Author: Radu Constantinescu
The Balkan Physical Union (BPU) is the Union of the National Physical Societies from the following 10 countries, all of which are also EPS members: Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey, https://balkanphysicalunion.info/.
Founded in 1985, the Union celebrated its 40th anniversary organizing this year in Bucharest, from July 8 to July 12, its 12th General Congress. The activities were hosted by the National University for Science and Technology “Politehnica” Bucharest and by the Faculty of Physics from the University of Bucharest. The participants had also the opportunity to visit “Extreme Light Infrastructure” (ELI), the most powerful laser in the world that operates within the National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Energy “Horia Hulubei” (NIPNE-HH) in Magurele, near Bucharest.
The Congress was attended by almost 400 researchers, students, teachers from 25 countries and consisted of 229 plenary, oral and poster communications. The organizers acknowledge the support offered by the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, the Romanian Physical Society, the University of Craiova, and the Q-Fort Company, all from Romania. The participants have the opportunity to publish their contributions in three volumes that will be published by EDP Sciences, Springer and Societa Italiana di Fisica, MDPI.
In parallel with the 12th BPU Congress, other satellite events took place, the whole program being presented at https://bpu12.ucv.ro/. The European Physical Society was the main co-organizers of the round table, of the two schools and the “hands on” activity. The last three activities were related to the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology and attended by almost 100 students.
One of the Schools, the “Frontiers in Quantum Science and Technology” was generously supported the WE Heraeus Foundation from Germany, while ICTP Trieste sponsored the SEENET Workshop.
