ABOUT AEROSOLS
Aerosol particles suspended in air influence life in many ways: airborne infection, inhalation toxicology and therapy, exposure to dust at work, climatic and local weather effects, air chemistry, air pollution, tobacco smoke, industrial production processes, chemical and nuclear safety, radiation protection, pest control, and others.
Underlying every applied problem in aerosols is a base of scientific knowledge which has been built up over the last hundred years. With the growing importance of aerosols in various disciplines (biology, chemistry, medicine, physics, technology, meteorology, and others), the interdisciplinarity of aerosol research requires a forum for all scientists with an interest in aerosol problems
WHAT WE DO
The "Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung (GAeF)" was founded in 1972 with the following aims:
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promote science in all areas of aerosol research
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provide information with an interdisciplinary base to their members and the public by organizing scientific conferences and supporting publications
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maintain a forum for international cooperation and exchange for all aspects of aerosol science
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support scientific education and teaching in aerosol science at all levels
GAeF serves as a forum for the various disciplines in aerosol research and encourages interdisciplinary cooperation.
GAeF has geographical members from all parts of the world, but operates primarily in Europe. Members come from different professional areas including industry, universities, medical centers, and research institutes.
BOARD MEMBERS
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OUR STORY
The board is elected every two years by the members of the society as stated in the GAeF statutes. However, members are very welcome to actively participate in organising GAeF activities. Feel free to contact us or find us at the Aerosol Conferences.
The Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung (GAeF) developed originally from aerosol meetings held annually from 1952-1968 at the University of Mainz (organized by Prof. Klumb), and from 1962-1972 at Battelle-Frankfurt (organized by Prof. Straubel).
Since the retirement of Prof. Straubel was approaching, a group of motivated aerosol scientists founded the Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung GAeF) on October 18, 1972 in the lecture room of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics. As of this date the GAeF had 38 members.
The first board was elected, consisting of M. Benarie (Paris, France), V. Böhlau (Bad Soden, Germany), K. Bullrich (mainz, Germany); F. Löffler (Karlsruhe, Germany), O. Preining (Vienna, Austria), W. Schikarski (Karlsruhe, Germany), H. Straubel (Frankfurt/M, Germany) and G. Zebel (Bochum, Germany). The board elected V. Böhlau, director of the Taunus Clinic for Pulmonary Diseases in Bad Soden, Germany, as first president and H. Straubel as secretary general.
The first annual meeting of GAeF, being a direct continuation of the above mentioned aerosol meetings, took place in 1973 in Bad Soden, Germany, with 56 papers and 170 participants from 10 European countries and USA. The tenth anniversary of the GAeF was celebrated in 1982 at the University of Bologna. The twentieth anniversary was celebrated in 1992 at Oxford.
Since 1980 the Journal of Aerosol Science (founded by Prof. Davies in 1970) has been edited in cooperation with GAeF.
The last annual meeting of GAeF took place from September 7 to 11, 1987 in Hannover, Germany, with 270 participants, from 12 European countries, Japan, North and South America and Africa; 119 oral papers and 74 posters were presented. The strong international participation of the annual GAeF meetings motivated Othmar Preining, then president of GAeF, to change the name of the “Annual GAeF Meeting” to “European Aerosol Conference (EAC)” and – obviously - modify its form of organization.
The first EAC took place in Lund, Sweden, from August 30 to September 2, 1988, with 197 papers and 305 participants. This and all following EACs were a success story, e.g. the EAC2017 in Zürich, Switzerland had 800 participants from 46 countries,
The first two joint international conferences on aerosols were held together with the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) at Minneapolis, USA, in 1984 and at Berlin, Germany, in 1986. The following international conferences on aerosols were held together with AAAR and the Japan Association of Aerosol Science and Technology (JAAST) in Kyoto, Japan, 1990, in Los Angeles, USA, 1994, in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1998, in Taipeh, Taiwan, 2002, in St. Paul, USA, 2006, in Helsinki, Finland, 2010, in Busan, Republic of Korea, 2014, and in St. Louis, USA, 2018. GAeF is a founding member of the International Aerosol Research Assembly (IARA) and the European Aerosol Assembly (EAA).