Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1.20
Presidential midwinter
letter from John F. Kennedy,
following a tradition established in
IGY. (Credit: US Navy, NSF)
meetings rotated between countries alphabetically. The negotiations were nearly
derailed several times but, with some inspired drafting and solutions to the two
major political dif
culties on sovereignty and non-militarisation, the Antarctic
Treaty was
finally signed in Washington DC on 1 December 1959. The political
problems of the competing land claims were solved by setting them aside, whilst the
mutual suspicions of the super powers were assuaged by the inclusion of an
international inspection procedure.
International science
Whilst the physicists had always seen the Antarctic as simply a part of the
world as a whole, this was not the case for many other science disciplines.
Although the main thrust of IGY in Antarctica was on physical measurements a
wide range of other science was undertaken. Countries such as the UK had already
been researching the geology of the Antarctic Peninsula for many years, whilst
others had begun biological studies on the seals and penguins, collected the lichens
and mosses and measured glacier movement. As IGY faded into history, the
12 Antarctic Treaty countries began to develop their science programmes, slowly
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