Geoscience Reference
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Figure 1.16
Charcoal sketch of huskies made during a visit to British stations on the Antarctic
Peninsula in the late 1970s. (Credit: David Smith)
International Geophysical Year: the turning point in
Antarctic affairs
The negotiations for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) brought a truce
between all three parties and Argentina, Britain and Chile joined with nine other
nations to make the IGY a remarkable success in both scienti
c and political terms.
The IGY was conceived by a group of physicists on 5 April 1950. British physicist
Sidney Chapman had stopped by in Washington to talk to James van Allen, a
leading American space scientist. Over dinner with other physicists at van Allen
'
s
house, talk turned to the polar regions and what had been achieved in earlier
International Polar Years. Recognising the opportunities of new technology, such
as rockets and radar, the scientists became enthused with the idea of a new Polar
Year, and that led to the proposal to the International Council of Scienti
c Unions
(ICSU) in 1951, which in turn resulted in the IGY. Of great signi
cance for success
was the endorsement of IGY by President Eisenhower, and the appointment of
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