HISTORY OF ISC

The International Symposium on Chromatography (ISC) series has been organized since its beginning in 1956 by three major European societies active in separation sciences: The Chromatographic Society (UK), the Chromatography Section of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh) (Germany), and GAMS (Groupe des Amis de la Chromatographie, later Afsep, Association Française des Sciences Séparatives et de leurs Applications) from France. According to the original agreement, the ISC symposium was to be held every two years (in even-numbered years) in one of these three countries, with each society being responsible for the organization every sixth year. However, it was possible for a country to delegate the organization to another European chromatographic society, allowing the ISC series to be hosted in various European countries. As Europe gradually became more unified, three founding societies decided to transfer the responsibility for the coordination of the ISC series to the Permanent Scientific Committee (ISC-PSC). Currently, the ISC symposia are held in Europe every two years, typically for five days from Sunday to Thursday in September or October of even-numbered years, alternating with HPLC series, which takes place in Europe on odd-numbered years.