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Middle European Cooperation in Statistical Physics

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The Middle European Cooperation in Statistical Physics (MECO) is an international conference on statistical physics which takes place every year in a different country of Europe.[1] MECO evolved in the early 1970s with the aim of bridging the gap between the communities of scientists from the Eastern and Western parts of Europe, separated as they were by the Iron Curtain. Since then, MECO conferences have become the yearly nomadic reference meetings for the community of scientists who are active in the field of Statistical Physics in the broader sense, including modern interdisciplinary applications to biology, Finance , information theory, and quantum computation.

History

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The MECO conferences were deliberately created as an attempt to establish and maintain an exchange between scientists in the fields of statistical and condensed matter physics from Western and Eastern countries, overcoming the hurdles of the "Iron Curtain".[2] In 1972, the Hungarian theorist Peter Szépfalusy started activities about organising a meeting of physicists from middle European countries, who worked in the area of critical phenomena. Another meeting took place in Budapest in the following year and the first MECO conference was organized 1974 in Vienna. Founding fathers of the conference included physicists, experimentalists as well as theorists, doing, especially, research on ferroelectricity, like Robert Blinc from Jugoslavia and K. Alex Müller from Switzerland.

In order to develop this concept in the mid-1970s and 1980's, the original intention was to have each year a conference, alternating on either side of the Iron Curtain. If it took place on the Eastern side, scientists from the communist countries could easier obtain permission to travel to the conference site. In addition, it was deemed essential to provide free (or very cheap) accommodation for participants and the low cost of attending MECO was also useful after the fall of the Iron Curtain, due to the resulting difficult economic situation in the Eastern part of Europe in the 1990s.

In this way, the organizers of the early MECO conferences succeeded, perhaps for the first time, to bring numerous scientists, despite the political difficulties, together and to create a lively atmosphere of fruitful scientific exchange. This has greatly helped to establish many collaborations which lasted up to the present time, when, partly thanks to the European Union, many more such collaborations have become possible. The ties created by MECO, however, still are useful to help scientific exchange, even though the scientific emphasis has changed from the traditional fields of statistical mechanics and solid-state physics to interdisciplinary themes of current interest as well.

In February 2022 the Ukrainian member of MECO was attacked by Russian military forces. Ukraine's President Zelenskyy, said a new Iron Curtain is coming. This situation disposed the MECO advisory board to the following Statement:

"The advisory board of MECO is shocked by the actions of the leadership of Russia against Ukraine – a MECO member. This act of violence goes against the values and aspirations of Europe’s scientists who, with the creation of MECO in 1974, sought to overcome the iron curtain that divided Eastern and Western countries.

The invasion of a free country is a brutal attack on the freedom of all nations, communities, and individuals. MECO’s aim is to enable scientific freedom for the academic community as an essential part of peaceful cooperation between countries. Academic freedom is only possible by respecting national freedom. The advisory board therefore calls on the academic community worldwide to maintain and support these values by condemning the actions of Russia’s leadership and calling for withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine with immediate effect."

Past conferences

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MECO usually gathers from 100 to 150 scientists almost every year. Below is the list of the past conference and their locations. Green color denotes the ones which took place on west side of Iron Curtain, red color – those on east. Such separation disappeared naturally after fall of USSR in 1991.

Year Conference Location Country
1974 MECO Vienna Austria
1975 MECO 2 Regensburg West Germany
1976 MECO 3 Bled Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
1977 MECO 4 Unterägeri Switzerland
1978 MECO 5 Boszkowo Poland
1979 MECO 6 Trieste Italy
1980 MECO 7 Budapest Hungary
1981 MECO 8 Saarbrücken West Germany
1982 MECO 9 Wien Austria
1983 MECO 10 Bled Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
1984 MECO 11 Gernrode East Germany
1985 MECO 12 Aussois France
1986 MECO 13 Liblice Czech Republic
1987 MECO 14 Puidoux Switzerland
1988 MECO 15 Karpacz Poland
1989 MECO 16 Siena Italy
1990 MECO 17 Balatonfüred Hungary
1991 MECO 18 Duisburg Germany
1994 MECO 19 Smolenice Slovakia
1995 MECO 20 Wels Austria
1996 MECO 21 Bled Slovenia
1997 MECO 22 Szklarska Poręba Poland
1998 MECO 23 Trieste Italy
1999 MECO 24 Wittenberg Germany
2000 MECO 25 Pont-a-Mousson France
2001 MECO 26 Prague Czech Republic
2002 MECO 27 Sopron Hungary
2003 MECO 28 Saarbrücken Germany
2004 MECO 29 Bratislava Slovakia
2005 MECO 30 Cortona Italy
2006 MECO 31 Primošten Croatia
2007 MECO 32 Lądek-Zdrój Poland
2008 MECO 33 Wels Austria
2009 MECO 34 Leipzig Germany
2010 MECO 35 Pont-a-Mousson France
2011 MECO 36 Lviv Ukraine
2012 MECO 37 Tatranské Matliare Slovakia
2013 MECO 38 Trieste Italy
2014 MECO 39 Coventry United Kingdom
2015 MECO 40 Esztergom Hungary
2016 MECO 41 Vienna Austria
2017 MECO 42 Lyon France
2018 MECO 43 Kraków Poland
2019 MECO 44 Kloster Seeon Germany
2020 MECO 45 Cluj Romania
2021 MECO 46 Riga Latvia
2022 MECO47 Erice Italy
2023 MECO48 Stará Lesná Slovakia

Future conferences

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[MECO49] will take place in Kranjska Gora (Slovenia) on April 21–25, 2024.

References

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