Report – “Instruments at Crossroads”

The XXXVIII Symposium of the Scientific Instrument Commission took place from the 23d to the 27th of September 2019 in Havana, Cuba. It was jointly organized by the University of Havana, the Cuban Chemical Society, the Cuban Physics Society and the Office of the Historian of Havana. It took place at the University of Havana Convention Center and at scientific institutions in Old Havana.

Symposium theme: Instruments at crossroads

The invention, construction and use of scientific instruments are often strongly affected by external conditions that depend on time period and geographical location. Climate, for instance, may influence the choice, use and life not only of meteorological instruments but also of all kind of instruments – think of polar, tropical or equatorial locations. Changes in local (or global) economics, politics or agricultural and industrial development, may also shape instruments’ design and making – think of the disruption created by electric trams passing close to urban physics laboratories. We might wonder how such crossroads may bring to instruments obsolescence, innovation, or reconfiguration; how are scientific instruments adapted, reconfigured or created in response to changing external circumstances?

Documents

SIC 2019 – Havana: Program

SIC 2019 – Havana: AGM Havana Minutes

SIC 2019 – Havana: AGM Agenda