The First International Polar Year was born from an idea of the Austro-Hungarian Naval Lieutenant, Carl Weyprecht. Returning to Trieste (Italy) from his expedition in the Arctic, Weyprecht developed a plan for setting up new collaborative, circumpolar research that was to significantly alter the way polar expeditions were organized. In his essay “Fundamental Principles of Arctic Research” Weyprecht promoted the systematic exploration of polar regions through international cooperation and scientific dissemination of results. His concept was presented in September 1875 at the 4th Meeting of the Association of German Naturalists and Physicists at Graz. In 1879 the International Meteorological Congress met in Rome and recognized the importance of Weyprecht’s proposal.
On the occasion of the 4th International Polar Year 2007-2009, this book presents the history and the genesis of the International Polar Years through an historical analysis of the cultural and political factors that allowed this rise of a new, collaborative scientific approach.
The first part of the book documents from original sources the social and cultural life as it was in Trieste, one of the most important Austro-Hungarian harbours, during Carl Weyprecht’s era, the end of the 19th century.
The second part of the book describes the development of the Italian Antarctic Program following the signing of the Antarctic Treaty and the activities of research institutes and academies seated in Trieste, birthplace of the 1st International Polar Year two centuries ago. This section illustrates the ideas proposed by the scientific community -- unfortunately these ideas did not move on to become projects due to lack of funding from the Italian Government for the current IPY. The only relevant Italian IPY scientific initiative that is mentioned in the book is the contribution to the international project NICE STREAM through collection of data on the western margin of the Svalbard Islands by the National Geophysical and Oceanographic Research Institute of Trieste (OGS), employing its vessel OGS-Explora.
The last section provides an overview of the main scientific achievements of the 20th and 21st centuries and the development of initiatives parallel to IPY, such as the International Year of Planet Earth, the International Heliophysical Year, and the International Geophysical Electronic Year.
The Authors
Enrico Mazzoli, journalist, who brought together the historical documents presented in the book. Enrico has published more extensively on the subject of collaboration in research in "Carl Weyprecht (1838 - 1881) Seeheld, Polarforscher, Geophysiker" (in German), edited by the Academy of Science of Wien (Austria) in 2008. He has written several additonal historical books: “Dall’Adriatico ai ghiacci” ,2003; “Viaggio ai confine del mondo”, 2007; and, “La guerra di Kugy”, 2007.
Gianguido Salvi, marine geology researcher in polar science at University of Trieste. Gianguido organizes and coordinates the section of the National Antarctic Museum based in Trieste (www.mna.it).
Mauro Messerotti, researcher in solar-terrestrial science at Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - INAF of Trieste
http://www.oats.inaf.it. Mauro is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Trieste Physics Department. He is Chairman of the European Committee of the eGY.
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