Neurochemistry

20 Years of the European Society for Neurochemistry The first meeting of the European Society for Neurochemistry (ESN), held in Bath, England, in September 1976,recognizedthe needat thattimeto bringtogetherbothbasic and clinical neurochemists from all European countries during a period ofconsiderable political uncertainty throughout the continent. The settingofthat meeting, an informal atmosphere of some 350 delegates in a small university city, set the tone for many of the future biennial meetings, which tended to alternate between Western and Eastern Europe. The development ofthe society since that time is excellently reviewed in Chapter 1in this volume by Herman Bachelard,afounding memberofthesocietyandhostat thatfirst meeting. Iattendedthatfirst meeting very much as ajuniorneurochemistand was enthusedby the science anddetermined to make my way in the discipline. However, my next appearance at an ESN meeting had to wait until the Budapest meeting in 1984, and since that time, I have been a regular contribu- tor.
I was fortunate to be elected to the council in 1985 and took over the role ofsecretary from George Lunt at the Goteborg meeting in 1988, assuming the position ofESN president in 1992. During my time as an officer for the society, volunteers for meeting organization were becoming increasingly thin on the ground as funding was becoming increasingly diffi- cult to obtain and the work-load became more onerous! Planning was well under way for the 1994 Jerusalem ESN meeting by 1992, but a venue for 1996 was sought.