International Council Of Scientific Unions Research Articles

Book Reviews

Transactions of the International Astronomical Union Vol. 10: Tenth General Assembly held at Moscow, 12–20 August, 1958. Edited by D. H. Sadler. (International Council of Scientific Unions: International Astronomical Union.) Pp. ix + 774. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1960.) 90s. net.

Book Reviews

Transactions of the International Astronomical Union Vol. 10: Tenth General Assembly held at Moscow, 12–20 August, 1958. Edited by D. H. Sadler. (International Council of Scientific Unions: International Astronomical Union.) Pp. ix + 774. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1960.) 90s. net.

Book Reviews

Transactions of the International Astronomical Union Vol. 10: Tenth General Assembly held at Moscow, 12–20 August, 1958. Edited by D. H. Sadler. (International Council of Scientific Unions: International Astronomical Union.) Pp. ix + 774. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1960.) 90s. net.

Book Reviews

Transactions of the International Astronomical Union Vol. 10: Tenth General Assembly held at Moscow, 12–20 August, 1958. Edited by D. H. Sadler. (International Council of Scientific Unions: International Astronomical Union.) Pp. ix + 774. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1960.) 90s. net.

International Geophysical Calendar for 1961

Coordination of certain types of geophysical observations and analyses throughout the world is accomplished by the advance selection of days and intervals for such work. A committee under the International Council of Scientific Unions has issued the calendar for 1961, together with a brief explanation and examples of how it may be used in planning geophysical programs.

The International Council of Scientific Unions

The International Council of Scientific Unions

Topographic Mapping in Antarctica

AT A meeting of the Special Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) of the International Council of Scientific Unions, held in Canberra, Australia, in March, 1959, the United States representative presented a proposal for the small-scale mapping of Antarctica by a method that does not entail full coverage of the continent by conventional aerial photography. This plan, which has the approval of both the Committee on Polar Research of the United States National Academy of Sciences and the United States Interagency Technical Advisory Committee on Antarctic Mapping, would have as its end result two maps: (1) a reconnaissance map covering the entire Antarctic area (about six million square miles), to be published at the scale of either 1: 3,000,000 in four sheets or 1 : 6,ooo,ooo in one sheet, showing the correct geographical location of shore lines, ice fronts, extensive areas of open crevasses, principal glaciers, mountains, routes of the main ground explorations and geophysical traverses, with ice thicknesses where available, and relief by hill shading, hachures, or form lines, with elevations where available; (2) a general-purpose topographic map covering the entire Antarctic area, consisting of 70 sectional or quadrangle sheets, to be published at the scale of 1: 1,ooo,ooo, showing all the features to be depicted on the reconnaissance map, but in considerably more detail and with greater accuracy, and, in addition, either 200meter or 300-meter contours,' ice-surface characteristics, locations of rivers of ice, individual nunataks, and similar mapworthy features.

International Geophysics Committee

The CIG, to use the authorized initials after the French name, Comité International de Géophysique, held its initial and organizing session at The Hague, November 4–6, 1959. Established by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) in conjunction with four unions (IUGG, IAU, URSI, and IUPAP), the new committee is charged with “adequately terminating the work of the IGY and IGC‐1959” and with responsibilities relating to “continued international and inter‐disciplinary scientific cooperation in the fields of geophysics and related sciences.”At its first meeting the CIG considered the charter of its functions, composition, and procedures as drafted by the ICSU Executive Board on the basis of suggestions by CSAGI and others. It examined the question of bringing to completion the IGY and IGC‐59 endeavors, and then turned its attention to the future. Recommendations in the latter area, as well as the prospect that CIG provides a means for further international and interdisciplinary collaboration along the lines of the IGY, are perhaps of immediate interest to the scientific community. In effect, it is the successor body to ICSU's special committee for the International Geophysical Year—the CSAGI, which terminated on June 30, 1959.

International Council of Scientific Unions

International Council of Scientific Unions

International Council of Scientific Unions

International Council of Scientific Unions

The International Council of Scientific Unions

The International Council of Scientific Unions

International Council of Scientific Unions: Special Committee on Antarctic Research

International Council of Scientific Unions: Special Committee on Antarctic Research

International Council of Scientific Unions

International Council of Scientific Unions

International Cooperation in Physics

A factual account is given of the origin and current status of the international organization of science, with special emphasis on physics in the U. S. A. The relationships between, and the roles played by the following bodies are stated: International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), Commissions of various types, National Academies, and National Committees.

Seventh Annual Meeting, Entomological Society of Canada

The seventh annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Canada was held jointly with the fifth annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Alberta at the Marquis Hotel, Lethbridge, from October 29 to 31. A total of 178 members and friends attended, including 14 from the United States and other countries and 10 wives. R. Glen, President, Entomological Society of Canada, presided. Addresses of welcome were given by C. W. Farstad, President, Entomological Society of Alberta; Mr. A. W. Shackleford, Mayor of the City of Lethbridge; Mr. H. Chester, Superintendent, Canada Experimental Farm, Lethbridge; and Dr. W. C. Broadfoot, Chief, Science Service Laboratory, Lethbridge. At the opening session, Dr. Glen gave a timely account of the complex relations of an entomological society to other scientific societies. Concerning co-ordinating bodies he discussed especially the roles of the International Council of Scientific Unions, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, and the Canadian Federation of Biological Societies, the last of which had been formed at Ottawa on October 11, 1957, with four member societies.

International Council of Scientific Unions

International Council of Scientific Unions

Some Organizational Aspects of the International Geophysical Year

The objects of the International Geophysical Year have been fully described in the Journal. The idea itself was first conceived in 1950 at a social gathering in the home of Professor J. A. van Allen, in Maryland, U.S.A. The small group included Professor Sydney Chapman of Great Britain and Dr. Lloyd Berkner of U.S.A., now respectively the President and Vice-President of the special committee for the International Geophysical Year. They considered that recent advances in geophysical science were such that an interval of fifty years, such as lay between the First and Second Polar years, would be too long. Moreover an interval of twenty-five years from the Second Polar Year would coincide with a period of maximum sunspot activity. Later in the same year the International Council of Scientific Unions adopted the idea and in the following year set up the special committee; at the same time the nations adhering to I.C.S.U. were invited to form national committees, of which there are now more than sixty. Their programmes make up the vast international world-wide effort. A duration of eighteen months, July 1957 to December 1958, for the Year was agreed.

Study of the Ionosphere During Solar Eclipses

Solar Eclipses and the Ionosphere A Symposium held under the auspices of the International Council of Scientific Unions Mixed Commission on the Ionosphere, in London in August 1955. Edited by W. J. G. Beynon and G. M. Brown. (Vol. 6 of Special Supplements to the Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics.) Pp. x + 330. (London and New York: Pergamon Press, 1956.) 140s.; 21 dollars.

International Geophysical Year: ABSTRACT

The United States program for the International Geophysical Year is part of a world-wide scientific undertaking by more than 50 nations in an internationally planned and coordinated effort to study geophysics on a truly global scale during the period of high solar activity, 1957-1958. The second general assembly of the CSAGI, the international committee for the IGY, in Rome in the fall of 1954, developed criteria for the selection and planning of observational programs in the individual geophysical disciplines. Each participating nation followed these criteria in planning its own program. The major emphasis is given to problems requiring concurrent synoptic global observations involving coordinated efforts by many nations. Also of great importance are the activities undertaken in remote regions of the earth, such as the Antarctic, the Arctic, and the vast oceanic areas. In the United States, the National Academy of Sciences, as the adhering body of the U. S. scientists to the International Council of Scientific Unions, established the United States National Committee for the International Geophysical Year. This committee, with its technical panels and regional committees, is responsible for the planning, direction, and execution of the U. S. program. The membership of the technical panels and committees is made up of scientists drawn from private, governmental, educational, and research institutions from all over the country. Department of Defense research and logistics efforts are being utilized in certain areas to supplement and expand the IGY activities. Closely following the criteria established by the CSAGI, the USNC-Technical Panels developed programs in Meteorology, Geomagnetism, Aurora and Airglow, Ionosphere, Solar Activity, Cosmic Rays, Longitude and Latitude, Glaciology, Oceanography, Rocketry, Seismology, and Gravity, and, as announced by the President of the United States on July 29, 1955, scientific studies using earth-circling satellites. Activities in these programs range geographically from the Arctic to the Antarctic, throughout all of the continental United States, its territories and possessions, and parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, penetrating deep into the earth, oceans, and ice, and high into the atmosphere. End_Page 356------------------------------ The planning of this vast program is now nearing completion: the execution of the program and the analysis of the ensuing data will involve scientists from institutions throughout the country. The IGY will afford unprecedented opportunities for participation and achievement by scientists and their institutions and should constitute the greatest peace-time stimulus yet to geophysics. As comprehensive and far-flung as the U. S. program is, it is only part of the international effort. It may well be that the large view, so typical in astronomy and global geophysics, attendant on the mutual and fruitful cooperation of most of the world in the IGY, will eventually give the IGY a value far transcending the gathering of data and the observation of physical processes. End_of_Article - Last_Page 357------------

The Royal Society Antarctic expedition

In 1953 the International Council of Scientific Unions (I.C.S.U.) appointed a committee (C.S.A.G.I.) under the presidency of Professor S. Chapman, F. R.S., to organize a programme of international scientific co-operation for making simultaneous physical measurements over the whole Earth during the eighteen months July 1957 to December 1958. The scheme is known as the ‘International Geophysical Year’ (I.G.Y.) and as the United Kingdom representative in international scientific affairs, the Royal Society has appointed a National Committee to organize the British contribution to the programme. The I.G.Y. is the direct descendent of two earlier similar schemes known as the First and Second International Polar Years, organized in 1882 and 1932. The I.G.Y. is concerned with measurements over the whole globe, but because of inaccessibility the making of measurements on the Antarctic continent has to be planned well in advance. The Royal Society is contributing to the Antarctic studies by sending an expedition to set up a research station on the coast of the Weddell Sea. The site for the station, being in the British Sector of Antarctica, comes within the jurisdiction of H.E. The Governor of the Falkland Islands and much help has been given by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, and the Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations have acted as the Royal Society agents in the ordering of stores and equipment. The advance party is led by Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander David Dalgliesh, R.N., and the three scientists are Major G. E. Watson, R.E.M.E., an electronic engineer lent by the War Office, Dr Stanley Evans, a radioastronomer from the Jodrell Bank Experimental Station, Manchester University, and D. W. S. Limbert of the Meteorological Office, Harrow. Other members include K. E. C. Powell as the diesel mechanic and Captain R. Dalgliesh, brother of the expedition commander, as tractor driver, together with J. E. Raymond and his brother-in-law D. Prior as carpenters. The wireless operator is Charles Le Feuvre and Commissioned Boatswain G. R. Lush, R.N. acts as a general handyman.