Report of IUPAC
Activities
1999
- INTRODUCTION
- MEMBERSHIP
- VITAL STATISTICS
- ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS
- 4.1. MEETINGS
- 4.2. FINANCES
- 4.3. SECRETARIAT
- ACTIVTIES UNDERTAKEN
DURING 1999
- 5.1. SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS
- 5.2. EDUCATION/TRAINING ACTIVITIES
- 5.3. PUBLICATIONS
- 5.4. SPECIAL PROJECTS
- 5.5. NEW AREAS OF INTEREST
- BRIEF REPORT OF USE
OF 1999 ICSU GRANT AND UNESCO SUBVENTION
- CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE
PLANS
1. INTRODUCTION
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) was formed
in 1919 by chemists from industry and academia. Over eight decades,
the Union has succeeded in fostering worldwide communications in the
chemical sciences and in uniting chemistry - academic, industrial and
governmental - in a common language. IUPAC has long been recognized
as the world authority on chemical nomenclature, terminology, standardized
methods for measurement, atomic weights, and many other critically evaluated
data. The Union has long sponsored major international meetings that
range from specialized scientific symposia to CHEMRAWN meetings with
societal impact.
At the 1999 General Assembly the IUPAC Council approved a major change
in the management of the Union's scientific work. The current structure
of Commissions responsible for specific areas of chemistry will be replaced
by Task Groups working on limited duration projects. This new organization
is intended enable the scientific work of IUPAC to better address the
needs of the global chemical community and to lead to more rapid completion
of projects. The new structure will take effect after the next General
Assembly in 2001, however, the new project approval system has already
been put in place and is functioning.
> read Minutes
of 40th IUPAC Council Meeting, Aug. 1999, Berlin, Germany
2. MEMBERSHIP
The members of IUPAC are National
Adhering Organizations. These are either National Academies of Science,
National Chemical Societies, or associations of Chemical Societies.
The NAOs pay National Subscriptions and can name delegates to the IUPAC
Council, the Union's highest governing body. In addition, IUPAC has
Associate National Adhering Organizations,
Associated Organizations, Affiliate
Members, and Company Associates.
3. VITAL STATISTICS
IUPAC has 45 National Adhering Organizations, 16 Associate National
Adhering Organizations, 32 Associated Organizations, 4525 Affiliate
Members, and 117 Company Associates.
Two new NAOs were admitted in 1999, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
and the Turkish Chemical Society. The Tanzania Chemical Society was
added as an ANAO. Over 1000
chemists participated in the work of IUPAC bodies. IUPAC sponsored
20 scientific meetings in 1999.
IUPAC publishes a newsmagazine, Chemistry
International, a journal, Pure
and Applied Chemistry, and books.
It also maintains a web site, http://www.iupac.org.
The newsmagazine is published bimonthly and is sent to approximately
6000 subscribers, including 400 free copies to chemists in developing
and economically disadvantaged countries. It is available free on the
IUPAC web site. Pure and Applied Chemistry is published monthly
and contains lectures from IUPAC sponsored conferences and reports and
recommendations from IUPAC bodies. Over 800 copies of PAC are
printed each month. In 1999 the lectures of 14 conferences and 18 reports
and recommendations were published in PAC. Nine reports were
published in CI and three in other publications. Four reports
in the Solubility Data Series were printed in the Journal of Chemical
and Physical Reference Data. Eight books were published in 1999.
4. ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS
4.1. MEETINGS
The IUPAC General Assembly is held biennially. The 40th
General Assembly was held 7-14 August 1999 in Berlin, Germany. There
were approximately 642 registered participants. The 37th
biennial IUPAC Congress was held 14-19 August 1999 in Berlin, Germany.
The theme of the Congress was Frontiers in Chemistry: Molecular Basis
of the Life Sciences. The Congress was held jointly with the General
Meeting of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker. 1999 marked the 80th
Anniversary of IUPAC and the 50th anniversary of the refounding of the
GDCh. More than 2400 participants from 55 countries attended the Congress.
4.2. FINANCES
IUPAC's operating income for 1999 was approximately USD 1.3 million,
operating expenses were approximately USD 1.3 million. There was a small
operating surplus of USD 46 000. Income is mainly derived from National
Subscriptions paid by the NAOs and from publications. Expenses are for
operation of the Secretariat, expenses associated with the work of various
IUPAC bodies, and the General Assembly.
4.3. SECRETARIAT
The IUPAC Secretariat is located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina,
USA. The staff of five provides support for the IUPAC officers, IUPAC
bodies, and manages the Union's publication activities and its web site.
5. ACTIVTIES UNDERTAKEN DURING
1999
> A report summarizing IUPAC's activities in relation to its Strategic
Plan is available >download Biennial
Report, 98-99 (pdf 490KB)
Descriptions of IUPAC activities relating to the categories requested
by ICSU are given below.
5.1. SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS
IUPAC sponsored conferences
have been mentioned above. Meetings of the Union's bodies were held
both at the General Assembly and at other times and places. The results
of the work of the Union's Commissions and Committees can be seen from
the appended list of reports and
recommendations published in PAC and other journals.
5.2. EDUCATION/TRAINING ACTIVITIES
In addition to the long-established programs of trying to improve the
teaching of chemistry at the primary and secondary levels, particularly
in developing countries, IUPAC bodies are engaged in educational activities
at other levels. Plans are being drawn for CHEMRAWN
X: The Globalization of Chemical Education: Preparing Chemical Scientists
and Engineers for Transnational Industries. At intermediate levels,
a report giving details of twenty-one tested and evaluated "Teaching
Experiments in Solid State Chemistry" will shortly be made available
to interested users on the web through the IUPAC web site. This educational
resource is complemented by a bibliography on solid state chemistry
to aid faculty seeking to add material on the solid state to introductory
and inorganic chemistry courses.
Some specific recent projects relevant to education include a series
of computer-based teaching tutorials of solution equilibria with contributions
from analytical chemists in many countries, the creation of standard
curricula and recommendations for minimum topics for lecture courses
in polymer science; and a book on the Principles
of Nomenclature that provides an easy-to-understand and usable overview
of official IUPAC recommendations across the length and breadth of chemistry.
IUPAC's current educational activities and potential initiatives in
education are being examined by the recently appointed Education
Strategy Development Committee (ESDC), which will recommend future
program directions.
5.3. PUBLICATIONS
In addition to the publication activities already described, IUPAC assumed
the role of publisher for its newsmagazine, Chemistry
International, in 1999. This change has been successful, with
the magazine appearing on a more timely schedule. The magazine's content
has also changed, with more articles of general interest being published,
in addition to the usual news of the work of IUPAC bodies. Pure
and Applied Chemistry will be published by IUPAC, rather than
by a commercial publisher, in 2000. This change has allowed the Union
to keep the subscription price of PAC unchanged for 2000 from
1999.
5.4. SPECIAL PROJECTS
Two ad hoc committees were created in 1999 to study two areas of special
interest. They are: the ad hoc Committee on IUPAC/
Industry Relations and the Education
Strategy Development Committee. In addition, an IUPAC
Roundtable on Nomenclature was organized and was held in March 2000.
There were 41 participants representing diverse groups interested in
nomenclature and the description of chemical structure.
5.5. NEW AREAS OF INTEREST
The areas of biotechnology and materials have been emphasized by the
addition of the Commission
on Biotechnology to the renamed Division of Organic and Biomolecular
Chemistry and by formation of an interdivisional task force on materials.
6. BRIEF REPORT OF USE OF 1999
ICSU GRANT AND UNESCO SUBVENTION
IUPAC had two projects supported by ICSU funds in 1999. They are briefly
described below.
Cost effective chemistry
in primary schools
A complete system for doing practical work from grade 4 to grade 7 in
science has been carefully designed. The system consists of a pupil's
pack, a facilitator's pack, and a chemicals pack and has the capacity
to serve as a solution to lack of equipment and laboratories, safety
problems, and even to limited teacher knowledge and skills in primary
school science. In South Africa, the system has been exposed to more
than 400 teachers who gave positive responses regarding its merits.
It was also tried out extensively in three different schools at the
four grades. The results of the study are highly positive in favor of
the system. Because of lack of funds, the system has not yet been evaluated
in other African countries; however, it has been extensively presented
and exposed to quite a number of educators from different countries.
This undertaking has been achieved partly with the support of UNESCO
and IUPAC. Through support from PCBS, the kit was also presented at
the ICSU-PCBS conference held in Budapest 24-25 June 1999. The presentation
was well received, with many seeing it as a possible solution to the
problems of practical work in science education.
Development of teaching
materials for solution equilibria
During this period, the four-year writing stage of the tutorials has
been completed and the advertising/ promotion/ distribution and review
process has begun. It is this latter process that was covered by the
grant from ICSU.
The SolEq tutorials on Solution Equilibria were completed in August
1999. The median target group is university senior undergraduates. The
set of 27 tutorials and 8 supportive software packages are being produced
on a CD. Leading up to this milestone, writing contributions were made
by members of IUPAC Commission V.6, representing Sweden, New Zealand,
USA, UK, Hungary, Australia, Russia, France, Japan and Portugal. Over
2-3 years the tutorials have been tested with student groups in Ireland,
Sweden, New Zealand, Russia, and Brazil. A new member has been added
to the project team, with responsibility for preparing the Manual text
files. The SolEq
CD was officially 'launched' at the Berlin meeting of the IUPAC
General Assembly.
7. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE PLANS
The Union is in the midst of major changes in the way it manages its
scientific work as well as how it handles its publications. The effects
of these changes will become apparent over the next few years. It is
expected that the result will be a more vibrant organization, better
able to meet the needs of the global chemical community in both its
traditional areas and in new areas of importance to developing and economically
disadvantaged countries.
John W. Jost
IUPAC Excecutive Director
>
View 2000 Report