History of the Catalysis Society in USA

 
In 1949, a group of 7 sci­en­tists met in Philadel­phia to dis­cuss the pos­si­bil­i­ty of hold­ing reg­u­lar meet­ings in the field of catal­y­sis; they formed the Philadel­phia Catal­y­sis Club. In 1954–56 the Catal­y­sis Club orga­nized the 1st Inter­na­tion­al Con­gress on Catal­y­sis (ICC), which was held in Philadel­phia in 1956 (atten­dance of over 600 per­sons). By 1965 sev­er­al oth­er catal­y­sis clubs had been orga­nized in the USA and togeth­er they formed the Catal­y­sis Soci­ety of North Amer­i­ca. The first nation­al meet­ing of the catal­y­sis soci­ety of North Amer­i­ca was held in 1969. The recent 19th North Amer­i­can Catal­y­sis Soci­ety meet­ing was held in Philadel­phia in June 2005 with almost 1,100 atten­dees over 4.5 days of pre­sen­ta­tions in 6 par­al­lel ses­sions. The ICC even­tu­al­ly spawned the Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Catal­y­sis Soci­eties (IACS). Sep­a­rate­ly, region­al and nation­al catal­y­sis soci­eties (such as EFCATS (Europe) and APACS (Asia)) have formed around the world as mem­bers of the IACS.
 
Con­tributed by Heinz Heine­mann & John Armor
14 June 2005.