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 remember Lars Onsager sleeping throughout a lecture, yet still asking the most informative question at the end.

- David Chandler

The Radiation Chemistry GRC drew participants from chemistry, physics, and biology, on both the experimental and the theoretical side. The size and format of the conferences were the most effective of the many kinds of conferences I have participated in. Especially productive were the long discussion sessions.

- Gordon R. Freeman

The Composites GRC grew out of the Polymers conference and served to focus the early research in the area of structure-property relations in fiber reinforced composite materials. Many of the initial government-funded research projects in composites grew from suggestions made at the GRC.

- John L. Kardos

My first GRC, in 1982, was during my second year as a graduate student. I boarded the bus with luminaries in my field: Mike Brown, Joe Goldstein, Gil Ashwell, and Dick Anderson. I was star-struck... until the bus stopped at the NH liquor store, where they all piled out to buy copious quantities of alcohol!

- Sandra Schmid

One time I went into a New Hampshire town with a group of scientists. It was "open mic" night and one of the GRC conferees actually won the singing competition.

- Leonard Zon

One of the GRCs on Research at High Pressure got a bit too "athletic." By the fourth day, most of the front row was populated by injured baseball and soccer players with bandages, crutches, and taped limbs!

- James S. Schilling

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 »