James Rodger Fleming is Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at Colby College and a research associate at Columbia University. He has written extensively on the social, cultural, and intellectual history of weather, climate, technology, and the environment. jfleming@colby.edu

• Introduction: 'Rise of a Global Scientific Inquiry: The International Polar and Geophysical Years'; R.D.Launius, D.H.DeVorkin & J.R.Fleming PART I: MEANINGS, INTERPRETATIONS, AND HISTORIOGRAPHY A Polar Perspective; M.A.Dennis Making Science Global? Coordinated Enterprises in Nineteenth-Century Science; M.Rothenberg Publishing Arctic Science in the Nineteenth Century: The Case of the First International Polar Year; P.N.Cronenwett Toward the Poles: A Historiography of Scientific Exploration during the International Polar Years and the International Geophysical Year; R.D.Launius PART II: NATIONAL CASE STUDIES Going Global in Polar Exploration: Nineteenth-Century American and British Nationalism and Peacetime Science; C.Carter Swedish Polar Policies from the First International Polar Year to the Present; L.Lewander The Polar Years and Japan; W.R.Stevenson III China and the International Geophysical Year; Z.Wang  & J.Zhang PART III: NETWORKED PERSONALITIES AND PROGRAMS Approaching the Southern Hemisphere: The German Pathway in the Nineteenth Century; C.Lüdecke Sydney Chapman: Dynamo behind the International Geophysical Year; G.A.Good Lloyd Berkner and the International Geophysical Year Proposal in Context: With Some Comments on the Implications for the Comité Spéciale de l'Année Géophysique Internationale, CSAGI, Request for Launching Earth Orbiting Satellites; A.A.Needell Polar and Global Meteorology in the Career of Harry Wexler, 1933–1962; J.R.Fleming PART IV: NATIONAL ROLES FOR INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE: QUESTS AND QUESTIONS IN THE INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR Science, Environment, and Sovereignty: The International Geophysical Year in the Antarctic Peninsula; A.Howkins The International Geophysical Year in Antarctica: A Triumph of 'Apolitical' Science, Politics, and Peace; D.Olson Belanger Tracking Diplomacy: The International Geophysical Year and American Scientific and Technical Exchange with East Asia; T.Muir-Harmony Geodesy, Time, and the Markowitz MoonCamera Program: An Interwoven International Geophysical Year Story; S.J.Dick PART V: LEGACIES OF GLOBAL SCIENCE: SPACE SCIENCE, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND EARTH SCIENCE The International Geophysical Year and Planetary Science; E.M.Conway Polar Politics, Historical Narratives, and Saami Prehistory; N.D.Broadbent Stratospheric Ozone Depletion, Greenhouse Gases, since the International Geophysical Year: F. Sherwood Rowland and the Evolution of Earth Science; D.M.Thamattoor

"Provides an invaluable assessment of the evolution of worldwide research from the first IPY of 1882/83. Recommended." - CHOICE