Politics at the first Comite Special de l’Annee Geophysique Internationale (CSAGI) Antarctic conference

At the first Comite Special de l’Annee Geophysique Internationale (CSAGI) Antarctic conference, held in July 1955, the opening remarks of its president, supported by a resolution proposed by the Chilean Ambassador and passed unanimously, stipulated that the meeting was not to be concerned with political matters and that its purposes were exclusively scientific. Those guidelines were not entirely successful. The Chilean resolution was itself a political move, and delegates reported that the meeting was repeatedly disturbed by further political interventions. The conference was nevertheless significant because itwas the first time that representatives of eleven countries ever attended such a meeting, thus ensuring that the International Geophysical Year would mark a new phase in international relations respecting Antarctica.