Annals of the International Geophysical Year, Volume I: The Histories of the International Polar Years and the Inception and Development of the International Geophysical Year covers the significant contributions of remarkable scientific enterprises known as the First and Second International Polar Years. This book is organized into three parts encompassing 39 chapters. The first part deals with the First International Polar Year, its origin, planning, and program. Considerable chapters survey the accomplishments of numerous space expeditions from various countries, including Austria, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and United States. The second part is the French translation of the information presented in the first part. The third part highlights the achievements of the Second International Polar Year in the field of geophysics. This part specifically discusses the study of the aurora, based on visual observations and spectrographic evaluation. This book will prove useful to geophysicists and researchers in the allied fields.