Reviewing the international geophysical year

¿Physical phenomena occurring on the earth are subject to complex influences, partly of solar origin, the analysis and interpretation of which has hitherto been incomplete and hindered by the lack of carefully coordinated observations made simultaneously all over the globe. The object of the International Geophysical Year is to make good these deficiencies by a programme of observations extending over the period from 1st July 1957 to 31st December 1958.¿¿Sir Cyril Hinshelwood, President of the Royal Society.