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Conception, birth and childhood
Acta AstronauticaVol. 15, No. 10, pp. 763-769, 1987 Printed in Great Britain
0094-5767/87 $3.00+0.00 Pergamon Journals Ltd
CONCEPTION, BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD LESLIE R. SHEPHERD 2 Charborough Road, Broadstone, Dorset BH18 8NE, U.K.
(Received 5 January 1987) A~tract--ln this, the first segment of the history of the first quarter century of the International Academy of Astronautics, the background leading to its establishment is reviewed. The role of the International Astronautical Federation in the development of the IAA is described, followed by a review of the debates that preceded the Academy's eventual establishment. Succeeding sections cover the first year of its history and the definitive role of Theodore von K/trm~n in shaping its nature and activities.
On 2 September 1959, at the lOth International Astronautical Congress in London, the Council (subsequently known as the General Assembly) of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) adopted a Resolution founding an Academy of Astronautics. Appropriately, this action took place in the City of Westminster, where, just eight years earlier, the Federation had been born. 1. THE INTERNATIONALASTRONAUTICAL FEDERATION
The foundation of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) followed so soon after that of its parent, the IAF, that its conception must be considered to be an important part of the earliest history of the Federation. It is appropriate, therefore, to begin any discourse of the Academy's beginnings with some account of the establishment and early development of the I A F itself. In the years immediately following the Second World War, astronautical societies and groups, a few of which had already existed in the pre-war years, began to function in a number of countries. With the great step forward in rocket technology, the possibility of space flight was being taken more seriously and the societies attracted a greater proportion of professional scientists and engineers to their memberships. There was considerable communication between these societies and a strong desire for a working international collaboration began to emerge. This was brought to a head when, in June 1949, the Board of Directors of the Stuttgart Gesellschaft ffir Weltraumforschung (GfW) passed a resolution calling for an international meeting of all societies concerned specifically with rockets, interplanetary flight and space research, to foster collaboration and consider the possibility of forming an international astronautical association. The resolution was communicated to other national societies and, in particular, a request to organise such a meeting was made to the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) which was at that time one of the two largest national astronautical 763
societies (the other being the American Rocket Society, ARS). The BIS readily agreed to do this in London, but required two years for its adequate preparation, having in mind a major conference, along the lines of the subsequent congresses. The BIS offer was accepted, but there was a strong feeling that the affair ought not to be delayed by as much as two years; and, in that situation, M. Alexandre Ananoff, President of the Groupement Astronautique Fran~ais of the Arronautique-Club de France, offered to organise a preliminary meeting of the interested societies in Paris. The meeting took place, as promised, between 30 September and 2 October 1950, and was publicly described as the "Premier Congr~s International d'Astronautique"--a style of title that was adopted in the subsequent annual meetings. It involved a large and impressive public gathering, held on the afternoon of 30 September in the Richlieu Grand Amphithrgttre of the Sorbonne, and two business meetings held on the mornings of the following Monday and Tuesday at the Paris headquarters of the French Arro Club. The latter were attended by the representatives of astronautical societies from eight countries (Argentina, Austria, Britain, Denmark, France, Spain, Sweden and Germany) and by four independent individuals, pioneers distinguished in the field of rocket technology, one of whom was Dr Eugen S~inger, who was to become the first president of the I A F and one of the architects of our Academy. The outcome of these business discussions was an agreement that there be set up an international organisation devoted to the study and development of interplanetary flight, and that the act of establishing such a body should be the main purpose of the Second International Astronautical Congress, to be held in London in September 1951. A provisional committee, consisting of the leaders of the delegations at Paris under the chairmanship of Eugen S/inger, was appointed to represent the proposed organisation and the BIS was charged with collecting and co-ordinating the views of the various societies
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during the intervening period, and producing from these a set of proposals covering the nature and constitution of the intended body. This was done, the proposals were circulated, and the International Astronautical Federation was duly founded at the London Congress, where the representation had been augmented by delegates from four other countries (Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and the U.S.A.) who, thereby, joined the ranks of the foundermember societies. Stinger was elected first President of the Federation, with Andrew G. Haley and Guenter Loeser as the Vice-Presidents. The relevance of this to the history of the Academy was that the seeds of its conception already resided in the arguments and ideas that were discussed in Paris, and that were pursued further during the intervening period preceding the London Congress. Thus, there was a clear distinction between the views of those who believed that the international body should be an overall society made up of individual members, and those who considered that it should be a Federation of "Member-Societies". The latter view prevailed from the outset. Of course, the Academy, when it finally emerged, could not be described as an international astronautical society in the sense envisaged by the pioneers at the Paris meetings, for it is an organisation having an exclusive membership, strictly limited in number. Any international astronautical society, by contrast, would have set out to attract a maximum number of members, subject to their satisfying some specified rules of qualification. However, amongst the ideas that flowed into London in the period between the first and second Congresses, was one which was arguably the seed from which the concept of the Academy was to emerge. In a letter to the chairman of the BIS council (dated 16 February 1951) Dr Stinger advanced the suggestion that the IAF should eventually "encourage the foundation of an International Astronautical Research Institute, and even be charged with the administration of it." His idea was that such an Institute might be financed through UNESCO, as well as by other contributions from national societies, individuals and firms. The proposal was independently expressed and amplified by the Stuttgart GtW in correspondence between Dr G. Loeser and A. V. Cleaver of the BIS. The idea of the IAF's founding an International Astronautical Research Institute was generally acknowledged to be too ambitious or, at least, premature, though lip service continued to be paid to it over a period of many years. However, to some extent, the concept of the Academy of Astronautics derived from that of the Research Institute, and the two were in fact coupled in the 1959 resolution. It is appropriate, here, to remark that Stinger remained a strong advocate of the Research Institute and later of the Academy. Both of these proposed bodies were to become the subject of debate in the ensuing years. The intention to set up an International Astronautical Research
Institute was embodied from the start in article 6 of the IAF constitution, but no serious attempt was ever made to implement it. In the case of the Academy, no formal action was taken until 1957. The 8th International Astronautical Congress was held in Barcelona in the second week of October 1957, or what many would regard as the first week of the Space Age. At the second plenary session of the IAF council, Mr A. G. Haley, addressing the President stated, "Dr Stinger, Dr von K~trmfin and I are working on the idea of an Academy of Astronautics, and I have submitted a document to you for your examination." Haley went on to recommend that consideration of the document should be deferred to the next congress. However, an ad hoc Committee on the Revision of the IAF Constitution was created at the Barcelona Congress and Haley circulated the document in question to the members of that committee and to the presidents of the member societies, suggesting that it should be considered by the committee in drawing up its proposals. The document by von Kfirm~in, Stinger and Haley was entitled, "Report on Organisational Matters Pertaining to the Academy of Astronautics of the International Astronautical Federation." The preamble to the report stated: "Article 6 of the constitution of the International Astronautical Federation provides that one of the a i m s . . , of the International Astronautical Federation shall be as follows: "The International Astronautical Federation shall have as an objective the foundation and administration of an international astronautical research institute charged with the task of achieving space flight for non-military purposes." "In order to implement this proposal in part, it has been suggested that an Academy of Astronautics be created within the International Astronautical Federation. The Academy would be composed of individuals who have distinguished themselves in aspects of the natural and social sciences related to Astronautics.'" The report went on to propose an amendment to the constitution to provide for such an academy to be established, and set out a form of resolution embodying the proposal together with a suggested constitution. In any event, there proved to be insufficient time available to deal with the Academy proposal in the IAF plenary sessions at the 9th International Astronautical Congress in Amsterdam, and so a resolution of the matter was further deferred until the following Congress. The lOth International Astronautical Congress was held in London, during the first week of September 1959. At the second plenary session of the IAF council, on 2 September 1959, under the presidency of Andrew Haley, the Report of the Committee for
Conception, birth and childhood Constitutional Amendment was taken. Haley, introducing the report, stated that a committee under yon Khrmrn had been studying the foundation of an International Academy of Astronautics and that in this connection an amendment to article 6 of the ] A F constitution was worthy of consideration. Following an exhaustive deliberation by the council, two resolutions were adopted. The first one amending article 6 modified the existing wording as follows: "The I A F shall have the power to create an International Astronautical Research Institute charged with the task of achieving space work for peaceful purposes." The second and more significant resolution, which was adopted after lengthy discussion, declared: "That an International Academy of Astronautics of the International Astronautical Federation be established, consisting of individuals who have distinguished themselves in one of the fields of astronautics or one of the branches of all sciences of fundamental importance for the exploration of space." "That the Academy adopts its own Statutes which, however, shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the IAF, and which shall be subject to the approval of the Federation." It was further resolved that a Founding Committee, to carry out the preparatory work to enable the Academy to function, should be set up under the Chairmanship of Dr Theodore von Khrmfin, who would appoint its members. The resolution also named von K~irmfin as first director of the academy, and stated that its initial membershp should be designated by the founding committee. These resolutions finally decoupled the Academy from the hypothetical Research Institute. The second resolution formally founded the Academy of Astronautics, but the first reduced the old article 6 of the I A F Constitution to such indefinite terms that, in reality, it consigned the International Astronautical Research Institute to Limbo--events in the world of astronautics had overtaken the concept. In reviewing the activities of the Federation, as far as they were pertinent to the foundation of the Academy, reference must be made to the publication of the Astronautica Acta. This was a positive achievement of the I A F in line with the aspirations of its founders. The Acta was produced by the Federation and published by Springer Verlag, Vienna, the first issue appearing in 1955. Subsequently, the title was changed to Acta Astronautica.
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strong opposition to the creation of a new international astronautical group, which, it was thought, might diminish the function of the Federation in its role of promoting and encouraging international co-operation in astronautics. Certainly, at the Barcelona Congress the delegates would have been in no mood to consider implementing the proposal of Haley, S~inger and yon K~rmfin and even at Amsterdam a year later there were too many reservations over the matter to allow it even to be discussed by the council. The decision then, to leave it to a "Committee for Constitutional Amendment" was, in effect, a means of deferring the issue, giving time for the proponents to overcome the fears and reservations of the opponents. The member-societies of the I A F were, at the very least, reticent about the concept of an Academy of Astronautics and needed considerable persuasion to agree to its creation. The opposition, based upon fears that setting up such an institution might jeopardise the development of the Federation, was understandable. The I A F itself was still in its infancy and it seemed premature to divert attention and effort from it by establishing yet another international body having similar objectives. At the same time, many considered it pointless to set up an Academy that would be no more than a list of names of distinguished personalities without a purpose. However, any purpose of the Academy would embrace activities that could as well be carried out by the Federation itself. This was an obvious conclusion which, in the event, was borne out in the transfer of responsibility for the publication of the Astronautica Acta. Above all, the Academy would be an elite body of individuals, elected by its own membership and, consequently, not representative of the membersocieties of the IAF. If such a body took over a significant part of the I A F activities, it would inevitably reduce the responsibility of the member-societies; that, arguably, would be an undemocratic situation. Some of those closely involved in the debate had a schizophrenic attitude to the matter, on the one hand being attracted to the idea of an Academy, while on the other hand being concerned that the reservations of their respective societies were firmly expressed. In the final analysis the outcome of the debate depended upon two factors: (i) That the I A F member-societies were to recognise that an Academy made up of distinguished scientists and engineers would enhance the reputation of the Federation and add weight to its arguments and activities. (ii) That the Constitution of the Academy should be explicit in describing it as an appendage of the IAF, clearly responsible to the latter's ruling council.
2. DEBATE AND DECISION
The I A F council decision to set up the I A A was not reached without considerable argument, which dragged on over several years. At first there was A.A. 15/t~c
Acceptance of the first point naturally depended greatly upon the persuasiveness and the reputations of its proponents. Stinger was a rocket pioneer of eminence recognised as such by everyone working in
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that field and had been one of the founders of the I A F and its first president. Haley, a distinguished Washington lawyer with a strong technical background, had come to the 1951 London Congress representing the ARS and had been one of the two vice-presidents initially elected, when the Federation was founded at that meeting. He had become a dominating personality in the I A F and was recognised as being without a master in his powers of persuasion. Then, of course, there was Theodore von K~rm~in, doyen of aerodynamics, scientist of world repute and arguably one of the most important figures in the evolution of rocketry in the U.S.A. towards the end of World War II. He had played a major role in GALCIT, in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, and in the founding of the Aerojet Engineering Corporation in California, where he had become closely associated with Haley and with Frank Malina, who was also to become one of our Academy founders. Von K~irmfin had come into the I A F scene in 1953 at the 4th International Astronautical Congress and had associated himself closely with the Federation in the ensuing years. His support of the concept of the Academy, and his readiness to become its first director, undoubtedly swung the Federation's council and member-societies round in favour of it. As regards the matter of the fealty of the Academy to the I A F Council, this was to be ensured in the Articles of its Constitution, which would have to be ratified by this latter body at the 1960 Congress. By the early summer of 1959 the case for setting up the IAA had been agreed, at least in the minds of the IAF officers, and those representatives of the few member-societies who met with them in Paris, though, of course, the last word rested with the I A F council. At that time there was no official bureau (it was created at the Washington Congress in 1961), but it had become the custom of the officers of the Federation to meet in Paris in the spring (in 1960 they met in Heidelburg) to review the affairs of the I A F in between congresses. There was no Paris headquarters then (the Federation was officially based at the secretary's address in Baden, Switzerland) and the spring reunions depended upon accommodation usually arranged by Frank Malina who lived in Paris, The 1959 reunion took place from 5-8 June and in addition to the current I A F officers, the participants included von Kfirmfin and Malina, with six of the member-societies being represented. At the meetings, presided over by Haley, it was decided to recommend to the I A F council, at the forthcoming London Congress, a revision to the constitution providing for the establishment of an Academy of Astronautics under the direction of von Kfirmfin. The gathered officers and representatives also initiated, informally, a committee to select the founder membership of the Academy under von K~irm~in's chairmanship with Professor J. P6r6s as Vice-Chairman. This was to be formally established as the founding committee when
the delegates at the London Congress adopted the resolution. 3. THE FIRST YEAR
Following the act of foundation of the Academy at the lOth International Astronautical Congress, the founding committee had as its principal tasks the appointment of its officers and initial membership, and the preparation of a draft constitution to be submitted for the approval of the IAF council when it met at the following Congress in Stockholm in 1960. A first action by the chairman was to appoint a working partly consisting of Professor John Cobb Cooper, Professor A. Meyer and Dr Malina to draft the statutes of the Academy. These proposed statutes were to provide for the Academy to have three sections; the first in basic sciences; the second in engineering sciences, and the third in life sciences. The first and second sections would each have 60 members and 120 corresponding members, while the third would have 45 members and 90 corresponding members. The initial membership of the Academy was to consist of the members of the founding committee, whom Dr yon Kfirm/m had appointed, and additional members selected jointly by the founding committee; up to 20 in each of sections 1 and 2, and 15 in section 3. No corresponding member was to be elected until after the first election, which was to be held in the December following the approval of the statutes by the I A F council. The statutes specified that both members and corresponding members should be elected for life. The principal distinction between the rights of members and corresponding members was that of the power to vote, which was accorded only to the former. The Academy officers were to be the director and two deputy directors who, with 11 trustees (4 each from sections 1 and 2, and 3 from Section 1), were to make up the governing body of the Academy. It was proposed initially that this body should be termed the "Assembly". One of the most important of the articles was the second, defining the functions of the Academy. In general, these did not seriously impinge upon the activities of the I A F itself, except for the third item, which assigned publication of the Astronautica Aeta to the Academy. This was a matter that aroused considerable controversy and was only accepted by the I A F council because the Academy was, initially, established as a constituent part of the Federation and its transactions were subject to the overriding will of the I A F council. Some years later, Article II was to be amended with the phrase: "The Academy shall bear legal responsibility for all its actions under these Statutes." This was to establish the IAA as a separate legal entity, independent of the 1AF, except insofar as it was specified that no future statutes, or amendments
Conception, birth and childhood thereto, should be inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution of the Federation. Once the Academy had achieved its independence, the Acta legally became its own property. It is worth noting, nevertheless, that the draft statutes of the IAA, as submitted to the I A F council at the Stockholm Congress, went much further in making the Academy master of its own destiny, than did those of the original von K~irm~in-S/inger-Haley document, which was submitted to the I A F President at Barcelona. For example, the latter proposed that academicians should be elected by the council of the IAF. In retrospect, it is perhaps fortunate, from the standpoint of the evolution of the Academy, that it was not set up in 1957 under the terms of the articles then proposed. The task of establishing the initial membership of the Academy was duly transacted and the 23 members of the founding committee was augmented to 45 (15 in section 1, 18 in section 2 and 12 in section 3). That the intended number of 55 was not filled was due to the continuing reservations of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences (represented in the I A F by its Commission on Interplanetary Communication) concerning the value and purpose of the IAA. As a result, the invitations to Soviet scientists and engineers to accept membershp were declined--eight vacancies were held open in the hope and expectation that the U.S.S.R. Academy would reconsider its position, which eventually it did, though not until 1964. As with any enterprise, of course, the most important factor in determining a successful outcome to the establishment of the Academy, would be financial backing. Dr von Kfirmfin addressed an appeal to the board of trustees of the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation, seeking support to cover the administrative costs of the Academy over its first three years. The appeal was made to the trustees following a meeting (27 January 1960) which he had, with Harry Guggenheim and Edward Pendray (the ARS pioneer) and, helped no doubt by this personal approach, it was successful. A sum of $75,000, to be spread over three years, was donated to the Academy by the Foundation and this, together with a separate benefit, namely, the granting of free accommodation for an I A F office in Paris, removed all the material obstacles to the functioning of the IAA. At the London Congress it had been resolved that an executive headquarters of the Federation should be established in Paris. Generzl P. Bergeron, Honorary President of the Soci6t6 Fran~ais d'Astronautique which, in 1955, had replaced Ananoff's Groupement Astronautique Fran~ais as the French voting member-society of the IAF, undertook to find suitable accommodation for this purpose. His efforts were successful, furnished offices being made available at no charge for a period of three years at the Caisse Nationale des Marches de l'l~tat. The I A F would share this accommodation with the IAA and the latter would contribute the money to administer
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the office out of the Guggenheim grant. In this way, the Federation was to derive an immediate material benefit from the Academy. The administration of the office would be in the hands of Mr A. R. WeiUer, who, on one year's official leave of absence from the French M&6orologie Nationale, was to act as secretary to the Academy. Finally, in the early days of 1960, the Academy took over the management and editing of the Astronautica Acta. Publication remained with Springer Verlag of Vienna and was to continue so until 1966 when it was transferred to Pergamon Press. The considerable progress made in the first few months of the IAA was reported when the officers of the Federation and the representatives of the Academy met at the end of May in Heidelberg. At this meeting the proposed statutes were reviewed and seen to be ready for submission to the I A F council when it met in plenary session at the forthcoming Congress. The 11th International Astronautical Congress was held in Stockholm in mid-August 1960 under the Presidency of U.S.S.R. Academician Leonid I. Sedov. At the first plenary session on 15 August, the president invited Theodore von Kfirmfin to report upon the status of the Academy, which he did. Academician Sedov then went on to report upon the agreement that had been reached at Heidelberg on the proposed statutes and terms of reference of the Academy. However, he had to report that, at that juncture, the Soviet representatives, following discussions in the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, did not consider it expedient to participate in the IAA. Leonid Sedov then, with consummate skill, and properly wearing his Federation hat, steered the Academy statutes and Dr yon Kfirm~in's report, safely to council approval (nero. con.) and the Academy was in business! Article VI of the statutes provided for the Academy holding a "Regular Meeting" once in every two years, at the time and place of the "Plenary Session of the I A F " , i.e. at the annual Congress, the first such meeting to be held at the next Congress after the approval of the constitution. Accordingly, the first regular meeting of the Academy would not take place until the following year at the Washington Congress. However, it was desirable, if not essential, that advantage be taken of the high level of attendance of founder members of the Academy (25 out of 45) so a special meeting was convened on 16 August at which the members were joined by the I A F president and the I A A acting secretary. At this meeting, in his capacity as chairman of the founding committee, von K~rmb.n reported on the actions that had been taken to set up the Academy and the members were then asked to approve the appointment of its officers. Dr yon Kfirmfin had already been designated as director of the Academy by the council of the IAF. The meeting went on to approve the appointment of Dr F. J. Malina and Professor J. Prrrs (Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at
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the Sorbonne), as deputy directors and also the chairmen of the three sections; Professor Ehmert (1); Professor Pesek (2) and Professor Florkin (3). Mr A. R. Weiller was confirmed as acting secretary for the first year and given the responsibility of organising the Paris headquarters. The meeting went on to appoint a number of standing committees; to prepare for the election of further members and to consider the role of the Academy in future congresses. In this last connection, it was accepted that the organisation of the programmes of the congresses must remain the responsibility of the Federation, but the Academy should be willing to sponsor specific symposia within the framework of a given congress. This has been the basis of subsequent Academy participation in congress programmes. At this special meeting of the Academy a decision was taken to begin planning a first independent symposium to be held outside the aegis of the Federation. Thus, at the end of the first year following its foundation, the Academy became a functioning body, firmly embarked upon a course of activities that it was to follow purposefully in the ensuing years.
4. VON K,ARM,~N'S ACADEMY
In December 1960, a further 30 members were elected to the Academy as well as its first honorary member, Niels Bohr. The officers of the Academy held their first meeting in conjunction with the spring meeting of the Federation officers, in Paris in March 1961. In that year, the Federation formally inaugurated the bureau, whose membership, in addition to the president, vice-president, honorary secretary and general counsel, was to include the immediate past president, the director of the Academy and the president of the International Institute of Space Law. The pattern for the future management of the IAF, involving the IAA and IISL, was thus established. The annual spring meeting of the I A F bureau provided an opportunity for the Academy officers and its principal committees to meet also, so that their meetings could be held twice yearly thereafter. June 1961 saw the first of the independent symposia that were to be organised by the IAA. This symposium, on "Space Flight and Re-entry Trajectories," was held at Louvecienne, near Paris. It was to be the first of many symposia organised by the Academy outside the auspices of the Congress. Many of these were jointly sponsored meetings run in collaboration with other international organisations and frequently with the IAF. In 1961, also, the first award of the Academy was made--the Daniel & Florence Guggenheim International Astronautics Award of US$1000. This award was to be given annually, the funds for the first three years coming out of the $75,000 received from the Guggenheim
Foundation. Subsequently, the Foundation continued for some time to make an annual contribution for the award. The first recipient was Sir Bernard Lovell. The first regular meeting of the Academy was held in Washington on 3 October 1961 during the 12th International Astronautical Congress, when the director was able to report very considerable progress in the development of its affairs since Stockholm. Sadly, this was to be the only regular meeting presided over by von K~irmfin. In the second election, in December 1961, the membership of the Academy was increased to 116 and in the following June the first corresponding members, 23 in number, were admitted. Professor P6r6s died on 12 February 1962 and Professor U. S. Von Euler, of Sweden, was appointed to succeed him as deputy director. At that time, P6rds was also president of the IAF, so that a vice-president of the Federation had to take over that office. These adjustments were made when the I A F bureau and the IAA officers met in Paris on 2 and 3 March. When his one year's leave of absence ended, Weiller had to relinquish his duties as acting secretary of the Academy and a gap was created in the administration of the IAA office. The situation became exacerbated by the fact that the person appointed to take his place was prevented by ill health from functioning effectively and he too had to give up the post. The third secretary to the Academy, who also filled the post of executive secretary of the IAF, was Dr W. F. Hilton, but he too only remained with the Academy and Federation for about a year. These offices were then taken over by H~l~ne Van Gelder, who had been administrative assistant, and she was to hold office for some twenty years until her retirement. The situation in the matter of IAA and I A F office accommodation followed a similar course, for the arrangement with the Caisse Nationale des Marches de l'l~tat ran out after the agreed three years. The Soci&6 Frangaise d'Astronautique found temporary accommodation for the Academy and Federation on the Rue 4 Septembre and, later in the year, at 250 Rue Saint Jacques--an ancient and historic street--where stability was restored and a degree of permanancy established. There was no regular meeting of the Academy, during the 8th International Astronautical Congress at Varna, but the IAA Assembly met there on 25 September 1962. One of the matters raised was a proposal to amend the Academy statutes so that the assembly was to become the "Board of Trustees", with a quorum reduced to 5 members, and the titles of director and deputy director dropped in favour of president and vice-president, respectively. The proposed constitutional amendment was to be put before the second regular meeting of the Academy in Paris in 1963 for its approval. A preoccupation of the assembly at the Varna meeting was the question of finance. The ensuing year would be the last period of
Conception, birth and childhood the grant from the Guggenheim Foundation and, thereafter, the Academy would have to look around for further sources of revenue. An important step had been taken in the United States to set up the Astronautics Foundation Inc., which would allow Americans to make tax-exempt contributions for international collaboration in astronautics. This organisation, which later became the Theodore von K~irmb,n Memorial Foundation, was to be an important contributor to the finances of the IAA, though not at the level of the Guggenheim Foundation. The academy elections of December 1962 saw the strength raised to 133 members, with those elected coming from the newly formed corresponding membership, so that the number of the latter was depleted to 5. Honorary membershp was conferred upon Louis de Broglie, Jaqueline Cochran and Harry F. Guggenheim, but Niels Bohr, the only prior honorary member, had died in November 1962. At the end of October 1962, the Academy, jointly with the IAF, UNESCO, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the World Health Organisation sponsored a major 5-day symposium--"Basic Environmental Problems of Man in S p a c e " - - at UNESCO House in Paris. The chairman of this meeting, at which 31 papers were presented, was H. A. Bjurstedt. It was the first major symposium organised by the Academy outside the Congress framework. On 7 May 1963, Theodore von K~rm~m died and the first chapter in the history of the Academy was closed. Frank Malina was designated by the trustees to succeed him as director for the remainder of the academy year, and he presided over the second regular meeting of the IAA on 28 September during the 14th International Astronautical Congress in Paris. At the meeting, the amendments to the Statutes that had been recommended at Varna were adopted. Frank Malina did not choose to stand for election as president of the Academy, but agreed to be elected to the renamed board of trustees, in section 2. In this way, his unique experience and knowledge of the Academy remained at the disposal of the incoming president. Dr Charles Stark Draper was elected by the Academy members to be their new president, a post which he was to hold for twenty years until he handed over to our current president. In the same election, Professor von Euler was elected as one of the vice-
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presidents--in his case a simple change of title--and he was joined by Professor E. A. Brun who was elected to the vacancy that had been left five months earlier by Frank Malina. Charles Stark Draper was an excellent choice to succeed von Kb-rmfin for, being no less distinguished in his own field, he was able to maintain the illustrious tone of the leadership of the Academy, which was essential to ensure its survival as a serious international scientific institution. In his first year he was to have the satisfaction, denied to his predecessor, of welcoming Soviet scientists and engineers to the membership of the IAA, thus closing the gap in its international make-up that had existed from the time of its foundation. Tribute, however, must be paid to the man who first led the Academy. There can be little doubt that it would not have been founded without the wholehearted participation of Theodore yon K~.rm/m. Its acceptance by the I A F member-societies rested, above all, on his reputation as a scientist of the highest international standing. Moreover, when it came to the vital matter of financial backing he was able to approach Harry Guggenheim as an old friend and convince him of the value of the Academy in the developing space age. He was no remote academic, but a man of the world with a strong personality and a great sense of humour. Above all, he was as confident in dealing with the men of commerce and politics as with his scientific colleagues. Behind von Kfirm/m, however, in the affairs of the Academy, it is important to recognise the determination of Andrew G. Haley and the devotion of Frank Malina. Probably, von Kfirmfin's early interest in the Federation was stimulated by Haley, and the persistance of the latter in promoting the idea of the Academy during his two years as I A F President, was crucial in pursuading the representatives of the member-societies to respond positively in founding the IAA before he handed over to his successor. In the years immediately leading up to and following the founding of the Academy, Malina worked unstintingly in the cause, sometimes in the rather humble capacity of "legman" to Andy Haley, but mostly in an important role, relieving "the Boss" (yon Kb,rmfin) of the tiresome but essential details involved in the actual management of the Academy. There can be no doubt about the considerable value of the support that yon Kfirmfin got from Malina in ensuring that the Academy was built on a sound base.
0094-5767/87 $3.00+0.00 Pergamon Journals Ltd
CONCEPTION, BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD LESLIE R. SHEPHERD 2 Charborough Road, Broadstone, Dorset BH18 8NE, U.K.
(Received 5 January 1987) A~tract--ln this, the first segment of the history of the first quarter century of the International Academy of Astronautics, the background leading to its establishment is reviewed. The role of the International Astronautical Federation in the development of the IAA is described, followed by a review of the debates that preceded the Academy's eventual establishment. Succeeding sections cover the first year of its history and the definitive role of Theodore von K/trm~n in shaping its nature and activities.
On 2 September 1959, at the lOth International Astronautical Congress in London, the Council (subsequently known as the General Assembly) of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) adopted a Resolution founding an Academy of Astronautics. Appropriately, this action took place in the City of Westminster, where, just eight years earlier, the Federation had been born. 1. THE INTERNATIONALASTRONAUTICAL FEDERATION
The foundation of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) followed so soon after that of its parent, the IAF, that its conception must be considered to be an important part of the earliest history of the Federation. It is appropriate, therefore, to begin any discourse of the Academy's beginnings with some account of the establishment and early development of the I A F itself. In the years immediately following the Second World War, astronautical societies and groups, a few of which had already existed in the pre-war years, began to function in a number of countries. With the great step forward in rocket technology, the possibility of space flight was being taken more seriously and the societies attracted a greater proportion of professional scientists and engineers to their memberships. There was considerable communication between these societies and a strong desire for a working international collaboration began to emerge. This was brought to a head when, in June 1949, the Board of Directors of the Stuttgart Gesellschaft ffir Weltraumforschung (GfW) passed a resolution calling for an international meeting of all societies concerned specifically with rockets, interplanetary flight and space research, to foster collaboration and consider the possibility of forming an international astronautical association. The resolution was communicated to other national societies and, in particular, a request to organise such a meeting was made to the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) which was at that time one of the two largest national astronautical 763
societies (the other being the American Rocket Society, ARS). The BIS readily agreed to do this in London, but required two years for its adequate preparation, having in mind a major conference, along the lines of the subsequent congresses. The BIS offer was accepted, but there was a strong feeling that the affair ought not to be delayed by as much as two years; and, in that situation, M. Alexandre Ananoff, President of the Groupement Astronautique Fran~ais of the Arronautique-Club de France, offered to organise a preliminary meeting of the interested societies in Paris. The meeting took place, as promised, between 30 September and 2 October 1950, and was publicly described as the "Premier Congr~s International d'Astronautique"--a style of title that was adopted in the subsequent annual meetings. It involved a large and impressive public gathering, held on the afternoon of 30 September in the Richlieu Grand Amphithrgttre of the Sorbonne, and two business meetings held on the mornings of the following Monday and Tuesday at the Paris headquarters of the French Arro Club. The latter were attended by the representatives of astronautical societies from eight countries (Argentina, Austria, Britain, Denmark, France, Spain, Sweden and Germany) and by four independent individuals, pioneers distinguished in the field of rocket technology, one of whom was Dr Eugen S~inger, who was to become the first president of the I A F and one of the architects of our Academy. The outcome of these business discussions was an agreement that there be set up an international organisation devoted to the study and development of interplanetary flight, and that the act of establishing such a body should be the main purpose of the Second International Astronautical Congress, to be held in London in September 1951. A provisional committee, consisting of the leaders of the delegations at Paris under the chairmanship of Eugen S/inger, was appointed to represent the proposed organisation and the BIS was charged with collecting and co-ordinating the views of the various societies
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during the intervening period, and producing from these a set of proposals covering the nature and constitution of the intended body. This was done, the proposals were circulated, and the International Astronautical Federation was duly founded at the London Congress, where the representation had been augmented by delegates from four other countries (Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and the U.S.A.) who, thereby, joined the ranks of the foundermember societies. Stinger was elected first President of the Federation, with Andrew G. Haley and Guenter Loeser as the Vice-Presidents. The relevance of this to the history of the Academy was that the seeds of its conception already resided in the arguments and ideas that were discussed in Paris, and that were pursued further during the intervening period preceding the London Congress. Thus, there was a clear distinction between the views of those who believed that the international body should be an overall society made up of individual members, and those who considered that it should be a Federation of "Member-Societies". The latter view prevailed from the outset. Of course, the Academy, when it finally emerged, could not be described as an international astronautical society in the sense envisaged by the pioneers at the Paris meetings, for it is an organisation having an exclusive membership, strictly limited in number. Any international astronautical society, by contrast, would have set out to attract a maximum number of members, subject to their satisfying some specified rules of qualification. However, amongst the ideas that flowed into London in the period between the first and second Congresses, was one which was arguably the seed from which the concept of the Academy was to emerge. In a letter to the chairman of the BIS council (dated 16 February 1951) Dr Stinger advanced the suggestion that the IAF should eventually "encourage the foundation of an International Astronautical Research Institute, and even be charged with the administration of it." His idea was that such an Institute might be financed through UNESCO, as well as by other contributions from national societies, individuals and firms. The proposal was independently expressed and amplified by the Stuttgart GtW in correspondence between Dr G. Loeser and A. V. Cleaver of the BIS. The idea of the IAF's founding an International Astronautical Research Institute was generally acknowledged to be too ambitious or, at least, premature, though lip service continued to be paid to it over a period of many years. However, to some extent, the concept of the Academy of Astronautics derived from that of the Research Institute, and the two were in fact coupled in the 1959 resolution. It is appropriate, here, to remark that Stinger remained a strong advocate of the Research Institute and later of the Academy. Both of these proposed bodies were to become the subject of debate in the ensuing years. The intention to set up an International Astronautical Research
Institute was embodied from the start in article 6 of the IAF constitution, but no serious attempt was ever made to implement it. In the case of the Academy, no formal action was taken until 1957. The 8th International Astronautical Congress was held in Barcelona in the second week of October 1957, or what many would regard as the first week of the Space Age. At the second plenary session of the IAF council, Mr A. G. Haley, addressing the President stated, "Dr Stinger, Dr von K~trmfin and I are working on the idea of an Academy of Astronautics, and I have submitted a document to you for your examination." Haley went on to recommend that consideration of the document should be deferred to the next congress. However, an ad hoc Committee on the Revision of the IAF Constitution was created at the Barcelona Congress and Haley circulated the document in question to the members of that committee and to the presidents of the member societies, suggesting that it should be considered by the committee in drawing up its proposals. The document by von Kfirm~in, Stinger and Haley was entitled, "Report on Organisational Matters Pertaining to the Academy of Astronautics of the International Astronautical Federation." The preamble to the report stated: "Article 6 of the constitution of the International Astronautical Federation provides that one of the a i m s . . , of the International Astronautical Federation shall be as follows: "The International Astronautical Federation shall have as an objective the foundation and administration of an international astronautical research institute charged with the task of achieving space flight for non-military purposes." "In order to implement this proposal in part, it has been suggested that an Academy of Astronautics be created within the International Astronautical Federation. The Academy would be composed of individuals who have distinguished themselves in aspects of the natural and social sciences related to Astronautics.'" The report went on to propose an amendment to the constitution to provide for such an academy to be established, and set out a form of resolution embodying the proposal together with a suggested constitution. In any event, there proved to be insufficient time available to deal with the Academy proposal in the IAF plenary sessions at the 9th International Astronautical Congress in Amsterdam, and so a resolution of the matter was further deferred until the following Congress. The lOth International Astronautical Congress was held in London, during the first week of September 1959. At the second plenary session of the IAF council, on 2 September 1959, under the presidency of Andrew Haley, the Report of the Committee for
Conception, birth and childhood Constitutional Amendment was taken. Haley, introducing the report, stated that a committee under yon Khrmrn had been studying the foundation of an International Academy of Astronautics and that in this connection an amendment to article 6 of the ] A F constitution was worthy of consideration. Following an exhaustive deliberation by the council, two resolutions were adopted. The first one amending article 6 modified the existing wording as follows: "The I A F shall have the power to create an International Astronautical Research Institute charged with the task of achieving space work for peaceful purposes." The second and more significant resolution, which was adopted after lengthy discussion, declared: "That an International Academy of Astronautics of the International Astronautical Federation be established, consisting of individuals who have distinguished themselves in one of the fields of astronautics or one of the branches of all sciences of fundamental importance for the exploration of space." "That the Academy adopts its own Statutes which, however, shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the IAF, and which shall be subject to the approval of the Federation." It was further resolved that a Founding Committee, to carry out the preparatory work to enable the Academy to function, should be set up under the Chairmanship of Dr Theodore von Khrmfin, who would appoint its members. The resolution also named von K~irmfin as first director of the academy, and stated that its initial membershp should be designated by the founding committee. These resolutions finally decoupled the Academy from the hypothetical Research Institute. The second resolution formally founded the Academy of Astronautics, but the first reduced the old article 6 of the I A F Constitution to such indefinite terms that, in reality, it consigned the International Astronautical Research Institute to Limbo--events in the world of astronautics had overtaken the concept. In reviewing the activities of the Federation, as far as they were pertinent to the foundation of the Academy, reference must be made to the publication of the Astronautica Acta. This was a positive achievement of the I A F in line with the aspirations of its founders. The Acta was produced by the Federation and published by Springer Verlag, Vienna, the first issue appearing in 1955. Subsequently, the title was changed to Acta Astronautica.
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strong opposition to the creation of a new international astronautical group, which, it was thought, might diminish the function of the Federation in its role of promoting and encouraging international co-operation in astronautics. Certainly, at the Barcelona Congress the delegates would have been in no mood to consider implementing the proposal of Haley, S~inger and yon K~rmfin and even at Amsterdam a year later there were too many reservations over the matter to allow it even to be discussed by the council. The decision then, to leave it to a "Committee for Constitutional Amendment" was, in effect, a means of deferring the issue, giving time for the proponents to overcome the fears and reservations of the opponents. The member-societies of the I A F were, at the very least, reticent about the concept of an Academy of Astronautics and needed considerable persuasion to agree to its creation. The opposition, based upon fears that setting up such an institution might jeopardise the development of the Federation, was understandable. The I A F itself was still in its infancy and it seemed premature to divert attention and effort from it by establishing yet another international body having similar objectives. At the same time, many considered it pointless to set up an Academy that would be no more than a list of names of distinguished personalities without a purpose. However, any purpose of the Academy would embrace activities that could as well be carried out by the Federation itself. This was an obvious conclusion which, in the event, was borne out in the transfer of responsibility for the publication of the Astronautica Acta. Above all, the Academy would be an elite body of individuals, elected by its own membership and, consequently, not representative of the membersocieties of the IAF. If such a body took over a significant part of the I A F activities, it would inevitably reduce the responsibility of the member-societies; that, arguably, would be an undemocratic situation. Some of those closely involved in the debate had a schizophrenic attitude to the matter, on the one hand being attracted to the idea of an Academy, while on the other hand being concerned that the reservations of their respective societies were firmly expressed. In the final analysis the outcome of the debate depended upon two factors: (i) That the I A F member-societies were to recognise that an Academy made up of distinguished scientists and engineers would enhance the reputation of the Federation and add weight to its arguments and activities. (ii) That the Constitution of the Academy should be explicit in describing it as an appendage of the IAF, clearly responsible to the latter's ruling council.
2. DEBATE AND DECISION
The I A F council decision to set up the I A A was not reached without considerable argument, which dragged on over several years. At first there was A.A. 15/t~c
Acceptance of the first point naturally depended greatly upon the persuasiveness and the reputations of its proponents. Stinger was a rocket pioneer of eminence recognised as such by everyone working in
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that field and had been one of the founders of the I A F and its first president. Haley, a distinguished Washington lawyer with a strong technical background, had come to the 1951 London Congress representing the ARS and had been one of the two vice-presidents initially elected, when the Federation was founded at that meeting. He had become a dominating personality in the I A F and was recognised as being without a master in his powers of persuasion. Then, of course, there was Theodore von K~rm~in, doyen of aerodynamics, scientist of world repute and arguably one of the most important figures in the evolution of rocketry in the U.S.A. towards the end of World War II. He had played a major role in GALCIT, in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, and in the founding of the Aerojet Engineering Corporation in California, where he had become closely associated with Haley and with Frank Malina, who was also to become one of our Academy founders. Von K~irmfin had come into the I A F scene in 1953 at the 4th International Astronautical Congress and had associated himself closely with the Federation in the ensuing years. His support of the concept of the Academy, and his readiness to become its first director, undoubtedly swung the Federation's council and member-societies round in favour of it. As regards the matter of the fealty of the Academy to the I A F Council, this was to be ensured in the Articles of its Constitution, which would have to be ratified by this latter body at the 1960 Congress. By the early summer of 1959 the case for setting up the IAA had been agreed, at least in the minds of the IAF officers, and those representatives of the few member-societies who met with them in Paris, though, of course, the last word rested with the I A F council. At that time there was no official bureau (it was created at the Washington Congress in 1961), but it had become the custom of the officers of the Federation to meet in Paris in the spring (in 1960 they met in Heidelburg) to review the affairs of the I A F in between congresses. There was no Paris headquarters then (the Federation was officially based at the secretary's address in Baden, Switzerland) and the spring reunions depended upon accommodation usually arranged by Frank Malina who lived in Paris, The 1959 reunion took place from 5-8 June and in addition to the current I A F officers, the participants included von Kfirmfin and Malina, with six of the member-societies being represented. At the meetings, presided over by Haley, it was decided to recommend to the I A F council, at the forthcoming London Congress, a revision to the constitution providing for the establishment of an Academy of Astronautics under the direction of von Kfirmfin. The gathered officers and representatives also initiated, informally, a committee to select the founder membership of the Academy under von K~irm~in's chairmanship with Professor J. P6r6s as Vice-Chairman. This was to be formally established as the founding committee when
the delegates at the London Congress adopted the resolution. 3. THE FIRST YEAR
Following the act of foundation of the Academy at the lOth International Astronautical Congress, the founding committee had as its principal tasks the appointment of its officers and initial membership, and the preparation of a draft constitution to be submitted for the approval of the IAF council when it met at the following Congress in Stockholm in 1960. A first action by the chairman was to appoint a working partly consisting of Professor John Cobb Cooper, Professor A. Meyer and Dr Malina to draft the statutes of the Academy. These proposed statutes were to provide for the Academy to have three sections; the first in basic sciences; the second in engineering sciences, and the third in life sciences. The first and second sections would each have 60 members and 120 corresponding members, while the third would have 45 members and 90 corresponding members. The initial membership of the Academy was to consist of the members of the founding committee, whom Dr yon Kfirm/m had appointed, and additional members selected jointly by the founding committee; up to 20 in each of sections 1 and 2, and 15 in section 3. No corresponding member was to be elected until after the first election, which was to be held in the December following the approval of the statutes by the I A F council. The statutes specified that both members and corresponding members should be elected for life. The principal distinction between the rights of members and corresponding members was that of the power to vote, which was accorded only to the former. The Academy officers were to be the director and two deputy directors who, with 11 trustees (4 each from sections 1 and 2, and 3 from Section 1), were to make up the governing body of the Academy. It was proposed initially that this body should be termed the "Assembly". One of the most important of the articles was the second, defining the functions of the Academy. In general, these did not seriously impinge upon the activities of the I A F itself, except for the third item, which assigned publication of the Astronautica Aeta to the Academy. This was a matter that aroused considerable controversy and was only accepted by the I A F council because the Academy was, initially, established as a constituent part of the Federation and its transactions were subject to the overriding will of the I A F council. Some years later, Article II was to be amended with the phrase: "The Academy shall bear legal responsibility for all its actions under these Statutes." This was to establish the IAA as a separate legal entity, independent of the 1AF, except insofar as it was specified that no future statutes, or amendments
Conception, birth and childhood thereto, should be inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution of the Federation. Once the Academy had achieved its independence, the Acta legally became its own property. It is worth noting, nevertheless, that the draft statutes of the IAA, as submitted to the I A F council at the Stockholm Congress, went much further in making the Academy master of its own destiny, than did those of the original von K~irm~in-S/inger-Haley document, which was submitted to the I A F President at Barcelona. For example, the latter proposed that academicians should be elected by the council of the IAF. In retrospect, it is perhaps fortunate, from the standpoint of the evolution of the Academy, that it was not set up in 1957 under the terms of the articles then proposed. The task of establishing the initial membership of the Academy was duly transacted and the 23 members of the founding committee was augmented to 45 (15 in section 1, 18 in section 2 and 12 in section 3). That the intended number of 55 was not filled was due to the continuing reservations of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences (represented in the I A F by its Commission on Interplanetary Communication) concerning the value and purpose of the IAA. As a result, the invitations to Soviet scientists and engineers to accept membershp were declined--eight vacancies were held open in the hope and expectation that the U.S.S.R. Academy would reconsider its position, which eventually it did, though not until 1964. As with any enterprise, of course, the most important factor in determining a successful outcome to the establishment of the Academy, would be financial backing. Dr von Kfirmfin addressed an appeal to the board of trustees of the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation, seeking support to cover the administrative costs of the Academy over its first three years. The appeal was made to the trustees following a meeting (27 January 1960) which he had, with Harry Guggenheim and Edward Pendray (the ARS pioneer) and, helped no doubt by this personal approach, it was successful. A sum of $75,000, to be spread over three years, was donated to the Academy by the Foundation and this, together with a separate benefit, namely, the granting of free accommodation for an I A F office in Paris, removed all the material obstacles to the functioning of the IAA. At the London Congress it had been resolved that an executive headquarters of the Federation should be established in Paris. Generzl P. Bergeron, Honorary President of the Soci6t6 Fran~ais d'Astronautique which, in 1955, had replaced Ananoff's Groupement Astronautique Fran~ais as the French voting member-society of the IAF, undertook to find suitable accommodation for this purpose. His efforts were successful, furnished offices being made available at no charge for a period of three years at the Caisse Nationale des Marches de l'l~tat. The I A F would share this accommodation with the IAA and the latter would contribute the money to administer
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the office out of the Guggenheim grant. In this way, the Federation was to derive an immediate material benefit from the Academy. The administration of the office would be in the hands of Mr A. R. WeiUer, who, on one year's official leave of absence from the French M&6orologie Nationale, was to act as secretary to the Academy. Finally, in the early days of 1960, the Academy took over the management and editing of the Astronautica Acta. Publication remained with Springer Verlag of Vienna and was to continue so until 1966 when it was transferred to Pergamon Press. The considerable progress made in the first few months of the IAA was reported when the officers of the Federation and the representatives of the Academy met at the end of May in Heidelberg. At this meeting the proposed statutes were reviewed and seen to be ready for submission to the I A F council when it met in plenary session at the forthcoming Congress. The 11th International Astronautical Congress was held in Stockholm in mid-August 1960 under the Presidency of U.S.S.R. Academician Leonid I. Sedov. At the first plenary session on 15 August, the president invited Theodore von Kfirmfin to report upon the status of the Academy, which he did. Academician Sedov then went on to report upon the agreement that had been reached at Heidelberg on the proposed statutes and terms of reference of the Academy. However, he had to report that, at that juncture, the Soviet representatives, following discussions in the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, did not consider it expedient to participate in the IAA. Leonid Sedov then, with consummate skill, and properly wearing his Federation hat, steered the Academy statutes and Dr yon Kfirm~in's report, safely to council approval (nero. con.) and the Academy was in business! Article VI of the statutes provided for the Academy holding a "Regular Meeting" once in every two years, at the time and place of the "Plenary Session of the I A F " , i.e. at the annual Congress, the first such meeting to be held at the next Congress after the approval of the constitution. Accordingly, the first regular meeting of the Academy would not take place until the following year at the Washington Congress. However, it was desirable, if not essential, that advantage be taken of the high level of attendance of founder members of the Academy (25 out of 45) so a special meeting was convened on 16 August at which the members were joined by the I A F president and the I A A acting secretary. At this meeting, in his capacity as chairman of the founding committee, von K~rmb.n reported on the actions that had been taken to set up the Academy and the members were then asked to approve the appointment of its officers. Dr yon Kfirmfin had already been designated as director of the Academy by the council of the IAF. The meeting went on to approve the appointment of Dr F. J. Malina and Professor J. Prrrs (Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at
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the Sorbonne), as deputy directors and also the chairmen of the three sections; Professor Ehmert (1); Professor Pesek (2) and Professor Florkin (3). Mr A. R. Weiller was confirmed as acting secretary for the first year and given the responsibility of organising the Paris headquarters. The meeting went on to appoint a number of standing committees; to prepare for the election of further members and to consider the role of the Academy in future congresses. In this last connection, it was accepted that the organisation of the programmes of the congresses must remain the responsibility of the Federation, but the Academy should be willing to sponsor specific symposia within the framework of a given congress. This has been the basis of subsequent Academy participation in congress programmes. At this special meeting of the Academy a decision was taken to begin planning a first independent symposium to be held outside the aegis of the Federation. Thus, at the end of the first year following its foundation, the Academy became a functioning body, firmly embarked upon a course of activities that it was to follow purposefully in the ensuing years.
4. VON K,ARM,~N'S ACADEMY
In December 1960, a further 30 members were elected to the Academy as well as its first honorary member, Niels Bohr. The officers of the Academy held their first meeting in conjunction with the spring meeting of the Federation officers, in Paris in March 1961. In that year, the Federation formally inaugurated the bureau, whose membership, in addition to the president, vice-president, honorary secretary and general counsel, was to include the immediate past president, the director of the Academy and the president of the International Institute of Space Law. The pattern for the future management of the IAF, involving the IAA and IISL, was thus established. The annual spring meeting of the I A F bureau provided an opportunity for the Academy officers and its principal committees to meet also, so that their meetings could be held twice yearly thereafter. June 1961 saw the first of the independent symposia that were to be organised by the IAA. This symposium, on "Space Flight and Re-entry Trajectories," was held at Louvecienne, near Paris. It was to be the first of many symposia organised by the Academy outside the auspices of the Congress. Many of these were jointly sponsored meetings run in collaboration with other international organisations and frequently with the IAF. In 1961, also, the first award of the Academy was made--the Daniel & Florence Guggenheim International Astronautics Award of US$1000. This award was to be given annually, the funds for the first three years coming out of the $75,000 received from the Guggenheim
Foundation. Subsequently, the Foundation continued for some time to make an annual contribution for the award. The first recipient was Sir Bernard Lovell. The first regular meeting of the Academy was held in Washington on 3 October 1961 during the 12th International Astronautical Congress, when the director was able to report very considerable progress in the development of its affairs since Stockholm. Sadly, this was to be the only regular meeting presided over by von K~irmfin. In the second election, in December 1961, the membership of the Academy was increased to 116 and in the following June the first corresponding members, 23 in number, were admitted. Professor P6r6s died on 12 February 1962 and Professor U. S. Von Euler, of Sweden, was appointed to succeed him as deputy director. At that time, P6rds was also president of the IAF, so that a vice-president of the Federation had to take over that office. These adjustments were made when the I A F bureau and the IAA officers met in Paris on 2 and 3 March. When his one year's leave of absence ended, Weiller had to relinquish his duties as acting secretary of the Academy and a gap was created in the administration of the IAA office. The situation became exacerbated by the fact that the person appointed to take his place was prevented by ill health from functioning effectively and he too had to give up the post. The third secretary to the Academy, who also filled the post of executive secretary of the IAF, was Dr W. F. Hilton, but he too only remained with the Academy and Federation for about a year. These offices were then taken over by H~l~ne Van Gelder, who had been administrative assistant, and she was to hold office for some twenty years until her retirement. The situation in the matter of IAA and I A F office accommodation followed a similar course, for the arrangement with the Caisse Nationale des Marches de l'l~tat ran out after the agreed three years. The Soci&6 Frangaise d'Astronautique found temporary accommodation for the Academy and Federation on the Rue 4 Septembre and, later in the year, at 250 Rue Saint Jacques--an ancient and historic street--where stability was restored and a degree of permanancy established. There was no regular meeting of the Academy, during the 8th International Astronautical Congress at Varna, but the IAA Assembly met there on 25 September 1962. One of the matters raised was a proposal to amend the Academy statutes so that the assembly was to become the "Board of Trustees", with a quorum reduced to 5 members, and the titles of director and deputy director dropped in favour of president and vice-president, respectively. The proposed constitutional amendment was to be put before the second regular meeting of the Academy in Paris in 1963 for its approval. A preoccupation of the assembly at the Varna meeting was the question of finance. The ensuing year would be the last period of
Conception, birth and childhood the grant from the Guggenheim Foundation and, thereafter, the Academy would have to look around for further sources of revenue. An important step had been taken in the United States to set up the Astronautics Foundation Inc., which would allow Americans to make tax-exempt contributions for international collaboration in astronautics. This organisation, which later became the Theodore von K~irmb,n Memorial Foundation, was to be an important contributor to the finances of the IAA, though not at the level of the Guggenheim Foundation. The academy elections of December 1962 saw the strength raised to 133 members, with those elected coming from the newly formed corresponding membership, so that the number of the latter was depleted to 5. Honorary membershp was conferred upon Louis de Broglie, Jaqueline Cochran and Harry F. Guggenheim, but Niels Bohr, the only prior honorary member, had died in November 1962. At the end of October 1962, the Academy, jointly with the IAF, UNESCO, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the World Health Organisation sponsored a major 5-day symposium--"Basic Environmental Problems of Man in S p a c e " - - at UNESCO House in Paris. The chairman of this meeting, at which 31 papers were presented, was H. A. Bjurstedt. It was the first major symposium organised by the Academy outside the Congress framework. On 7 May 1963, Theodore von K~rm~m died and the first chapter in the history of the Academy was closed. Frank Malina was designated by the trustees to succeed him as director for the remainder of the academy year, and he presided over the second regular meeting of the IAA on 28 September during the 14th International Astronautical Congress in Paris. At the meeting, the amendments to the Statutes that had been recommended at Varna were adopted. Frank Malina did not choose to stand for election as president of the Academy, but agreed to be elected to the renamed board of trustees, in section 2. In this way, his unique experience and knowledge of the Academy remained at the disposal of the incoming president. Dr Charles Stark Draper was elected by the Academy members to be their new president, a post which he was to hold for twenty years until he handed over to our current president. In the same election, Professor von Euler was elected as one of the vice-
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presidents--in his case a simple change of title--and he was joined by Professor E. A. Brun who was elected to the vacancy that had been left five months earlier by Frank Malina. Charles Stark Draper was an excellent choice to succeed von Kb-rmfin for, being no less distinguished in his own field, he was able to maintain the illustrious tone of the leadership of the Academy, which was essential to ensure its survival as a serious international scientific institution. In his first year he was to have the satisfaction, denied to his predecessor, of welcoming Soviet scientists and engineers to the membership of the IAA, thus closing the gap in its international make-up that had existed from the time of its foundation. Tribute, however, must be paid to the man who first led the Academy. There can be little doubt that it would not have been founded without the wholehearted participation of Theodore yon K~.rm/m. Its acceptance by the I A F member-societies rested, above all, on his reputation as a scientist of the highest international standing. Moreover, when it came to the vital matter of financial backing he was able to approach Harry Guggenheim as an old friend and convince him of the value of the Academy in the developing space age. He was no remote academic, but a man of the world with a strong personality and a great sense of humour. Above all, he was as confident in dealing with the men of commerce and politics as with his scientific colleagues. Behind von Kfirm/m, however, in the affairs of the Academy, it is important to recognise the determination of Andrew G. Haley and the devotion of Frank Malina. Probably, von Kfirmfin's early interest in the Federation was stimulated by Haley, and the persistance of the latter in promoting the idea of the Academy during his two years as I A F President, was crucial in pursuading the representatives of the member-societies to respond positively in founding the IAA before he handed over to his successor. In the years immediately leading up to and following the founding of the Academy, Malina worked unstintingly in the cause, sometimes in the rather humble capacity of "legman" to Andy Haley, but mostly in an important role, relieving "the Boss" (yon Kb,rmfin) of the tiresome but essential details involved in the actual management of the Academy. There can be no doubt about the considerable value of the support that yon Kfirmfin got from Malina in ensuring that the Academy was built on a sound base.