IUPAP: 23rd General Assembly: Minutes

Minutes

MINUTES OF THE 23RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF IUPAP
Atlanta GA, USA, March 18-20, 1999

The 23rd General Assembly of IUPAP was held under the auspices of IUPAP and organized by the USA Liaison Committee for IUPAP.

The President, Jan S. Nilsson, was in the Chair for all sessions of the General Assembly as well as the related Council Meeting. The General Assembly was attended by 95 delegates from liaison committees and commission chairs, 30 observers from non-member national communities and regional physical societies, and 11 members of the IUPAP Council.

Scientific sessions and social events were coordinated with the centennial celebration of the American Physical Society.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.	Opening and Memorial Observance
2.	Presidential Address
3.	Adoption of the Agenda
4.	Minutes of the General Assembly 1996
5.	Members= Affairs
6.	Election Procedures
7.	Discussion of Nominations/ Renominations
8.	Discussion of Resolutions from Council
8.1	Legal Domicile of the Union
8.2	Official Language of the Statues
8.3	Review of the Statues
8.4	Transfer of Office
8.5	Resolution on the Importance of Physics to Society
9.	Commission Reports
9.1	Oral Comments
9.2	Discussion
10.	Reports on the Working Groups
10.1	Working Group on Communication in Physics
10.2	Working Group on Neutron Sources
10.3	Particle and Nuclear Astrophysics in Gravitation International Committee (PANAGIC)
10.4	International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA)
11.	Election
12.	Secretary-General=s Report
12.1	Free Circulation of Scientists
12.2	Meetings of Council
12.3	IUPAP Web Site
12.4	Other Points
13.	Reports of Liaison Committees
14.	Report of the Inter-Union Committees
15.	Report of the Commission on Finance
16.	Resolutions from Commissions and Liaison Committees
16.1	Language of the Statues
16.2	Working Group on Women in Physics
17.	Union Policy Matters
18.	Voting on Resolutions -- Final Text of Approved Resolutions
18.1	Resolution on Legal Domicile
18.2	Resolution on Language of the Statues (Article 22)
18.3	Resolution on Reviewing and Revising the Statues
18.4	Resolution on Transfer of Office
18.5	Resolution on the Statement on the Importance of Physics to Society
18.6	Resolution on Formation of the Working Group on Women in Physics
19.	Venue of the 2002 General Assembly
20.	Other Business
21.	Adjournment
	Appendices
A.	Delegates and Official Observers
B.	Inter-Union Commissions, Dates and Primary Point of Contacts
C.	Address by Mr. Federico Mayor, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

SESSION 1 (Carter Centre): Thursday, March 18, 1999, 9:30 a.m.

1. Opening and Memorial Observance

President Nilsson opened the General Assembly and welcomed all participants to the meeting. On behalf of IUPAP he thanked the American Physical Society, and especially Judy Franz, Irving Lerch and their staff at the APS for their hospitality. He expressed the gratitude of IUPAP to UNESCO, the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), and the Organization of American States (OAS) for financial support that had been provided to assist some 27 scientists from developing countries to attend this meeting (Appendix A). In addition, the American Physical Society has provided extensive support for accommodation for a number of scientists while in Atlanta. He called on Judy Franz, who welcomed delegates and observers to Atlanta on behalf of the American Physical Society.

President Nilsson requested that the delegates stand and observe a moment of silence in memory of former officers of IUPAP who had passed away during this past triennium, namely A. M. Hoogenboom (first Chair of the Working Group on Communication in Physics and President of The Netherlands Physical Society), J. Werle (former Vice-President of IUPAP), and G. Herzberg (former Vice-President of IUPAP).

2. Presidential Address

In his address, President Nilsson observed that physics is vigorous as illustrated by the commission reports which contain a broad synopsis of the progress of the sub-field of each commission. There are many overlapping interests as is demonstrated by the reference by more than one commission in new topics such as Bose-Einstein condensates, neutrino oscillations, etc.

Nilsson also reported on the way that Council has followed the directives of the Uppsala General Assembly (1996). In particular, the following has been done:

1. A meeting of the Executive Council was held along with all of the commission chairs in February 1997. The format of this meeting proved to be so productive and useful that it was repeated in September 1997 and September 1998.

2. Progress was made in working with the regional physical societies, especially with the APS, EPS, the Association of Asian-Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS), and the Federación Latin Americana de Sociedades de Física (FELASOFI).

3. IUPAP is developing improved relationships with the OECD Megascience Forum and has been working toward improved connections with ICSU and UNESCO (particularly with the Physics Action Committee).

4. The largest number of observers ever to have been invited to participate was present at this meeting and will participate in the Centennial Meeting of the APS immediately following the General Assembly.

3. Adoption of the Agenda

Following a brief discussion of the structuring of the mandates of commissions, the agenda was adopted as circulated.

4. Minutes of the General Assembly 1996

The minutes were approved as circulated with minor corrections of typographical errors.

5. Members' Affairs

Turlay reported that the membership had decreased by one (Libya) to 46 during the past three years. Discussions were being pursued with potential candidates for membership.

The formal adhering body for the UK had changed from the Royal Society to the Institute of Physics (IOP).

6. Election Procedures

Elections at this General Assembly were to be conducted under a somewhat streamlined procedure as directed by the Uppsala General Assembly. The request for nominations was sent out last year to the liaison committees and to the commissions. The nominations that were received were then reviewed by the Council at the September 1998 meeting and a slate was proposed by the Council, with consideration given to appropriate balance as to representation by liaison committees. This was distributed to the commissions and to the liaison committees in December 1998. A deadline of February 15, 1999, was set for the renomination of any candidate by a liaison committee or by a commission. The final list of nominations, as of that date, was then distributed to the delegates at the General Assembly. Some delegations indicated their dissatisfaction that a book with all of the nominations had not been distributed to all liaison committees, but was only available on request and at the meeting. Nilsson pointed out that a general mailing of the complete book to all delegations was an extremely expensive undertaking. It was suggested, in the future, that this information might be made available on the web site.

Representatives from commissions C8 and C16 indicated that those commissions wished to have the by-laws waived so that in each case the chairs might serve a second three-year term. Following discussion on the details of this proposal, a motion (Drake/ Monemar) to waive the rules for C8 was carried. Similarly, a second motion (Drake/ Bárány) to waive the rules for C16 was also carried. A motion to admit new names to the ballot was not approved.

7. Discussion of Nominations/ Renominations

The Uppsala General Assembly required that five commission chairs be elected as vice-presidents. With the withdrawal of Timofeev as a nominee for chair of C8, it was necessary that a different nomination be made. The proposal that Zingu, the only remaining commission chair to fit the criteria of geographical location and representation, replace Timofeev was accepted.

The slate of nominations/ renominations was reviewed commission by commission. In a number of cases either commissions or liaison committees indicated support that was not recorded in the booklet of nominations.

Nilsson reminded the meeting of the fact that up to four associate members could be appointed for each commission and that these appointments were used to ensure links to either other commissions or other bodies. The rules regarding these appointments are summarized in the General Report. Appointments for three year terms are made by the Council on recommendation of the commission, one year following the General Assembly.

Meeting adjourned for lunch, 12:15 p.m.

SESSION 2 (Carter Centre): Thursday, March 18, 1999, 1:45 p.m.

7. Discussion of Nominations/Renominations (Continued)

The Secretary-General tabled the list of Inter-union Commission nominations (see Appendix B). It was noted that in some cases the effectiveness of these inter-union representatives to other bodies had not been strong and, in some cases, there were no reports to the General Assembly. Action in assessing these commissions was referred to the Council.

8. Discussion of Resolutions from Council

The following resolutions were proposed by Council.

8.1 Legal Domicile of the Union

The legal domicile of the union shall be Geneva, Switzerland.

Nilsson pointed out that IUPAP has no legal home. There are no legal problems in establishing a legal domicile in Switzerland, using the CERN address.

8.2 Official Language of the Statutes

The official language of the union shall be English.

The existing Article 22 effectively requires that all statutes be translated into French. The French delegation recommended that no language be designated as "official". It was agreed that the delegation from France would propose an alternate wording.

8.3 Review of the Statutes

Considering the modifications of the statutes adopted by this and previous General Assemblies, the Council is requested to prepare a revised version of the Statutes and By-laws to be proposed for adoption at the next General Assembly.

This was proposed by Council in the light of amendments that had been made recently. The Indian delegation requested that whatever changes were made should be circulated well in advance of the next General Assembly. Richter proposed that the first draft be prepared in less than 18 months for comment by the liaison committees. Matters such as durations of terms and appointment of committees would be matters that would be spelled out more carefully in such a revised set of statutes. It would be the responsibility of the chairs of the liaison committees to see that feedback on the proposed changes to the Statutes be provided in a timely fashion.

8.4 Transfer of Office

Preamble: The statutes prescribe that the members of the Council and the commissions remain in office until the close of the General Assembly following their election.

General Assemblies are normally held in the month of September to allow commissions to meet in conjunction with major conferences to conduct their business.

In view of the exceptional timing of this General Assembly it is therefore proposed that transfer of office be postponed until September 1, 1999.

Resolution: In view of the exceptional circumstances, it is resolved that current members of the Council and the commissions remain in office until August 31, 1999.

8.5 Resolution on the importance of physics to society

A statement originally drafted by the South, Central, and North American Physical Societies on the importance of physics to society was tabled and a lengthy discussion took place on the merits and importance of this statement both for developing countries and for the scientifically advanced societies. It was agreed that interested parties would assist Drake in preparing a set of consistent amendments to the resolution and propose it later to the General Assembly. Lerch (USA) pointed out that, while it was common to associate the idea of scientific development with industrial societies, the initiative for such a resolution had come from Latin American countries who needed this sort of statement to convince their governments of the importance to invest in scientific research. Nilsson noted that the draft resolution had come from Council. He recommended that amendments in the spirit of the resolution could be made in order to improve it and that these should be proposed through Drake who would coordinate the composition of an appropriate resolution (see Item 16, below).

9. Commission Reports

9.1 Oral Comments

Commissions had already submitted written reports which are in the "Reports on International Commissions of IUPAP and the Inter-Union Committees" (IUPAP-34). A brief opportunity was given to commissions to add short oral remarks.

Sette (Italy) observed the difficulty that C10 had, in that it must cover a large diverse field in which the sub-fields have little common ground.

Chavel (AC1) reported on the reorganization of ICO within IUPAP and within ICSU, noting that there had been some change in the statutes but that ICO wished to remain strongly connected with IUPAP as an affiliated commission AC1. He reviewed the progress in the reorganization, as had already been reported to the IUPAP Council Meeting in Geneva in 1997.

Crum (AC3) commented that AC3, the International Commission on Acoustics, would like to follow exactly the same route and is currently doing just that. In particular, it wishes to retain a strong connection with IUPAP as an affiliated commission.

9.2 Discussion

Black (14) reported that the Council had recommended that commissions prepare an overview of progress in the 20th century as a briefing document that might be used for a general physics audience. The intention is that it should include both a look at the past and a look toward the future. The chairs have assisted in producing this. It has been proposed that this be published as a small book, similar to the commissions reports, as well as made available on the IUPAP web site.

10. Reports on the Working Groups

10.1 Working Group on Communication in Physics (M. Blume)

This group has been reconstituted to consider the problems that are emerging in electron publishing. It particularly will consider Internet availability/ reliability, linking between societies and publishers, availability of electronic communication in isolated areas, archiving, peer review, and intellectual property. This group will accept input through e-mail (bloom@aps.org).

10.2 Working Group on Neutron Sources (R. Klein)

A meeting was organized in March 1998 by the US Liaison Committee for IUPAP, in cooperation with the chairs of commissions C6, C8, C9, C10, along with the chairs of the neutron scattering associations of Europe, the USA and Japan, and the spokesman for the Megascience Forum Working Group on Neutron Sources. A second meeting has been planned for September 1999 in Budapest (as described in News Bulletin NB98-6).

Richter commented that the recommendations that had come from the first meeting had been well received and included in the recent Megascience Forum Report.

10.3 Particle and Nuclear Astrophysics in Gravitation International Committee (PANAGIC) (B. Barish)

A Steering Committee on this subject was formed at a meeting of the Council and chairs in September 1997. This was followed in September 1998 with the establishment of this committee, with sub-panels on gravitational waves (GWIC) and on large neutrino observatories. The General Assembly heard the report on this activity. Further details have already been given in IUPAP News Bulletin NB98-6 and on the web at http://www.iupap.org/NB98-6.html. PANAGIC had not yet met, but a meeting was to be held at the end of the Centennial APS Meeting.

10.4 International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) (R. Rubinstein)

This committee was formed under the aegis of C11 in 1976 to facilitate international collaboration in the construction and use of high energy accelerators. It has held six meetings in the past triennium at major laboratories, three of which were extended meetings (January 1997, February 1998, January 1999) with the directors of the world's major particle physics laboratories participating. At these meetings, reports were given on the activities of all of the laboratories. In addition, other meetings of ICFA have been held in conjunction with major meetings of C11.

SESSION 3 (Westin Plaza Ballroom): Friday, March 19, 1999, 9:00 a.m.

11. Election

Nilsson reminded the General Assembly that delegations had a number of votes that was related to the number of shares as has been published previously in the General Report 1997.

Dennis Weaire and Rudolf Klein were appointed as tellers for the election and the voting took place.

12. Secretary-General's Report

R. Turlay, the Secretary General, reported on the following matters.

12.1 Free Circulation of Scientists

Since the last General Assembly (1996), IUPAP did not have to deal with any case that violated the ICSU policy on free conduct of Science.

12.2 Meetings of Council

As directed by resolution passed at the General Assembly, the Council met together with the chairs of the commissions at CERN (Geneva) in February 1997. At this meeting

five of the chairs were elected as Vice Presidents
IUPAP policy was reviewed, as directed by the General Assembly (for example, membership issues including participation by countries which are not presently members)
the role that IUPAP might play in the international community was considered in the context of planning for large facilities, such as neutron sources.

The Council decided to expand the regular September meeting to include the commission chairs in the subsequent meetings:

Paris, 24-26 September, 1997

Vancouver, 25-26 September, 1998

Atlanta, 16-17 March, 1999

It was both efficient and important to have representatives of the commissions present at these meetings to discuss such matters as conference sponsorship, reports on commission activities and activities that require the cooperation between commissions.

Specifically,

out of these meetings the initiative on planning for neutron sources developed further, with cooperation involving C3, C5, C6, C8, C9, and C10,
at the Paris meeting the proposal on particle and nuclear astrophysics was made with the cooperation of C4, C11, C12 and C19 (and now AC2) and the initial steering committee was created,
at Vancouver the steering committee reported its proposal on the mandate and form of PANAGIC, which has been reported to you at this General Assembly.

12.3 IUPAP Web Site

The IUPAP main web site is in operation (http://www.IUPAP.org) and the most up to date information is posted there for

names and addresses of officers and contact liaison committee personnel
information regarding the sponsorship by IUPAP of conferences
calendar of IUPAP sponsored conferences
availability of proceeding of IUPAP conferences
most recent IUPAP News Bulletins
links to commission web sites

Only a few commissions have developed web sites to date. All commissions were encouraged to develop sites and link these to the main IUPAP site.

12.4 Other Points

The Council will invite the President of Secretary of ICSU to attend theOctober 1999 meeting of the Council at CERN.
Reports of the Commission, Affiliated Commission and Inter-Union Commissions have been printed in a booklet (IUPAP-34).
Audited financial statements for 1998 are available. The report is given in under agenda item 15.
Annual dues for the years 1999-2002 will remain at CHF (Swiss francs) 2,500 per share.
Decisions on the sponsorship by IUPAP of international conferences will be made at the October meeting. The usual deadlines will apply.
Members affairs have been reported elsewhere.

12.5 Liaison Committees

Liaison committees were urged to ensure that the names and addresses of contact personnel, as given on the IUPAP web pages, are up to date and correct. Corrections should be sent by e-mail to

claery.persson@pew.psy.gu.se
barber@physics.umanitoba.ca
turlay@hep.saclay.cea.fr and
ridgway@aps.org

13. Reports of Liaison Committees

There were no reports.

14. Report of Inter-Union Committees

The written report from the inter-union committees is published in the booklet of reports (IUPAP-34) for the period 1996-1999. Nilsson gave the report as the representative to IU1 and indicated that he had not had close contact with ICSU but noted that he would represent IUPAP at the World Science 2000 Meeting. Further, as stated earlier, it is planned that the President of ICSU be invited to attend the Council meetings in October 1999. On a motion by Vogt, the list of inter-union representatives (as given in Appendix B) was approved by the General Assembly.

15. Report of the Commission on Finance

The auditor's reports were tabled. Richter noted that while there had been an operating surplus that this had diminished by about CHF50,000 per year and that it was anticipated that it would be difficult to balance the budget in the near future.

There was some discussion about the operating reserve. Nilsson pointed out that it was not large and that cash flow problems require that at least one annual budget be maintained as a reserve fund. Dues are paid at the end of the year by most of the liaison committees whereas expenditures occurred early in the year. The possibilities of significant fluctuations in expenditures was noted.

Nilsson moved on behalf of the Finance Commission that the financial reports for 1996-98 be approved. Nilsson announced that the dues would remain unchanged for the coming triennium and would be CHF2,500 per share.

Consideration was given to the limit on conference fees and after a brief discussion a motion by Drake/Kummer was approved that the current limit on conference fees (CHF 500) be maintained. Yamaguchi observed that we may have to reconsider this matter in two years but that it would need to be considered well in advance.

16. Resolutions from Commissions and Liaison Committees

The Swedish liaison committee proposed two resolutions for consideration by the General Assembly.

16.1 Language of the Statutes

The statues and by-laws use the term "chairman", "chairmen", etc. It is resolved that these words be changed to gender inclusive words such as "chair", "chairs", etc.

16.2 Working Group on Women in Physics

A. Bárány presented a resolution on behalf of the Swedish Liaison Committee.

We propose an IUPAP Working Group on Women in Physics. The mandate of the group should be to:

survey the present situation and report to the Council and the liaison committees
suggest means to improve the situation for women in physics.

In the discussion on this motion, it was observed that there had not been legal barriers to women's activity in the past. Further, the imbalance in physics was obvious and it was clear that one was losing out on fifty percent of the possible pool of ability. Therefore it was considered an important resolution. Several other points were made in the discussion. It was important to keep the word "women" in the title in order to make the purpose clear. The issue is not only a woman's issue, it has a broad impact across a wide ranges of activities such as the universities, education, industry, etc. Further it was noted that the problem varies in the different countries represented within IUPAP. There was some discussion about the implementation of the resolution. It proposed a working group but left to the Council the appointment of the members of the working group. Because the means of IUPAP are limited, the working group should be in contact with other groups such as those in national regional societies who have already invested resources in considering these matters.

Voting on all resolutions was deferred to Session 4.

Adjournment, 12:00 noon.

SESSION 4 (Westin Plaza Ballroom): Saturday, March 20, 1999, 9:00 a.m.

President Nilsson called the meeting to order and invited Dr. Federico Mayor, the Director-General of UNESCO, to address the Assembly on the topic "Science for the 21st Century: A New Commitment". (See Appendix C).

10:00 a.m.

11. Results of Election of Officers

President Nilsson announced the results of the election of officers. A list of those elected has been mailed to commission chairs, secretaries, and liaison committees under separate cover. The results are also published in the General Report 2000.

New members of Council were invited to attend the meeting of the Council to be held Sunday, March 21, at 9:00 a.m. in the Westin Tower Room.

17. Union Policy Matters

In the discussion of Union policy, Suzor-Weiner (France) observed that we had a seen a map of member countries of ICO indicated in colour. It would be nice to see this for IUPAP. Further IUPAP needs to be open to new members and should encourage these. Secondly, IUPAP can play a useful role in promoting physics in these countries and the IUPAP statement on the "Importance of Physics to Society" should prove useful. In some cases such countries have great difficulty in paying fees and it is difficult to organize conferences there. However, IUPAP should be supportive.

Nilsson responded that the General Assembly has given authority to negotiate fees in special cases but there should be a concrete possibility that an inherent body could become a full member. To do this, it must represent a community of scientists. In the matter of conferences, the General Assembly has instructed Council to be selective and to insist that conferences be international in nature. Too many conferences lead to diluted support for each and devalues the significance of IUPAP support. Notwithstanding this, special consideration has been given to promote physics in developing countries by sponsoring conferences through C13 and C14 that would not meet the usual criteria.

Nadrchal (C20) noted that in the case of Computational Physics major meetings had been organized internationally, but there was still a tendency for these meetings to be somewhat regional. On that account, he requested that support might be considered for regional conferences in some cases. Sette (Italy) pointed out that it was necessary to have funds for commission meetings which would stimulate a commission meeting to be held at least once in the triennium.

18. Voting on Resolutions -- Final Text of Approved Resolutions

Nilsson observed that there were five resolutions from the Council and two from Sweden. He proposed that the Swedish resolution on gender language be referred to the committee reviewing the Statutes and By-laws for implementation. This was agreed by the meeting.

Y. Yamaguchi and R. Klein were appointed to be tellers for the voting. The results were as follows:

18.1 Resolution on Legal Domicile

The legal domicile of the Union shall be Geneva, Switzerland.

For: 114 Against: 0 Abstaining: 0

The resolution was adopted.

18.2 Resolution on Language of the Statutes (Article 22)

Article 22 of the Statutes shall be changed to:

"In the case of discussion as to the interpretation of the Statutes, the English text will be used exclusively." in the English version of the Statutes and "Le texte anglais sera le texte de réference pour l'interpretation à donner des présent status. in the French text.

For: 114 Against: 0 Abstaining: 0

The resolution was adopted.

18.3 Resolution on Reviewing and Revising the Statutes

Considering the modifications of the Statutes adopted by this and previous General Assemblies, the Council is requested to prepare a revised version of the Statutes and By-Laws to be proposed for adoption at the next General Assembly.

For: 114 Against: 0 Abstaining: 0

The resolution was adopted.

18.4 Resolution on Transfer of Office

Preamble:
The Statutes prescribe that the members of the Council and the Commissions remain in office until the close of the General Assembly following their election. General Assemblies are normally held in the month of September to allow Commissions to meet in conjunction with major conferences to conduct their business.

In view of the exceptional timing of this General Assembly it is therefore proposed that transfer of office be postponed until September 1, 1999.

Resolution:

In view of the exceptional circumstances, it is resolved that current members of the Council and the Commissions remain in office until August 31, 1999.

For: 114 Against: 0 Abstaining: 0

The resolution was adopted.

18.5 Resolution on the Statement on the Importance of Physics to Society

The following formal statement shall be adopted by the General Assembly.

Statement on the Importance of Physics to Society
Physics - the study of matter, energy and their interactions - is an international enterprise which plays a key role in the future progress of humankind. The support of physics education and research in all countries is important because:

Physics is an exciting intellectual adventure that inspires young people and expands the frontiers of our knowledge about Nature.

Physics generates fundamental knowledge needed for the future technological advances that will continue to drive the economic engines of the world.

Physics contributes to the technological infrastructure and provides trained personnel needed to take advantage of scientific advances and discoveries.

Physics is an important element in the education of chemists, engineers and computer scientists, as well as practitioners of the other physical and biomedical sciences.

Physics extends and enhances our understanding of other disciplines, such as the earth, agricultural, chemical, biological, and environmental sciences, plus astronomy and cosmology - subjects of substantial importance to all peoples of the world.

Physics improves our quality of life by providing the basic understanding necessary for developing new instrumentation and techniques for medical applications, such as computer tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, ultrasonic imaging, and laser surgery.

In summary, for all these reasons, physics is an essential part of the educational system and of an advanced society. We therefore urge all governments to seek advice from physicists and other scientists on matters of science policy, and to be supportive of the science of Physics. This support can take many forms such as:

National programs to improve physics teaching at all levels of the educational system.

Building and maintaining strong departments in universities (and other academic institutions) with opportunities for grants to support research.

Scholarships and fellowships for both undergraduate and graduate students studying physics.

Adequate funding for national laboratories and the formation of new ones as appropriate.

Funding and facilitating international activities and collaborations.

For: 114 Against: 0 Abstaining: 0

The resolution was adopted.

18.6 Resolution on Formation of the Working Group on Women in Physics

It is resolved that an IUPAP Working Group on women in Physics be formed. The mandate of the group shall be to

survey the present situation and report to the Council and the liaison committees

suggest means to improve the situation for women in physics.

Moved by Sluitjer/Kummer that the last phrase "suggest means to improve the situation for women in physics" be removed.

For: 12 Against: 98 Abstaining: 4

The amendment was defeated. The main resolution was then voted on.

For: 107 Against: 2 Abstaining: 5

The resolution was adopted.

19. Venue of the 2002 General Assembly

It was reported that there were tentative discussions taking place as to possible venues and that an announcement regarding this would be made following the September Council Meeting.

20. Other Business

IUPAP Cubes

Following the tradition of the General Assembly, President Nilsson presented IUPAP cubes to officers of the Union who were ending their terms of office with IUPAP. Those to whom cubes were presented were:

Present Council: Y. Yamaguchi, P. Black, F. Garcia-Molinear, L. V. Keldysh, R. Klein, G. C. Righini, G-Z. Zhou

Chairmen: P. Hohenberg, J. Arafuni, M. Krusius, N. Go, T. Kihlman, M. Cardona, R. Cowley, B. Barish, E. Vogt, J. Gyulai, G. Drake, and J. Nadrchal

Following the presentation of the cubes, Sette (Italy) expressed the appreciation of the General Assembly for the leadership that had been provided by J. Nilsson over the last triennium. There was sustained applause. Nilsson thanked the General Assembly and expressed his congratulations to the incoming President, Burton Richter, who will assume his duties September 1, 1999.

21. Adjournment

President Nilsson declared the meeting adjourned at 11:08 a.m.

Appendix A: List of Observers and Delegates Supported by UNESCO, ICTP, OAS and IUPAP

Appendix B: IUPAP representative to Inter-Union Commissions

Appendix C: Speech of F. Mayor

23rd General Assembly of IUPAP (1999)

Minutes