Weber, Jacques

English

CHIMIA

229C'HIMIA 50 (1996) Nr. 6 (Julli)ITOA Major Event for Swiss Chemistry:Geneva is Going to Host Both the 36th IUPAC Congressand 39th IUPAC General Assembly in August 1997!**Jacques Weber*Introductionthat the NSCS would act as the organizer of future IUPAC eventsin Switzerland. Time was short for the preparation of the Swisscandidature for 1999, and the NSCS Committee decided toproceed with a preliminary proposal to organize the events inGeneva. Consequently, the NSCS Committee asked the author ofthese lines to prepare the candidature files required by IUPAC forboth events. This was done in March 1995, right after the visit toGeneva of several members of the Oxford IUPAC Secretariat,who found adequate both the venues chosen for the events andthe conditions of accommodation. At practically the same time,the NSCS Committee appointed as follows our OrganizingCommittee for both IUPAC events:In May 1995, this Organizing Committee was informed that,due to severe problems related to the organization of the 39thGeneral Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 1997, IUPAChad decidedto attribute it to Geneva. The same decision was taken in July1995 for the 36th IUPAC Congress, and both the NSCS Commit-tee and the Organizing Committee were then faced with theunexpected task to organize the events in 1997, i.e., two yearsearlier than previously planned. Time was shorter than ever and,thanks to the rapid acceptation of Prof. F. Diederich to act aschairman, a Scientific Committee and an International AdvisoryCommittee were set up as follows, their most urgent task beingto prepare a high-level scientific programme for the 36th IUPACCongress:It has already a long story, but the event is still more than oneyear ahead! Ever since its foundation in 1992, the SectionChemical Research (SCR) of the New Swiss Chemical Society(NSCS) had the intention of organizing in Switzerland a largeevent, so as to promote the image of Swiss chemistry by attract-ing a large number of participants to an international conferencewith the highest scientific level. To this end, the SCR Committeehas approached several times in 1993 and 1994 Prof. T. Kaden,the chairman of the late Swiss Committee for Chemistry, toinquire about possible opportunities in this direction. By end1994, the SCR Committee was informed that the next free dateto organize an important event such as the IUPAC (InternationalUnion of Pure and Applied Chemistry) Congress was 1999, asthe 35th Congress was scheduled for 1995 in Istanbul and the36th one for 1997 in Rio de Janeiro. In addition, according to adecision of the Executive Committee of IUPAC, both IUPACCongress and General Assembly, which were organized previ-ously every second year in different countries, should be heldstarting 1997 in the same country, back-to-back, with the Con-gress first. This automatically meant that the Swiss candidaturefor 1999 should be prepared in such a way as to plan theorganization of both events.Early 1995, the SCR Committee informed the NSCS Com-mittee of the situation and of its intention to organize the IUPACevents in Switzerland, possibly in Geneva, in 1999. It immediate-ly appeared that this organization would be such a big task (andadventure ... ) that the NSCS itself should be in charge of it, andnot the SCR alone. In addition, after the disappearing of the SwissCommittee for Chemistry, the NSCS is in charge of representingthe community of Swiss chemists in IUPAC, and it was natural**Consult the IUPAC Congress page on the webhttp://www.unige.ch/sciences/chimie/IUPAC/IUPAC.htm I*Correspondence: Prof. J. WeberChairman of the Organizing Committee of the 36th IUPAC CongressDepartment of Physical ChemistryUniversity of Geneva30, Quai Emest-AnsermetCH-1211 Geneve4Jacques Weber (chairman)Roland Darms (treasurer)Nathalie Girard (secretary)Fran(:ois DiederichThomas A. KadenEmilio KyburzPaul MullerPierre NordhoffHans-Luzius SentiRoland WengerH. Michael WidmerAlexander von ZelewskyUniversity of GenevaNew Swiss Chemical SocietyUniversity of GenevaSwiss Federal Institute of Tech-nology ZurichUniversity of BaselNew Swiss Chemical SocietyUniversity of GenevaUniversity of GenevaFirrnenich GenevaSandoz Pharma BaselCiba BaselUniversity of Fribourg230CHIMIA 50 (1996) NT.fill"nilInternational Advisory CommitteeCongress Scientific CommitteeFranrois Diederich (chairman)E. Peter Kiind(r:Christian LeumannAndre E. MerhachPaul MiillerFerdinand NaefMartin QuackJacques WeherRoland WengerH. Michael WidmerAlexander von ZelewskyW. Arher, SwitzerlandJ.-E. Biickvall, SwedenA. Baiker, SwitzerlandD. Bellus, SwitzerlandR. Breslow, USAR.R. Ernst, SwitzerlandH. Iwamura, JapanJ. }ortner, IsraelI. Karube, JapanJ.-M. Lehn. FranceSwiss Federal InstituteTechnology ZurichUniversity of GenevaUniversity of BernUniversity of LausanneUniversity of GenevaFirmenich GenevaSwiss Federal InstituteTechnology ZurichUniversity of GenevaSandoz Pharma BaselCiba BaselUniversity of FribourgJ. Lewis, United KingdomG. Modena, ItalyO.M. Nefedov, RussiaIF. Normant, FranceM. T. Reetz, GermanyJ. Roeraade, SwedenH. Rohrer, SwitzerlandA. Sargeson, AustraliaU. W. Suter, SwitzerlandY. Yamada, JapanHandbook 1994-1995 (Blackwell, Oxford, 1994) is a must forall the curious minds in this respect. However, we found it usefulof to briefly summarize some relevant information about lUPACand previous IUPAC Congresses and General Assemblies, inorder to emphasize the importance for Switzerland and for Swisschemistry of the forthcoming 1997 events.Formed in 1919, IUPAC is a voluntary, non-governmental,non-profit association of organizations known as national adher-ing organizations (NAOs). A NAO represents the chemists of aof member country.IUPAC has over 40 NAOs. Twe]ve other countries, knownas Observer Countries, are also linked to IUPAC.IUPAC is the recognized world authority on chemical no-menclature, terminology, symbols, units, atomic weights, andrelated topics. IUPAC provides advice on chemical matters tointernational agencies such as the World Health Organization(WHO), UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), UnitedNations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO), International Organisation for Standardization (ISO),and Organisation Internationale de Metrologie Legale (OIML).Divisions and CommissionsSome 1500 chemists throughout the world are engaged in thescientific work of IUPAC on a voluntary basis. These chemistswork in IUPAC's committees and commissions. IUPAC has 32commissions, which are grouped into the following seven divi-sIOns:We are today about half-way on the long road of organizingthese two IUPAC events, which will take place in Geneva on thefollowing dates:36th IUPAC Congress, August 17-22, 199739th IUPAC General Assembly, August 23-30, 1997.For both events, a Professional Congress Organizer, AKM,located both in Geneva and Basel, has been selected and contract-ed to be in charge of a great deal of the practical organization.It is therefore the proper time to describe here the presentsituation as far as the organization of both events is concernedand, in particular, to extend a warm invitation to all the membersof the NSCS to participate in the 36th IUPAC Congress. Actual-]y, the purpose of these lines is to develop somewhat the contentof the First Circular of the 36th IUPAC Congress, which is justnow being widely distributed among the international communi-ty of chemists, and to present the 39th General Assembly.About IUPAC and Previous IUPAC Congresses andGeneral AssembliesThe point is not here to describe at length what IUPAC is andwhat are its main achievements and projects. The interestedreader may consult to this end the issue 1/2 of CHI MIA 1996, 50,38, which presents an interview of our Swiss colleague Prof. A.Fi.l'chli, the present IUPAC chairman. In addition, the IUPACI Physical V Ana]yticalII Inorganic VI AppliedIII Organic VII ClinicalIV MacromolecularEach division has several commissions. For example, thePhysical Chemistry Division has commissions on spectroscopy,electrochemistry and symbols; whilst the Applied ChemistryDivision has commissions on food chemistry and atmosphericchemistry etc. The commission members elect a division com-mittee which regulates the affairs of the division. Commissionmembers may be 'titular' or 'associate'. The Union makespayment towards the travel and subsistence costs of titularmembers, but not associate members, to attend commissionmeetings or general assemblies. In due course associate mem-bers frequently become titular members.lUPAC ObjectivesIUPAC has four major objectives:to promote continuing co-operation among the chemists ofthe member countries;to study topics of international importance to pure andapplied chemistry which need regulation, standardization, orcodification;231CHIMIA 50tIQ%) NI'. (, (JullilFig. ]. The large confer-ence room (j 740 seats) ofthe International CO/!fer-ence Centre of Genevato co-operate with other international organizations whichdeal with topics of a chemical nature;to contribute to the advancement of pure and applied chem-istry in all its aspects.IUPAC Congresses30th31st32nd33rd34th35thManchester (UK)Sofia (Bulgaria)Stockholm (Sweden)Budapest (Hungary)Beijing (China)Istai1bul (Turkey)198519871989199119931995The biennial Congresses of IUPAC have been set up toconstitute an outstanding forum for the presentation of moderntrends and frontiers of chemical research. The first one wasorganized in Brussels in 1894, under the auspices of the Interna-tional Association of Chemical Societies, the last ones havingtaken place on the following sites:28th29thVancouver (Canada)Cologne (FRG)19811983The IUPAC COllgress was held once before in Switzerland(ZUrich, i955). The average attendance at these Congresses isroughly 1500 participants, with a peek over 2000 in Stockholm.These COllgresses are in principle not financially supportedby IUPAC; in addition, the organizers had until recently somefreedom in defining the scope and topics of the scientific pro-gram. However, due to the fact that the scientific program ofsome of these Congresses was too broad and consequently notsufficiently focused on important specific topics, the IUPAC hasrecently edicted some guidelines. Namely, the lUPAC Congress232C1IlMIA 50(\996) Nr. 6 (lunj)The IUPAC events to Be Held in Geneva, 19971. 36th IUPAC Congress, Geneva, August 17-22,1997The general theme of the Congress, as defined by theScientific Committee, is Frontiers in Chemistry, New Perspec-The lUPAC GAs were held three times before in Switzerland(Lucerne/Zurich, 1936; Zurich, 1955; Davos, 1979). The aver-age attendance at these GAs is 600-700 participants, the majorproblem being that the meeting of all the lUPAC bodies mayrequire the simultaneous use of up to 50 seminar rooms on thesame site!The whole scientific program of the GA is prepared byIUPAC itself, the local organizers being in charge of the accom-modation, administrative secretariat, meeting rooms, social pro-gram and financing. Indeed, as far as the latter point is concerned,the rule is that the host country finances the GA, the lUPACmaking a financial contribution towards the subsistence andtravel expenses of its titular members.19811983198519871989199119931995Leuven (Belgium)Lyngby (Denmark)Lyon (France)Boston (USA)Lund (Sweden)Hamburg (FRG)Lisbon (Portugal)Guilford (UK)31st32nd33rd34th35th36th37th38thI. To present the most outstanding relevant developments inmodern chemistry2. To inspire high standards of excellence in pure and appliedchemistry research3. To attract outstanding scientists to present central lectures onmodern chemical research4. To inspire the young generation of chemists in developedand developing countries.The lUPAC General Assembly (GA) has little in commonwith a scientific conference or congress. It is indeed not open forgeneral participation but restricted to members oflUPAC bodiesthat meet on this occasion. This is the case for practically all theIUPAC committees and commissions, which meet during thefirst half of the GA, followed by the meeting of the lUPACCouncil.The first lUPAC GA was organized in Rome in 1920, the lastones having taken place on the following sites:IUPAC General AssemblyIn addition, the lUPAC recommends to launch the scientificprogram for the Congress under the name Frontiers in Chemis-try, by focusing on interdisciplinary topics. As we shall seebelow, the Scientific Committee of the 36th lUPAC Congresshas closely followed these guidelines.should constitute a central international event in the world ofchemical research, fulfilling the following goals:Fig. 2. The Uni MailBuilding of the Uni-versity of Geneva.seen from BoulevardCarl-Vogl233C1I1MIA 5/1 (1')')oJ Nr. 0 (JUIli)Fig. 3. The Sciences /I Building of the University of Genevaorganized. The detailed program will be presented in theSecond Circular.The list of plenary and keynote lecturers who have acceptedthe invitation is truly impressive and will certainly lay thefoundation for a highly successful meeting, of a very highinternational standard, and a unique demonstration of the strengthof chemical sciences, research and technology, in the broadestsense. Indeed, the following eminent scientist have accepted topresent:tivesfor the 2000s. Indeed, the aim of the organizers is to bringtogether distinguished experts not only to present their work butto discuss the major scientific and technological challengesfacing chemistry in the next millennium.The Scientific Committee has selected the following inter-disciplinary themes that will provide a framework for lecturesand discussions:Advanced MaterialsCatalysis and Synthetic MethodsMolecular Properties and Reaction PathwaysMedicinal Chemistry and Combinatorial ChemistrySupramolecular Chemistry and Biomolecular RecognitionAdvances in Computational Chemistry.These themes will be presented concurrently in five parallelsessions in the traditional fields of Organic Chemistry, InorganicChemistry, Physical and Technical Chemistry, Analytical Chem-istry and Nanosciences, Chemistry and Biology.Each theme will be treated in one parallel session only atthe same time over each day, which will allow the partici-pants to attend all the lectures devoted to a particular theme.The conference program will include 9 plenary lectures (60min), then, shared among the parallel sessions, 40 keynotelectures (50 min), 60 invited lectures (30 min) and 85 oralcontributions (15 min). In addition, 3 poster sessions will bePlenary Lectures:G. Balavoine, FranceP.1. Crutzen, GermanyG. Ertl, GermanyO. Kahn, FranceJ. Niiesch, SwitzerlandKeynote Lectures:L. Addadi, IsraelJ.K. Barton, USAH. U. Blaser, SwitzerlandH.-H. Brintzinger, GermanyG.R. Desiraju, IndiaD.A. Evans, USAD. Seebach, SwitzerlandP.G. Schultz, USAC. Weissmann, SwitzerlandR.N. Zare, USAG. Fleming, USAC. Floriani, SwitzerlandH. Gaub, GermanyJ.A. Gladysz, USAR.H. Grubbs, USAD. Hilvert, USAIUPAC '97c/o AKM Congress ServiceP.O. Box 37CH-1218 Le Grand Saconnex, SwitzerlandFax: +41 22761 1662The Congress is going to be held at the Centre Internationalde Conferences de Geneve (CICG), 15-17 Rue de Varembe,1211 Geneva 20, which is ideally equipped with conferencerooms of different sizes seating up to 1740 persons (Fig. 1). Anexhibition by scientific companies (books and journals publish-ers, chemical instrumentation, computer hardware and softwarein chemistry, etc.) will also be organized at the CICG.The registration fee for the Congress will be CHF 500.- forregular participants and CHF 200.- for students. It is anticipatedthat some bursaries will be available to help young students andEastern Europe participants to attend the Congress. A choice ofaccommodations at various price categories will be available inGeneva and may be reserved at time of registration. A programfor accompanying persons, together with pre-and post-confer-ence tours will be organized.Further information and the Second Circular, to be mailed inSeptember 1996, may be obtained by writing to the Congresssecretariat:M. Hirama, JapanC. Khosla, USAW. Lindner, AustriaS.J. Lippard, USAS. Mann, United KingdomA. Manz, United KingdomB.H. Meier, NetherlandsK. Miiller, SwitzerlandM. Parrinello, GermanyM. Prato, ItalyK.N. Raymond, USAJ. Rebek, Jr., USAF.E. Regnier, USAR. Robson, Australiai.-P. Sauvage, FranceH.F. Schaefer, USAH. Schwarz, GermanyJ.F. Stoddart, United KingdomJ. Troe, GermanyM. Uhlen, SwedenW. van Gunsteren, SwitzerlandG.L. Verdine, USAH. Waldmann, GermanyD. Wemmer, USAA.F. Williams, SwitzerlandG. Whitesides, USAH. Yamamoto, JapanK.l. Zamaraev, Russia234CIlIMIA 511( 1996) Nr. 6 (lun;)of the scientific program should be able to convince manychemists from Switzerland and abroad to patticipate. The organ-izers expect that most Swiss chemists, both from industry andacademia, will attend the Congress. Students and young chemistsare particularly welcome to submit an abstract for an oralcontribution or a poster which would allow them to present theirresults to a wide international audience.2. 39th IUPAC General Assembly,Geneva, August 23-30,1997The 39th IUPAC GA will be organized immediately after theCongress, in order to allow participants to attend both events. Asmentioned above, a major problem for the organizers was to finda venue with 50 seminar rooms of various capacities (typically10-30 seats). In view of this constraint, it rapidly appeared thatthe University of Geneva was an ideal location for the GA,specially as the modern Uni Mail Building (Fig. 2) offers verygood facilities ofthat sort. Both Sciences II (Fig. 3) and Uni MailBuildings will therefore share the venue of the GA, with 26meeting rooms reserved in the first facility and 24 in the secondone. These buildings lie quite close to one another, at a ] O-minwalking distance, which should not be a problem for the dele-gates. In addition, both buildings are modern with large openspaces, ample photocopying capacity, and availability of compu-ter rooms and cafeterias.Undoubtedly, though the local organizers do not have theburden of undertaking the preparation of the scientific program,the preparation of the GA is a matter of concern, as many points(maintenance of the seminar rooms, secretariat, registrationdesk, stafffor taking care offaxes, photocopies, computers, etc.)have to be carefully considered and, for financial reasons, theinvolvement of AKM is smaller for the GA. However, theorganizers are convinced that the competence and enthusiasm ofthe volunteers (students, staff of the Section of Chemistry of theUniversity of Geneva), who have already accepted to work in thecontext of the GA, will allow to overcome all the difficulties andto lead to a successful 39th IUPAC General Assembly.The important dates to keep in mind are the following:Mailing Second CircularSeptember 15, 1996Submission of abstractsFebruary 28, 1997Notification of acceptanceApril 30, 1997Deadline early registrationMay 15, 1997The Organizing Committee is convinced that it is a greathonor for Switzerland to host this prestigious Congress, whichprobably represents one of the most important events in Swisschemistry of the next ten years. In addition, the very high levelConclusionsThe organization of both 36th IUPAC Congress and 39thIUPAC General Assembly in Geneva represents beyond anydoubt a major event for Swiss chemjstry. Both the NSCS Com-mittee and the Organizing Committee of these events expect thatSwiss chemists will be enthusiastic in participating in the Con-gress, the high scientific level of which should have a positiveimpact on their education or continuous formation in chemistry.As far as sponsorship is concerned, the first responses from Swisschemical industries and national institutions is encouraging,which shows that the importance of the events is not discussed.The organjzers therefore expect to be able to present in furtherissues of CHIMIA more good news about the 1997 IUPACevents taking place in Geneva.

A Major Event for Swiss Chemistry: Geneva is Going to Host Both the 36th IUPAC Congress and 39th IUPAC General Assembly in August 1997! Editorial

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A Major Event for Swiss Chemistry: Geneva is Going to Host Both the 36th IUPAC Congress and 39th IUPAC General Assembly in August 1997! Editorial

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