Globalizing Polar Science Reconsidering the International Polar and Geophysical Years

by Launius, Roger D.; Fleming, James Rodger; DeVorkin, David H.

• ISBN13: 9780230105324
• ISBN10: 0230105327
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The International Polar Years and the International Geophysical Year represented a remarkable international collaborative scientific effort that was focused on, but not limited to, understanding the Earth's poles. This groundbreaking collection redresses the surprising failure of historians to explore beyond even a cursory manner the richness of the IPYs and IGY as sites of historical and scientific study. In doing so, it illuminates critical aspects of the last 150 years of international scientific endeavour.

Author Biography

James R. Fleming is Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Colby College, Maine. Roger D. Launius is senior curator in the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. David Devorkin is Senior Curator, Astronomy and the Space Sciences, at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Introduction: “Rise of a Global Scientific Inquiry: The International Polar and Geophysical Years”--Roger D. Launius, David H. DeVorkin, and James Rodger Fleming * PART I: MEANINGS, INTERPRETATIONS, AND HISTORIOGRAPHY * “A Polar Perspective”--Michael Aaron Dennis * “Making Science Global? Coordinated Enterprises in Nineteenth-Century Science”--Marc Rothenberg * “Publishing Arctic Science in the Nineteenth Century: The Case of the First International Polar Year”--Philip N. Cronenwett * “Toward the Poles: A Historiography of Scientific Exploration during the International Polar Years and the International Geophysical Year”--Roger D. Launius * PART II: NATIONAL CASE STUDIES * “Going Global in Polar Exploration: Nineteenth-Century American and British Nationalism and Peacetime Science”--Christopher Carter * “Swedish Polar Policies from the First International Polar Year to the Present”--Lisbeth Lewander * “The Polar Years and Japan”--William R. Stevenson III * “China and the International Geophysical Year”--Zuoyue Wang and Jiuchen Zhang  * PART III: NETWORKED PERSONALITIES AND PROGRAMS * “Approaching the Southern Hemisphere: The German Pathway in the Nineteenth Century”--Cornelia Lüdecke * “Sydney Chapman: Dynamo behind the International Geophysical Year”--Gregory A. Good * “Lloyd Berkner and the International Geophysical Year Proposal in Context: With Some Comments on the Implications for the Comité Spéciale de l’Année  Géophysique Internationale, CSAGI, Request for Launching Earth Orbiting Satellites”--Allan A. Needell * “Polar and Global Meteorology in the Career of Harry Wexler, 1933–1962”--James Rodger Fleming * PART IV: NATIONAL ROLES FOR INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE: QUESTS AND QUESTIONS IN THE INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR * “Science, Environment, and Sovereignty: The International Geophysical Year in the Antarctic Peninsula”--Adrian Howkins * “The International Geophysical Year in Antarctica: A Triumph of ‘Apolitical’ Science, Politics, and Peace”--Dian Olson Belanger * “Tracking Diplomacy: The International Geophysical Year and American Scientific and Technical Exchange with East Asia”--Teasel Muir-Harmony * “Geodesy, Time, and the Markowitz Moon Camera Program: An Interwoven International Geophysical Year Story”--Steven J. Dick * PART V: LEGACIES OF GLOBAL SCIENCE: SPACE SCIENCE, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND EARTH SCIENCE * “The International Geophysical Year and Planetary Science”--Erik M. Conway * “Polar Politics, Historical Narratives, and Saami Prehistory”--Noel D. Broadbent * “Stratospheric Ozone Depletion, Greenhouse Gases, since the International Geophysical Year: F. Sherwood Rowland and the Evolution of Earth Science”--Dasan M. Thamattoor