Deep Freeze: The United States, The International Geophysical Year, And The Origins Of Antarctica's Age Of Science

Belanger tells the story of the pioneers who established Antarctica as a continent dedicated to the peaceful pursuit of science. As the world was locked in the Cold War, U.S. scientists, maintained by the Navy's Operation Deep Freeze, came together in Antarctica with counterparts from eleven other countries to participate in the International Geophysical Year (IGY). They began scientific observations of the polar ice and atmosphere on July 1, 1957. Their collaborative success over eighteen months inspired the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. The year 2007 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the IGY and the commencement of a new International Polar Year?a compelling moment to review what one enterprise accomplished in a troubled time. Belanger draws from interviews, diaries, memoirs, and official records to provide the first thorough study of the dawn of Antarctica's scientific age, offering absorbing reading for those who have ventured onto Antarctic ice and those who dream of it.