Comment on “Amateur observations of atmospheric phenomena during the IGY”

Abstract

Following the article by Schröder [2007], we point out the key roles played by several Russian scientists in the planning and implementation of observations of aurorae during the International Geophysical Year (IGY).The leader of the program and the organizer of the visual observational network in the USSR was Nikolay V. Pushkov (1903–1981), director of the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN, Troitsk, Russia, now called the Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radiowave Propagation). As a member of the Comite Special de l'Annee Geophysique Internationale (CSAGI), Pushkov was actively involved in the inception of the international program of visual observations of aurorae that was accepted for the period of the IGY.