The International Polar Year in 2007

• Published in: Antarctic Science
• Main Author: WALTON, DAVID
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2003
• Subjects: Geology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Oceanography; Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctic Science; International Polar Year; IPY
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102003001676; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102003001676

Anniversaries punctuate all our lives, providing the semicolons that cause us to pause and think again. Everyone has plenty of personal anniversaries but there are also cultural and institutional ones that we can use as an opportunity to remember but also as a platform to leap forward. How far have we come and where do we want to be in the future? The recent announcement of an International Polar Year (IPY) in 2007 is linked to the fiftieth anniversary of the International Geophysical Year, an event that proved to have such momentous consequences both for Antarctic science and for international politics.