Journées des Actinides

It appeared to Jean-Marc Fournier (CENG, now CEA) that collaboration was necessary in particular between chemists producing samples and physicists studying their properties, not always in the same laboratories and institutions. For example, it took him more than 2 years to obtain reliable measurements of the magnetic susceptibility of plutonium metal (Solid State Communications 10, 141-144 (1972). This is what motivated Jean-Marc Fournier to organize an informal meeting to discuss openly and provide opportunities for collaborations. This meeting was called “Journée Actinides” and received the support of Werner Müller (ITU, now JRC-Karlsruhe), Bernard Coqblin (University of Orsay) and Alain Blaise (CENG, now CEA).

The first “Journée Actinides” The meeting receives the remarkable mentoring of Louis Néel (1904-2000), Nobel Prize laureate in 1970 for his discoveries of antiferromagnetism and ferrimagnetism in the 1930s and 1940s, and founder of several research institutes in Grenoble (CENG, ILL, etc) forming a major concentrated research area known as “scientific peninsula” or “scientific polygon”.

Cover page of the 3^ème “Journée d’Actinides”

The enlargement: The success of the meeting, with its informal format dealing with recent or ongoing research in the field of actinides attracts other partners. At the 3^rd Journée, there are 11 participants from ITU, 7 from CEA, 4 from Orsay and Paris, but also 5 from University of Surrey (UK), 2 from the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE, Harwell), 3 from Université de Liège, and participants from other organizations in Karlsruhe, Darmstadt and Strasbourg. The discussions and proceedings, originally integrally in French, now also include more and more English. In 1974, the meeting is organized in Harwell (UK).

The spirit of the conference: The informal character of the meeting and the fruitful dialogue between chemists and physicists, both inherited from the early Journées have forged the soul of the conference. This is well described for example in the proceedings of the 9èmes Journées des Actinides (see figure 5). These precious assets are not only an old tradition of the Journées but its raison d’être, bridging gaps between scientific fields and scientist generations in a friendly atmosphere where everybody can present his work and discuss with anybody.

Spirit of the conference as expressed in the forewords of the proceedings of the 9èmes Journées des Actinides (1979) in Karlsruhe.

Encouragement and Recognition: Awards are regularly offered to participants since the 42èmes Journées in Bristol (UK, 2012), to recognize the lifetime or mid-career contributions to actinide science and to encourage young scientists delivering brilliant presentations at the conference.

Exceptional circumstances: Since its inception in 1972, the conference has always been organized every year (even twice in 1973), except in 2020: The 50èmes Journées had to be postponed to 2021 because of the brutal explosion of the COVID-19 epidemics. As the sanitary and administrative situation was still difficult in 2021, the conference has been organized online from Rennes (France). The resilient organizers have virtually organized 3 conferences, with only the last version (online) being finally implemented.

The legends: Some brilliant scientists with strong personalities have written the history of the Journées des Actinides through outstanding participation and contribution, engaged presentations and passionate debates. We can cite among others

Barry Cooper, Oscar Vogt, Peter Wachter, Robert Troc, Wojtech Suski, Bernard Coqblin and many others….