Astronomers as Diplomats: When the IAU Builds Bridges Between Nations

This book illuminates a few highly significant events in history in which astronomers have helped keep contacts between astronomers of different states in moments of international political tensions or even crises. The chapters, written by 20 international authors, focus on four periods where astronomers were particularly active in international relations:

1. The WWI period, the epoch of the creation of the IAU, in the context of the simultaneous creation of other scientific unions. The bo...