Science International : A History of the International Council of Scientific Unions

A fascinating account of the creation, operation and achievements of ICSU in its first century. Describes the execution of great co-operative projects such as International Geophysical Year and the International Biological Programme, and the official framework for international co-ordination of scientific research.

Science International is the history of a worldwide organization of scientists, now involving thousands of participants, which was started a century ago when a few visionaries founded the International Association of Academies (1899–1919). This was succeeded by an International Research Council, which, in 1932, became the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). The initiative to have an international arena for scientists survived two global wars, as well as immense economic and social change in the twentieth century. This history describes how national academies and international unions of scientists from specific disciplines learned to work together, and shows how from these alliances sprang great co-operative projects such as the International Geophysical Year and the International Biological Programme, as well as the creation of a global scientific organization directed to the study of the entire planet and prospects for the human race.