When did the International Geophysical Year occur?

The International Geophysical Year (IGY) 57.07.01-58.12.31 was a period of coordinated scientific research that occurred when Cold War tensions kept much sharing of scientific information from occurring. Stalin's death in 1953 opened the way for collaboration with the Soviet Union. The time period, though technically not a single year, was chosen to allow a full year of research in both winter and summer in both hemispheres, including 18 months of Antarctic science. It also coincided with a solar maximum, when solar storms were expected, which allows more frequent and more robust aurora displays.

The IGY included eleven Earth sciences: aurora and airglow, cosmic rays, geomagnetism, gravity, ionospheric physics, longitude and latitude determinations (precision mapping), meteorology, oceanography, seismology, and solar activity.

Both the USSR and the US launched artificial satellites for this event; the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, launched 4 October 1957, was the first successful artificial satellite. Other significant achievements of the IGY included the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts by US Satellite Explorer 1, and the defining of mid-ocean submarine ridges, an important confirmation of plate-tectonic theory.

In the end, the IGY was a resounding success. It led to advancements that live on today. The work of the IGY led directly to the Antarctic Treaty, which called for the use of Antarctica for peaceful purposes and cooperative scientific research.