International Polar Year; International Geophysical Year; international science; history of polar science. Correspondence

Within the polar science community the Polar (and Geophysical) Years represent signal events. We often read, largely within geoscience literature, that those events represented positive and dramatic steps forward in international science. From five recent books*two historical compilations and three...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Dave Carlson, Dave Carlson Carlsonworks
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
IPY
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.432.7913
http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/download/20789/pdf_1/
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Summary:Within the polar science community the Polar (and Geophysical) Years represent signal events. We often read, largely within geoscience literature, that those events represented positive and dramatic steps forward in international science. From five recent books*two historical compilations and three personal narratives*augmented by interviews with a few key participants, a more cautious picture emerges, of remarkable successes but also of occasional or even persistent missteps and deficiencies. An improved understanding of the IPY concept and experience can provide useful guidance for future polar and global science. Many within the polar community accept as doctrine that our unique history of periodic coordinated events, the International Polar (also Geophysical) Years, has played an influential, perhaps even determining, role in