Scientific and technological achievements
give a large competitive edge to any nation.
Nations pride themselves on having the
most efficient new technologies and race
to achieve new scientific discoveries. But
perhaps more important is the way that science
can bring nations together, encouraging
collaboration and creating a constant
flow and exchange of knowledge as
researchers travel around the globe to work
in international facilities.
Astronomy is particularly well suited to
international collaboration due to the need
to have telescopes in different places
around the world, in order to see the whole
sky. At least as far back as 1887 — when
astronomers from around the world pooled
their telescope images and made the first
map of the whole sky — there have been
international collaborations in astronomy
and in 1920, the IAU became the first international
scientific union.
In addition to the need to see the sky from
different vantage points on Earth, building
astronomical observatories on the
ground and in space is extremely expensive.
Therefore, most of the current and
planned observatories are owned by several
nations. All of these collaborations
have thus far been peaceful and successful.
Some of the most notable being: