news and views 40 YEARS OF THE EPS:

VIEWS FROM PRESIDENTS ZICHICHI AND FRIEDEL >>> HISTORY

The 1979 EPS Conference in Geneva “It was the first time that EPS mem- During this year celebrating the 40th an- was the best proof that the exchange pro- bers, working in different branches of niversary of the EPS, Europhysics News gramme for scientific activities was effec- physics, had the opportunity to meet and publish a sequence on this event in each tively improving the situation. Let us not discuss large future projects. The interest in issue. In the first one, EPN 39/1, the arti- forget that it was ten more years to go be- this new EPS Seminar was such – and this cle of H. Kubbinga recalled the early fore the fall of the Berlin Wall. we could only find out after the Seminar years of the EPS. For the next issues, con- The second point is the establishment was over – that the forecast for the future tributions have been asked from several of the International Seminars on the “Eu- appears promising.” former Presidents of the EPS and will be ropean Great Projects”. This initiative cov- “Let us hope that an EPS forum can be es- published, possibly in the order of pres- ered four fields: (1) Sub-nuclear Physics; tablished where the status of all European idencies, together with some testimonies (2) Nuclear Fusion; (3) Astrophysics and Great Projects can be reviewed and dis- from other former EPS actors. In the pres- (4) Synchrotron Radiation. For the first cussed regularly.” ent 39/2 issue we have the great pleasure time, all these activities were brought to- In the picture below there is a view of to publish the reflections of former Pres- gether and, on March 1979 in Rome, the the Aula Magna “Pietro da Cortona” of idents A. Zichichi (1978-80, ) and European Great Projects were presented the famous Palazzo Barberini in Rome J. Friedel (1982-84, France) and discussed jointly, thanks to EPS. where the EPS conference was held. It is probably of interest to recall my opening remarks at this conference: The EPS during two “The future of physics research, up to difficult years (1978–1980) the year 2000, will clearly be based on the Antonino Zichichi (Italy) scientific choices we are making now. Com- EPS President (1978-1980), and the EPS pared with the recent past we have there- youngest founding member (1968) fore two basic points to consider. When I started my research activity in the fifties a During my period of presidency, there few physicists could do an experiment in a are a few points of the EPS activities year or so. The average number of people and the time needed to accomplish research which are worth remembering. ᭡ The Aula Magna “Pietro da Cortona” of The first one is the implementation of ac- work have both drastically increased since Palazzo Barberini. tions in order to soften the very difficult con- then. And this is not all. As mentioned ditions of Eastern physicists, dictated by the above, we are reaching the state where our ᭢ President A. Zichichi and EPS Executive Com- existence of the iron curtain. EPS succeeded decisions severely affect future generations mittee members meet with H.H. John Paul II during the March 1979 Conference in Rome in creating, for the first time, a “spirit” of re- of physicists. For example, a student, now ciprocal confidence between the East and in high school, will be a physicist with the the West. For the first time, research physi- right age to work with one of the facilities cists were allowed to spend some time in to be built in the four fields. He will be Western universities and research centres. working in collaboration with many other This was the result of our visits in Moscow, people. Yet the source of new ideas will al- Bucharest (Romania), East Berlin, Novosi- ways be a single person.” birsk (Siberia) and Budapest (Hungary). “The European Physical Society, whose members are physicists working in all fields ᭢ Pr. Antonino Zichichi of physics, and living all over Europe – from North to South, from East to West – was given the task of establishing a suitable The third point is the meeting of the forum where an important part of the fu- EPS Executive Council with H.H. John ture of physics could be presented and dis- Paul II, in the Vatican. This is the meet- cussed by the European community of ing where the Pope gave the speech cele- physicists. The members responded with en- brating as the father of thusiasm to the EPS proposal: 250 of them, modern Science, thus opening the doors actively engaged in these important areas of of the Catholic Church to Science. research, came to Rome to attend the EPS This played an invaluable role in erad- International Seminar, whose proceedings icating the danger of a Nuclear Holo- are the content of the present volume”. caust, and in confronting, through factual europhysicsnews number 2 • volume 39 • 9 s w e i v d n projects, the danger of an Environmental wonderful dream tried to forget about the a

s Holocaust in the undeclared war between existence and possible usefulness of Na- w the planet’s North (the rich) and South ••• tional Societies and the then very differ- e n ••• (the poor). The scientific community ent aspects of research in various could never have hoped to obtain such an European countries, notably in its organ- outstanding support for the implementa- ization in East and West. Many discus- tion of this extremely difficult task. sions had to take place before EPS was It is the EPS who had the cultural launched at CERN in 1968, on a com- courage to establish a close link with the promise between a Society of Individual Pope who, for the first time in the history Members and a Society of National Phys- of modern culture, has distinguished Sci- ical Societies. Representatives of both ence from Technology with his famous kinds of members were, from the start, statement: “Man could perish from the elected into the General Assembly; the effects of technology that he himself de- meetings and a small secretariat were velops, not from the truth that he discov- housed in Geneva Battelle Institute; and ers by means of scientific research”. This a complex but realistic compromise on ᭡ Pr. Jacques Friedel statement is forged in iron and displayed dues and membership to the Assembly, at the Foundation and obtained by the clear-sightedness and which I found congenial and stimulating Centre for Scientific Culture in Erice, a tenacity of people such as Francis Netter, under the Rudberg’s genial presidency. It Centre with has kept, during many brought life to the Society. was a good opportunity to learn and decades, a close collaboration with EPS. I did not take part in the preliminaries, judge the underlying strengths and ten- During the meeting the EPS Council but was sent as a delegate of the French sions in the Society, these last being more expressed its gratitude to John Paul II Physical Society to one of the first meet- between the smaller and larger countries who, with his strong cultural support, al- ings of the General Assembly, chaired by than between scientific domains or be- lowed EPS to be at the centre of the pub- the Director of CERN, my old friend tween East and West. The Committee lic opinion, worldwide, and gave it the Bernard Grégory. The Society had to be normally proposed new Presidents, and I opportunity to implement its task of en- organized; and we created specialized di- am rather proud of having successfully hancing physics research in all fields of visions, notably, with my help, a large proposed H. Casimir, who turned out to frontier Science. I Condensed Matter Division, including be one of our scientifically stimulating solids and liquids but also “soft matter”, stars as well as a famous physicist in in- already dear to Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, dustry. H. Casimir reported to me later The EPS as I knew it such as polymers and liquid crystals. on the low esteem into which his old Jacques Friedel (France) Being then engaged in renovating our master Pauli was placing such activities in President of the EPS, 1982-1984 “Journal de Physique”, I was quickly in- industry. But his knowledge and judge- cluded in a Publication Committee, cre- ments in recent developments of physics When envisaged at a meeting in Rome ated to implement an ambitious OCDE were deep and varied; and as a member of in the late 60’s, the European Physical So- plan to build a European Physics Journal an active group of European industrialists ciety looked like a dream, between the re- out of existing ones from Italy, England interested in research (EIRMA), he was membrance of a Europe of passport-free and the Netherlands. This did not please the first to push EPS in that direction. travel before the First World War and the the Germans or the French and left the During a General Assembly in Bucharest, post-war increasingly rigid separation be- Eastern Countries indifferent. The final he also did not hesitate to tell President tween East and West. This dream, the and much more modest decision was a Ceausescu to his face, at a large dinner, high-energy physicists were the first to mere labelling by EPS of a number of na- that his obstruction to free exchanges of have a taste of, by the creation of CERN, tional physical journals. Later efforts to scientists with the West was both shame- which united their efforts in the West and regroup some of them occurred after my ful and counterproductive. quickly developed working contacts with presidency, under the impulsion of peo- When elected to the Presidency of EPS the East. Fermi’s heritage pushed the Ital- ple like Philippe Nozières and Denis (1982), I found the Society in financial dif- ians to take an active part in this enter- Jérome. My last publication meeting oc- ficulties, owing to the reluctance of Eastern prise; and their new summer schools of curred in an overexcited Prague, just after countries and members to pay increasing physics, in Varenna and Trieste, to be fol- the “spring revolution”, when the people dues for an expanded secretariat aptly lowed by Erice, led them to the idea that loudly protested in all cafés in town ruled by G. Thomas. My predecessor had CERN should be the nucleus of a Euro- against the recent arrival of Russian tanks accepted the shift of the secretariat to pean Physical Society extending over the and the death of Jan Pallach. cheaper Budapest. While agreeing to part whole of Europe and replacing the Na- My next role in EPS was in the Exec- of this move, in a country which was then tional Societies in their role of stimulat- utive Committee, with repeated meet- trying to open itself to the West, I did not ing both research and teaching. This ings at EPS’s secretariat in Petit-Lancy, like to loose the insurance of stability of

10 • volume 39 • number 2 europhysicsnews news and views the Swiss franc as well as the stimulating Having been involved in the develop- Conference announcements proximity of CERN and of many other ment of synchrotron radiation in Orsay, I scientific and industrial research activities; was interested in the possible extension as An EPS/SFP Conference indeed I said that I would be equally a larger European source. I organized a The Conference on “Energy: A challenge against a move to France for the same rea- large EPS meeting in Copenhagen to pres- for 21st century physics” will be held in sons. The Assembly followed me because ent and discuss all the large experimental Les Houches, France, 2-6 June 2008. there was a financial alternative: working set ups in physics then planned or in con- >>>Website: www.sfpnet.fr within our connections from Ecole Poly- struction in Europe. The synchrotron ra- >>>E-mails: J.L. Bobin, [email protected] technique, Albert Messiah, an EPS indi- diation source was presented for the first or Thomas Hamacher, [email protected] vidual member, and myself had started time in some details; and, after more stud- enlisting the support for EPS of most large ies by the European Science Foundation X-08 French industrial firms, in exchange for a and inter-governmental agreements, it The “21st International Conference on X- membership that opened to them new Eu- found its way to Grenoble as ESRF. Of the Ray and inner shell process” will be held ropean connections. I was convinced that many other schemes, I especially remem- in Paris, France, 22-27 June 2008. It cov- similar successes could be obtained in ber a supercomputer just acquired by the ers a large field: astrophysics, atomic or other countries if we developed a real and British Meteorology Agency, planned to nuclear physics, plasma or solid state visible interest for applications, both in our predict local weather more accurately in physics, biophysics or chemical physics… Divisions and in a yearly general meeting space and time. Owing to the turbulent >>> Website: http://x08.spectro.jussieu.fr/ on Applied Physics as well as in more spe- nature of climate, this effort would, cialised discussions. Indeed I held in shortly after, be switched to more general EPAC’08 Bucharest a general meeting on energy, studies of the hothouse effect. The poten- The 11th European Particle Accelerator which, after the oil crisis, gave to many Eu- tial interest of the Copenhagen meeting Conference will be held in Genoa, Italy, ropean physicists a taste for solar energy. did not escape the Americans, and my 23-27 June 2008. This is the last of the se- This was also a rare occasion to meet a friend David Lazarus tried, too late, to ries. It will be replaced by an annual IPAC number of celebrated Russian physicists, have the American Physical Society in- series (International Particle Accelerator including old Kapitza, who did not leave cluded. But these contacts led to agree- Conferences) rotating every three years their country easily. Perhaps the renewed ments on common memberships of the from Asia (2010: Kyoto, Japan) to Europe feeling of an energy crisis will stimulate two Societies. Despite my efforts, similar (2011: Valencia, Spain) then America again European industry to renew interest agreements failed with the Japanese Phys- (2012: New-Orleans, USA). in long term research and EPS to take part ical Society, despite my good contacts with >>>Website: www.epac08.org in that move. But I should say that already a Society, which had celebrated its cente- at the end of my presidency, I could not nary in 1977, as the British and the DIAMOND 2008 prevent the secession of the opticians who, French ones had done two years before. The International Conference “Diamond under André Maréchal’s leadership, created For a new President of the East, I 2008” will be held in Sitges, Spain, 7-11 a European union of their own! If spe- wished to recommend a Russian physicist September 2008. It will review the latest cialised activities on teaching were a con- and more especially Youri Sharvine, a low scientific and technological aspects of stant preoccupation, my efforts to create a temperature experimentalist of Nobel po- vapour growth diamond, natural and Division of Biophysics were probably pre- tentialities whom I knew from a stay in synthetic diamond, and related materials mature and failed. Also our efforts to cre- Orsay and his activity in the EPS. I such as carbon nanotubes, diamond-like ate summer schools for countries of the thought it would be a show of strength of carbon and wide gap nitrides particularly south of Europe with help of UNESCO our Society to choose a representative of cubic boron nitride. and the equivalent of Gordon Conferences the largest and most scientifically active >>> Website: www.diamond-conference. as Europhysics meetings were, in the long country of Eastern Europe, but with a elsevier.com run, superseded by more local efforts. De- minimal representation and financial con- spite a secession of the liquid section, the tribution to EPS. These delegates, all from EL 2008 Condensed Matter Division has flourished, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and es- The “14th International Workshop on In- including after my presidency a meeting in pecially Sharvine, were keen to develop the organic and Organic Electrolumines- Pisa with a night long free-for-all discus- purely scientific contacts, which they cence” and the “2008 International sion of Müller’s recent results on cuprate found in EPS. Ursu, the flashier President Conference on the Science and Technol- superconductors! During my presidency, I of the Rumanian Physical Society, organ- ogy of Emissive Displays and Lighting” was able to convince Martin Peter to ask iser of the recent Bucharest meeting, was will be held from 9 to 12 September for the help of EPS to distribute a yearly preferred. The whole picture has changed: 2008 in the Grand Hotel Duca D’Este, prize created by Hewlett-Packard. Under Sharvine is now dead and most of his solid 00011 Bagni di Tivoli, Rome, Italy Casimir’s chairmanship, I took part in the state colleagues that we used to receive in >>> Website: www.EL2008.it two first juries, which would make this Paris are now dispersed through the world. >>>E-mail: [email protected] prize one of the paths to the Nobel. But I believe that the problem remains. I europhysicsnews number 2 • volume 39 • 11