Abstract
After preliminary conferences in 1918 in London and Paris the founding meetings of the International Research Council (IRC) were held. After the end of the First World War the enmity of the allied countries towards the central powers, in particular Germany, was so intense that the old international scientific structure could no longer be maintained. A new structure without Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire was formed. The first board consisted of the French mathematician C. E. Picard (1856–1941), the American Hale , the Belgian astronomer G. Lecointe (1869–1929) and the Italian mathematician V. Volterra (1860–1940). The English mathematician and physicist A. Schuster (1851–1934; German born) became its secretary.
Johannesburg has the climate and the instruments, Leiden has the people and the brains.
Innes to De Sitter, 1923
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Notes
- 1.
AIP, Minutes of the founding meeting in Brussels, 1919.
- 2.
NAW2, Report of the meeting of 25 January, 1919.
- 3.
Archives of the California Institute of Technology, the G. E. Hale papers, Role 41, 12 October, from Kapteyn to Hale, 1919, 15 October, from Hale to Kapteyn, 1919. Copies are present in the IAU archive in Paris.
- 4.
NAW1, Reports of the WIS-Committee.
- 5.
The other members of the general board were: V. Cerulli (1859–1927) from Italy, H. Deslandres (1853–1848) from France, S. Hirayama (1868–1945) from Japan and S. S. Hough from South Africa.
- 6.
‘General Notes’; Popular Astronomy, 30, pp. 449–450, 1922.
- 7.
The other members of the general board were: Eddington, Schlesinger, Cerulli , Deslandres, Hirayama, all vice-presidents.
- 8.
Dutch: Nieuwe Rotterdamse Courant.
- 9.
Dutch: Ridderzaal. In the Knights’ Hall in The Hague the combined meeting of the two houses of parliament is held, during which the King/Queen delivers the King’s/Queen’s speech.
- 10.
Dutch: Stadsgehoorzaal.
- 11.
Daily paper NRC, 10 July 1928.
- 12.
With this instrument Hins and Van Herk would go to Kenia in 1931-1933.
- 13.
Dutch: Zuiderzeewerken. From the inland sea Zuiderzee large parts were reclaimed from 1920–1970. The first part was the Wieringermeer in the period 1924–1930.
- 14.
‘Congress Programme IAU 1928’; Hemel en Dampkring, 26, pp. 208–209, 1928.
- 15.
The vice-presidents were: G. Abeti (Italy), C. Fabry (France), N. Nörlund (Denmark), F. Nušl (Czechoslovakia), F. Schlesinger (USA).
- 16.
ASL, Obituaries, NRC, November 1934.
- 17.
Afrikaans: Unie Sterrewag.
- 18.
William Herschel (1738–1822) was a composer and astronomer, who came from Germany to England. He discovered the planet Uranus, the first new planet of modern times.
- 19.
ASL, Address of De Sitter at the occasion of Innes’ honorary doctorate, 24 January 1923.
- 20.
ASL, Several letters in 1923 between Ministers of both countries, De Sitter and the Board of Governors.
- 21.
ASL, Travel Report South Africa, 1929. (Dutch: Reisverslag Zuid-Afrika.)
- 22.
General Jan C. Smuts (1870-1950) was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948.
- 23.
James B.M. Hertzog (1866–1942) was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1924 until 1939.
- 24.
ASL, Travel Report South Africa.
- 25.
Dutch: Leids Sterrewachtfonds.
- 26.
Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR).
- 27.
Wim Schermerhorn (1894-1977) was professor of geodesy from 1926 and later Prime Minister after the Second World War, from 1945 until 1946.
- 28.
AUL, Oort archive, Correspondence De Sitter-Hins.
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Guichelaar, J. (2018). International Business. In: Willem de Sitter. Springer Biographies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98337-0_12
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