The International Union of Radio Science (abbreviated URSI, after its French name, Union radio-scientifique internationale) is one of 26 international scientific unions affiliated to the International Council for Science (ICSU), devoted to radio science.
History and objectives URSI was officially created in 1919, during the Constitutive Assembly of the International Research Council (now ICSU), based on the earlier French: Commission Internationale de Telegraphie sans Fil (1913–1914) when the only radio communication system was radiotelegraphy. It has held a general assembly every three years from 1922. Fifty years ago URSI was one of the most important promoters of the International Geophysical Year. In addition to publishing the open access journal URSI Radio Science Letters, it sponsors the journals Advances in Radio Science, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, and Radio Science, last of which is co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union. URSI's original objective (to encourage "scientific studies of radiotelegraphy, especially those which require international cooperation") has been broadened to include all radio science, from telecommunications to radio astronomy, acquisition of radar information about distant passive objects, studies of the radiation stimulated or spontaneously emitted by these objects, biological effects of electromagnetic radiation and active modification of objects by radio waves, within the spectrum from extremely low frequency to the optical domain.
Commissions Commission A: Electromagnetic Metrology Commission B: Fields and Waves Commission C: Radiocommunication Systems and Signal Processing Commission D: Electronics and Photonics Commission E: Electromagnetic Environment and Interference Commission F: Wave Propagation and Remote Sensing Commission G: Ionospheric Radio and Propagation Commission H: Waves in Plasmas Commission J: Radio Astronomy Commission K: Electromagnetics in Biology and Medicine A few Commissions are engaged with international projects in cooperation with other international bodies, for example with the Committee on Space Research in the project International Reference Ionosphere.
Individual membership The URSI includes different individual membership grades:
Corresponding member (CURSI) Senior member, awarded to members who have a PhD, 10+ publications, and a history of involvement with the URSI Fellow, by invitation or by winning a URSI senior prize
See also Outline of radio science
References
External links Official website United States National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science