The birth of StatPhys: the 1949 Florence conference at the juncture of national and international physics reconstruction after World War II

Abstract

In spring 1949 about 70 physicists from eight countries met in Florence to discuss recent trends in statistical mechanics. This scientific gathering, co-organized by the Commission on Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and the Italian Physical Society (SIF), initiated a tradition of IUPAP-sponsored international conferences on statistical mechanics that lasts to this day. In 1977, when this conference series took the name of StatPhys, the foundational role of the Florence conference was recognized by retrospectively naming it StatPhys1. This paper examines the dual scientific and social significance of the conference, situating it in the broader contexts of the post-World War II reconstruction in Italian physics and of the revitalization of the international science organization. Through an analysis of IUPAP archives and Italian records, we illustrate how the event’s success hinged on the aligned objectives of its organizers. Internationally, it was instrumental in defining the scientific and organizational foundations for the activities of IUPAP commissions during a critical phase of IUPAP’s history, when the Union was resurging on the international scene after the inactivity of the interwar period. Nationally, the conference served as a cornerstone in SIF’s strategy to re-establish Italian physics’ international stature and to aid the domestic revitalization of physics through the internationalization of its activities, notably of its flagship journal, Il Nuovo Cimento. This analysis not only sheds light on the conference’s impact but also informs recent discussions in the history of science about the multiple roles of international scientific conferences.