Year (IGY) be planned for 1957-58, coinciding with an approaching period of maximum solar activity. In 1952, the IGY was announced. Joseph Stalin's death in 1953 opened the way for international collaboration with the Soviet Union.

In 1952 the Comité Spécial de l'Année Géophysique Internationale (CSAGI), a special committee of the ICSU, was established to coordinate the International Geophysical Year (IGY) under president Sydney Chapman,