difficulty of communication and a poor financial state. The war ended with the defeat
of the Axis Powers, and the executive committee of the IAU met at the Copenhagen
Conference in November 1946, calling for widespread participation of the most
important astronomers in the conference. This was the first international meeting
after World War II. At this meeting, aside from general reviews of certain specific
fields of astronomy, several resolutions to be submitted to the coming next General
Assembly were adopted. One resolution was concerned with the organization’s
attitude toward Japan and Germany.
General Secretary J. H. Oort wrote a letter to the president, in which he said,
“Also with respect to the Japanese, . . . I am against expelling them from the
Union. . .” Vice President Andre Danjon replied to Oort: “Personally, I am of the
opinion that, for the moment, German and Japanese astronomers should not be
admitted to the Union.. . .”
Danjon’s opinion was put forth as the formal attitude of the IAU. The next GA
was held in 1948 in Türich, where General Secretary B. Strömgren and predecessor
Oort supported the readmission of Japan into the IAU, so that President Spencer
Table 3.1 Early IAU and General Assembly (Blaauw 1994)
GA
Year
Site
New president
Japanese delegate
1st
1922
Rome
W. W.
Campbell
–
2nd
1925
London
W. de Sitter
Hirayama Shin (V-P)
3rd
1928
Leiden
F. Dyson
Hirayama Shin (E-C)
4th
1932
Cambridge
(Mass.USA)
F. Schlesinger
Hirayama Kiyotsugu
5th
1935
Paris
E. Esclangon
Tanakadate Aikitsu, Sotome
Kiyofusa
6th
1938
Stockholm
A.S. Eddington
–
Note: V-P vice president, E-C executive committee member
Fig. 3.1 Hirayama Shin in
1928 at Leiden with IAU
executive committee
members, 1925–1928. Front
row, left to right:
H. Deslandres, W. de Sitter
(President), S. Hirayama
(Vice-President); back row:
F. Schlesinger,
F. J. M. Stratton (General
Secretary), and A. S.
Eddington (Blaauw 1994)
46
3 Astronomy in Early Showa. I. Tokyo 1926–1945
of the Axis Powers, and the executive committee of the IAU met at the Copenhagen
Conference in November 1946, calling for widespread participation of the most
important astronomers in the conference. This was the first international meeting
after World War II. At this meeting, aside from general reviews of certain specific
fields of astronomy, several resolutions to be submitted to the coming next General
Assembly were adopted. One resolution was concerned with the organization’s
attitude toward Japan and Germany.
General Secretary J. H. Oort wrote a letter to the president, in which he said,
“Also with respect to the Japanese, . . . I am against expelling them from the
Union. . .” Vice President Andre Danjon replied to Oort: “Personally, I am of the
opinion that, for the moment, German and Japanese astronomers should not be
admitted to the Union.. . .”
Danjon’s opinion was put forth as the formal attitude of the IAU. The next GA
was held in 1948 in Türich, where General Secretary B. Strömgren and predecessor
Oort supported the readmission of Japan into the IAU, so that President Spencer
Table 3.1 Early IAU and General Assembly (Blaauw 1994)
GA
Year
Site
New president
Japanese delegate
1st
1922
Rome
W. W.
Campbell
–
2nd
1925
London
W. de Sitter
Hirayama Shin (V-P)
3rd
1928
Leiden
F. Dyson
Hirayama Shin (E-C)
4th
1932
Cambridge
(Mass.USA)
F. Schlesinger
Hirayama Kiyotsugu
5th
1935
Paris
E. Esclangon
Tanakadate Aikitsu, Sotome
Kiyofusa
6th
1938
Stockholm
A.S. Eddington
–
Note: V-P vice president, E-C executive committee member
Fig. 3.1 Hirayama Shin in
1928 at Leiden with IAU
executive committee
members, 1925–1928. Front
row, left to right:
H. Deslandres, W. de Sitter
(President), S. Hirayama
(Vice-President); back row:
F. Schlesinger,
F. J. M. Stratton (General
Secretary), and A. S.
Eddington (Blaauw 1994)
46
3 Astronomy in Early Showa. I. Tokyo 1926–1945