Dear Colleague,

Just a reminder - if you have not yet registered for EGAS 2015, you are welcome to register in order to take the advantage of the special early bird registration rates.

Please, note that timely hotel booking is advisable, as the time of conference coincides with multiple events in Riga.

The conference will be held at the University of Latvia, July 14 – 17. The speakers include Sir M. Berry, D. Bloch, D. Budker, F. Ferlaino, S.
Hell, M. Kozlov, S. Maniscalco, R. Moszynski, M. Safronova,T. Schätz, S. Schlemmer, Y. Silberberg, M. Simon, G. Tino, S. Willitsch, A. Zair. As usual, EGAS conference will be the annual venue for meeting the distinguished specialists of the field and a source of scientific inspiration.

Further information, including the programme and online registration is available at http://www.egas.lu.lv/ .

Please, print and distribute the enclosed conference poster among the colleagues by pinning it on your notice boards in printed form and send it out electronically to everyone who could be interested.

In case of further inquiries, please, write us at egas@lu.lv.

Looking forward to seeing you in Riga this summer,

Prof. Marcis Auzinsh,

Member of EGAS Board
Head of the Organising Committee
University of Latvia

Dear colleague,
Within the framework of the UNESCO activities for 2015 – The International Year of Light, you are cordially invited to attend and submit memories to the:

International Scientific and Theological Conference
FIAT-LUX (LET THERE BE LIGHT), Roma (Italy), June 3-5 2015.

In the common language light means knowledge: “I had a lightning”! In nature, light has a larger dimension, regrouping together three main functionalities: light means energy, light means information, light means also time rhythm. All of them are somehow different expressions of “knowledge”: in fact, getting information and communicate means to know the surrounding, acquire energy from such knowledge and start associated actions. Physics and metaphysics have always analysed the surrounding nature from points of view which might be different but never opposite. FIAT LUX wants to be the place where scientists, philosophers and theologians will get together to discuss on the LIGHT, trying to find similar languages and common understanding.

Deadline for abstract submission is 15 March 2015. 

Visit the conference website at:   http://www.fiatluxconference.com

Professor Anne L’Huillier

Author: Lucia Di Ciaccio

It is a great pleasure to announce that the Autumn 2014 EPS Emmy Noether Distinction for Women in Physics goes to Prof. Anne L’Huillier, Faculty of Engineering, LTH in Lund, Sweden.

Prof. L'Huillier is one of the key leaders in a field at the interface of atomic and molecular physics and advanced optics, nonlinear optics and laser physics: high-order harmonic generation [HHG] in gaseous media exposed to intense laser fields and its applications, in particular to attosecond science.

After a thesis in experimental atomic physics at CEA Saclay, she got a permanent position as researcher at CEA in 1986 and, one year later, participated in an experiment where high harmonics were observed for the first time. She moved to Sweden in 1994, was awarded a lecturer position in 1995 and a professorship in 1997. Enjoying the university environment, which allowed her to combine basic research and teaching, she focused her experimental and theoretical work on the understanding and the optimization of the HHG process, and on its applications to ultra-fast x-ray science, with the ambitious goal to capture and ultimately control the motion of electrons in atoms and molecules on the attosecond timescale.

She is a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences since 2004.

We present a short interview between Anne L’Huillier [ALH] and Lucia Di Ciaccio [LDC], chair of the Equal Opportunities Committee of the EPS, in December 2014.

LDC: At what point in your education did you consider a career in physics?
ALH: Actually very early, as a child. But kept it discrete since I was not sure I could make it.

LDC:  Do you believe that physics should positively discriminate in favour of women?
ALH: This is a very difficult question for me since I benefitted myself early in my career from a program “for women”.  My answer is no, women should not be positively discriminated. But one should avoid that good, competent, women stop their career because of lack of funding, lack of position, or simply lack of help/encouragement. We just can’t afford to loose these women!

LDC:  Do you have advice to girls who wish to start a career in physics?
ALH: This is a great job which is exciting and which also gives a lot of freedom. Go for it!

L. Bergé, P. Georges, J. Eschner, M. Kauranen
Conference General Chairs

G. Cerullo, V. Pruneri, T. Ackemann, C. Silberhorn
Conference Programme Chairs

Over a thousand participants will converge on Paris for the two day event, and speakers and attendees will include international diplomats and decision-makers, Nobel laureates, CEOs, and science and industry leaders from across the globe. After high-level opening addresses by international political leaders, a series of keynote lectures, symposia and round-tables will cover areas of basic science, innovative lighting solutions for society, light pollution, emerging trends in photonics, the Einstein Centenary, the role of light-based technologies in addressing global challenges, light in art and culture, the history of science, and science policy.

Keynote speakers from the light science community will include Nobel laureates Ahmed Zewail, Steven Chu, Zhores Alferov, William Phillips and Serge Haroche, pioneering and inspiring scientists who will speak on a diverse range of topics: light and life, energy, telecommunications, and the fundamental physics of light-matter interactions.  The programme will also include contributions by: Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi (President of the Pontifical Council for Culture); renowned Mexican architect Gustavo Avilés; the CEO of Royal Philips Lighting Eric Rondolat; Harry Verhaar (President of the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association); Alessandro Farini (Expert on Human Vision and Art); Thanh-Nga Trinh Tran, (Vietnam Vascular Anomalies Center); Linda Wamune (SunnyMoney and SolarAid); Martin Aufmuth (from onedollarglasses.org); Illac Diaz (aliteroflight.org); Andrew Forbes representing the Photonics Initiative of South Africa; Zohra Ben Lakhdar (UNESCO L’Oreal Prize Winner); and many other leading scientists and representatives from international NGOs. The Opening Ceremony will also see leading science and cultural heritage organization 1001 Inventions launch their accompanying international campaign to promote the life and works of the pioneering scientist from the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization, Ibn al-Haytham.

The programme will also feature several cultural and musical interludes, and the outside of the UNESCO Building in Paris will be lit by Finnish light artist Kari Kola with a display entitled “Light is Here” which will reflect the powerful elements of the Northern lights.