Report from IUPAC-Sponsored
Symposium
16th IUPAC Conference on Chemical Thermodynamics
(ICCT-2000), 6-11 August 2000, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
> Back to Calendar
Chemical
Thermodynamics website
Often, chemical thermodynamics is seen as an out-of-date branch
of science that found its completion long ago. The inaccuracy of
that statement was demonstrated at this vigorous conference in Halifax,
Nova Scotia. Beginning with the kilted bagpiper greeting the conferees
as they entered the first morning, 462 enthusiastic delegates (including
85 students) and an additional 10 exhibitors and 111 accompanying
persons enjoyed both challenging developments in modern thermodynamics
and traditional Maritime hospitality. The overall participation
at the conference was 78% from academia, 14% from industry, and
8% from government. Participants came from 40 countries (64 from
Canada, 120 from elsewhere in North America, 9 from Central and
South America, 150 from Europe, 95 from Asia, 5 from Australia and
New Zealand, 11 from Africa, and 8 from the Middle East); the United
States had the most participants.
The conference, held at Dalhousie University concurrently with
the 55th Calorimetry Conference and the 10th Symposium
on Thermodynamics of Nuclear Materials, included 6 plenary lectures
[by Prof. Kenneth Marsh, Christchurch, New Zealand (role of reference
materials); Prof. Urs von Stockar, Lausanne, Switzerland (driving
force for microbial growth–enthalpy- as well as entropy-driven);
Prof. John Prausnitz, Berkeley, California, USA (thermodynamics
of structured fluids); Prof. Helmut Schwarz, Germany; Michio Yamawaki,
Japan; and Frank DiSalvo, USA] and 4 award lectures [Rossini Award
(highest international award in chemical thermodynamics), Prof.
William Wakeham, London, England, UK (accurate measurements of transport
properties of molten metals); Stig Sunner Memorial Award for young
outstanding researchers, Prof. Svein Stølen, Oslo, Norway
(temperature superconductors and conductor ceramics); Prof. Akira
Inaba, Japan; and Hugh M. Huffman Memorial Award of the Calorimetry
Conference, Prof. Alexandra Navrotsky, Davis, California, USA (refractory
oxides and nitrides)].
In all, there were 16 symposia, covering the following categories:
connections between theory and experiment, thermodynamics of materials
(6 symposia: battery materials, molecular materials, in honor of
P. A. G. O’Hare, pharmaceutical materials, superconductors,
and other materials including polymers), nuclear materials, biological
thermodynamics, standards (in honor of the 100th anniversary of
the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg,
Maryland, USA), fluids and fluid mixtures (4 symposia: fluids and
solutions under extreme conditions, organized systems and interfaces,
fluid-phase equilibria, and other aspects of fluids), other aspects
of chemical thermodynamics, and new approaches to thermodynamics
education. The education symposium was a new venture for this conference,
and it attracted a number of interesting talks concerning lecture
demonstrations, as well as posters describing undergraduate laboratory
experiments.
In addition, there was a preconference one-day short course on
thermoanalytical techniques. In total, there were 527 papers–319
as oral presentations and 208 as poster papers. Based on the number
of papers, this conference seems to have been the largest thermodynamics
meeting ever held in North America, and almost tied for the largest
worldwide (Osaka in 1996 had 529 accepted papers and also more participants).
That the meetings taking place in conjunction with ICCT-2000 included
the IUPAC Commission on Thermodynamics (I.2; see summary
of minutes), the Advisory Board of the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics,
the Board and Members of the Calorimetry Conference, as well as
the workshop on thermoanalytical techniques and a meeting of young
thermodynamicists, clearly demonstrates the importance of such a
scientific conference as the focal point for a number of international
spinoff activities.
We are grateful to the following exhibitors and other sponsors
for their support:
3M Canada (support for materials
symposium);
Abbott Laboratories (support for
pharmaceutical materials symposium);
Academic Press (exhibitor and donor
of door prizes);
AEA Technology (exhibitor);
Allied Chemical Technologies (exhibitor);
American Chemical Society (exhibitor);
Arthur D. Little, Inc. (exhibitor
and donor of door prizes);
Atlantic Provinces Council on the
Sciences;
Atomic Energy Canada, Ltd. (support
for symposium on thermodynamics of nuclear materials);
Bank of Nova Scotia;
Begell House, Inc. Publishers (exhibitor
and donor of door prizes);
B&K Publishing;
Brigham Young University, Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry (sponsor of James J. Christensen Memorial
Award);
BYU DIPPR Thermophysical Properties
Laboratory (exhibitor);
Canadian Society for Chemistry;
Calorimetry Sciences Corporation
(exhibitor and sponsor of Hugh M. Huffman Memorial Award);
Clearwater Lobster Shops (donor
of door prizes);
Dalhousie University (sponsor for
reception at Monday poster session);
Dalhousie University, Department
of Chemistry; Department of Tourism and Culture, Province of Nova
Scotia;
Diagnostic Chemicals;
D. B. Robinson & Associates,
Ltd (support for symposium on fluids and fluid mixtures);
Dow Chemical Company (sponsor of
Giauque Student Travel Awards);
Educational Innovations, Inc.;
Eli Lilly Canada, Inc. (support
for symposia on pharmaceutical materials and biothermodynamics);
Greater Halifax
Conventions & Meetings Bureau;
Halifax Regional Municipality;
IUPAC (sponsor of Rossini Award
Lecture and donor of door prize);
Kluwer Academic Publishers (donor
of door prizes);
Lord Nelson Hotel;
Materials Chemistry Division of
the Canadian Society for Chemistry (support for symposium on materials);
Mathis Instruments, Ltd. (exhibitor
and cosponsor of conference bags);
National Institute of Standards
and Technology (support for symposia on biothermodynamics, on connections
between theory and experiment, and on standards);
National Research Council of Canada
(sponsor of James A. Morrison Memorial Lecture);
NIST Standard Reference Data (exhibitor);
Nova Scotian Institute of Science;
Ontario Power Generation (support
for symposium on thermodynamics of nuclear materials);
Oxford University Press (donor of
door prizes);
Perkin Elmer, Inc. (exhibitor and
cosponsor of conference bags);
Pharmacia Corp. (support for symposia
on biothermodynamics and pharmaceutical materials);
Pinter Consulting Services (exhibitor);
Physical and Theoretical Division
of the Canadian Society for Chemistry (support for symposium on
connections between theory and experiment);
Prince George Hotel;
Sepracor (support for symposium
on pharmaceutical materials);
Setaram (exhibitor and sponsor of
Sunday evening reception);
Thermal Hazard Technology (exhibitor);and
Thermometric AB (sponsor of Stig
Sunner Memorial Award).
In addition to the scientific program, there was an active social
program, including a welcoming reception on Sunday evening, a concert
of Nova Scotian folk music on Monday evening, and a bus tour of
Halifax and Peggy’s Cove on Wednesday afternoon, finishing
with a tour of the Citadel fortress. The program for accompanying
persons also included a double-decker bus tour of Halifax, a visit
to Canada’s oldest brewery, and tours of the Maritime Museum
of the Atlantic and Pier 21 (a historic gateway to North America
for European immigration). The lobster banquet on Thursday evening
at one of the renovated piers on the Halifax waterfront was a particular
highlight for many participants. All registration and abstract submission
for ICCT-2000 was carried out using the conference web site, and
all communication was carried out by e-mail. This arrangement worked
very well and allowed the paperwork associated with the conference
to be handled more efficiently, from acceptance of papers (carried
out by the program committee members through the web site), to preparation
of conference receipts and name tags. Margaret Douma (Dalhousie
University) served as Conference Assistant, Dr. Peter Kusalik (Dalhousie
University) as Conference Secretary and Web Site Manager, Prof.
Susan Boyd (Mount St. Vincent University) as Conference Treasurer,
Prof. Jan Kwak (Dalhousie University) as Poster and Exhibit Coordinator,
Dr. Gerrard Marangoni (St. Francis Xavier University) as Conference
Editor for PAC manuscripts (which appear in the October
2000 issue, Vol. 72, No. 10), Donna Silvert (Dalhousie University)
as Coordinator for the program for accompanying persons, Dr. Richard
Verrall (AECL) as Chair of the 10th Symposium on Thermodynamics
of Nuclear Materials, Prof. Jadwiga Sipowska (University of Michigan)
as Chair of the Calorimetry Conference, and Prof. Mary Anne White
(Dalhousie University) as ICCT-2000 Chair. Special thanks are due
the International Advisory Committee, the Scientific Program Committee,
and many others, especially the members of the White and Kusalik
research groups, who helped make this conference a success.
For further details, including the full program and a list of participants,
please see the conference web site (http://is.dal.ca/~icct).
Prof. Mary Anne White
Conference Chair and Associate Member, IUPAC
Commission on Thermodynamics I.2
Department of Chemistry
Dalhousie University
