EWASS 2012, Symposium 10: "30 years of Italian participation to ESO"

Rome, 2-3 July, 2012

On May 24th 1982 Italy joined ESO becoming the 8th Member State of this organization. In the past 30 years the participation of Italy in all of ESO endeavors has been substantial in all aspects: people, fundamental industrial contributions in the construction of telescopes and the infrastructures, collaboration with the institutes in the development of instrument components  and on the science programs. The new memberships of Italy and Switzerland made possible the construction of the New Technology Telescope (1988) for the La Silla Observatory, based on innovative active optics and open dome concepts. The Italian industry contributed to the structure of the Very Large Telescope (VLT), as well as VST and ALMA. Italian Astronomical Institutes have participated in the construction of several instruments  and are deeply involved in future instrumentation for the VLT and E-ELT.  The access to the ESO observing facilities has been highly beneficial for the scientific community in Italy and resulted in a large number of outstanding scientific results and publications. The aim of the Symposium is to review critically these past achievements.  Contributed talks are especially   solicited on new scientific work based on ESO facilities  and on proposals   for Italian participation to future ESO projects. 

The Symposium is hosted at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS 2012), that will take place in Rome, Italy, at the Pontificia Università Lateranense.

For more information contact: Symposium10@eso.org