International Geophysical Year

British  

noun

1.  IGY.  the 18-month period from July 1, 1957, to Dec 31, 1958, during which a number of nations agreed to cooperate in a geophysical research programme

---

Example Sentences

They were encouraged by the success of the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year, a worldwide program of scientific research during which 12 countries built over 50 bases in Antarctica, including McMurdo Station and the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

From Salon

The International Geophysical Year of 1957–58 marked a step change in the commitment of Earth sciences to global data exchange, and was a diplomatic achievement in the middle of the cold war7.

From Nature

Vanguard was the United States’s International Geophysical Year satellite program, and von Braun, since he worked for the Army, was somehow too tainted by that association to make the first American try for orbit.

From Literature

Warming of the Antarctic ice-sheet surface since the 1957 International Geophysical Year.

From Nature

At the Soviet embassy on 16th Street that evening, some 50 scientists of 13 nations, members of the International Geophysical Year rocket and satellite conference, were gathered at a cocktail party.

From Time