The International Union of Biological Sciences

Abstract

Historical. Although the first international organization in the field of science was established as early as 1861 it was not until the turn of the century that the movement began which culminated in the system of scientific unions as it exists today. In 1899 certain of the leading academies of the world formed an International Association of Academies which met at intervals until World War I. After the war this organization was superseded by the International Research Council, the statutes of which provided for the establishment of International Unions in the various sciences. At the first General Assembly of the IRC in 1919 the unions for Astronomy, Chemistry, Geodesy and Geophysics, and Mathematics were formed. Soon after, other unions were added, among which was the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS, 1923). The unions as first constituted were completely under the domination of the International Research Council. They were required to meet in Brussels in conjunction with the IRC. No country could belong to a union which did not also adhere to the IRC and pay dues to it. These restrictions, however, caused mounting dissatisfaction and led in 1931 to a reorganization of IRC under the name of International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). Under the statutes of this organization, the unions, although adhering to ICSU, paying dues to it, and being represented on its Board, became largely autonomous bodies, free to meet when and where they pleased and eligible for support from countries not directly adhering to ICSU itself. Finally in 1946, UNESCO was created and at once entered into an agreement with ICSU whereby the latter undertook to support and assist UNESCO in the fulfillment of its objectives in the area of science, and UNESCO agreed to afford a measure of financial support for the scientific activities of ICSU, and its constituent unions.