Polymerfest - 40 years of "Polymer Research" at University of Palermo

Palermo (Italy)
30/08/2009

Per informazioni rivolgersi a Prof. Francesco Paolo La Mantia
Tel.
E-Mail: polymerfest@dicpm.unipa.it

Sito Web: http://www.dicpm.unipa.it/polymerfest/index.asp




Informazioni Generali sull'evento
Forty years ago, with the arrival of Giuseppe Marrucci and, afterwards, of Domenico Acierno and
Giuseppe Titomanlio at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Palermo, the little story of polymer research in Palermo begun. Almost without noticing it, and always with the same enthusiasm, these first forty years have passed, years where the research fields have continuously enlarged and diversified in full accordance with the international research trends: from rheological works (in particular the work focused on the elongational flow), to processing, polymer blends and LCPs, from thermomechanical and photoxidative degradation to recycling (one the first groups active in this field), from polymer-radiations interactions to polymer solidification kinetics, from composites, to nanocomposites, biodegradable polymers and tissue engineering scaffolds. In time, collaboration with prestigious national and international research groups helped us to grow. A work roughly summarized in several books, hundreds of papers and meeting presentations, many plenary lectures and keynotes which testify the esteem and the affection of the scientific community. Esteem and affection shown also by the point that the Group was chosen to organize several (and crowded!) national and international meetings (even though this may be due especially to Palermo’s charm!). However, the same affection is shown by all those Companies – especially from Sicily - with whom we had fruitful and interesting collaboration and that have funded a significant part of our research activity.
After forty years, those first young guys, who enthusiastically started studying those “strange things” which rheology and viscoelasticity are, are going to retire, and others, young and less young, with the same enthusiasm, are going to start the path of more forty years.
We wanted to utilize this symbolic date to gather all those who guided us and stood by us in these decades: let us celebrate together and remember years of hard work, but always pleasant and made glad by many friends.