4 minute read
Rebuilding IUPAC after WWII
by Danielle Fauque and Brigitte Van Tiggelen
The League of Nations’ failure to ensure global peace by solving conflicts through diplomatic and peaceful means prompted Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill to discuss the creation of a more efficient international organization as soon as the Second World War erupted. These preliminary efforts led to the signing of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) in San Francisco in 1945. In January 1946, the first general UN assembly took place, along with the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council. The latter created several international bodies, among them UNESCO. At first, UNESCO seemed to be the continuation of the International Institute for the Intellectual Cooperation (IIIC) coupled with the International Commission for the Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC), but was actually based on new rules [1].
In this new international framework, what would become of ICSU, which had gathered the scientific unions since 1931? There were three possibilities: 1) disband ICSU, and with it all the unions, 2) adapt ICSU to the new framework and continue to exist or 3) become completely independent of any umbrella organization, taking the risk of seeing parallel unions created inside UNESCO on different grounds and principles. During a meeting in London in July 1946, pragmatism prevailed and ICSU decided to cooperate with UNESCO. The main concern was the potential scattering of traditional disciplines into specialized unions that were already emerging.
From London (1946) to Amsterdam (1949), from the “Reprise de contact” to new Statutes
At the ICSU meeting in London in 1946, the Unions presented their activities during the war. As for the International Union of Chemistry (its name was Union internationale de chimie, UIC, since 1930), Marsten T. Bogert (USA, 1868-1954), who had been elected president back in 1938, had written in 1940 to all members urging them to keep the Union going as much as possible, and encouraging the chemical societies of nations at war to remain active [2]. As a result, in 1946, the UIC was able to announce that the Annual Tables of Physical Constants had been published for the period 1931-36 and that a US group at Princeton, under the direction of Hugh S. Taylor (1890-1974), had prepared the table for 1941-1942, with the support of Jean Timmermans (1882-1971), director of the Institut international des étalons physico-chimiques in Brussels, who had taken refuge in London [3]. The Commission on New Analytical Reactions and Reagents (CNARR) had also kept close contact with its members located in Delft, Ghent, and Geneva, and published its works in Basel, situated in neutral Switzerland, in 1945.
Marsten T. Bogert, USA, elected President in 1938 (Portrait collection, Science History Institute, Philadelphia; https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/z029p478k)
A delicate matter was preoccupying the Council though. Jean Gérard (1890-1956), who had served as a most efficient secretary general since 1919, was accused of collaboration with the German occupying authority that had been hosted at the Maison de la Chimie (Paris), the Union headquarters. Frédéric Joliot-Curie (1900-1958), director of the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and a fi gure of the Resistance, had already demanded his exclusion in 1944. In 1945, Bogert received Gérard’s resignation and designated Raymond Delaby (France, 1891-1958), as provisional secretary general, on the recommendation of Joseph Bougault (France, 1870-1955), vice-chair of the Union. Delaby was member of the CNARR that had so diligently worked during wartime.
At the “Reprise de contact” [4] meeting in London, in July 1946 the new secretary general listed all the ongoing projects since the last conference in Rome, in 1938. The first step was to resume contacts with all the adhering bodies of the Union and suggest new commissions (macromolecular chemistry, glassware standardization, purity of chemical substances, and traces of toxic substances in the atmosphere). Also, the cooperation with UNESCO presented itself well, since the headquarter would also be located in Paris.
[...] cont. see full text pdf
Conference of the International Union of Chemists in Amsterdam in September 1949 (photo on the front steps of the Indisch Museum). First raw in the middle with a black suit is IUPAC President (1947-51) Hugo R. Kruyt (Netherlands) [ also not shown here is Secretary General Delaby]
Conclusion
The eight years period that stretches from the Amsterdam Conference (1949) to the Paris Conference (1957) witnesses the establishment of a structure, the skeleton of which would be basically kept until the end of the 20th century. There would be some adjustments. The exponential evolution of chemistry in its theoretical aspects as well as in its industrial, social and legal applications, continued in a world undergoing geopolitical tensions (Cold War, strategic use of nuclear power and colonial wars). Other developments would be necessary, in particular with regard to publications. A new generation was taking charge, and the next ten years would witness great changes inside the Union. The UNESCO subsidy was declining year after year, as a consequence of the growing number of organizations to be supported. The Union had to find other sources of funding that only the industry would be able to provide.
Danielle Fauque <danielle.fauque@u-psud.fr> is reasearch associate at Université de Paris-Sud 11 (Orsay, France) and Brigitte Van Tiggelen <vantiggelen@memosciences.be> is research associate at Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-neuve, Belgium.
Cite: Fauque, D., & Tiggelen, B. (2019). Rebuilding IUPAC after WWII, Chemistry International, 41(3), 22-25. doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/ci-2019-0308
