The First IUPAP Topical Conference and the Second Taipei International Symposium on Statistical Physics

1 August - 7 August at Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei

Preface of the Proceedings    [ Physica A 205 (1994) ]

      Several hundred years ago, while Europeans were moving to America to seek a better life, many people in southern China were moving to Taiwan also to seek a better life. Now Taiwan has population of 21 million and a GNP of more than US$210 billion and ranked 21st in the world. Since 1992 citizens of Republic of China in Taiwan have enjoyed a fully democratic political system and freedom of speech; they will elect their President in 1996 or earlier through popular vote.

In recent years, the government of the Republic of China in Taiwan has changed its foreign policy. The existence of two indepent governments in Taiwan and in Mainland China is now considered to be a political reality and any historical conflict between Taiwan and Mainland China should be resolved by peace means. Recent progress along this direction has been made. Meanwhile, participation and contribution to the international community are eagerly sought. For instance, scientists from other countries are welcome to attend international conference held in Taiwan, It was under such a favorable condition that Academia Sinica in Taipei hosted the " First IUPAP Topical Conference on Statistical Physics and Second Taipei International Symposium on Statistical Physics: Order-Disorder Transitions and Criticality" during August 1-7, 1993.

    This symposium has many similar meetings in Taipei as its precursor, Taiwan has a comparatively short history of doing research on basic sciences and an even shorter history of doing research on statistical physics. To improve this situation, the Institute of Physics of Academia Sinica in Taipei has held conferences on statistical physics almost every year since 1984.  These included the 1984 Workshop on Statistical Physics, the 1986 Summer School on Statistical Mechanics, the 1987 Summer Symposium on Statistical Mechanics, the 1988 Workshop on Statistical Mechanics, the 1989 Workshop on Statistical Mechanics, and the 1990 Taipei Workshop on Chaos and Critical Phenomena.  In each of these conferences, some foreign speakers were invited.

      The proceedings of the 1986 Summer School on Statistical Mechanics and the 1988 Symposium on Statistical Mechanics were edited by Chin-Kun Hu in the book Progress in Statistical Mechanics, which was published by the World Scientific Publishing Company, in 1988. Since all these conferences were intend mainly for researchers in Taiwan, they were not announced internationally. In 1990, the building "Center for International Academic Activities" was completed. Being designed for hosting large conference, the Center is equipped with hotel rooms, lecture rooms, dining halls and a computer room. With such an excellent facility for accommodating visitors of the Academia Sinica, the "First Taipei International Symposium on Statistical Physics: Computer-Aided Studies in Statistical Physics" was held on 20-25 June 1991. The Proceedings of that symposium has been published by the American Institute of Physics as the AIP Conference Proceedings No.248: Computer-Aided Statistical Physics. In view of these activities, the symposium of 1993 is regarded not only as a continuation of the established, albeit short, tradition, but also as and effort to broaden our interaction with international community, as signified by the sponsorship of the IUPAP.

      Besides expressing our sincere thanks to the sponsors, the speakers and participants of the meeting, we are also grateful to the members of the following committees, for their suggestions, encouragement and dedication: the IUPAP Commission on Statistical Physics, the International Advisory Committee, and the Organizing Committee.

      The volume Order-Disorder Transitions and Criticality contains most of the invited, review papers as well as some short articles from contributed talks presented at the meeting. This is our hope that this collection will provide useful references for researchers and students working on statistical physics and related areas.

      We have decided to organize a similar international symposium every two years. At 20-25 July 1995, we will host the "Third Taipei International Symposium on Statistical Physics: Nonlinear and Random Processes". You are encouraged to participate and contribute to this meeting. See you then!

Chin-Kun Hu and K -t. Leung
Academia Sinica, Taipei
February 1994