection. According to Wikipedia:

The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) of 1955–1958 was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole. It was the first expedition to reach the South Pole overland for 46 years, preceded only by Amundsen's expedition and Scott's expedition in 1911 and 1912.

It was headed by British explorer Vivian Fuchs, with New Zealander [mountaineer] Sir Edmund Hillary leading the New Zealand Ross Sea Support team. The New Zealand party included scientists participating in International Geophysical Year [emphasis mine] research while the British team were separately based at Halley Bay.

Route map of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Reed Gallery)

The British Antarctic Territory (consisting of the South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula with a sector of the continent extending to the South Pole) issued stamps in 1963, 1966, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, and then annually since 1977. It's interesting that the BAT only issued these four Antarctic stamps in 1988, the lowest number in any one year. A smoothed graph I made of the issuances per year shows a 5-year decline starting after 1983, then a general rise until 2012 and another decrease since then. Whatever significance there may be in these trends is beyond me.

Issuance of stamps by British Antarctic Territory. Data from Colnect.

More on related covers in future posts.