Commission 41: History of astronomy: triennial report, International Astronomical Union

Commission 41 was created at the VIIth IAU General Assembly in Zurich in 1948. From an inauspicious start—Otto Neugebauer was appointed the first President in his absence, but proceeded to express his conviction that "an international organization in the history of astronomy has no positive function. . .my only activity during my term of service consisted in iterated attempts to resign"—the Commission quickly assumed a key role in the international development of the history of astronomy as an academic discipline.