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

At the morning coffee break during the Isotopes in Biological and Chemical Sciences Gordon Conference in 1998, 80 percent of the participants did not return. It turns out they were filming a "Baywatch" episode across the street on the beach at Ventura.

- John S. Blanchard

The Electrochemistry GRCs in Santa Barbara were seminal to me. I entered the area of electrochemical research with scant formal training, as a one year postdoc, and worked my way into a major field through GRC interactions. To be sure, the wonderful setting on the ocean transmitted a certain magic to the conferences.

- William Geiger

In the middle of the Cold War, the GRCs were truly international in flavor. I remember, long before Peristroika, having lively but friendly late evening conversations with some of our Russian colleagues over vodka and caviar on black rye bread.

- Gerald Peterson

The first high resolution X-ray structures of membrane-bound proteins were presented at the Bioenergetics Gordon Conference, which was important in stimulating research in the area. It was able to focus the science on electron and proton transport systems which enabled many important breakthroughs in this area.

- Gary Cecchini

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

Many good times have been had on the porch at the Kimball Union Academy. No one is safe from ridicule and the "gods" in the field are made human again. The friendships struck and the scientific exchanges are like no other meeting - not even close.

- Timothy M. Ritty

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 »