Cenni Storici

During the 18th International Geological Congress (IGC), that was held in London in 1948, clay scientists decided to cooperate on clay research and to form an international group, the Comité Internationale Pour l'Etude des Argiles (CIPEA). CIPEA, under the presidency of Ralph Grim (President until 1960), actively participated in the International Geological Conferences (Algeria, 1952; Mexico, 1956; Copenhagen, 1960). During the Copenhagen conference, CIPEA proposed to organise its own meeting in Stockholm in 1963, and that meeting was to become the First International Clay Conference (ICC). At the same time, CIPEA became an international association affiliated with the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), named the Association Internationale pour l'Etude des Argiles. A few years later, in 1966, under the presidency of I.T. Rosenqvist, the statutes and by-laws of the new Association Internationale pour l'Etude des Argiles were approved. AIPEA was born.

Since that time, AIPEA has promoted the International Clay Conferences, wich are held about every four years, in a different country from the preceding conference.

1950: CIPEA meeting - Amsterdam - Holland
1952: CIPEA/IGC meeting - Algiers - Algeria
1954: CIPEA meeting - Paris - France
1956: CIPEA/IGC meeting - Mexico City - Mexico
1958: CIPEA meeting - Brussels - Belgium
1960: CIPEA/IGC - Copenhagen -Denmark
1963: 1st ICC Stockholm - Sweden. Chair: I. Th. ROSENQVIST
1966: 2ndICC Jerusalem - Israel Chair: I.K. BENTOR
1969: 3rd ICC Tokyo - Japan. Chair: T. SUDO
1972: 4th ICC Madrid - Spain. Chair: E. GUTTIEREZ-RIOS
1975: 5th ICC Mexico City - Mexico. Chair: D. CORDOBA
1978: 6th ICC Oxford - UK. Chair: D. MITCHELL
1981: 7th ICC Bologna - Pavia - Italy. Chair: F. VENIALE
1985: 8th ICC Denver - USA. Chair: J.B. HAYES
1989: 9th ICC Strasbourg - France.
1993: 10th ICC Adelaide - Australia. Chair: R.A. EGGLETON & R. FITZPATRICK
1997: 11th ICC Ottawa - Canada
2001: 12th ICC Bahia Blanca - Argentina. Chair: E.A. DOMIGUEZ & F. CRAVERO
2005: 13th ICC Tokyo - Japan. Chair:
2009: 14th ICC Castellaneta M. - Italy. Chair: S. FIORE

The next International Clay Conference
2013: 15th ICC Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

PAST PRESIDENTS OF AIPEA

1963 - 1966: Prof. I. Th. ROSENQVIST (Norway)
1966 - 1969: Dr. P. GRAFF-PETERSEN (Denmark)
1969 - 1972: Prof. F.V. CHUKHROV (SSSR)
1972 - 1973: Prof. W.F. BRADLEY (USA)
1973 - 1975: Prof. J.J. FRIPIAT (France)
1975 - 1978: Prof. S. W. BAILEY (USA)
1978 - 1981: Dr. R.C. MACKENZIE (UK)
1981 - 1985: Prof. L. HELLER-KALLAI (Israel)
1985 - 1989: Prof. J. KONTA (Czechoslovakia)
1989 - 1993: Prof. J. M. SERRATOSA (Spain)
1993 - 1997: Prof. H.H. MURRAY (USA)
1997 - 2001: Prof. E. ROALDSET (Norway)
2001 - 2005: Prof. R. SCHOONHEYDT (Belgium)
2005 - 2009: Prof. D.L. BISH (USA)