International meeting organized by the Groupe d’histoire de la chimie, supported by the CNRS and the SCF

The IUPAC will celebrate its centennial in July 2019. On this occasion, the great steps of its existence will be reminded, and to that aim, it is customary to draw on historical material, and also on the actors who witnessed the activity of this international body.

Writing this history is a complex, and multifaceted and long-winded work. The length of the chronological period, the ambition to cover the whole of the world, and the scope of its diversified interests, complicate this project, if we are to understand the reasons of its long-term subsistence, its actions, and its outcomes, without forgetting the men and women who devoted a great part of their life to this organisation.

At the request of IUPAC, Roger Fennell published a History of IUPAC in 1994, soon after to be completed by Stanley Brown in 2001. This work is in that respect the first reference to be consulted to gain a general overview on the first eighty years of IUPAC. Some contributions on specific topics, displaying a historical perspective, were regularly published in some periodicals, principally in the magazine of the IUPAC, Chemistry International, or in the Journal Pure and Applied Chemistry. While the Union’s archives can be explored at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia <www.sciencehistory.org>, few historians of science however have shown interest in this international organization to this day.

The coming celebration is thus the occasion to devote a substantial amount of time in studying this scientific Union. It will be the aim of a panel of specialists and actors reunited in Paris, on 16 November 2018.

This opened symposium will be the opportunity to present the first studies on IUPAC, the scientific and general international context surrounding the Union, and invite in the chemists who are celebrating the centennial of their scientific union.

With the participation of R. Brashear (USA), M. Chastrette (France), R. Fox (United Kingdom), Y. Kikuchi (Japan), Y. Jeannin (France), J. Leigh (United Kingdom), R. Marquardt (France), N. Moreau (France), C. Reinhardt (Germany), J. Smit (The Netherlands), E. Zaitseva (Russia), and by video: F. Meyers (USA), E. Hepler- Smith (USA), A.E. Robinson (USA) …

Organizers :
Danielle Fauque (danielle.fauque@u-psud.fr),
Brigitte Van Tiggelen (vantiggelen@memosciences.be)

No fees but it is necessary to register —