International Geophysical Year

Following a suggestion by NAS member Lloyd Berkner, the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) in 1952 proposed a comprehensive series of global geophysical activities to span the period July 1957-December 1958. The International Geophysical Year (IGY), as it was called, was modeled on the International Polar Years of 1882-1883 and 1932-1933 and was intended to allow scientists from around the world to take part in a series of coordinated observations of various geophysical phenomena. Although representatives of 46 countries originally agreed to participate in the IGY, by the close of the activity, 67 countries had become involved.

International organization and funding of the IGY were overseen by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), an independent federation of international scientific unions. A Special Committee for the IGY (CSAGI, an acronym derived from the French) was formed to act as the governing body for all IGY activities. Care had been taken to ensure that CSAGI would remain nonnationalistic, apolitical, and geared toward a scientific agenda.

American participation in the IGY was charged to a US National Committee (USNC) appointed in March 1953 by the NAS. Joseph Kaplan, Professor of Physics at UCLA, was appointed Chairman of the USNC. Physicist Alan H. Shapley of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) was appointed Vice-Chairman, and Hugh Odishaw, also of the NBS, was appointed Executive Secretary (later, Executive Director). The USNC formulated the US scientific program and selected projects for NSF funding from among those proposed by various universities, research institutions, and private individuals. The committee oversaw the operation of these projects, and coordinated access to facilities and resources. In addition, the USNC was responsible for coordinating the US program with those of other participating nations; for creating and maintaining a mechanism to organize, collate, and provide access to the great breadth and volume of data generated by the IGY activities; and for providing publicity and continuing information and educational programs.

The core USNC was made up of sixteen members, but the five Working Groups and thirteen Technical Panels that operated under it eventually drew in nearly 200 additional scientists. The technical panels were formed to pursue work in the following areas: aurora and airglow, cosmic rays, geomagnetism, glaciology, gravity, ionospheric physics, longitude and latitude determination, meteorology, oceanography, rocketry, seismology, and solar activity. In addition, a technical panel was set up to attempt to launch an artificial satellite into orbit around the earth. It was from the IGY rocket and satellite research that the US developed its space program -- with the advice of the NAS Space Science Board.

Following completion of its work, the USNC spent several years compiling information and writing reports. In 1960, it also released its "Planet Earth" series of educational films, made up of the following titles: The Hidden Earth; The Shape of the Earth; The Force of Gravity; The Inconstant Air; Secrets of the Ice; Challenge of the Oceans; The Nearest Star; The Flaming Sky; Magnetic Force; Radio Waves; Cosmic Rays; Research by Rockets; and Science in Space.

The International Geophysical Year collection contains correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, photographs, and other records documenting the programs and activities of the US National Committee for the IGY. The collection covers the years 1953-1962 and spans approximately 152 linear feet. Additional materials include motion picture films (now converted to betacam), photograph albums, glass slides, maps, and posters. Besides the papers of the USNC-IGY, the collection contains early papers of NAS-NRC activities that grew out of the IGY, e.g., the Committee on Polar Research, the Committee on Oceanography, the Geophysics Research Board, the Space Science Board, and the Committee on Meteorology.

The papers were originally arranged by the USNC prior to its formal dissolution; this arrangement has been preserved. Duplicate and/or extraneous materials have been removed from the collection. Deteriorating items, most notably heat-copy documents, have been photocopied and the originals discarded. The USNC maintained a large library of materials that the Academy's facilities could not accommodate in perpetuity; this library was therefore deposited with World Data Center A in Boulder, Colorado.

All papers in the IGY Records Group are open to researchers.

International Geophysical Year: Outline of Collection

Note: Two-place numbers under series headings represent divisions within series.

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Series 7: IGY Termination, IGC

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Series 11: Symposia

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Series 18: Reports and Reprints

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