UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 12
November 21, 1996
Against the odds: Prof. organizes physics conference in Bosnia

     If you think academic conferences are all held in idyllic
settings, think again. Last summer, Arthur Halprin, physics and
astronomy, organized a gathering in the bullet-riddled classrooms
of the University of Sarajevo. Participants met where most of the
furniture had been burned for fuel and most of the equipment lost
to looters during Bosnia's civil war.
     Halprin worked for years to organize the conference in the
war-torn country, convinced that a gathering of intellectuals
would be one small step toward restoring normalcy to some of the
country's academic population.
     "My wife thought I was insane; my colleagues thought I was
crazy," he recalled. "People would say, 'It's too dangerous' or
'What's the point? It will all just be blown up again anyway.'
     "I was just so moved by the conditions in Bosnia," Halprin
explained. "I thought, you know there is very little physicists
can do to get actively involved in the concept of maintaining
peace, but maybe if we had a grassroots effort we could pull
together a physics meeting that would truly involve people from
both sides. We could gather to discuss our science-a topic that
is politically neutral.
     "There are young people in Bosnia who want desperately to
get on with their lives. For young people, the war was an
interruption. For older people, it was a disaster."
     The conditions in Bosnia were made real to Halprin through
contacts with others in his field-Anna Sarcevic, a faculty member
at the University of Arizona, whose father was a professor at the
University of Sarajevo, and Zdravko Stipcevic, former head of the
Physics Institute at the University of Sarajevo, a 66-year-old
professor who fled the country when poverty threatened to
overwhelm his family because his salary was reduced to $20 a
month.
     Communicating through e-mail, Halprin learned that it was
"an enormous task-almost an impossibility to survive in Sarajevo
as a faculty member."
     The conference-the idea of opening up the intellectual life
in Bosnia-was the result of Halprin's chats with these people and
an article in a 1993 issue of The New York Times, which said a
ray of hope for the country could be found in new [non-political]
conversations taking place among the conflicting parties.
     "Noting the role played by numerous groups of scientists to
address human rights issues during the Cold War, particularly
those in high energy physics, we came to believe that promotion
of scientific activities in Bosnia could have a healing effect,"
Halprin said.
     "Therefore, we proposed holding a conference on the
politically neutral subject of physics, with the hope that
alliances would develop that would move the peace process
forward."
     Finding an agency to sponsor the conference was difficult.
     "Most places want to direct their aid to humanitarian
projects, not something as ethereal as this," he said. "Others
found the idea too political."
     After trying for almost three years, he finally found
funding from the MacArthur Foundation, and he also solicited
personal contributions from UD colleagues and members of the
wider physics community. The University supplied matching funds
through the Office of International Programs and Special
Sessions, the College of Arts and Science and the Department of
Physics and Astronomy.
     The event continued to be plagued by difficulties up until
the end, when transportation problems there made it impossible
for about half of those registered, who were depending on
military transportation that never materialized, to get to
Sarajevo. Additionally, hotel prices in Sarajevo averaged $300 a
night, so arrangements had to be made for housing in private
homes. That "obstacle" actually added to the whole idea of
increasing one-on-one communication, Halprin said.
     The conference was held in a wing of the University of
Sarajevo's physics building. Another section, that had been
headquarters for government forces and had walls full of bullet
holes, had been completely destroyed by shellings.
     This past June, during a lull in the fighting that followed
the signing of the Dayton Accords, the conference was held. It
included morning lectures on neutrino physics and weak
interaction, attended by University of Sarajevo faculty and
graduate students, and other public lectures that drew a broader
segment of the community. A Physics Olympiad involved high school
students.
     "The transportation was so difficult that those who came
were really making a statement," Halprin said. "It was a very
emotional time."
     Officials from the Bosnian government and NATO diplomats
attended an official reception during which the organization,
Physics Without Borders, presented the Sarajevo physics
department with a photocopying machine.
     Other needs that became evident included academic journals,
computers and a restored liquid nitrogen machine-all concerns now
being addressed by various groups, thanks to the conference.
     "The general consensus of the outside workshop participants,
and those internal to the University of Sarajevo, is that the
meeting was enormously successful in beginning the process of
revitalizing the scientific vitality of the university and in
lifting the spirits of physicists in Sarajevo," Halprin said.
     Halprin said he hopes that some day UD students may
participate in educational exchange activities at the University
of Sarajevo.
     He will discuss his experiences on Sunday, Nov. 24, at
Temple Beth El Men's Club, Possum Park Road. The meeting, open to
the public, begins at 9:30 a.m., and Halprin will speak at 10
a.m.
                                                     -Beth Thomas