Adelaide to host major conference in mechanics

Friday, 10 September 2004

More than 1000 leading scientific minds from around the globe will descend on Adelaide in four years' time when it hosts one of the world's biggest conferences in mechanics.

Adelaide will host the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Congress (known as ICTAM) in 2008, with the announcement being made at the most recent Congress held in Warsaw, Poland.

Mechanics is described as the study of bodies in motion and has two distinct fields, Fluid Mechanics and Solid Mechanics. Fluid Mechanics is the study of gases or liquids and how they move, while Solid Mechanics is the study of solids and how they deform.

The Congress will be jointly hosted and organised by the universities of Adelaide and Flinders, and their successful bid to host the Congress in Adelaide is the result of three years of planning by the city's mechanics community.

Dr Jim Denier, who is Secretary General of ICTAM 2008 and also Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at the University of Adelaide, says the Congress is held every four years and brings together the leading researchers in the field of mechanics.

"It is the largest and oldest scientific meeting aimed at understanding the workings of the world around us, and it has a particular focus on how current research enhances that understanding," Dr Denier says.

"More than 1000 scientific papers covering all areas of mechanics will be presented by the world's leading researchers.

"Some of the issues they will be covering include: how do bacteria propel themselves? How do fluids behave in space? How are the atmosphere and ocean linked, and what effect do they have upon climate change? How do crystals grow and take the shape they take?"

ICTAM 2008 will be held in Adelaide from August 24 to August 30, 2008.

Contact Details