As many as 60 scientists from 10 countries will attend the International Conference on Materials Science and Technology in Serpong, Banten, from October 19-21, the National Nuclear Power Agency (BATAN) official said.
Dr Evvy Kartini, head of BATAN`s Nuclear Materials, said the scientists that would attend the meeting include Prof Craig M Jense from the USA who is the inventor of hydrogen keeping materials, Prof Dr Masatoshi Arai from Japan, Dr Robert Robinso from Australia and Prof BVR Chowdari from Singapore. Other scientists come from Germany, the Netherlands, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.
She said “in the current technology era life cannot be separated from materials science. Even hand phones to vehicles are dependent on the progress of materials science. We will discuss the progress in the science in the meeting,” she said.
She said 150 experts and scientists from home would also come and speak at the meeting. Academics from more than 30 universities in the country would also attend the meeting, she said.
She said “we often are not aware that the items we use are getting smaller and smaller or lighter. A lot of products are the results of inventions in materials science. We can now see the battery used in our cellphones is thinner, lighter and lives longer.”
She expressed concern that a lot of Indonesians still remained consumers and were not aware of the technology used in the items they used.
She said the meeting was very important for an exchange of experience with regard to latest inventions in the field of materials technology and also served as a place for the country`s scientists to publicize their work to the international world.
She said the meeting had been held since 1996 bi-annually known initially as the Pertemuan Ilmiah IPTEK Bahan (PIIB=Scientific Meeting on Materials Science and Technology). The meeting later which is the seventh is promoted to an international level and invites experts from abroad.
She said it took a “science” diplomacy to be able to stage a large meeting with a limited fund.
“The professors are willing to come upon their institutions` or own expense. I am glad they will meet our invitation,” said the nuclear expert, whose name is often carried in a number of international journals.
