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3. 16th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science Will Take Place in India

The 16th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science will mark a turning point in the maturation of the field.

The leaders of the conference, which will take place in Chennai, India, in February, have carefully distinguished between the scientifically confirmed phenomena of low-energy nuclear reactions, known also as the field of condensed matter nuclear science, and the still-speculative idea of "cold fusion." 

The Web site for the conference went up on June 14. The meeting promises to be a significant event for the conference series, which began in 1990.

Padmanabha K. Iyengar, former director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, joins Mahadeva Srinivasan, former associate director of the physics group at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, to lead the meeting, a 20-year revival of the duo's historic leadership in LENR research. The National Steering Committee includes directors from many if India's most significant nuclear establishments.

Bikash Sinha, president of the Indian Physics Association, welcomed the conference to India.

"The central motivation of science is to understand Nature a little better—the rest is only the frill of the contemporary fashion and prejudices," Sinha wrote. "The subject of this conference has puzzled physicists for two decades and the field promises to be rich with marvelous possibilities and surprises."

The main sponsors of the meeting are the Indian Physics Association and the International Society for Condensed Matter Nuclear Science. Other professional societies and institutions sponsoring the conference are the Indian Nuclear Society, Materials Research Society of India, Indian Society for Radiation Physics, Indian Chemical Society and the National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bangalore.

Financial support is or will be provided by four Indian scientific organizations: Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Defense Research and Development Organization, Department of Science and Technology, and Board of Research for Nuclear Sciences, as well as New Energy Foundation.

Press Briefing and Extramural Lecture (Feb. 4, Chennai) (Location To Be Announced)
On Feb. 4 at 6 p.m., a press briefing is scheduled to take place, followed by an extramural lecture on LENR at 7:30 p.m. (speaker and title of talk to be announced)

Pre-Conference School  (Feb. 5, Chennai) (Location To Be Announced)
On Feb. 5, a daylong session from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., “Introduction to the Science of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions,” will take place. The session is organized by the Indian Physics Association in collaboration with the Physics Department of IIT Madras. There is no additional cost for registered attendees of the main conference, but attendees are required to RSVP to L.V. Krishnan at “krishnan97@gmail.com” by Jan. 15, 2011.

Main Conference (Feb. 6-11, Chennai)
The main conference takes place Feb. 6, 2011, through Feb. 11, 2011. It takes place at the GRT Grand Hotel convention center in Chennai.

Only two events take place on Feb. 6: registration from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and a reception beginning at 7 p.m.

The main program begins Feb 7 at 9:30 a.m. That evening, the annual general meeting of the International Society for Condensed Matter Nuclear Science takes place at 7 p.m.

On Feb. 8, sessions begin at 8:30 a.m. A cultural program involving a visit to Kalakshetra begins at 6 p.m.

On Feb. 9, sessions run from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The afternoon is available for free time or an optional sightseeing trip to Mahabalipuram beginning at 2:15 p.m. Members of the ICCF International Advisory Committee convene at 7:30 p.m. for a dinner meeting.

On Feb. 10, sessions run from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. At 7 p.m., buses leave for the conference banquet, which takes place at Adyar Park Sheraton.

On Feb. 11, sessions start at 8:30 a.m. and conclude at 12:30 p.m.

Post-Conference Workshop (Feb. 11-13, Mahabalipuram)
On Saturday and Sunday, a post-conference workshop, “Materials Issues in LENR Devices,” will take place at the Chariot Beach Resort hotel in Mahabalipuram, a popular tourist resort.  Mahabalipuram is 50 km from Chennai. The hotel is also just a few kilometers from the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam.

Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam

Photo: S.B. Krivit

The workshop is co-organized by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research and the Materials Research Society of India. C.S. Sundar, director of the Materials Science group of IGCAR, is the convener, and A.K.Tyagi of IGCAR will coordinate local arrangements. Vittorio Violante of ENEA, Italy, is the co-convener of the workshop.

The workshop will start on the evening of Feb. 11 (time to be determined) with an informal gathering followed by a buffet dinner. The Saturday session runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the Sunday session runs from 9 a.m. to noon.

Instructions and logistics information for people interested in this limited-seating workshop are on the ISCMNS Web site.

Course on Biological Transmutations (Feb. 15, Kattankulathur)
A one-day introductory course on biological low-energy nuclear transmutations will take place on Feb. 15 (exact times to be determined). The course will take place at the SRM University on the Kattankulathur campus, about 40 km from Chennai. The course will be conducted by Vladimir Vysotskii of Kiev National Shevchenko University, Ukraine.

The course is jointly organized by the Kalpakkam chapter of the Indian Institute of Metals and the SRM University biotechnology department.

Instructions and logistics information for people interested in this workshop are on the ISCMNS Web site.

Summary of Registration Dates 

Summary of Events

Intent to Participate
Conference organizers are asking, independent of registration, for all interested parties to advise them of their intent to attend the conference so they may better plan their logistics. Click here to send your information.

Abstract Submission
Click here to submit your abstract.

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