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History The IAU was founded in 1919, as a merger of various international projects including the Carte du Ciel, the Solar Union and the International Time Bureau (Bureau International de l'Heure). The first president was Benjamin Baillaud. Pieter Johannes van Rhijn served as president from 1932 to 1958. Composition The IAU has 9,785 individual members, all of whom are professional astronomers, most of whom hold PhDs; and 63 national members who represent countries affiliated with the IAU. 87% of individual members are male; 13% are female. The current President is Catherine J. Cesarsky. The sovereign body of the IAU is its General Assembly, which comprises all members. The Assembly determines IAU policy, approves the Statutes and By-Laws of the Union (and amendments proposed thereto) and elects various committees. The right to vote on matters brought before the Assembly varies according to the type of business under discussion. The Statutes consider such business to be divided into two categories: On budget matters (which fall into the second category), votes are weighted according to the relative subscription levels of the national members. A second category vote requires a turnout of at least two thirds of national members in order to be valid. An absolute majority is sufficient for approval in any vote, except for Statute revision which requires a two-thirds majority. An equality of votes is resolved by the vote of the President of the Union. The XXVIth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union was held from August 14 to August 25, 2006 in Prague, Czech Republic. On 15 August the Assembly decided to restore to individual members the right to vote on scientific matters, which had been removed from them at the XXVth Assembly in 2003. Among the business before the Assembly was a proposal to adopt a formal definition of ''planet''. The proposed definition would have created 12 known planets in our solar system, adding initially the asteroid Ceres, Pluto's present moon Charon and Eris and would retain Pluto as a planet. However this proposed definition was rejected and on August 24 the Assembly passed a resolution that redefined the definition of a planet, which classified Ceres, Eris and Pluto as dwarf planets, and reduced the number of planets in the solar system to 8. The number having registered their attendance at the Assembly at the time of the vote stood at 2411, but only 424 attended the plenary session, not all of whom voted. General Assemblies The IAU General Assembly meets every three years, with the exception of WWII. Past meetings include: 1 Held to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Nicholas Copernicus * See also Reference | ||||||||||
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