SOLVAY CONFERENCE

The 'International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry', located in Brussels, were founded by the Belgian industrialist Ernest Solvay in 1912, following the historic invitation-only 1911 ''Conseil Solvay'', the first world physics conference. The Institutes coordinate conferences, workshops, seminars, and colloquia.
Following the initial success of 1911, the 'Solvay Conferences' (''Conseils Solvay'') have been devoted to outstanding preeminent open problems in both physics and chemistry. They occur every three years. The 23rd Solvay Conference took place in Brussels during December 1-3, 2005, on the subject: "The Quantum Structure of Space and Time".^[1]

Contents

First conference

Fifth conference

Reference

External links

First conference

Hendrik A. Lorentz was chairman of the first Solvay Conference held in Brussels in the autumn of 1911. The subject was ''Radiation and the Quanta''. This conference looked at the problems of having two approaches, namely the classical physics and quantum theory. Albert Einstein was the youngest physicist present. Other members of the ''Solvay Congress'' included such luminaries as Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Henri Poincaré. (See image for attendee list.)

Fifth conference

Perhaps the most famous conference was the October 1927 'Fifth' Solvay International Conference on ''Electrons and Photons'', where the world's most notable physicists met to discuss the newly formulated quantum theory. The leading figures were Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. Einstein, disenchanted with Heisenberg's "Uncertainty Principle," remarked "God does not play dice." Bohr replied, "Einstein, stop telling God what to do." (See Bohr-Einstein debates.) Seventeen of the twenty-nine attendees were or became Nobel Prize winners, including Marie Curie, who alone among them, had won Nobel Prizes in two separate scientific disciplines.

==List of Solvay conferences on physics^[2]==
# 1911 « La théorie du rayonnement et les quanta », Chair: Hendrik Lorentz (Leiden)
# 1913 « La structure de la matière », Chair: Hendrik Lorentz (Haarlem)
# 1921 « Atomes et électrons », Chair: Hendrik Lorentz (Haarlem)
# 1924 « Conductibilité électrique des métaux et problèmes connexes », Chair: Hendrik Lorentz (Haarlem)
# 1927 « Electrons et photons », Chair: Hendrik Lorentz (Haarlem)
# 1930 « Le magnétisme », Chair: Paul Langevin (Paris)
# 1933 « Structure et propriétés des noyaux atomiques », Chair: Paul Langevin (Paris)
# 1948 « Les particules élémentaires », Chair: Sir Lawrence Bragg (Cambridge)
# 1951 « L'état solide », Chair: Sir Lawrence Bragg (Cambridge)
# 1954 « Les électrons dans les métaux », Chair: Sir Lawrence Bragg (Cambridge)
# 1958 « La structure et l'évolution de l'univers », Chair: Sir Lawrence Bragg (Cambridge)
# 1961 « La théorie quantique des champs », Chair: Sir Lawrence Bragg (Cambridge)
# 1964 " The Structure and Evolution of Galaxies ", Chair: Robert Oppenheimer (Princeton)
# 1967 " Fundamental Problems in Elementary Particle Physics ", Chair: R. Møller (Copenhagen)
# 1970 " Symmetry Properties of Nuclei ", Chair: Edoardo Amaldi (Rome)
# 1973 " Astrophysics and Gravitation ", Chair: Edoardo Amaldi (Rome)
# 1978 " Order and Fluctuations in Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics ", Chair: Léon Van Hove (CERN)
# 1982 " Higher Energy Physics ", Chair: Léon Van Hove (CERN)
# 1987 " Surface Science ", Chair: F.W. de Wette (Austin)
# 1991 " Quantum Optics ", Chair: Paul Mandel (Brussels)
# 1998 " Dynamical Systems and Irreversibility ", organized by Ioannis Antoniou (Brussels),
# 2001 " The Physics of Communication ", organized by Ioannis Antoniou (Brussels)
# 2005 " The Quantum Structure of Space and Time", Chair: David Gross (Santa Barbara)

== List of Solvay conferences on chemistry^[3] ==
# 1922 ''Cinq Questions d'Actualité'', Chair: William Pope (Cambridge)
# 1925 ''Structure et Activité Chimique'', Chair: William Pope (Cambridge)
# 1928 ''Questions d'Actualité'', Chair: William Pope (Cambridge)
# 1931 ''Constitution et Configuration des Molécules Organiques'', Chair: William Pope (Cambridge)
# 1934 ''L'Oxygène, ses réactions chimiques et biologiques'', Chair: William Pope (Cambridge)
# 1937 ''Les vitamines et les Hormones'', Chair: Fred Swarts (Ghent)
# 1947 ''Les Isotopes'', Chair: Paul Karrer (Zurich)
# 1950 ''Le Mécanisme de l'Oxydation'', Chair: Paul Karrer (Zurich)
# 1953 ''Les Protéines'', Chair: Paul Karrer (Zurich) (Image)
# 1956 ''Quelques Problèmes de Chimie Minérale'', Chair: Paul Karrer (Zurich)
# 1959 ''Les Nucléoprotéines'', Chair: A.R. Ubbelohde (London)
# 1962 ''Transfert d'Energie dans les Gazs'', Chair: A.R. Ubbelohde (London)
# 1965 ''Reactivity of the Photoexited Organic Molecule'', Chair: A.R. Ubbelohde (London)
# 1969 ''Phase Transitions'', Chair: A.R. Ubbelohde (London)
# 1970 ''Electrostatic Interactions and Structure of Water'', Chair: A.R. Ubbelohde (London)
# 1976 ''Molecular Movements and Chemical Reactivity as conditioned by Membranes, Enzymes and other Molecules'', Chair: A.R. Ubbelohde (London)
# 1980 ''Aspects of Chemical Evolution'', Chair: A.R. Ubbelohde (London)
# 1983 ''Design and Synthesis of Organic Molecules Based on Molecular Recognition", Chairs: Ephraim Katchalski (Rehovot, Israel) and Vladimir Prelog (Zurich)
# 1987 ''Surface Science'', Chair: Frederik W. de Wette (Austin)
# 1995 ''Chemical Reactions and their Control on the Femtosecond Time Scale'', Chair: Pierre Gaspard (Brussels)
# 2007 ''From Noncovalent Assemblies to Molecular Machines'', Chair: Jean-Pierre Sauvage (Strasbourg)

Reference

1. Annual Report 1999
2. Previous Solvay Conferences on Physics
3. Previous Solvay Conferences on Chemistry

External links

★ Institut international de physique Solvay

★ Irving Langmuir's “home movie” shot of the 1927 Solvay Conference