GRC 75th Anniversary - History (Introduction)

Introduction

Timeline

History

Introduction

Foundations, Leadership, and Growth

A Distinctive Operating Formula

Results and Impact

Conclusion

Sources

Reflections

Facts & Figures

Photo Archive

Memories

About

Introduction1931-19491950-19691970-19891990-2006IntroductionFoundations, Leadership, and GrowthA Distinctive Operating FormulaResults and ImpactConclusionSourcesIntroductionReflections on MatterIllustrations of LifePhysical VisionsThe New GenerationTranscendental GRC PrinciplesLeading the Cutting EdgeFacts & FiguresPhoto ArchiveMemoriesAbout

I have forged many excellent collaborations at the GRCs. These collaborations turn Europeans, who we often see as competitors, into colleagues. The GRC is so important in developing the global scientific community. It is an experience that every young scientist should have.

- Stanley Dunn

The Meiosis GRCs have literally changed my research program, as well as my way of thinking. The combination of mammalian / non-mammalian participants has also created new collaborative efforts in the meiosis community.

- Terry Hassold

My first child, a son, was born one week prior to my first invited GRC talk - just in time so that I could attend. His name? Gordon, of course.

- Frederick D. Lewis

The 2004 GRC on Spirochetes was especially memorable because of the remarkable degree of unpublished research that was presented. I felt this represented the high level of trust that had developed among attendees.

- David Haake

The Electrochemistry conferences in the early years (1965-1975) were important because the field was undergoing a renaissance and the younger electrochemists needed a forum.

- Allen Bard

The GRC on Laser Diagnostics in Combustion provides a unique forum for multidisciplinary interaction. Combustion is an academic component of mechanical engineering, but fundamental studies use significant chemistry and physics. The GRC and its "off the record" policy has enabled candid industrial participation.

- Jay Jeffries

History

This section contains a historical essay about the Gordon Research Conferences organization. Use the links below or in the main menu to navigate between the different sections of the essay.

Introduction

Foundations, Leadership, and Growth »

Creating Communities of Science: 75 Years of the Gordon Research Conferences

By Arthur A. Daemmrich and Leah Shaper

The Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) celebrates its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2006, providing an opportune occasion to reflect on the past and explore the future. Gordon Conferences represent a crucial but often hidden dimension of the scientific infrastructure by fostering communication across disciplinary, national, and social boundaries and by supporting pioneer research in a remarkable range of theoretical and applied fields.

From their modest origins in summer meetings held at Johns Hopkins University in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Gordon Research Conferences have expanded to attract more than twenty thousand participants annually to one of over 350 conferences held around the world. The remarkable growth of GRC over 75 years since its first official conference in 1931 is a product of internal and external factors: conferences are designed to stimulate intensive discussion and real-time peer review of new findings in science, technology, and medicine; new topics are chosen through a review process that focuses on frontier areas; and the GRC format fosters intimacy among participants even as the size of the scientific enterprise continues to grow at an exponential rate. This historical essay describes how the GRC organization established a unique meeting format, managed rapid growth, supported advances in theoretical knowledge and experimental techniques, fostered important collaborations, promoted the founding of new fields, and helped advance applied science.

Foundations, Leadership, and Growth »