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14.THE VISUAL AIDS PROGRAM
After a meeting of the STD’s Working
Group on Education in Manchester in 1968,
A. Blaha (CS), a professor at the Technical
University of Bratislava, suggested an
educational project called the Graphic
Encyclopaedia of Vacuum. It was envisioned
that it would consist of a series of 35 mm
slides covering, in principle, the whole
field of vacuum physics and technique,
and a number of vacuum applications.
Accompanying the slides would be a text
that explained the content of each slide. The
slides and text were intended to be used
as supplementary material for instructors
giving courses in vacuum technology and
its various applications.
It was recognised that considerable financial
support would be needed to realise such a
project, and that preparation of the illustrations
would be the main item of expense. UNESCO
was approached for funding by D. Degras (F)
but these initial contacts were not successful.
It quickly became evident that in order to get
financial support and international cooperation
for the project it would be necessary to
produce demonstration material to illustrate
what was intended. This was done and the
first showing was made at the 5thInternational
Vacuum Congress in Boston in 1971.
As work on the slides progressed, it became
known as the IUVSTA Visual Aids Project.
Several of the Union’s National Societies
contributed to the preparation of the
illustrations and text and the Union provided
financial support. In 1977, a new series of
35 mm slides providing the necessary visual
material for a complete five part course
in vacuum science and technology was
completed. The series was then comprised
of the following parts.
These were all shown in Vienna at the
7thInternational Vacuum Congress. In
addition to the efforts of the individual
National Vacuum Societies in preparing the
slides and text, the Secretariat in London did
a considerable amount of work producing,
advertising and distributing the Visual Aids.
When the London Secretariat was closed
at the end of 1980, the responsibility of
promoting, selling and maintaining a stock
of Visual Aids Project material was assumed
by the Chairman of the EC’s Education
Committee, L. C. Beavis (USA).
Title Prepared by
Part 1 Fundamentals of Vacuum The Netherlands Vacuum Society
Part 2 Vacuum Measurements
and Gauges French Vacuum Society
Part 3 Conventional Vacuum Pumps German Vacuum Society (DAGV)
Part 4
Sputtering, Capture Pumps, and
Mass Spectrometry American Vacuum Society
Part 5 Vacuum Deposition British Vacuum Council
SUMMARY