This is a International
Geophysical Year 1958 First Year Issue Stamp. It is postmarked May 31st, 1958
from Chicago, Illinois.
U.S. 1958 3¢ International
Geophysical Year stamp design
was based on a photograph of the Sun, taken during the International
Geophysical Year, an international scientific project. During the 18
months of the project, the Sun gave off tremendous bursts of energy – an event
that was observed by project members during the study. That was just one
of the highlights during project’s time. Others included the launching
of Sputnik I, the first man-made satellite sent into
orbit around the Earth. The U.S. soon followed with the Explorer
I satellite – the country’s first successful launch.
Also shown on this stamp is part
of Michelangelo’s famous painting, “The Creation of Adam,” located on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The rest of the image shows God
breathing life into Adam. The stamp shows the portion of the mural
where God’s hand reaches out to touch Adam’s hand – with a tiny space in
between. It was described by Ervine Metzl, the stamp’s designer,
as an attempt to “picture man’s wonder at the unknown, together with his
determination to understand it and his spiritual inspiration to further his
knowledge.”
The International Geophysical Year (IGY) was an
international scientific project that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31,
1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when
scientific interchange between East and West had been seriously
interrupted. Joseph Stalin's death in 1953 opened the way for
this new era of collaboration. Sixty-seven countries participated in
IGY projects, although one notable exception was mainland China, which
was protesting against the participation of the Republic of
China (Taiwan). East and West agreed to nominate
the Belgian Marcel Nicolet as secretary general of the
associated international organization. Other significant achievements of the
IGY included the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts and the
discovery of mid-ocean submarine ridges, an important confirmation
of plate tectonics. Also detected was the rare occurrence of hard
solar corpuscular radiation that could be highly dangerous for manned space
flight.
The IGY encompassed eleven Earth
sciences: aurora and airglow, cosmic
rays, geomagnetism, gravity, ionosphericphysics, longitude and latitude
determinations (precision mapping), meteorology, oceanography, seismology,
and solar activity.
Thank you Merja.
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