14th European X‐Ray Spectrometry Conference (EXRS‐2010)

Abstract

The 14th European X-Ray Spectrometry Conference (EXRS-2010) was held for the second time in Portugal, now hosted by the Universities of Coimbra, Lisbon and Aveiro in collaboration with the Portuguese Research Foundation and the European Association of X-Ray Spectrometry (EXSA), from June 20 to 25, in Figueira da Foz, close to Coimbra. After 14 years, the International Advisory Committee (IAC) distinguished the Portuguese X-Ray Spectrometry Community once more with this honour. In the meantime, two members of the IAC are missing. They passed away a few years ago: Themis Paradellis, from the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Athens, and Barbara Holynska from the Mining and Metallurgy University in Krakow. They were well remembered. The evolution of this conference series is astonishing. From the 120 participants in Lisbon in 1996, this conference reached in 2010 around 320 participants from 37 countries, who permanently assisted the 16 parallel sessions. The number of young students dominated the event. The most participating country was Portugal, followed by Germany. Exhibitors also participated in mass, showing the highest advances in X-ray technology, hence evidencing the outstanding level of the conference. The whole conference took place in the Congress Palace in Figueira da Foz. The opening session had the presence of the Mayor of the city, the Presidents of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra and the President of the Physics Department. This scientific meeting attracted much attention of the local press. The program included 10 invited talks, 129 oral scientific presentations (+17 short commercial ones) and over 160 poster presentations distributed in three poster sessions. The fruitful discussions after the talks and the relaxing environment during poster sessions, one of them accompanied by Portuguese wine degustation, opened new sources of research and fomented new collaborations among the participants. The largest number of presentations was devoted to the sessions on X-ray sources and detectors and on art and cultural heritage. Special reference must be made to the Fundamental Parameter Initiative—survey and discussion, which took place in a special session during the conference. The annual EXSA General Assembly also took place during the conference with the presence of Peter Wobrauschek as president and all the present members. At the end, a pleasant reception was offered to all the participants. According to the tradition, there was an excursion. Two options were given to the participants. One of them was a trip to Fátima, one of the most important Catholic places and the Batalha Monastery, a Manuelin style master piece from the 15th century. The alternative was a visit to Coimbra University, the oldest in Portugal and one of the oldest in Europe. The conference dinner was one of the highlights of the conference. It was held in the Grand Casino of Figueira da Foz, and the astonishing show surprised and delighted all participants. The International Advisory Committee announced that the next EXRS conference will take place in Vienna in 2012, as a collaboration between the Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology and the International Atomic Energy Agency. We are sure that it will be a great success. Thanks are due to all Organizing Committee Members for their choice of the invited speakers, their advice on the overall guidelines and continued support during the entire preparation of the conference. Special thanks should go to Cristina Monteiro, a member of the Local Organizing Committee who took most of the initiatives by herself and carried out on her shoulders heavy responsibilities of the organization. Our gratitude goes also to Wiley for hosting the Conference papers in this journal. Finally, we want to express our gratitude to everyone who contributed in some way to the success of this conference, and to Mother Nature who cooperated magnificently.