International Union of Pure and Applied Physics

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics was born in Brussels in 1922. A group of physicists assembled there declared that forming such a union was imperative. That single word, imperative, captures something essential about the moment: this was a perceived obligation, not an act of ambition.

  IUPAP held its first General Assembly the following year in Paris. It has been domiciled in Geneva, Switzerland, ever since, and today it sits within the broader International Science Council. By the time of its centenary, 60 physics communities from around the world had joined as members.

  More than a century of operation has left IUPAP with a distinctive set of ongoing tensions. How do you govern a body meant to represent all of physics? What does it mean to keep science open when nations close their doors to one another? And how do you recognize achievement across a discipline as broad as physics, from statistical mechanics to laser photonics?

• 2. The Case for a Union

  ›

  In 1919, the International Research Council was formed. Representatives of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington and the Royal Society in London were the primary driving forces. The Council's purpose was to coordinate scientific effort across all disciplines; physics would soon need its own home within that structure.

  Thirteen countries immediately pledged their commitment to the new Union. Belgium, Canada, and Denmark were among the first; so were France, Norway, Poland, and Spain. The Empire of Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Union of South Africa rounded out the founding membership.

  Ten distinguished physicists formed the Executive Committee tasked with writing the Union's foundational rules and regulations. W.H. Bragg was named President; E. Van Aubel, Vice-President; and H. Abraham, Secretary. Alongside them worked M. Brillouin, O.M. Corbino, M. Knudsen, M. Leblanc, R.A. Millikan, and H. Nagaoka.

  In 2022, IUPAP sponsored the publication of a centenary anthology. Roberto Lalli and Jaume Navarro edited the volume. Its title was 'Globalizing Physics: One Hundred Years of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.' The book gathered contributions tracing the organization's history from its foundation. Bragg himself went on to lead IUPAP for nine years, serving until 1931.

• 3. Nineteen Commissions

  ›

  Every three years, IUPAP's General Assembly convenes to elect the members of its Council and all Commissions. Nominations flow through Liaison Committees, each one representing a member physics community. Existing Council and Commission members may also put forward nominations.

  The Council is IUPAP's top executive body. It meets once or twice each year to supervise nineteen specialized International Commissions. These Commissions span physics from C3, the Commission on Statistical Physics, to C20, the Commission on Computational Physics. Sub-disciplines covered include plasma physics, nuclear physics, magnetism, condensed matter, semiconductors, astrophysics, and mathematical physics.

  Four Affiliated Commissions extend the Union's reach into neighboring areas. They address optics, general relativity and gravitation, acoustics, and medical physics. The International Association of Physics Students, AC5, gives early-career physicists a formal seat in IUPAP's structure. A sixth affiliated body, AC6, covers the history and philosophy of physics.

  Working Group 1, the International Committee for Future Accelerators, represents IUPAP's engagement with the next generation of particle physics infrastructure. Working Group 5 is dedicated to Women in Physics, making equity within the scientific community an explicit organizational priority. Each of the 19 Commissions manages its own conference cycle and prize program. The total scope of IUPAP's activity therefore runs through dozens of simultaneous tracks rather than a single central agenda.

• 4. The Conference Circuit

  ›

  Each year, IUPAP endorses approximately 30 international conferences, and the majority receive grants. Applications are submitted through the IUPAP website and evaluated against four distinct conference categories.

  General Conferences, Type A, offer a broad overview of an entire scientific field. They typically draw between 750 and 1,000 attendees and occur every two or three years, paced by advances in the field.

  Topical Conferences, Type B, narrow the focus to specific sub-fields rather than the discipline as a whole. A Type B event in nuclear physics might concentrate on nuclear spectroscopy or heavy ion physics. Attendance for this category typically runs from 300 to 600 people.

  Special Conferences, Type C, go deeper still. Topics at this level might include angular correlations, lifetime measurements, or neutron resonance studies within a single branch of the field. Attendance at Type C events typically falls between 50 and 200 people.

  Workshops in Developing Countries, Type D, serve a distinct purpose from the other three. Unlike the other categories, a Type D workshop need not be fully international. It should involve neighboring countries and address the specific needs of a developing region. Only one Type D conference is approved each year. All applications for Type D events are submitted to C13, the Commission on Physics for Development.

  Among the recurring conferences in IUPAP's calendar is STATPHYS, organized by the Commission on Statistical Physics. The Commission on Astroparticle Physics hosts the International Cosmic Ray Conference on a similar recurring basis.

• 5. A Century of Prizes

  ›

  At the 2005 General Assembly, IUPAP approved and adopted the Young Scientist Prize, extending it across all Commissions. Every Commission would award its own version of the prize to outstanding early-career researchers. At the 2021 General Assembly, the prize was renamed the Early Career Scientist Prize.

  The Boltzmann Medal, given by the Commission on Statistical Physics, honors the tradition Ludwig Boltzmann built. The Fritz London Memorial Prize, awarded by the Commission on Low Temperature Physics, recognizes achievement in London's home field. These named prizes follow a wider IUPAP pattern: recognition tends to carry the name of a physicist who shaped the sub-discipline being honored.

  The Shakti Duggal Award, established in 1983, recognizes outstanding work by a young scientist in cosmic ray physics. The Commission on Astroparticle Physics administers it on behalf of the Bartol Research Institute. The Yodh Prize, also given by that Commission, is awarded on behalf of the University of California Irvine Foundation.

  The Affiliated Commission for Optics administers two separate prizes: the ICO Prize and the ICO Galileo Galilei Award. The Young Author Best Paper Award, established by the Commission on Semiconductors, rewards exceptional papers from early-career researchers. It draws financial backing from semiconductor industries in the United States, Japan, and Europe. Silvina Ponce Dawson, who became IUPAP President in 2025, leads a Union whose prize portfolio now spans every major sub-discipline in physics.

• 6. Science Without Borders

  ›

  'Fostering the free circulation of scientists' is one of IUPAP's stated core missions. The Union holds that no scientist should be barred from conferences on the basis of nationality alone. Institutional affiliation is also an impermissible ground for exclusion.

  In February 2022, Russia's military invasion of Ukraine brought that principle into direct collision with geopolitical reality. IUPAP issued a statement against the military offensive, making its position publicly clear. It simultaneously continued to advocate for international scientific cooperation rather than the wholesale exclusion of any national scientific community.

  Any physicist from any country around the world, including students, may apply to use IUPAP as their institutional affiliation. The condition is feeling excluded from academic exchange based solely on their country of origin or affiliation. The offer gives scientists caught in political isolation a neutral institutional name to carry into international venues. It transforms the Union into something more than a standards body.

  IUPAP was also the lead organization promoting the adoption of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development. The 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed it on the 2nd of December 2021, designating 2022 as the commemorative year. Dmitrii Ivanovich Blokhintsev's presidency, from 1966 to 1969, is evidence that IUPAP's commitment to science across political divides predates any single modern crisis.