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10. NATIONAL MEMBERSHIP
OF IUVSTA
The nations represented by National Vacuum
Societies (or Committees) within IUVSTA are
shown inTable I. Eachsociety is formallyaccepted
into IUVSTA at a General Meeting (GM) although
provisional membership may have been granted
by the Executive Council (EC) at any time during
the preceding three years.
There were 10 Founder Member
societies of IUVSTA (see Section 4) who
joined in 1962. These included the two
oldest societies: the French Vacuum
Society (SFV) founded in 1945 and
the American Vacuum Society (AVS)
founded in 1953.
In Sweden in 1962, all scientific activities
had to be represented through their national
academy. Thus although the Swedes were
active participants in IUVSTA from the
beginning (G. Brogren (S) was one of the
original councillors) an independent Swedish
Vacuum Society was not formed until 1973.
At the 1965 GM, four more nations joined
(Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy and
Poland). Table I shows Czechoslovakia as
terminating its membership later in 1995.
This came about because in 1989 political
changes led to the division of that country
into the two independent Czech and Slovak
Republics. These two nations subsequently
formed their own vacuum societies and
were admitted to IUVSTA membership
at the 1995 GM, as the combined
Czechoslovakian society’s membership
was terminated.
At the GM in 1968, Japan and Bulgaria
joined the Union. In fact, the VacuumSociety
of Japan is the third oldest vacuum society,
having been founded in 1958. Bulgaria
was originally an active member of IUVSTA
but by the mid 1980’s the economy of the
country was in an extremely depressed
state and local scientists were unable to
participate in international activities. After
six years without effective representation
on the EC, the Bulgarian membership was
regrettably terminated in 1995. This action
cancelled their debts for unpaid dues
which allow them to rejoin without financial
encumbrances in 2016.
In 1971, the GM admitted four more
member nations (Australia, Austria, India
and Israel). Finland joined in 1974.
Following World War II, the countries of
Europe were divided on political grounds
into two groups, commonly referred to
as the East and West, and travel across
the border was severely restricted.
This political boundary passed through
Germany dividing that country into the
Federal Republic of Germany (West) and
the German Democratic Republic (East).
Thus the German Vacuum Society (DAGV),
which had been a Founder Member of
IUVSTA, was not able to represent scientists