SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

In 1964, a group of engineers from the

Electrotechnical Institute “Rade Koncar” (an

industrial R&D institute) and representatives

of the vacuum equipment importers formed

the Section for Vacuum Technique of Croatia

(president Z. Bobeti ) - a predecessor of the

Croatian Vacuum Society. Two years later,

the Section organized the 3

JUVAK Vacuum

Congress in Zagreb. This meeting also hosted

the 8

Executive Council Meeting of IUVSTA on

September 28, 1966. However, the organized

activity gradually decreased after the Congress,

and the Section was almost inactive after 1971.

The need for revitalizing the Croatian vacuum

organization became pressing since new rules

required reorganization of the JUVAK as a union

of at least three vacuum societies. As a result, the

Society for Vacuum Technique of Croatia (SVTC)

was founded at a meeting of vacuum science

and technology experts associated with industry

and academic research, on July 20, 1978. The

first president of the SVTC was Mr. R. Stojanovi .

As a sign of new life, the Croatian Vacuum Society

organized the 9

JUVAK Vacuum Congress in

1983. A number of courses covering various

levels of vacuum science were organized in the

late eighties. Through them, the scientists from

the research institutes and the faculties became

more and more involved in the regular activities

of the Society. The combined effort resulted

in a certain shift of focus from the engineering

side towards more scientific. The new president

(H. Zorc) and the secretary (M. Milun), elected at

the 1990 SVTC Annual Convention, were both

from research laboratories.

After dissolution of Yugoslavia, the SVTC

(together with the Slovenian Vacuum Society)

decided for dissolution of JUVAK at the beginning

of 1992, and applied for separate membership

in IUVSTA. After being a provisional member for

about a year, the SVTC was admitted as a full

member of IUVSTA at the 12

General Meeting

in The Hague, held on October 12, 1992. The

Society immediately established contacts and

cooperation with the vacuum societies from the

neighbouring countries. From 1993 the annual

bilateral meetings with Slovenian Vacuum Society

are held regularly. SVTC also joined the pool of

Joint Vacuum Conference organizers (Austria,

Hungary, Slovenia) in 1995.

N. Radi and P. Pervan were appointed President

and Secretary, respectively, in 1997, and

elected in 1998 at the Annual convention. The

name of the society was changed to Croatian

Vacuum Society (CVS) and the new Statutes

were adopted. New administration revitalized

organizational and professional activities, and

The Croatian Vacuum Society was founded on July 20, 1978, in Zagreb, by a dozen engineers

and scientists involved in vacuum science and technique. However, the progress to such

an event can be traced back to late 1950s. Representatives of both scientific and industrial

communities from Zagreb (M. Vari ak, B. Jemri , B. Volf) participated at the First International

Vacuum Congress in Namur in June 1958. The Croatian vacuum experts also participated

at the First Yugoslav Congress on Vacuum Science held in 1960. Although not formally

organized, the Croatian vacuum experts were a well-defined and stable group of physicists

and electrical engineers, coordinated by Mme Milena Vari ak, who also participated at the

IVC2 in Washington (1961). The Yugoslav National Committee for VacuumTechnique (JUVAK)

was formed in 1962, as a prerequisite for the membership in the newly formed IUVSTA.

The JUVAK started as an organization comprising vacuum societies from Slovenia, Croatia

and Serbia, the respective vacuum societies sharing its history till its end in 1992.

CROATIAN VACUUM SOCIETY

Hrvatsko vakuumsko društvo (HVD)

Nikola Radi

www.cro-vacuum.hr