BPU 1 Thessaloniki, Greece (1991)
The first General Conference of the Balkan Physical Union was held in Thessaloniki in September, 1991 and this was not only the first BPU Conference, but also the first, in fact, BPU activity.
We must recall that at that time, it was a difficult period for most of the Balkan countries, two years after their political changes, when all their citizens faced the difficulties of the transition period. But there was great enthusiasm in the attempt, coming from both the organizers and the participants, to overcome the difficulties that made the organization of the conference even more challenging. The main difficulties arose from the very bad economic situation of the Balkan Physicists who strongly wanted to participate in this historic conference and the difficulty in communication. It must be noted that the greatest part of the communication correspondence was achieved via ordinary post.
In this way the conference organization file includes the signatures of very important people within the Balkan community of Physicists, such as Professors Mejdani, Ursu, Bek-Uzarov, Zlatev, the BPU President at that time Gediz Akdeniz, and the fourth President Ivan Lalov.
On June 24-26, 1991, a common meeting of the BPU Executive Committee and the Conference Scientific Committee was held in Thessaloniki to prepare the Conference, evaluate all the abstracts and decide on the invited speakers and the oral presentations. It was also an important meeting for the promotion of friendship among Balkan countries and the conference itself to the community of Thessaloniki, which considerably financed the conference.
This meeting was also important due to the presence, among other professors of Physics, of Prof. Kastriot, President of the Albanian Parliament, Prof. Skende, Minister of Science and Technology in Albania and Prof. Mateev, Minister of Education in Bulgaria.
The registration, as well as the Conference took place in the newly-constructed building of the University of Macedonia. In a happy atmosphere, a lot of new friendships were developed, friendships which have lasted up to now and will continue for years to come.
The opening ceremony was held in the Ceremony Hall of the School of Philosophy in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The Minister of Macedonia and Thrace, the Mayor of Thessaloniki and the Rector of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki welcomed the participants and expressed their happiness that Thessaloniki would be the host of the 1st BPU Conference.
The poster of the conference featured the portrait of Aristoteles, the ancient Greek philosopher.
