Abstract
With a truly global reach, the International Year of Astronomy in 2009 arguably formed the largest and most comprehensive outreach activity ever undertaken in astronomy. We describe the arduous way from idea to reality with a focus on the political and diplomatic interactions that were necessary to win support for the idea outside the confines of astronomy. We describe the parties involved, the arguments that were put forward by the various stakeholders and the complex decision-making process that ultimately led to the approval by the United Nations, a formal requirement for an “International Year”.
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Notes
- 1.
1939–2012 (see https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann12009/).
- 2.
The first discussion, at lunch, went unrecorded. It is here in record for the first time.
- 3.
- 4.
1943–2019, IAU President (2012–2015) (see https://www.iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann19023/?lang).
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IAU President, 2009–2012.
- 6.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000142311, and International Year of Astronomy 2009 Final Report (IAU 2010): https://www.astronomy2009.org/resources/documents/IYA2009_Final_Report/.
- 7.
Private Communication, C. Cesarsky Archive.
- 8.
International Council of Scientific Unions, of which the IAU is a member; now the International Science Council, since 2018. Based in Paris.
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International Astronautical Federation, Paris.
- 10.
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Rome.
- 11.
Since this was a draft, there is no official record. Published here for the first time.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
See https://www3.astronomicalheritage.net/, and the article by C. Ruggles, this volume (Chap. 18).
- 15.
Minutes of the First Meeting on The International Year of Astronomy (2009), 29 August 2006, UNESCO HQ (Room XV), prepared by Robert Missotten, Secretary, International Geoscience Programme; Chief, Global Earth Observation Section, Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, UNESCO.
- 16.
Private Communication, C. Cesarsky Archive.
- 17.
The Second Committee of the UN General Assembly (The Economic and Financial Committee).
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Of which Claus Madsen was co-chairman at the time.
- 19.
Resolution 61/185 “Proclamation of international years”. To readers uninitiated to diplomatic language, the text might have appeared harmless, but for diplomats, the intention was hard to miss.
- 20.
Miley et al. (2005).
- 21.
SALT: South African Large Telescope, a 10m-class telescope located in the Karoo desert.
- 22.
https://library.un.org/sites/library.un.org/files/itp/a62-parti_0.pdf and International Year of Astronomy 2009 Final Report, IAU 2010 (ibid.).
- 23.
- 24.
In the end, 2009 was rich in “International Years”: “Reconciliation”, “Natural Fibres”, “Human Rights Learning”, and “Year of the Gorilla” (see https://www.un.org/en/sections/observances/international-years/).
- 25.
A discussion of these issues is provided in Madsen, C: “When the Dog Must Talk to the Cat—Communicating Science to Politicians or Science and Politics Thoughts About a Complex Relationship”, proceedings, Conference on Future Professional Communication in Astronomy, Académie Royale de Belgique, 2007, https://www.vub.be/STER/JAD/JAD13/jad13_5/jad13_5.pdf.
- 26.
- 27.
COSPAR : Committee for Space Research, based in Paris.
- 28.
References
Andersen, J., Baneke, D., & Madsen, C. (2019). The International Astronomical Union — Uniting the Community for 100 years (p. 376). Springer Nature Switzerland.
Engvold, O. (2007). Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, Vol. XXVB. In Proceedings of the 25th General Assembly (Sydney, Australia, July 12–26, 2003) (p. 33). Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Miley, G., Madsen, C., & Scorza de Appl, C. (2005). Universe Awareness for Young Children. ESO Messenger 121 (September issue).
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Cesarsky, C., Madsen, C. (2022). Diplomacy with the United Nations: Preparing for the International Year of Astronomy . In: Montmerle, T., Fauque, D. (eds) Astronomers as Diplomats. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98625-4_17
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