Royal Society of Britain in 1773, “A voyage towards
1872, seven countries sent fifteen expeditions to
the North Pole to be of service to the promotion of
the Arctic regions. A rich compilation of ‘natural his-
natural knowledge,”13 which is justly regarded as the
tory’—geographical description, animals and plants,
first international truly inter-disciplinary scientific
geology, weather phenomena and hydrology—of
investigation in the Polar Regions. The plan was
the North American and Eurasian Arctic grew from
developed from a proposal by French around-the-
these separate national activities. At the same time,
world explorer de Bougainville, elaborated by the
the advancement of world science led to, and was
Swiss geographer Engel who, like Lomonosov, pro-
promoted by, investigations and speculations that
moted the idea that sea ice formed only near land,
were truly non-national, concerned with Earth mag-
and that therefore the central Arctic Ocean would
netism, aurora, the puzzle of the presence of fossils
be free of ice. Experienced Dutch, German, and
of warm-water creatures and warm-climate plants
British scientists and navigators contributed to the
at high latitudes, etc.,17 and these issues brought
preparations. The detailed observational and exper-
Arctic investigations into the realm of international
imental program, and the many new instruments
science.
employed, revealed the most advanced state of
European science at the time.14 The two-ship expe-
Such questions, both local and planetary in scale,
dition probed the edge of the heavy pack ice in the
were very much in the minds of a number of Europe-
north Atlantic between Greenland and Svalbard, and
an scientists concerned with the Polar Regions and
obtained the first reliable information on the depth,
on the return of the Austro-Hungarian North Polar
salinity profile, and currents of the sub-arctic At-
Expedition 1872-74 they became focused on the
lantic Ocean; the nature and chemistry of pack ice;
need for international scientific cooperation, rather
magnetic variations and dip; the period of the pen-
than separate competitive national explorations.
dulum at high latitudes which allowed calculations
The outcome, after considerable difficulties, was
of the curvature of the Earth; the biology of the
the first IPY.
polar bear (now known by the scientific name Ursus maritimus Phipps), sea mammals, and of birds on
The First International Polar Year
the north coast of Svalbard.15 This very fruitful ex-
The first IPY (1882-1883) was a major landmark
pedition, whose results were disseminated widely
in the scientific study of the Polar Regions. Eleven
into the scientific community but ignored by geog-
countries took part directly, establishing fourteen
raphers and much of the public because it was not
research stations and another fifteen subsidiary ob-
concerned with the discovery of new territories,16
servatories in sub-polar locations. There were also
set the pattern for subsequent research in the Polar
co-operating observations from thirty-five estab-
Regions. Phipps became a Lord of the Admiralty, and
lished scientific observatories throughout the globe
as a prominent member of the Royal Society pl