International Symposium on fusion technology in Rostock

Organised by Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics / more than 650 scientists and engineers from all over the world

August 25, 2008

The 25th Symposium on Fusion Research (SOFT 2008), to be held from 15th to 19th September 2008 at the HanseMesse in Rostock, will present a survey of the most recent progress in fusion research. Over 650 scientists and engineers from all over the world are expected to attend this most important forum of fusion technology. The traditional conference takes place every second year, hosted by a different country each time, the most recent events having been held in Madrid, Helsinki, Venice and Warsaw. This year’s organizer of the conference, meanwhile the 25th event in this series, is Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics at Greifswald.

Participants are sure of an ambitious conference programme. The presentations and poster sessions are to be supplemented by a Fusion Technology Forum with 40 exhibitors for promoting exchange between industry and research. The same objective is also the subject of a panel discussion entitled “ITER and Industrial Development”. On an excursion to IPP at Greifswald participants will be briefed on construction work on Wendelstein 7-X, the world’s largest fusion device of its type. The objective of fusion research at IPP is to derive energy like the sun from fusion of atomic nuclei.

Further to the conference a public lecture is to be presented for interested citizens of Rostock and environs. On Tuesday, 16th September 2008, at 7:30 p.m. Prof. Hans-Jürgen Hartfuss will be appearing in the Audimax at Rostock University (Ulmengasse 69) to give a presentation (in German language) entitled “Über Wendelstein und ITER zur kontrollierten Kernfusion” summarizing the present status and objectives of fusion research.

Interested journalists are cordially invited to attend the conference events. A press conference with representatives of world-wide fusion research is planned for Monday, 15th September 2008, at 11:00 a.m. Journalists who wish to attend the press conference or conference events, are requested to register by 8th September at the Conference Office: soft2008@ipp.mpg.de

The official conference language is English. The programme and abstracts of the papers presented are given on the internet at http://soft2008.ipp.mpg.de

Isabella Milch