Middle European Cooperation in Statistical Physics

The Middle European Cooperation in Statistical Physics (MECO) is an international conference on statistical physics which takes place every year in a different country of Europe.^[1] MECO evolved in the early 1970s with the aim of bridging the gap between the communities of scientists from the Eastern and Western parts of Europe, separated as they were by the iron curtain. Since then, MECO conferences have become the yearly nomadic reference meetings for the community of scientists who are active in the field of Statistical Physics in the broader sense, including modern interdisciplinary applications to biology, Finance , information theory, and quantum computation.

History[edit]

The MECO conferences were deliberately created as an attempt to establish and maintain an exchange between scientists in the fields of statistical and condensed matter physics from Western and Eastern countries, overcoming the hurdles of the "iron curtain".^[2] In 1972, the Hungarian theorist Peter Szépfalusy started activities about organising a meeting of physicists from middle European countries, who worked in the area of critical phenomena. Another meeting took place in Budapest in the following year and the first MECO conference was organized 1974 in Vienna. Founding fathers of the conference included physicists, experimentalists as well as theorists, doing, especially, research on ferroelectricity, like Robert Blinc from Jugoslavia and K. Alex Müller from Switzerland.

In order to develop this concept in the mid 70’s and 80’s of the 20th century, the original intention was to have each year a conference, alternating on either side of the iron curtain. If it took place on the Eastern side, scientists from the communist countries could easier obtain permission to travel to the conference site. In addition, it was deemed essential to provide free (or very cheap) accommodation for participants and the low cost of attending MECO was also useful after the fall of the iron curtain, due to the resulting difficult economic situation in the Eastern part of Europe in the 90’s of the last century.

In this way, the organizers of the early MECO conferences succeeded, perhaps for the first time, to bring numerous scientists, despite the political difficulties, together and to create a lively atmosphere of fruitful scientific exchange. This has greatly helped to establish many collaborations which lasted up to the present time, when, partly thanks to the European Union, many more such collaborations have become possible. The ties created by MECO, however, still are useful to help scientific exchange, even though the scientific emphasis has changed from the traditional fields of statistical mechanics and solid state physics to interdisciplinary themes of current interest as well.

In February 2022 the Ukrainian member of MECO was attacked by Russian military forces. Ukraine's President Zelenskyy, said a new iron curtain is coming. This situation disposed the MECO advisory board to the following Statement:

"The advisory board of MECO is shocked by the actions of the leadership of Russia against Ukraine – a MECO member. This act of violence goes against the values and aspirations of Europe’s scientists who, with the creation of MECO in 1974, sought to overcome the iron curtain that divided Eastern and Western countries.

The invasion of a free country is a brutal attack on the freedom of all nations, communities, and individuals. MECO’s aim is to enable scientific freedom for the academic community as an essential part of peaceful cooperation between countries. Academic freedom is only possible by respecting national freedom. The advisory board therefore calls on the academic community worldwide to maintain and support these values by condemning the actions of Russia’s leadership and calling for withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine with immediate effect."

Past conferences[edit]

MECO usually gathers from 100 to 150 scientists almost every year. Below is the list of the past conference and their locations. Green color denotes the ones which took place on west side of iron curtain, red color – those on east. Such separation disappeared naturally after fall of USSR in 1991.

Year	Conference	Location
1974	MECO	Vienna
1975	MECO 2	Regensburg
1976	MECO 3	Bled
1977	MECO 4	Unterägeri
1978	MECO 5	Boszkowo
1979	MECO 6	Trieste
1980	MECO 7	Budapest
1981	MECO 8	Saarbrücken
1982	MECO 9	Wien
1983	MECO 10	Bled
1984	MECO 11	Gernrode
1985	MECO 12	Aussois
1986	MECO 13	Liblice
1987	MECO 14	Puidoux
1988	MECO 15	Karpacz
1989	MECO 16	Siena
1990	MECO 17	Balatonfüred
1991	MECO 18	Duisburg
1994	MECO 19	Smolenice
1995	MECO 20	Wels
1996	MECO 21	Bled
1997	MECO 22	Szklarska Poręba
1998	MECO 23	Trieste
1999	MECO 24	Wittenberg
2000	MECO 25	Pont-a-Mousson
2001	MECO 26	Prague
2002	MECO 27	Sopron
2003	MECO 28	Saarbrücken
2004	MECO 29	Bratislava
2005	MECO 30	Cortona
2006	MECO 31	Primošten
2007	MECO 32	Lądek-Zdrój
2008	MECO 33	Wels
2009	MECO 34	Leipzig
2010	MECO 35	Pont-a-Mousson
2011	MECO 36	Lviv
2012	MECO 37	Tatranské Matliare
2013	MECO 38	Trieste
2014	MECO 39	Coventry
2015	MECO 40	Esztergom
2016	MECO 41	Vienna
2017	MECO 42	Lyon
2018	MECO 43	Kraków
2019	MECO 44	Kloster Seeon
2020	MECO 45	Cluj
2021	MECO 46	Riga
2022	MECO47	Erice
2023	MECO48	Stará Lesná