The International Union of Radio Science URSI (Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale) was founded in 1919 in the early days of radiotelegraphy. Since that time, radio science has matured to encompass ten radio science fields including waves in plasma, radio astronomy or medical applications of electromagnetic waves.
Czech and Slovak radio scientists represented by the Czechoslovak National Committee of URSI joined the international union in 1948. The newly established committee was organizationally incorporated under the Czechoslovak National Research Council from 1948 to 1953. In 1953, the newly established Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences took over the responsibility for all national committees originally supported by the Czechoslovak National Research Council, including the Czechoslovak National Committee of URSI.
After January 1, 1993, when Czechoslovakia split into two independent states, Czechia and Slovakia, the Czechoslovak National Committee of URSI worked another seven years as a common committee for both countries (Czech and Slovak National Committee of URSI). Independent committees of the two countries were set up only in 1999. The Czech National Committee of URSI was supported by the Czech Academy of Sciences up to the end of 2017 when the support was terminated due to changes in the Czech national legislation. The Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences legally took over the agenda of the Czech National Committee of URSI in 2017.
The Czech National Committee of URSI is composed of scientists from Czech academic institutions. The committee represents Czechia in the Council of URSI and in ten scientific commissions of URSI, which address different topics of interest in radio science.