The First Three Polar Years – A General Overview -- The International Polar Year 1882–1883 -- The Expeditions of the First International Polar Year -- An Evaluation of the Achievements of the First International Polar Year -- International Cooperation in Antarctica 1901–1904 -- The Second International Polar Year 1932–1933 -- Some IPY-2 Histories -- Achievements of the Second International Polar Year -- Origins of the International Geophysical Year -- The IPY-3: The International Geophysical Year (1957–1958) -- The Achievements of the IGY -- Side-Effects and Traces of the Early IPYs -- International Meteorological and Magnetic Co-operations in Polar Regions -- Why Do We Have a 4th IPY?.

Although international scientific cooperation - particularly in meteorology - was established previous to the first International Polar Year, the IPY-1 (1882-83) is considered to be the first revolutionary step towards an extensive international cooperation in the polar areas for the benefit of science rather than national prestige and territorial gain. This was followed by IPY-2 (1932-33) and IPY-3 - actually the International Geophysical Year (1957-58) - before the crowning effort of IPY-4 (2007-08). The history of these years is recounted here and explains the political, economic, technical and scientific conditions and expectations that laid the basis for each IPY and which gradually expanded both the scope and extent of our understanding of the complexities in polar regions.