Aims & History

Aims of the European Optical Society

The purpose of the EOS is to contribute to the scientific progress in Optics and related sciences and to promote their applications on the European and international levels, by bringing together individual persons and legal bodies involved in these disciplines and their applications.

The EOS aims to establish an open coordination of international conferences in Europe in the field of Optics and is supported in this by all the National Societies of the European countries.

History of the European Optical Society

Before 1984, optics in Europe was represented by the European Optical Committee (EOC). In May 1984 the EOC joined the European Physical Society (EPS) to create its Optics Division.

In 1986, the National optical societies of several European countries founded Europtica (the European Federation for Applied Optics), which was officially registered in Paris in 1987.

In December 1986 a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between EPS (the legal representative of the Optics Division), Europtica, and SPIE, in which the three parties agreed to organize jointly one major annual optics meeting in Europe. This MOU initiated the ECO series of meetings, which were managed by the French organisation Europtica Services International Communications.

The experience with these conferences demonstrated the need for a lean and efficient organisation of optical activities in Europe. Thus, in March 1990 the Board of the Optics Division unanimously voted for starting negotiations with Europtica in order to found the European Optical Society (EOS).

The foundation of the EOS took place on March 12, 1991 during the ECO 4 meeting in the Hague. At the same day the Board of Europtica voted for the termination of Europtica, while the Board members of the Optics Division resigned in order to join the newly-formed EOS.