«I have known a fair number of scientists over the years, and I noticed that they were often as bored by each other’s work as dumb people would be.»—Kurt Vonnegut, Excelsior! We're Going to the Moon! Excelsior! The New York Times Magazine, July 13, 1969, pp. 9-11.
Conferences
A typical conference picture,[1] somehow loosing the charm and standing of the older times, but still of historical value.
A conference is, for us, a scientific event where researchers assemble to hear about each other's works, although mainly to advertise their own. As already understood by Vonnegut in the continuation of the opening quote:
I was several times privileged to see one scientist rush into the laboratory of another, ecstatic over a new piece of information. In effect, he was barking, “Eureka! Eureka! Eureka!” Eureka.
And the scientist who had to listen to all that barking obviously couldn’t wait for the visitor to shut up and go away.—Kurt Vonnegut, Reprinted in Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons.
Conference we attend
The PLMCN conference, of Alexey Kavokin, is probably the one which is dearest to us for many reasons.
Historical Conferences
Famous and interesting conferences include:
Solvay Conferences
1st
This invitation-only Conference in Brussels started in 1911 under the impulse of industrialist Ernest Solvay who did not attend the famous group photo (with Einstein looking awkward standing behind a sitting Poincaré explaining something to Marie Curie). He had himself cropped into the final picture (he looks slightly bigger and whiter than the rest)!
The first Opus was on the problem of "Radiation and the Quanta".
3rd
Einstein boycotted it to condemn the baring of German scientists due to WW1 (it was in 1921).
5th
The most famous Solvay conference, with the even more famous photo of many of the most prestigious and important all-time physicists, sitting all together for a group picture. The topic was "Electrons and Photons".
20th
In 1991, on Quantum Optics. Under the direction of Paul (not Leonard) Mandel.
Proceedings in Physics Report.