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AIV has been ever since its foundation a non-profit,
volunteer-based association dedicated to
advancing the science and technology of vacuum
and their applications. One of its main objectives
is to promote a variety of educational events and
to provide a variety of educational opportunities in
both fundamental physics and technology. These
activities target technicians and graduated people
as they are aimed to give them an opportunity to
improve their knowledge or to start a new activity.
The AIV is a member of the International Union
for Vacuum Science, Technique and Applications
(IUVSTA). At the top of AIV organisational structure
there is a chair person who is chosen among eleven
members of the directory board (eleven councillors),
who, in turn, are elected by the members of the
association among a list of well known experts
on various sectors related to vacuum physics,
technology and applications. There is also a
co-chair person and a secretary who may or
may not be an expert of vacuum. A treasurer,
elected by the eleven councillors, takes care of
the administration. The scientific activities of AIV
is organised in several technical divisions: vacuum
physics and technology, surfaces, biointerfaces,
nanometer structures, electronic materials and
processing, thin films, plasmas, and vacuum
metallurgy. The members of the AIV are active in
fundamental and applied research, manufacturing,
sales, and education. The number of AIV members
has remained almost (+/-15%) constant at about
300 in the last twenty years with an approximately
1:1 ratio between industries and academic and
public institutions provenience. AIV organises its
national congress every two years. The papers
presented at the congresses were collected and
published in the Proceedings of the meetings.
As for the last congress (AIV XXIII Conference,
Florence, April 5-7, 2017;
conference), the most relevant papers have been
submitted to AVS referee and published in a special
issue of JVST/B. Since 1968 the AIV has published
a review journal “Vuoto-Scienza e Tecnologia”. In
addition to the review, subsidiary material such as
tutorial papers or short texts for education purposes
are written and published by the association on
vacuum techniques, measurements of total and
partial pressures, leak detection, etc. Few books in
Italian have been edited by the society along the
years, the most used and red ones beeing:
“Metodi per la caratterizzazione chimico-fisica delle
superfici/Physico-chemical surface characterization
methods” (Ed. by M. Anderle and M.G. Cattania),
Patron Editore, Quarto Inferiore (Bologna), 1990,
and “Introduzione alla tecnologia del vuoto/
Introduction to vacuum technology” (B. Ferrario,
Second edition by A. Calcatelli), Patron Editore,
Quarto Inferiore (Bologna), 1999.
The activity of the society, named AIV Associazione Italiana del Vuoto (Italian Vacuum Society)
started, in 1963, thanks to the contribution of several people involved in science, technique
and application of vacuum who felt the need to join together in a community in which they
could exchange information, discuss about their own activity and organise meetings at various
levels. In fact, the first meetings did not have the congress amplitude, but they were mostly
discussion seminars. Ing. Paolo della Porta (from SAES Getters), the first chairman of the
AIV, gathered and organised a group of people to start the organisation and perform all the
necessary activities. A group of eleven people, mostly from industries, wrote the first statute
of the association and pioneered the association, including organising the first meetings,
first in Milan then in Florence. AIV has been from its early stage a member of a much wider
association, FAST (Federazione delle Associazioni Scientifiche e Tecniche), a federation of
various scientific and technical italian associations.
ITALIAN SOCIETY OF SCIENCE
ANDTECHNOLOGY
former ITALIAN VACUUM SOCIETY – Associazione Italiana
del Vuoto (AIV)
Mariano Anderle and Anita Calcatelli