In an article published in the Scientific World in 1958, Valery Troitskaya, the scientific secretary of the Soviet National Committee of the IGY, described the IGY as a symphony of science. The perception of the IGY in the countries of the Soviet bloc was, however, different, which explains why the Berlin Academy of Sciences used another comparison: ‘Olympics of Science’. The East German perspective from below revealed another layer of the IGY because, as we all know, there is one crucial difference between a symphony and the Olympics: Olympics have winners...

The proposed paper focuses on the history of the IGY and activities undertaken within its framework in the Central and Eastern Europe, with special focus on Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Poland. The introduction presents a short and basic excursion into the history of the ICSU as well as the role of the USSR and their satellites. Under Soviet pressure, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia left UNESCO in 1952-1953. They were ‘allowed’ to re-enter it only in 1954 when the USSR, too, became its official member. The situation in 1952-1953 influenced the international collaboration of all these countries and their activities, if any, were rather limited.

The IGY, the idea of which started being discussed in 1953, played a crucial role in the changing framework of international cooperation even within the Soviet bloc. IGY was not, however, very warmly received in Eastern Europe: only Czechoslovakia was interested in participation and set up a national committee in 1953. During this first stage, Poland and East Germany refused to participate. They agreed only under pressure from national governments, which were in turn pressed by Moscow. Despite these difficult beginnings, the collaboration worked very well later on.

The paper outlines the main features of institutional cooperation on IGY activities within the Soviet bloc. It also describes principal areas of activities, collaboration with non-socialist countries, and the impact of IGY on the international community. The IGY started in 1957 and thus overlapped with the process of de-Stalinisation, which opened new perspectives for scientific cooperation within and outside the Soviet bloc. At the end of this process, a new COMECON structure of scientific cooperation was created.