Dr. Shin-ichi Kurokawa at the Kyoto International Conference Center, the IPAC'10 venue.

From 23 to 28 May, hundreds of accelerator experts took part in the world's first International Particle Accelerator Conference IPAC'10, a merger of three accelerator conferences: PAC in North America, EPAC in Europe, and APAC in Asia. Nearly 1,300 researchers, engineers, students, and industry experts from around the world were joined to discuss all aspects of accelerator science. "With the success of the IPAC'10, we can declare a real start of new series of international conference, IPAC," said Dr. Shin-ichi Kurokawa, a Professor Emeritus of KEK and the honorary chairman of IPAC'10. "The next IPAC in Asia will be held in 2013 in Shanghai. Now, I am confident that it is possible to hold world-level international conference in Asian countries, attracting more than 1,000 participants", Kurokawa said.
 

Opening plenary session of IPAC'10.

A total of 96 oral presentations in accelerator science, particle physics, and synchrotron radiation science concerning the progress of various projects, the latest experimental and the status of theoretical studies were given. In addition, more than 1,600 posters form researchers and students were presented at the poster sessions, and about 90 companies participated in the industrial exhibitions. One day before the final day of the conference, the ceremony to award the 2010 ACFA prizes to honor three scientists for their outstanding works: Dr. Steve Myers from CERN, Dr. Jie Wei from Tsinghua University(Beijing), and Dr. Mei Bai from Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Also, the IPAC'10 special prize was awarded to JACoW* collaboration for its contribution to disseminate accelerator science in the world. On Friday 28, after the closing of the conference, there was held a public lecture with Dr. Yasuo Hirao, a former director of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) and Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, and Dr. Hidetoshi Maskawa, a 2008 Nobel laureate in physics and Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University, entitled "the role of the accelerators: from fundamental physics to cancer therapy", introducing the various aspects of those accelerators. It attracted more than 500 participants who intently attended the lecture.
 

	IPAC'10 attendees visiting the Radio Frequency Quadrupole Linac at J-PARC.

On 29 May, some of the conference participants enjoyed facility tours to visit Japanese accelerator facilities include Kyoto University and SPring-8 in Hyogo Prefecture. On 31 May, 24 conference participants traveled all the way from Kyoto to Tsukuba to attend KEK- J-PARC tour. Participants enjoyed full-day tour of the KEKB accelerator, Photon Factory, ATF (Accelerator Test Facility) and STF (Superconducting Test Facility) at KEK Tsukuba campus, and the linac, the Hadron experimental facilities, the Neutrino experimental facility, and Materials and life science facility in J-PARC.
 
"I am relieved to see the success of the conference without any major problem," said Dr. Katsunobu Oide, the Director of KEK Acclerator Laboratory who chaired the IPAC'10 organizing committee. "In particular, I would like to express my biggest appreciations to Dr. Akira Noda who chaired the program committee, all members of the local organizing committee lead by Dr. Toshiyuki Shirai, and the JACoW team, who accomplish this huge task while double-jobbing with their real jobs", said Oide.
 
The next meeting IPAC'11 will be held in San Sebastian, Spain, from 5 to 9 September 2011.
 

* JACoW:

Joint Accelerator Conference Website, being operated by international collaboration. Created for the publication of the proceedings of the Asian, European and North American Particle Accelerator Conferences, which hosts the proceedings of the JACoW Collaboration conferences. http://www.jacow.org/