The Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language () was a body of academics convened in the early part of the 1900s (decade) to decide on the issue of which international auxiliary language should be chosen for international use. The ultimate decision of the committee charged by the Delegation was to adopt the Esperanto language, but with certain reforms. The result became a distinct language known as Ido. Creation The Delegation was founded in 1901 by French academics Louis Couturat and Léopold Leau, who had noted the language difficulties arising among international bodies convening during the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. Working with European esperantists, they gathered support for the Delegation from professional societies, companies, and universities. Among the chief aims of the Delegation were to select a language to be taught alongside "natural languages" and allow written and spoken communication in an international environment. Three conditions were laid out for the language to be chosen: It must be capable of serving the needs of science, in addition to everyday life, commerce and general communication, It must be able to be easily learned by all people of average education, and especially those of the civilized nations of Europe, and It must not be a living language. In June 1907, the Delegation convened and refused to decide the ultimate issue, but rather, at Couturat's insistence, created a committee to make the decision. The Committee The Delegation Committee arranged to meet in Paris starting on the 15th of October 1907. Supporters of Esperanto, including its author L. L. Zamenhof, warned Couturat that the committee had no authority to impose an international language, but they had received assurances from Couturat that Esperanto would be chosen anyway. The members of the Committee were: Manuel Barrios, President of the Peruvian Senate Jan Baudouin de Courtenay, Professor of Linguistics, University of St. Petersburg Émile Boirac, University of Dijon, author and Esperanto supporter known for the phrase déjà vu Charles Jacques Bouchard, Professor, Paris College of Medicine Loránd Eötvös, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Wilhelm Förster, President of the International Committee for Weights and Measures Col. George Harvey, Esperanto supporter and editor of the North American Review Otto Jespersen, philologist, University of Copenhagen Spyridon Lambros, University of Athens Constantin Le Paige, University of Liege Wilhelm Ostwald, University of Leipzig, future Nobel Prize winner (chemistry) Hugo Schuchardt, University of Graz. The committee heard from representatives of language