In 1965, John Hoffman, then Director of the Institute for Material Research at the National Bureau of Standards1, initiated the first Gordon Research Conferences in Dielectric Phenomena. This first conference was held on 21-25 June 1965 at Proctor Academy, Andover, New Hampshire. John Hoffman was the first Chairperson of the GRC in Dielectric Phenomena and Robert H. Cole, Professor at Brown University, was the Vice-Chairperson. This first conference covered topics of interest in polar liquids, dielectric relaxation in organic glasses and polymers, dielectric absorption in gases and dipolar rotation in molecular crystals.
Considering the amount of time required to generate new results so that new and timely research could be presented at these conferences, it was decided by the attendees to hold the next meeting in 1966 and every other year thereafter.
There was a concerted effort by the chairpersons of the conferences to present an appropriate balance between theory and experimental presentations. In the early eighties, the research area of dielectric breakdown became a component of the GRC on Dielectric Phenomena. Research interests in the late eighties re-focused on the application of dielectrics to systems of polymers, polymer solutions, polymer blends and glasses. In 1994, a proposal to expand the scope of the conference was submitted to the GRC and the conference 1994 was the last conference on Dielectric Phenomena.
The links below follow lead to programs of the Gordon Research Conferences on Dielectric Phenomena from 1965 to 1994. These are presented in the spirit of a historical archive to the development of the field dielectrics. One can note the progress in dielectric research from 1965 by the change in specific research topics presented at each successive conference.
List of conferences
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21 June 1965 to 25 June 1965
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29 August 1966 to 2 September 1966
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10 June 1968 to 14 June 1968
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27 July 1970 to 31 July 1970
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24 July 1972 to 28 July 1972
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29 July 1974 to 2 August 1974
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26 July 1976 to 30 July 1976
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24 July 1978 to 28 July 1978
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28 July 1980 to 1 August 1980
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2 August 1982 to 6 August 1982
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30 July 1984 to 3 August 1984
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28 July 1986 to 1 August 1986
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25 July 1988 to 29 July 1988
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23 July 1990 to 27 July 1990
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20 July 1992 to 24 July 1992
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31 July 1994 to 5 August 1994