International Astronomical Union
association of professional astronomers
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; French: Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and development through global cooperation. It was founded on 28 July 1919 in Brussels, Belgium, and is based in Paris, France.
The IAU is composed of individual members, who include both professional astronomers and junior scientists, and national members, such as professional associations, national societies, or academic institutions. Individual members are organised into divisions, committees, and working groups centered on particular subdisciplines, subjects, or initiatives. As of May 2024, the Union had 85 national members and 12,734 individual members, spanning 90 countries and territories.
Among the key activities of the IAU is serving as a forum for scientific conferences. It sponsors nine annual symposia and holds a triannual General Assembly that sets policy and includes various scientific meetings. The Union is best known for being the leading authority in assigning official names and designations to astronomical objects, and for setting uniform definitions for astronomical principles. It also coordinates with national and international partners, such as UNESCO, to fulfill its mission.
The IAU is a member of the International Science Council, which is composed of international scholarly and scientific institutions and national academies of sciences.
“International Astronomical Union” enters the record as association of professional astronomers. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what International, Astronomical and Union can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “International Astronomical Union” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.