IGY 1957-58 Poster Set Available Online
13.02.2006 - Logistics, Other
There is perhaps no greater milestone in polar research than the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58, which involved as many as 61 nations, paved the way to the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, and is the direct precursor of an equally promising and exciting event: The International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008.
At the time of the IGY in 1958, and as part of its program of educational outreach, the National Academies of Sciences IGY committee put together a booklet providing a brief introduction to the earth and environmental sciences. The booklet was organized around six inspired and beautifully illustrated posters, each one devoted to an area of geophysics These included Earth, Oceans, Poles, Space, Sun & Earth, and Weather & Climate and were accompanied by quotes by writers Walt Whitman, Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Browning, as well as one by Leonardo Da Vinci, and another taken from the Book of Job.
To mark the approaching launch of the IPY in March 2007, the National Academies of Sciences in Washington D.C. has made downloads of the IGY poster set available.
