Welcome

From Antje Boetius, Organising & Science Committee Chair

Dear Colleagues,

 

It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to Paris and the 27th V.M. Goldschmidt Conference. We will host more than 4000 geochemists from more than 50 countries at the Palais des Congrès de Paris at Porte Maillot, close to the Arc de Triomphe, and next to the Bois de Bologne, a beautiful park and one the green lungs of Paris.

We offer 200 sessions in 23 important themes of geochemistry and its neighboring fields. The five plenary speakers and our medal recepients will present to you fascinating stories of success in geochemistry. The week is packed: not only with opportunities to hear exciting talks, discuss hot-off-the-press science on posters, visit innovative exhibitors, meet your students and mentees and watch geochemistry cinema; but also with social interactions: ice-breaking, rock party, dinner cruise and receptions will boost your scientific network.

I am looking forward to our joint week in Paris and hope you will enjoy all of it. And I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Science Committee, and all organizers, helpers and supporters for putting this exciting program together.

Antje Boetius; Convenor, 27th V.M. Goldschmidt Conference Paris, August 13-18 2017

From Bernard Marty, EAG President

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to Paris for the 27th Goldschmidt Conference! For the first time, the Goldschmidt Conference will be held in the city of lights, where radioactivity and the global cycle of carbon were discovered. The conference is named in honor of Victor M. Goldschmidt (1888-1947), whose pioneering work to explore and define the composition of the Earth laid the basis of modern geochemistry. The European Association of Geochemistry and the Geochemical Society host the conference in alternate years, with support from the Geochemical Society of Japan and other sponsors. Recent conferences were held in Prague (2011), Montréal (2012), Florence (2013), Sacramento (2014), Prague (2015) and Yokohama (2016).

The Goldschmidt Conference is organized by geochemists, for geochemists. Exciting science is of course the heart of the Goldschmidt Conference. At the 1st Goldschmidt Meeting in 1988 in Baltimore, 464 attendees submitted 308 abstracts for 36 oral-only sessions. Thanks to the tremendous efforts of the community throughout the years, and in particular by the science team for this conference, we have now more than 4,200 abstracts accepted, dispatched in 24 themes and 146 sessions. Twenty sessions will run in parallel, and you will easily find your way since all of them will be in the same building, including poster sessions. The website and app created by White Iron Conferences, the organizing company, should also be of great support.

Building on the tradition established in recent years and with the support of our industry sponsors, the Goldschmidt2017 Student Program Leaders have put together a comprehensive program for the benefit of early career scientists, which includes several career training opportunities, dedicated “meet the plenary” events, a workshop on presentation skills, as well as the mentoring program. In addition, supporting early career scientists to attend Goldschmidt meetings is one of the strong commitments of our societies and this year we enabled 64 scientists from low/middle income countries to attend through travel grants and waived registrations.

We wish to thank the hundreds of volunteers who have contributed to the success of the conference. The dynamism of the Local Organizing Committee, the evaluation and sorting of the Science Committee, the efficiency and responsiveness of White Iron Conferences were all essential to this effort. We also sincerely thank our sponsors for their generous financial support.

Paris is a marvelous city to visit, especially in August, the main holiday season in France, a perfect time to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the capital. Please take this opportunity to experience the French way of life, that is at a terrace with a drink and a beautiful meal, or visiting one of Paris outstanding museums and theaters.

Welcome to Paris!