A Discussion on the early days of ionospheric research and the theory of electric and magnetic waves in the ionosphere and magnetosphere - U. R. S. I. and the early history of the ionosphere

Abstract

Although the origins of the International Union of Radio Science can be traced back to October 1912, the formation of the Union itself as an international organisation for the cooperative scientific study of problems in wireless telegraphy, dates from 1919. In the wireless communication field the years immediately following World War I were a period of transition, in which the advantages of short waves over long waves for World-wide communication were being rapidly appreciated. It was a period too in which large numbers of enthusiastic wireless operators were demobilised from the armed services and started the great boom in amateur wireless communication which continues to this day. In fact it was not without significance that the original title of U.R.S.I. was the ‘International Union for Scientific Wireless Telegraphy’ (later changed to ‘International Union for Scientific Radio’) - the inclusion of the word ‘Scientific’ was, from the start, a matter of deliberate policy. However, as we shall see, the founding fathers of U.R.S.I., while inserting ‘ Scientific ’ into the title of the new organization, were careful not to isolate it completely from the great world community of amateur wireless enthusiasts.