2 - 3 September 2000

SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE

Inauguration of the European Center for Inquiry

Rossdorf, Germany (near Darmstadt)

At the initiative of the German skeptical organisation GWUP, and with co-operation of CSICOP, ECSO, and others, a CENTER FOR INQUIRY has been established in Rossdorf, Germany (Arheilger Weg 11; D-64380 Rossdorf). This Center will act as a European facility, offering advice and support to all European skeptics and their organisations.

 

Inauguration

The Center was opened last year, but it will be officially inaugurated as a general European facility on next September 2 and 3. You are cordially invited to this festive happening, which will take place from Saturday September 2 at 14 hours till Sunday September 3 after lunch (about 14 h). The inauguration will take place in the Center and the associated meetings will be held in one of the conference rooms of Hotel Aron, Arheilger Weg 9, D-64380 Rossdorf, which is located just next to the Center.

Next to the inauguration ceremony, which will essentially consist of a few brief talks, drinks and meeting new and old friends, the main contents of the Rossdorf meeting will be scientific.

Outstanding scientists will deal with matters regarding the relation and interaction between science and society, specifically in the European context. There are three main themes:

The agenda is as follows:

Saturday Sept 2

14:00 W.Betz: Legislation of alternative medicine in Europe; the role of the EU

14:40 B. Beyerstein: title not yet known (B. is the editor of the journal Sci. Rev. Alt. Med)

15:20 J. van Noordwijk & C.J. van Noordwijk-van Veen: Science, socio-biology and skeptisism; a map, a motor and a goal for human behaviour independent of religion.

16:00 T. Trachet: Remarks on the relation between science and religion.

16:30 Reception and inauguration of the European Center for Inquiry

17:30 Council meeting

20:00 dinner (during or after dinner: a performance by M. Polidoro)

Sunday Sept 3

09:00 M. Polidoro: Table tippers, magnetic people and other investigations

09:40 J. de Boer: The Chernobyl disaster; the great confusion

10:20 coffee break

10: 50 S. F. Singer: From Rio to Kyoto to The Hague

11:30 H. Priem: Climate change; the human influence analyzed

12:10 P. Dietze: The International Climate Panel’s most essential model errors

12: 35 C. de Jager: Global warming by solar effects

13:00 Lunch

For further information about the program and suggestions for brief talks, please contact per email: Chairman@ecso.org

The common dinner will start at about 20 h on Saturday evening. During or after the dinner Professor Massimo Polidoro will entertain us by dealing with the topic of investigating psychics, with life demonstrations.

From 17 – 19 h on Saturday the ECSO Council will have its annual meeting (attendance open, voting restricted to delegates from Member Organisations and from candidate M.O.’s.). The agenda for that meeting will be distributed to the relevant organisations around mid-July.

The attendance fee for the meeting is Euro 115, which includes single room lodging at Hotel Aron, dinner, breakfast and lunch, two coffee breaks, and of course attending the inauguration ceremony and reception. For participants not lodging in the hotel the fee is Euro 50. The fee should be paid upon or before arrival.

For those persons that meet financial problems in attending, ECSO has very limited means to cover part of the costs. To that end, please contact the email address treasurer@ecso.org.

Hotel Aron offers a free shuttle service from Frankfurt International Airport as well as from Darmstadt railway station. If you wish to use this service, please register with the Center at mahner@gwup.org, so that we can organise a pick-up time on Saturday noon. The Center will then inform you about the exact place and time of the shuttle stop. If you do not wish to use the shuttle service, there are the following options to reach Rossdorf.

From Darmstadt railway station take bus 5502, K55 or K56 (fee: DM 2.90) from stop 4 in front of the station. The stop in Rossdorf is called "Spessartring". At this intersection (marked by an ESSO gas station) turn left into Arheilger Weg.

From Frankfurt International Airport (stop 14 or 15) take the Airliner Bus to Darmstadt center (Luisenplatz; fee 11.90 DM). From there, change to bus 5502 (direction Dieburg or Gross-Zimmern; see above).

By car: leave highway 5 at any exit around Darmstadt and get to B26 (direction Dieburg). Exit at Rossdorf-West. Drive on to Rossdorf. When you reach an intersection where there is an ESSO gas station at the right hand side, turn left into Arheilger Weg.

Further information and pre-registration.

It is very helpful for the organisers of the meeting to have an early impression of the expected attendance. This applies still more to the hotel, which has a limited number of rooms available. Therefore, please announce your wish to participate as soon as possible.

Those who want to register, or who want to have more information are suggested to contact Dr. Martin Mahner at the email address mahner@gwup.org, or by calling him at telephone number +49-6154-6950-23(fax: -22).

Hoping for a broad and active attendance at this meeting and for lively discussions,

Cornelis de Jager (email: chairman@ecso.org)