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8. IUVSTA DIVISIONS
The Union’s divisional structure arose from
the interests of its members in applications of
vacuum. Vacuum, first used as a research tool,
made possible scientific discoveries which led
to commercial products requiring the use of
vacuum on a large scale.
This justified large expenditures in vacuum
science to develop the technology and
techniques requiredby industry and research
to accomplish their objectives. After a flurry
of activity in fundamental studies of vacuum
technique following World War II, the
vacuists, within two decades, succeeded
in advancing the state of their art to a level
where it was adequate for practically all
industrial applications and most scientific
requirements. At that point there was little
motivation to pursue additional research in
vacuum. This resulted in a drastic decrease
in papers on the subject and could well have
led to the demise of many of the Union’s
national vacuum societies. But instead, the
vacuum scientists and technologists did
something unique in their field of science
and engineering. Rather than being content
to let the rest of the world find applications
for their science and technology as best it
could, they helped spawn and nurture new
disciplines that could benefit specifically
from improved vacuum technology. The
national vacuum societies accomplished
this by encouraging specialised topical
sessions and conferences within the
framework of their own organisations and
by publishing papers resulting from these
meetings.
Starting in 1961, the American Vacuum
Society (AVS) was the first to do this in an
organised way by establishing Divisions
in Vacuum Metallurgy, Thin Films, Sur-
face Science, Electronic Materials and
Processing, and FusionTechnology. As a
result, the AVS has now become a large
multidisciplinary society. However, there
is a synergistic interaction between the
divisions that extends beyond the fact
that they all use vacuum as an important
tool in practising their trade. It is doubful
whether there exists today enough acti-
vity in vacuum science and technology
alone to justify the existence of national
vacuum societies or an international
union.
The first large impact of the multidisci-
plinary aspect of vacuum technology on
the IUVSTA occurred in 1971, at Boston,
when the First International Conference
on Solid Surfaces was initiated by the
AVS Surface Science Division and was
held in conjunction with the IUVSTA’s
Fifth International Vacuum Congress.
SUMMARY