The “International Conferences on High Resolution Molecular Spectroscopy”, also known as the “Prague Spectroscopy conference series”, have been taking place biannually since 1970.
As remembered by Jon Hougen in Prague 2008, the Prague Conference series originated from a very small conference held in July 1968 at the Canada National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa. Some of the people attending included, among others
- Josef Plíva (Czechoslovakia)
- Gilbert Amat (France)
- Ian Mills (United Kingdom)
The idea proposed in the meeting was to establish a high-resolution molecular spectroscopy meeting, alternatively in East and West Europe, both modeled on the International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy established in Columbus (Ohio State Univ.). The meeting should be focused on multiple presentations by graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.
The three scientists believed there was a need for meetings in Europe that were not restricted by invitation or by cost to established scientists. The east European conference was established in Prague, while the west conference started in Dijon. Both conferences have continued since the 1970s on a biannual scheme, alternating between the Dijon or Prague organizations.
Josef Plíva (1924-2000). Plíva was a student of Professor Heyrovský, and worked since late 1940s in molecular spectroscopy and in the determination of the molecular structures at the Central Chemical Institute. He moved in early 1960s with his group (D. Papoušek, M. Horák) from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry to the Institute of Physical Chemistry, where he was involved in molecular physics and the theory of molecular vibrational motion. He moved in 1969 to the State University of Pennsylvania.
The first two conferences were organized in Prague and carried the name “International Conference on Infrared Spectroscopy”. The name changed later to “International Conference on High-resolution Molecular Spectroscopy”. The following eight conferences (1974-1988) were organized at the Liblice castle, close to Prague. According to the participants the atmosphere was “informal and playful”, with about 120 participants, all of which slept and ate in the castle. There were evening gatherings in the castle dining room and a Tuesday night picnic, so it was easy to get to know everybody. The conference in these days was organized primarily by Dusan Papousek, who would authored with M. R. Aliev the well-known book “Molecular Vibrational-rotational Spectra”. The conference promoted many exchanges between east and west, including among others:
OSU – Prague: Infrared Spectra
Köln – Prague: Infrared Spectra, Theory
NIST – Nizhny Novgorod: Microwave Spectra
Köln – Nizhny Novgorod: Microwave Spectra
NRCC – Prague, Troitsk: Theory
France – Tomsk: Atmospheric Infrared Spectra, Theory
One of the Conferences at the Liblice castle. K. Narahari Rao is speaking at the right. D. Papousek is observing at the bottom of the picture.
Early participants in these conferences included reputed spectroscopists like K. Narahari Rao, James K. G. Watson, Walter Gordy, Georges, Manfred and Brenda Winnewisser, Jon Hougen, Mamed R. Aliev, Andrei F. Krupnov, Philip R. Bunker and many others.
Boháček, Aliev, Hougen, Danielis and Watson at the Liblice castle conferences.
Two more early conferences were organized in Dobříš (1990-1992), while the 1994 edition was done for the first time out of the Czech Republic in Poznam. The conference organization since those days was assumed by Stepan Urban, supported by Per Jensen and Jens-Uwe Grabiw. The conferences between 1996 and 2008 were again organized in Prague. Starting in 2010 the conference started alternating places in Prague and outside Prague, first again in Poznam (2010), and later in Bologna (2014 and 2024) and Bilbao (2018). The 2020 edition which was going to mark the first 50 years of the conference could not take place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the only case that the conference was interrupted.
The Prague 2022 conference was the first meeting post-COVID.
In these more than 50 years the conference has proved to be a useful tool to exchange information and establish new research collaborations between the many groups participating, mostly Europeans but also international.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to many colleagues who contributed to this web, in particular Stepan Urban, Per Jensen, Jon Hougen and Jens-Uwe Grabow, but also many persons who supplied pictures and other documents, including: Eva and Philip R. Bunker, Malathy Devi, Tsuneo Hirano, Jacek Koput, Agnès Perrin, Jiří Plechatý, Erika and Heinz Schrötter, Mikhail Yu. Tretyakov, Brenda P. Winnewisser, Manfred Winnewisser, Flemming Winther, and Sergei Yurchenko. We also thank the participant identifications done by Philip R. Bunker, Edward A. Cohen, Thomas Giesen, Georges Graner, Jacek Koput, Kevin K. Lehmann, Heinz Schrötter, Brenda P. Winnewisser, and Koichi M. T. Yamada. Also, we thank Jon T. Hougen, A. Robert W. McKellar, Brenda P. Winnewisser, and Manfred Winnewisser for supplying historical documents related to the conferences.
International Conference on High Resolution Molecular Spectroscopy 