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The Road to the International Society of Zoological Sciences
Prof. Francis Dov Por
Zoology, the revolutionary
science of Darwin,
was among the very first disciplines to build an international organization.
The Congresses started in 1889 on the initiative of the Societe Zoologique de
France on the occasion of the International Exposition in Paris. In all the years that followed, the
Congresses were held at regular intervals till 1963 under the direction of a
"Comite Permanent". For many years, French was the official
language of the congresses. Right from the beginning, in Paris, on the initiative of Raphael
Blanchard, the Congresses dealt with problems of Zoological Nomenclature. In
due time the International Committee of Zoological Nomenclature started to
work in the framework of the congresses, routinely submitting its reports to
the Congress Assemblies.The attendance increased from congress to congress.
From a few tens in Paris and in Moscow - where there were almost only Russian
zoologists from all parts of the then Russian Empire - to 700 in Budapest in
1927. The London Congress set a target of 1000, but there were 1400 members
and 400 associates. Finally in Washington
the number reached 2500. Clearly, there was a problem with the big numbers.
In paralled, the number of sessions and sections increased, to keep abreast
with the growing specialization. In London
in 1958 there were 8-9 daily parallel sections of communications. In Washington an attempt
was made to organize symposia instead. There were no less than 29 such
symposia. The problem of unifying subjects became even more important than
the numbers of participants.In London,
the Darwin-Wallace Centenary of that year provided for a unifying framework.
The congress in Washington in 1963 chose as
its symbol the Phoenix
bird and the goal was "a phoenix-like rebirth of breadth of vision in
the study of animal life", in the words of its president Alfred Romer.
Or according to the General Secretary Gairdner Moment, the Phoenix
was a symbol of the "organism reborn from its homogenized
macromolecules".The Phoenix
did not rise. What happened? The Washington Congress decided that the Board
of the Division of Zoology of the newly founded IUBS, would assume in the
future the role of the Comite Permanent and would be responsible for the
maintaining and the continuity of Zoological Congresses. This did not work.
There was an invitation from New
Delhi, which was withdrawn for lack of funds.The new
International Congresses of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology ICSEB, took
over what in the view of many has been role of the Zoological Congresses. The
International Committee of Zoological Nomenclature became an independent
organism in IUBS.A gallant effort was made in 1972 by Vaissiere and the
French colleagues to convene a XVIIth Congress in Monte Carlo. Attendance was poor and the
proceedings never left the Xerox stage. A long hiatus started.The care for
the "vanishing species" was central in Washington. Instead, what followed, was
the vanishing of Zoology from the international academic scene. Names were
even changed in order to avoid the word "Zoology"! This unbearable
situation appeared in its full light after the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Conference and the ensuing
Convention on Biodiversity.
Now, after three decades since Monte
Carlo, the computer revolution entirely changed the
situation. With rapid communication and interchange, a reunification of the
splinter specialties of Zoology became easily possible. The concept of an
integrative zoology, synthesizing data and results ranging from molecular
biology to behavior, gained wide acceptance. Cybernetics became the means
which could raise again the Phoenix of unified
Zoology on "wwwings"!The XVIIIth (New) International Congress of
Zoology was held in Athens in Greece
in August 2000. The symposium program of the Congress presented a
cross-zoological picture of the many levels of zoological inquiry, both
horizontal and vertical. Attendance in Athens
was far from the incommunicable thousands in the last congresses. But it was
considered by all an unmitigated success. Zoologists from 36 countries were
present and they presented over 100 communications. The hardcover
"Proceedings" of the Athens Congress have been published in 2003
and contain over 700 pages. The General Assembly at the end of the Congress
voted to hold the XIXth Congress in Beijing,
China. There
were also proposals from France
and from Israel.
The Congress will meet in Beijing
between August in 2004.
The Standing Committee elected in Athens,
under the chair of Prof. John Buckeridge from New Zealand, started to implement
the continuing activity of the congresses. The proposal made by Prof. Zhang
Zhibin on behalf of his Chinese colleagues to establish a permanent
international society has been presented in January this year at the Cairo meeting of the
International Union of Biological Sciences, and got general approval. The
General Assembly at the end of the 2004 Beijing Congress will have the task
to formally establish the permanent international zoological society.
"www.globalzoology org." is the first offspring of this nascent
international entreprise. It will hopefully succeed to create a precedent and
a framework which will conveniently re-unite on line Phoenix-like, all the zoologists and make
them interact, both virtually and in future reunions.
© 2004-2008 International Society of Zoological
Sciences
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