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6.THE SCIENTIFIC AND
TECHNICAL DIRECTORATE
(STD)
An important organ of the IUVSTA, the STD
is concerned with accomplishing the scientific
and technical objectives of the Union. It did
this originally through international Working
Groups assigned to study specific scientific
and technical problems.
These Working Groups frequently made
recommendations and were involved in
coordinating various international vacuum
activities and in preparing and publishing
educational and bibliographical material.
Since 1977, the activities of Working Groups
have been taken over by the appropriate
new Divisions or by Standing Committees.
Currently the STD is primarily concerned
with guiding the scientific activities of the
Union through coordinating the activities of
the Divisions. On advice from the Divisions,
the STD recommends to the EC on the
sponsorship/endorsement of conferences.
It also receives requests from the Divisions
for financial support from its discretionary
funds for IUVSTA Scientific Workshops
and Schools. The STD also coordinates
other activities of the Union in that the
Education Committee and the Awards
and Scholarships Committee (formerly the
Welch Foundation and Prize Committee)
each reports to it.
The location of the STD within the organi
sational structure of IUVSTA is shown in
Fig. 1. The STD is managed by the Scientific
Director and Scientific Secretary who are
members of the EC. The Division Chairs and
other Scientific Experts are members of the
STD but not members of the EC. Originally the
Chairs of the Working Groups and Steering
Committees were also members of the STD
but, since the demise of the Working Groups,
only the Chair of the Education Committee
remains a member of the STD.
The four Working Groups set up by the
STD’s first Director, K. Diels (D), are listed
in Section 4. The Committee on Education
made a survey of vacuum courses available
at different levels in various countries in the
1960’s. It was also involved in establishing
the protocol and basic concepts for the
Welch Foundation and administering the
Welch Scholarships. In 1968, the Committee
started a Graphical Encyclopaedia on
Vacuum which was later called the Visual
Aids Program. It was very successful and
is described in detail in Section 14. The
Committee on Bibliography and Literature
(within the Documentation Working Group)
undertook the formidable task of preparing
a bibliographical index on vacuum. Through
the efforts of J. Debiesse (F), and with
the help of D. Degras (F), this work was
undertaken by the French Nuclear Energy
Centre at Saclay in order to take advantage
of the computer facilities there. The Index
Bibliographique du Vide, with references
from several hundred journals, patents
and books, was first published in French in
1966. At the beginning of 1968, a bilingual
form was introduced with the hope that it
SUMMARY