Science International
A History of the International Council of Scientific Unions

The creation, operation and achievements of ICSU's first century of scientific progress.

Frank Greenaway (Author)

9780521028103, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 November 2006

292 pages, 20 b/w illus. 4 tables
24.2 x 16.9 x 1.5 cm, 0.479 kg

'Greenaway's book is a labour of love and will certainly be an eye-opener to any scientist who reads it closely. It portrays an organization which is itself a labour of love, created and nurtured by selfless well-wishers of the world's scientific enterprise. It is excellent value for money, and I commend it without reserve.' Robert Cahn, European Review

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.

Foreword
Preface
1. International Association of Academies (1899–1914)
2. International Research Council (1919–1931)
3. ICSU: beginning and establishment
4. ICSU development (1931–1939)
5. ICSU in wartime
6. A new beginning (1945)
7. ICSU in a post-war world
8. The free conduct of science
9. Living machinery: officers and staff
10. Growth: within science and outwards
11. ICSU at mid-century
12. The International Geophysical Year and its heritage
13. Data and scientific information
14. World projects and the environment
15. ICSU and UNESCO
16. Membership
17. Ringberg (1985) to Visegrad (1990): self-examination
18. The road to Rio and beyond
19. ICSU at the end of a century
Appendices
Notes
Further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]