History of Meteoroids conferences
History of the Meteoroids Conferences and its Slovak Roots
Written by: Mária Hajduková, jr. and Mária Hajduková
The first conference of the „Meteoroids“ series, Meteoroids and their Parent Bodies, was organised by a group of scientists at the Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava in 1992 and was dedicated to the 65th birthday of their team leader, Ľubor Kresák.
Many years have passed since then and this year we are celebrating the 10th meeting. This occasion has offered a great opportunity to retrace the events’ history and remember a group of Slovak scientists whose contribution to the subject has been considerable. To honour their achievements, the 10th meeting will once again take place in Slovakia.
Ľubor Kresák (1927-1994) formed a very strong scientific group of astronomers in Bratislava (Slovakia; at the time Czechoslovakia), who worked in the field of solar system small bodies, and who played an important role in the world of astronomy during the second half of the last century. The astronomers from Kresák’s team, who pioneered the Meteoroids conferences in the early 90s, were Ján Štohl, Anton Hajduk and Vladimír Porubčan.
The first three Meteoroids meetings were held in Slovakia, a convenient place for scientists from both western countries and the east to meet. They started a great tradition of regular meetings of the community of meteor scientists and strengthened the cooperation between professionals and amateurs. Meteoroids moved outside Slovakia in 2001, and traveled to various corners of the world. The conference series undoubtedly helped faciltiate the growth of meteor science. More than 500 original research papers or review contributions have been published within the proceedings. Another important aspect of these meetings, apart from bringing together the results of the meteor research in many different countries, are the opportunities they offer for informal interactions between the scientists attending, which give rise to new collaborations. Iwan Williams summed up the first successful meeting with words which apply to all these meetings: The Meteoroids conferences offer high level science in a very friendly atmosphere.
Slovak scientists who pioneered the series of Meteoroids conferences in the 90s.
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| The beginning of the Meteoroids series would be unimaginable without two unique scientists, B. Lindblad and Z. Ceplecha, and their outstanding influence on the meteor community. | I. Williams and J. Baggaley were deeply involved in the establishment of the conference series and its development under the auspices of the IAU Commission 22 (current Commission F1 Meteors, Meteorites and Interplanetary Dust). | |
Information of the all Meteoroid Conferences and their organizing commitees.
Meeting | Year, Date | Location | Chairman/Co-Chairman of the LOC | Chairman/Co-Chairman of the SOC | No. of participants |
1. | 1992 July 6–12 | Slovakia, Smolenice Castle | A. Hajduk | I.P. Williams J. Štohl | 107 |
2. | 1994 Aug. 28–31 | Slovakia, Bratislava | A. Hajduk | V. Porubčan I.P.Williams | 69 |
3. | 1998 Aug. 17–21 | Slovakia, Tatranská Lomnica | A. Hajduk | W.J. Baggaley V. Porubčan | 84 |
4. | 2001 Aug. 6–10 | Sweden, Kiruna | A. Pellinen-Wannberg | V. Porubčan
| 107 |
5. | 2004 Aug. 16–20 | Canada, London, Ontario | P. Brown R. Hawkes | I. Mann | 86 |
6. | 2007 June 11–15 | Spain, Barcelona | J. M. Trigo-Rodríguez J. Llorca | J. M. Trigo-Rodríguez | 115 |
7. | 2010 May 24–28 | USA, Colorado, Breckenridge | D. Janches | D. Janches W. Cooke | 110 |
8. | 2013 Aug. 26–30 | Poland, Poznan | T. Jopek
| T. Jopek I.P. Williams J. Watanabe | 103 |
9. | 2016 Jun 6–10 | Netherland, Noordwijk | D. Koschny | J. Borovička | 140 |
10. | 2019 Jun 17-21 | Slovakia, Bratislava | J. Tóth | D. Janches J. Borovička |
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Information of the Proceedings publications.
Year of the Conference | Proceedings/Publication | No of papers |
1992 | Meteoroids and their Parent Bodies, editors J. Štohl and I.P. Williams, Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, 410pp (1993) | 76 |
1994 | Meteoroids, editors V. Porubčan, I.P. Williams, and V. Vanýsek, Earth, Moon, and Planets, Volume 68, Nos. 1-3, 668pp (1995) | 65 |
1998 | Meteoroids 1998, editors W.J. Baggaley and V. Porubčan, Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, 410pp (1999) | 79 |
2001 | Proceedings of the Meteoroids 2001 Conference, editor B. Warmabein, ESA Publication Division, Noordwijk, the Netherland, ESA-SP 495 (2001) | 105 |
2004 | Modern Meteor Science, an Interdisciplinary View, editors R. Hawkes, I. Mann and P. Brown. Earth, Moon, and Planets, Volume 95, Nos. 1-4, 732pp (2005) | 70 |
2007 | Advances in Meteoroid and Meteor Science, editors J.M. Trigo-Rodriguez, F. Rietmeijer, J. Llorca and D. Janches. Earth, Moon, and Planets, Volume 102, Nos. 1-4, 561pp (2008) | 71 |
2010 | Meteoroids: The Smallest Solar System Bodies, Proceedings of the Meteroids Conference, Breckenridge, Colorado, USA, May 24-28, 2010. Edited by W.J. Cooke, D.E. Moser, B.F. Hardin, and D. Janches. NASA/CP-2011-216469., 378pp (2011) | 41 |
2013 | The Meteoroids 2013, Proceedings of the Astronomical Conference held at A.M. University, Poznan, Poland, Aug. 26-30, 2013, Eds.: T.J. Jopek, F.J.M. Rietmeijer, J. Watanabe, I.P. Williams, A.M. University Press, 371pp (2014) | 43 |
2016 | Planetary and Space Science, Volume 143 (2017)
| 37 |
Sources:
Štohl, J. and Williams, I.P., Meteoroids and their parent bodies, Proceedings of the International Astronomical Symposium held at Smolenice, Slovakia, July 6-12, 1992, Bratislava: Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, edited by J. Stohl and I.P. Williams, 1993
Porubčan, V.; Williams, I. P.; Vanýsek, V., Meteoroids. Proceedings. First International Conference, Bratislava (Slovakia), 28 - 31 Aug 1994, Earth, Moon, Planets, Vol. 68, No. 1 - 3, XI + 663 p, 1995
Baggaley, W. J.; Porubcan, V., Meteoroids 1998, Meteoroids 1998, editors: W. J. Baggaley and V. Porubcan. Proceedings of the International Conference held at Tatranska Lomnica, Slovakia, August 17-21, 1998. Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, 1999
Williams, I.P. and Steel, D., Commission 22: Meteors and Interplanetary Dust, Reports on Astronomy, IAU Transactions Vol. XXII A, edited by J. Bergeron, IAU, Printed in the Netherlands, 1994, pp. 211-224
Williams, I.P. and Hawkes, R., Commission 22: Meteors and Interplanetary Dust, Reports on Astronomy, IAU Transactions Vol. XXIII A, edited by I. Appenzeller, IAU, Printed in the Netherlands, 1997, pp. 237-249
Baggaley, J., Commission 22: Meteors and Interplanetary Dust, Reports on Astronomy, IAU Transactions Vol. XXIVA, edited by J. Andersen, IAU, Printed in the United States of America, 2000, pp. 156-169
Porubčan, V., Commission 22: Meteors, Meteorites and Interplanetary Dust, Reports on Astronomy, IAU Transactions Vol. XXV A, edited by H. Rickman, IAU, Printed in the United States of America, 2003, pp. 200-213
Mann, I. and Spurný, P., Commission 22: Meteors, Meteorites and Interplanetary Dust, Reports on Astronomy 2003-2005, IAU Transactions XXVI A, edited by O. Engvold, IAU, 2007, pp. 167-170