History

Some history...

ASFERA has geographical members primarily in France, but as a founding organization of the European Aerosol Assembly (EAA) maintains a strong european and international cooperation. Since 1991, ASFERA is a member of the International Aerosol Research Assembly (IARA). During two years (1998 to 2000), ASFERA took over the Presidency of the European Aerosol Assembly.

In 1994, ASFERA hosted the European Aerosol Conference in Blois in the Loire Valley. Over 250 scientists from 20 countries joined the EAC that year and each participant would certainly remember the conference diner organized in the Blois Castle with the welcome ceremony with the sound of hunting horns and the private "sound and light" show.

The ASFERA and the international associations

(extract from History of ASFERA by Dr. Denis Boulaud, in History of Aerosol Science, Verlag der sterreichischen Akademie Der Wissenschaften, pp 301-308, 2000)

The precursor of aerosol science in France is, without doubt, Professor Jean Bricard (refer to his biography by Professor Andr Renoux in this symposium). Professor Jean Bricard started in this field in the early fifties in Paris with a team of two men that played an important role in the development of this science in France: Professor Andr Renoux and Doctor Guy Madelaine. This was the core that, twenty years later, founded the association on aerosol research.

This association officially started in 1984 as a committee (COFERA: Comit Franais d'Etudes et Recherches sur les Arosols) under an umbrella association concerned with spectroscopic measurement and chemical analysis (GAMS: Groupement pour l'Avancement des Mthodes Spectroscopiques et physico-chimiques d'analyse).

The first two-day conference was held in Paris in November 1984. It was called "1res Journes d'Etudes sur les Aérosols". All of the papers were presented by 14 invited speakers. The first president was Professor André Renoux from the University of Paris 12, the vice-president was Doctor Paul Sigli from the SOFILTRA Company, and the general secretary was Doctor Guy Madelaine from IPSN/CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses.

Professor Andr Renoux, Doctor Guy Madelaine and Doctor Martin (Ecole Polytechnique) were really the active founding members of COFERA. Each year, from 1985 until 1993, the "Journes d'Etudes sur les Aérosols" assembled more than 100 people for a two-day conference with a good selection of papers. In 1994, COFERA was chosen to organise the European Aerosol Conference in Blois. Professor Andr Renoux was the General Conference Chairman and Doctor Denis Boulaud from CEA/Saclay chaired the Scientific Committee. About 300 people came to this pleasant city on the Loire River to attend a very high-level conference.

In 1995, the umbrella association of the COFERA, the GAMS, encountered financial difficulties and the COFERA board members decided to set up an independent association that they called ASFERA (ASsociation Franaise d'Etudes et Recherches sur les Arosols). Since then, Professor Andr Renoux was president, Doctor Denis Boulaud was vice-president and Doctor Michel Attoui from the University of Paris 12 was general secretary. Every year since 1995, a two day conference is held called "Confrence Franaise sur les Arosols". The last one in December 1999 assembled a group of 140 in Paris.

In 1991, COFERA (now ASFERA) became a member of the International Aerosol Research Assembly (IARA) and, in 1995, COFERA (now ASFERA) was one of the six founding associations of the European Aerosol Assembly. ASFERA took over the Presidency of EAA since September 1998 and until September 2000.

International Aerosol Fellow Award presented to Dr. Denis Boulaud 

September 12, 2002, during the International Aerosol Conference IAC' 2002 which was held in Taiwan, the International Aerosol Fellow Award was given to Denis Boulaud, President of the ASFERA. This price is allotted since 1990, every two years with one or two people maximum, by the International Aerosol Research Assembly which gathers on a world level the principal active learned societies in the field of the aerosols (associations: allemande, American, English, Chinese, Finnish, French, Indian, Israeli and Scandinavian).

This award rewards an eminent contribution to Science for the Aerosols starting from four essential elements :

research in physics and metrology of the aerosols,
the technological development of instruments and/or industrial systems,
the teaching of this science starting from course and books or chapters of books on the subject,
services rendered to the scientific community by animating learned societies, by organizing congresses or workshops, while taking part in the scientific committees of the various conferences.
This year the award was shared with Professor Helmuth Horvath of the University of Vienna.