International Council Of Scientific Unions Research Articles

Data Rules: What the History of Scientific Data Can Tell Us about the Asymmetries of Global Governance in the Twentieth Century

This article explores the history of international scientific data organizations and documents their significance in the definition of new forms of global governance. It focuses in particular on the ancestry of two data organizations now operating under the International Science Council (formerly International Council of Scientific Unions -ICSU): the World Data System and the Committee on Data for Science and Technology. Examination of these organizations reveals that while global data infrastructures have developed considerably in the last century, they have also shaped a noticeable imbalance in the administration of data resources between the scientific organizations of a few scientifically developed countries and the rest of the world. In turn, the article suggests that these disparities are also decisive in implicitly shaping a two-tiered system in global data governance as they have forestalled scientific development in world regions marginalized in these data systems, while hastening that of the few represented within.

The Launch of the <em>Data Science Journal</em> in 2002

The Committee on Data for Science and Technology of the International Council of Scientific Unions (CODATA) decided in February, 2001 to publish a new on-line peer reviewed journal, freely available to all. It would be called the Data Science Journal. The subsequent steps taken to launch this journal are described, leading to the publication of the first issue of 10 papers in April 2002 and of the first volume of 19 papers by December 2002. Some necessary corrections and improvements before the publication of a second volume of 19 papers in 2003 are also described.

The Launch of the <em>Data Science Journal</em> in 2002

The Committee on Data for Science and Technology of the International Council of Scientific Unions (CODATA) decided in February, 2001 to publish a new on-line peer reviewed journal, freely available to all. It would be called the Data Science Journal. The subsequent steps taken to launch this journal are described, leading to the publication of the first issue of 10 papers in April 2002 and of the first volume of 19 papers by December 2002. Some necessary corrections and improvements before the publication of a second volume of 19 papers in 2003 are also described.

Mambillikalathil Govind Kumar Menon. 28 August 1928—22 November 2016

M. G. K. Menon, referred to as Goku, was an outstanding particle physicist and an extraordinary statesman of science. He made his major contributions to particle physics during the tortuous years of the unravelling of the full complexity of the families of elementary particles. It was an exciting but perplexing period, and the elucidation of the complexities of the world of elementary particles took the combined efforts of the experimentalists and the theorists. Goku's contributions were central to establishing what was eventually to become the standard picture of elementary particles. He will be remembered for his studies of the two- and three-body decay modes of the charged kaon that gave rise to the ‘τ–θ’ puzzle signalling non-conservation of parity. He coined the evocative phrase ‘associated production’ to describe the creation of kaons and hyperons together in high-energy interactions. He led a team that carried out experiments at great depths underground, and in 1965 they detected an event in which a cosmic-ray neutrino interacted with rock, producing an energetic muon. In the 1980s, with a large detector, also deployed underground, he set a lower bound on the lifetime for the decay of the proton. Menon was a great builder of academic and scientific institutions and a pre-eminent advocate for science. Accordingly, he stimulated and participated actively in building up the scientific and technological infrastructure in independent India, initially as the secretary of the Government of India and subsequently as the minister of state for science and technology. As the president of the International Council of Scientific Unions, he spearheaded its participation in the policymaking body of the United Nations. He was at various times the president of the three leading academies of sciences in India and a founding member and vice-president of the World Academy of Sciences. He was a gentle and loving family man and an energetic and engaged scientific colleague.

William "Bill" Joseph Whelan, D.Sc., FRS November 14, 1924 to June 5, 2021.

William "Bill" Joseph Whelan, D.Sc., FRS November 14, 1924 to June 5, 2021.

In memoriam: John R. Mallard (1927-2021).

In memoriam: John R. Mallard (1927-2021).

Science and Diplomacy around the Earth

In this article we discuss two phases in the evolution of global environmental programs, namely the Man and Biosphere Programme and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, with the aim of showing their hidden diplomatic ambitions from both US and Soviet perspectives. In the 1960s and 1970s, Soviet views on the biosphere prevailed thanks to the influence of Soviet scientists in the International Council of Scientific Unions and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In the 1980s, the domination of this field by US scientists ushered in the establishment of Earth system science as a new research trend based on Earth observation technologies. We argue that despite the influence of Soviet ecologists in directing international coordination of research on the biosphere, Earth system science did not set in a trajectory of environmental cooperation. This outcome can be explained if we take the environmental and ecological turn that arose during the Cold War as being intertwined with political concerns and national interests in both the US and the USSR. Security, scientific diplomacy, and geopolitical issues limited East-West collaboration on the interdisciplinary study of the earth, which instead turned into a sort of cooperative antagonism. The transition from biosphere studies to Earth system science reveals a changing strategy toward environmental problems, which in turn reflects changes in Cold War policy. This essay is part of a special issue entitled Science Diplomacy, edited by Giulia Rispoli and Simone Turchetti.

Ellen Gleditsch: Woman Chemist in IUPAC’s Early History

Abstract In 1907, a 28-year-old Norwegian pharmacist-chemist arrived in Paris to work with Marie Curie at the Radium Institute. Like many women at the time, Ellen Gleditsch was attracted to the newly discovered phenomenon of radioactivity and wished take part in exciting scientific endeavour. Working with the Nobel Laureate Marie Curie was a unique opportunity for the ambitious young chemist, whose skills in mineral analyses led to her being accepted into the otherwise fully staffed laboratory. By all accounts, Ellen Gleditsch appears to have been one of the first women associated with IUPAC. In 1921 she was the Norwegian representative of the committee working on the Tables Annuelles de Constantes et Données Numériques de Chimie, de Physique et de Technologie [1], published under the auspices of IUPAC with the agreement of the International Research Council. In the following year she was a member of the Commission on Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry during its meeting in Lyon [2]. In 1947 Gleditsch became a full member of the Joint Commission of Standards and Units of Radioactivity, joining her friends Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie in this capacity, and all three continued to be members until the Commission’s dissolution in 1955 [3]. IUPAC was the mother union of this Joint Commission, and directly linked with International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU).

Viktor Ambartsumian’s most important scientific achievements

We give a review of the most important scientific achievements of one of the greatest scientists of the XX century, the founder of the modern astrophysics in Armenia, Viktor A. Ambartsumian (1908-1996). He has fundamentally contributed in various fields of astronomy and astrophysics, cosmogony, theoretical physics, mathematics, and philosophy. We list the most important scientific results, including his revolutionary works on origin and evolution of stars and activity of galactic nuclei that turned over the development of astrophysics and gave life to our before unchanged Universe. He was one of the founders of the theory of planetary nebulae, stellar dynamics, protostellar dense matter, as well as he has contributed in other important areas of the theoretical astrophysics. Ambartsumian was also a great organizer of science, important political and public figure. He was the founding Director of the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO, 1946-1988), the President of the Armenian Academy of Sciences in 1947-1993, the President of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1961-1964 and the President of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) in 1968-1972. He was the founder of the theoretical astrophysics in the Soviet Union, the founder of chairs of astrophysics in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and Yerevan state universities, as well as the journals Communications of BAO and Astrofizika (Astrophysics).

Raising awareness of medical physics: The view of international organization for medical physics (IOMP)

One of the main aims of the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) is raising awareness of medical physics. IOMP has built throughout the years many links with other international organisations, as IAEA, IUPAP, WHO, ILO. The latter link (developed over years-long discussions) resulted in the inclusion of the occupation “medical physicist” in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08). As part of IUPESM we became members of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), what is another high professional visibility. At a local level IOMP has helped the establishment of tens medical physics societies and currently we have 82 National Member Societies with 22,000 members. To further increase the internal collaboration of these societies IOMP has created Regional Organisations (RO) on geographical basis, which have good internal understanding of regional requirements. During 2015 IOMP created Regional Coordination Board to further strengthen the links of IOMP with its RO (EFOMP, AFOMP, ALFIM, SEAFOMP, MEFOMP, FAMPO). Future plans to raise the awareness of medical physics with all means and at all levels, include: ∘ at local level through short seminars focussing on various new medical devices; links with Hospital management, etc; ∘ at national/regional level through links with the media to publicise similar subjects and our involvement in hospital/patient safety, etc; ∘ at international level through further collaboration with institutions related to medicine/sciences/education/safety, etc. Increasing the visibility of our profession is one of the objectives during the current IOMP office and we all have to make this a standing priority.

Scientific concepts in play internationally with respect to the Great Laurentian Basin and similar ecosystems during 1993: An overview

Scientific concepts in play internationally with respect to the Great Laurentian Basin and similar ecosystems during 1993: An overview

The Activities at World Data Center for Geomagnetism Mumbai, India

The World Data Centre for Geomagnetism, Mumbai has functioned as a division of the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Navi Mumbai since its full fledged activities commenced in 1991 in coordination with the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) Panel on World Data Centres. Responsibility for the compilation of final hourly absolute values from nine of the Indian magnetic observatories and deposition of this data to the World Data Centres is undertaken at the centre. We have utilized the full advantage of technology advancement in upgrading our data preservation and conservation policy at various levels. In recent years, the centre has prioritized its activities related to digital preservation to ensure digital archiving of magnetic data from the traditional media and also digital conservation of very old hand written/printed data volumes and magnetograms. In view of the scientific importance of data from the Colaba-Alibag Magnetic Observatory, old magnetograms and data volumes are being converted to digital images for long term preservation. In the digital preservation process, the creation of metadata has become an important component in storing information related to old and current scientific records for future use. The centre also hosts a database driven website to make datasets available online to the global scientific community.

Complex initiatives by Jack Vallentyne and Richard Vollenweider within an ecosystem approach to the Great Laurentian Basin

Complex initiatives by Jack Vallentyne and Richard Vollenweider within an ecosystem approach to the Great Laurentian Basin

The International Mycological Association: its history in brief with summaries of its International Mycological Congresses and diverse international relationships

This history presents a review of International Mycological Association activities, its international congresses, and its relationships with regional mycological associations as well as with international organizations of other scientific disciplines. The IMA was organized in 1971 during the First Mycological Congress (IMC-1) convened at Exeter, U.K. In the period 1971 to 2010, nine international congresses have been held, each with its own organizational structure but under the guidance of one of the successive inter-Congress management groups of IMA officers and executive committee members. The congress list includes Exeter, U.K.; Tampa, U.S.A.; Tokyo, Japan; Regensburg, Germany; Vancouver, Canada; Jerusalem, Israel; Oslo, Norway; Cairns, Australia; and Edinburgh, Scotland. Inter-congress activities of each IMA executive group are summarized. The characteristics of each congress are surveyed as to organization, programming, attendance numbers, finances, and satellite meetings.The IMA has sponsored the establishment of Regional Mycological Associations beginning in 1977 and has lent operational funding. Regional associations currently are functional and hold their own regional congresses in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and Latin America. The relationships of the IMA with other organizations recognized within the supra-national International Council of Scientific Unions are discussed.

IUNS – International Union of Nutritional Sciences

The International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) is the umbrella organization for nutrition societies all over the world 1. It was founded in England in 1948 and was initially led by a small executive committee. The first chairs were from Belgium and the UK, Professor EJ Bigwood and Dr Leslie J Harris, respectively. In the beginning, the main aim of the Union was to support the development of nutritional science and human nutrition everywhere in the world. That aim has not changed much through the years. The IUNS does not have individuals as members, instead a country may have a scientific society as a representative member called an adhering body of the IUNS. The Finnish Society for Nutrition Research represents Finland. Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland are attached with corresponding scientific societies as adhering bodies. In 2006 the number of adhering bodies exceeded 80. The IUNS Council is responsible for the activities carried out by the IUNS. The council members are selected every fourth year, and the chairs have been selected from different parts of the world, from the USA, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, England, India, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands and Thailand. There has been one chair from Scandinavia: Professor Paavo Roine from Finland in 1969–1972. The new council started its fourth year period in September 2006. The present chair, Professor Ricardo Uauy, is from Chile, and the other members are from the USA, Austria, Brazil, Egypt, South Korea, Spain and Finland. The IUNS is a member of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), and in this forum the IUNS has collaborated with other member societies of the ICSU, such as the International Union of Toxicology, Pure and Applied Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Food Science and Technology. The mission of the IUNS is still the same as it was in the beginning: to support nutritional science in all its forms, with a particular emphasis on global issues of nutrition. The main scientific activity of the IUNS is to organize and take responsibility for the scientific programme of the World Congress of Nutrition, together with a local adhering body. These congresses take place every fourth year. The first congress was held in 1952 in Basle, and the next one will be in Bangkok in 2009. The other scientific activity of the IUNS is to be a voice in different organizations of the United Nations (UN). Having a non-governmental organization (NGO) status, a representative of the IUNS may take part in the meetings and activities of different UN organizations such as the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Sub-Committee on Nutrition (SCN) and in this way influence decisions made on this level. The third way to act is to support local committees, task forces and projects. The areas of these actions are versatile, from food production to technology and human nutrition. The vision of the IUNS for the future was discussed and accepted in the IUNS council meeting in March 2006: “To live a life without malnutrition is a fundamental human right. The persistence of malnutrition, especially among children and mothers, in this world of plenty is immoral. Nutrition improvement anywhere in the world is not a charity but a societal, household and individual right. It is the world community's responsibility to find effective ways and means to invest for better livelihood and to avoid future unnecessary social and economic burdens. With collective efforts at international, national and community levels, ending malnutrition is both a credible and achievable goal.” The mission of the IUNS was also stated: “Promote the advancement of the science of nutrition, research and development through international cooperation globally.”

The international scope of Medical Physics: An editorial

The international scope of Medical Physics: An editorial

Observing the Earth: An international endeavour

“Achieving comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth observations for the benefit of humankind.” The need to collect, organize, standardize Earth observation data for the benefit of a planetary community of users has been recognized since more than a century: in the recent period, after World War Two, the ‘World Meteorological Convention’ adopted a strategy in Washington in 1947, which led to the creation of WMO in 1951 (World Meteorological Organization). An important step took place, next, when ICSU (International Council of Scientific Unions now named International Council for Science), upon a suggestion of Lloyd Berkner, initiated in 1952 the organization of the International Geophysical Year (1957–1958) with a special focus on Earth observation from space. Indeed, the launching of Earth observation satellites was put forward as one of the major objectives of IGY (International Geophysical Year). This goal was reached beautifully with the successful launches of Sputnik on 4 October 1957 by the USSR and of Explorer I on 31 January 1958 by the USA. Sputnik, purposely spherically shaped, brought the first high-altitude atmospheric data through the observation of the drag exerted by the atmosphere on the spacecraft. Explorer I, equipped with a Geiger counter, led to the discovery of the ‘Van Allen belts’ surrounding the Earth. The development, at a tremendous pace, of experimental satellites observing the Earth, the planets, and the Universe followed then immediately. As early as 1960, the concept of meteorology satellites emerged with the launch of the first weather satellite in polar orbit, TIROS. It took then almost 20 years before reaching the stage of implementing operational meteorological satellites in polar sun-synchronous or in geostationary orbits: at that time, meteorologists had learned how to incorporate meteorological space data into weather-forecast systems. The aim of this paper is to describe schematically the gradual implementation of an Earth observation system of systems associating in situ and space observations as well as numerical modelling in order to provide humankind with the necessary tools for Earth science, sustainable development, and security. To cite this article: P. Baüer et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).

International Society of Nephrology

International Society of Nephrology

Reply: Report safeguards future studies of Europa

I am able to reply to some of the issues raised in the comment above.Since the National Research Council Task Group on the Forward Contamination of Europa has officially disbanded, I cannot address the issues concerning the soundness or completeness of our report, or the proposal by Greenberg and Tufts for an alternate guiding principle for planetary protection. The National Academy of Sciences, NASA, and the International Council of Scientific Unions' Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) have received the Task Group report and may wish to address these concerns.

Comment: NRC Report on preventing contamination of Europa falls short

A recent National Research Council (NRC) report on preventing contamination of Europa is fundamentally flawed [Task Group on the Forward Contamination of Europa, 2000]. It inappropriately cites, as the basis for its quantitative recommendation, a decades‐old COSPAR resolution. This resolution in turn was based on an arbitrary numerical example taken from a 1960s analysis based on now‐obsolete premises regarding Mars exploration, not Europa.While the NRC report contains useful information, it cannot be a valid basis for sound NASA policy for exploration of Europa. The issues involved need to be revisited with a comprehensive study. Note: COSPAR is the Committee on Space Programs and Research of the International Council of Scientific Unions.