Report from the General Chairman
LT-20 was authorized to be held in Eugene, Oregon by Commission 5 of IUPAP in a meeting held during LT-19. The Chairman, Professor W.F. Vinen was very helpful to us both in preparing our bid for the conference and subsequently giving a great deal of help and advice.
The local committee at the University of Oregon consisted of Professors Dietrich Belitz, Stephen Gregory, Martin Wybourne and myself. Martin undertook the especially onerous task of being Treasurer.
The various national and international committees which advised the organizers are listed on separate pages. Many individuals contributed a great deal of time to make things work, but I must single out Guenter Ahlers who removed from me the entire task of setting the scientific program. The remarks I heard throughout the conference about the quality of the papers are tributes to Guenter's remarkable ability to ferret out the best of ongoing work in low temperature physics and his program committee's suggestions which made that possible. The program committee was advised by sizeable national and international advisory committees.
The University of Oregon managed the unprecedented feat of advancing us funds to get started with our work without paying bank interest, but providing interest on funds deposited from registration receipts. Without the University, the business affairs of the conference would have been nearly impossible to carry out. I would especially like to convey the thanks of LT-20 to Donald Thomas and Donald Howard, whose expertise and patience with the complications of an international gathering was particularly useful.
The City of Eugene, Mayor Ruth Bascom, the Eugene/Springfield Visitors and Convention Bureau, the County with its efficient Conference Center at the fairgrounds and the Lane Transit District with their efficient planning and scheduling, all worked together to make the logistical part of the conference work as smoothly as such things can.
We were very fortunate in having good support from federal agencies and from local industry. The names of the supporting agencies and companies are listed on separate pages. We are most grateful for their generosity.
Because of this support we were able to give approximately 120 "local support packages" of $500 each. The name reflected the fact that they were designed to provide support for a delegate staying here in the dormitories for LT-20. In addition we were able to give a further group of about 20 similar packages to invited speakers in especial need, and in a few cases we waived registration fees.
The role of the staff of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory should be remembered by us all. Not only did they provide the largest grant for LT-20, they came here in force, contributed scientifically and encouraged us to think of ways to use microgravity for our research. Even the remote prospect of new funding in our field is something quite unknown in recent years.
The idea of having satellite conferences in the same city as the main conference is a new one, and I understand from the organizers that it was most successful. There were eight satellite conferences, one in Minneapolis, one in Berkeley, one in Boulder and one in La Jolla. The rest chose to be in Eugene. The way it worked is that my office undertook the administration of the four satellite conferences as well as the low temperature conference, since we already had assembled the necessary staff and facilities. This meant that we had to produce five sets of announcements, program books, lecture rooms, social programs such as coffee breaks, receptions and banquets. But the scientific program of the satellites was the responsibility of the organizers.
Delegates to LT-20 came, as is usual, from all over the world. There were 1229 registered, almost identical to the 1212 attending LT-19. Their geographic distribution is as follows.