Message from the IUGG President
on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the IUGG

IUGG scientists may have noticed that the recent 2007 General Assembly in Perugia was the XXIVth General Assembly of the IUGG, and that in four years time the 2011 General Assembly in Melbourne will be the XXVth General Assembly.  Yet IUGG will not be 100 years old until 2019.  Why is it so?

The reason is that from 1930 until 1963, General Assemblies were run on a 3 year time schedule – with an interruption due to the Second World War.  The IUGG Yearbook, which can be found on the Union’s web page at  http://www.iugg.org/publications/yearbooks/yearbook2009.pdf , has a list of the General Assemblies (see also http://www.iugg.org/assemblies/ ). 

The Yearbook also contains a brief history of IUGG that notes: “The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) is an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization established in Brussels on July 28, 1919.” 

This means that the IUGG 90th birthday will occur during the Joint Scientific Assembly of IAMAS-IAPSO-IACS in Montreal.  How very appropriate for the birthday to occur during an event that illustrates the way international scientific associations can and do work together. 

I look forward to the 90th anniversary, and even more to the 100th anniversary of the IUGG.

- Tom Beer, IUGG President