The
International Geophysical Year (IGY) was an
international scientific effort that lasted from July 1, 1957, to
December 31, 1958.
The IGY encompassed eleven
Earth
sciences:
aurora and
airglow,
cosmic rays,
geomagnetism,
gravity,
ionospheric
physics,
longitude and
latitude determinations (precision mapping),
meteorology,
oceanography,
seismology and
solar
activity.
Both the
U.S.
and the
Soviet
Union
launched artificial satellites for this event; the Soviet Union's
Sputnik 1 of October 1957 was the
first successful artificial satellite. Other significant
achievements of the IGY included the discovery of the
Van Allen Belts and the discovery of
mid-ocean
submarine ridges, an
important confirmation of
plate
tectonics.
Events
International Polar
Years were held in 1882–1883, 1932–1933, and
2007-2009.
In March 1950, at a gathering of eight or ten top scientists
(including
Lloyd Berkner,
S. Fred Singer, and
Harry Vestine) in
James Van Allen's
living room, someone suggested that with the development of new
tools such as rockets, radar and computers, the time was ripe for a
worldwide geophysical year.
From the March 1950 meeting, Lloyd Berkner and other participants
proposed to the
International Council
of Scientific Unions that an International Geophysical Year
(IGY) be planned for 1957—58—during the maximum solar
activity.
April 11, 1957, the U.S. Navy tests a satellite to an altitude of
126 mi.
October 4, 1957, the USSR launches the world's first artificial
satellite:
Sputnik 1.
November 8, 1957, U.S. Secretary of Defense Neil McElroy instructs
the U.S. Army to use a modified
Jupiter-C
rocket to launch a satellite as part of the IGY.
January 31, 1958, the U.S. launches
Explorer
1.
July 29,
1958, the U.S. creates NASA
.
Antarctica
IGY triggered an eighteen-month year of Antarctic science. The
International
Council of Scientific Unions, a parent body, broadened the
proposals from polar studies to geophysical research. More than 70
existing national scientific organizations then formed IGY
committees, and participated in the cooperative effort.
Halley Research
Station
was founded in 1956, for IGY, by an expedition from
the Royal Society. The bay
where the expedition set up their base was named Halley Bay, after
the astronomer
Edmond Halley.
In Japan,
The Antarctic exploration was planned in 1955
by Monbushō and Science and technology
Agency
. Japan Maritime
Safety Agency offered
ice breaker
Sōya as the South Pole
observation ship. The first Antarctic observation corps commanded
by
Takeshi Nagata left Japan in 1956,
arriving at Antarctica on January 29, 1957.
Showa Station was the first
Japanese observation base on Antarctica and was set up on same
day.
IGY representations in popular culture
Donald Fagen album
"I.G.Y. (International Geophysical Year)" is a track on
Steely Dan founding member
Donald Fagen's 1982 album,
The Nightfly. The song is sung from an
optimistic viewpoint during the IGY, and features references to
then-futuristic concepts, such as
solar
power (first used in 1958),
Spandex
(invented in 1959),
space travel for
entertainment, and undersea international
high speed rail. The song peaked at #26 on
the
Billboard Hot 100.
Walt Kelly's Pogo
The International Geophysical Year is featured prominently during
1957–1958 run of
Pogo comic
strips by
Walt Kelly. The characters in
the strip refer to the scientific initiative as the "G.O. Fizzickle
Year." During this run, the characters try to make their own
contributions to scientific endeavours, such as putting a flea on
the moon. A subsequent compilation of the strips was published by
Simon & Schuster SC in 1958 as
G.O.
Fizzickle Pogo and later
Pogo's Will Be That Was
in 1979.
Punch cartoon
The IGY was featured in a cartoon by
Russell
Brockbank in
Punch
magazine in November 1956. It shows the three main
superpowers UK, USA and USSR at the South Pole, each with a
gathering of penguins who they are trying to educate with
"culture". The penguins in the British camp are being bored with
Francis Bacon; in the American camp
they are happily playing baseball, whilst the Russian camp
resembles a
gulag, with barbed-wire fences and
the penguins are made to march and perform military
maneuvers.
See also
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