The Sovay Conference

Larry the Cat,

Op. 17 a Flock of Geese

The Solvay Conferences have been devoted to pre-eminent unsolved problems in both physics and chemistry. They began with the historic invitation-only 1911 Solvay Conference on Physics, considered a turning point in the world of physics, and are ongoing.

The Solvay Conferences from 1911 to 1973 demonstrates not only the great influence which these conferences have had on the development of modern physics, but it also shows clearly how far-sighted and well­ planned were the intentions of Ernest Solvay when he took the initiative for organizing a new type of international conferences. 

In contrast to the conventional meetings in which reports are given on the successful solution of scientific problems, the Solvay Conferences were conceived to help directly in solving specific problems of unusual difficulty. 

The importance of the quantum structure of Nature had become well understood already by 1911, but at that time there was no hope for an answer to the extremely difficult new questions posed by the atomic phenomena. 

The new conferences should therefore be devoted primarily to thorough discussions of such problems be­ tween a small number of the most competent physicists, and Ernest Solvay was guided by the hope that the discussions would eventually lead to a real and substantial progress. 

The earliest Solvay Conferences which I attended were those of 1927, 1930 and 1933, and they served this purpose extremely well. In 1926 the mathematical formalism of quantum-and wave-mechanics approached its final shape, but the interpretation was still controversial. 

Schrodinger have hoped that his matter waves could be considered as waves in three-dimensional space and time, and that the discontinuous feature of quantum 'jumps' could be avoided. This was strongly not the case. He who was too greedy is misunderstood. Seized in all impotence, the wind then catches the lonely silence. Loneliness (…) and darkness awaits. 

It is no longer the height that gets bigger, but the depth of the black hole. Sometimes you forget to give love because maybe your business-rational hardness has raped your heart. It is then he who have defeated, the Babylon after maths and now is waiting on you.

Leave your keys, if you're not coming home. You packed your bags full of letting go. You were moving in, now you're moving out. Another year, just another lie. Juleen Zierath would say, make sure that you have fun, find something you’re passionate about because it will be the thing that drives you.

The outbreak of the war in the summer of 1914 obliged the Institut to suspend its activities. Lorentz and the International Scientific Committee were able to resume their work following demobilization in 1919; but the third Solvay Physics Conference took place only in 1921 after the liberation of Belgium. The reports from the 1913 Conference were also published the same year 

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