The International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT) is an international, professional, non-governmental, non-profit organization. The general objective of the Centre is to promote and to foster international cooperation in the science of heat and mass transfer and its applications. Its secretariat is located at the Mechanical Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University (METU)
 |
The first meeting of the International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT) was held in Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia, on September 16, 1968, during the International Seminar on Heat and Mass Transfer in Turbulent Boundary Layers, organized by the Boris Kidric at the Institute of Nuclear Sciences in Belgrade. This meeting was the culmination of activities initiated by a group of leading scientists in the field from different countries. These activities resulted from a long felt need to create an international organization in the fast growing field of heat and mass transfer. Some of the most prominent names in the field who were involved in the founding and creation of the Centre were: E.A. Brun, E.R.G. Eckert, U. Grigull, J.P. Hartnett, T.F. Irvine, Jr., S.S. Kutateladze, A.V. Luikov, W.M. Rohsenow, D.B. Spalding, and M.A. Styrikovich. The active participation and efforts of D. Velickovic, Z. Zaric and N. Afgan from the Serbian Academy of Sciences and the Boris Kidric Institute of Nuclear Sciences in Belgrade made the founding of the Centre possible. |  |
 |
The leadership and initiatives of Professor Zoran Zaric and later Professor Naim Afgan made the Centre grow and reach maturity over the years and become a well-known organizer of meetings and other activities with high prestige among scientists and researchers in the field of heat and mass transfer. The meetings have served as a means of conveying and transferring scientific knowledge, technical know-how, and cultural values. The Centre's many publications have become among the most sought after collections of scientific literature in the field. |
The Secretariat of the Centre remained in Belgrade for almost 24 years and traditionally organized one seminar and one symposium a year, usually in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, until early 1990s when the start of the political turmoil in former Yugoslavia unavoidably hampered the functioning of the Secretariat. The Executive Committee of the Centre started looking for a new home for the Secretariat of the Centre.
 |
Professor Sadik Kakac, a member of the Scientific Council representing Turkey, with the encouragement of Professor Yasuo Mori, the President of ICHMT, and Professor Franz Mayinger, the Chairman of the Executive Committee, contacted Professor Kemal Guruz, Head of TUBITAK (Scientific and Technical Reaserach Council of Turkey), and Professor Suha Sevuk, President of METU (Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey), and urged them to prepare a joint proposal. These efforts took more than a year. In September 1992, the proposals from institutions in seven countries were examined at an Executive Committee meeting in Rome, and it was decided, with a majority vote, that the joint proposal of METU and TUBITAK, could provide the best financial and administrative support to the Centre. Since January 1993, the Centre has restarted its activities in its new home, the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, under the joint auspices of these institutions, METU and TUBITAK. |
|
The Statutes and the By-Laws of the Centre were revised, partly in response to the move to Turkey. At the meetings of the General Assembly and of the Scientific Council in Brighton, England in August, 1994, Professor Faruk Arinç, a faculty member at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of METU, was elected as the new Secretary General of the Centre. He was re-elected to this office at the succeeding Scientific Council meetings held in every four years during International Heat Tranfer Conferences (IHTC). |
 |
 |
The new Secretariat working under the new rules with renewed enthusiasm and support of the Executive Committee as well as the two standing sponsors of the Centre in Turkey, organized highly successful meetings since 1994, and sponsored many others elsewhere. The venues of the meetings in Turkey were chosen to be five-star hotels on the Aegean or Mediterranean coast, providing excellent settings for scientific as well as social gathering of all attendees and spouses. ICHMT also organizes meetings in countries other than Turkey, chaired by prominent researchers in the field. The traditional activity of ICHMT is organization the International Symposia and Seminars. These meetings have been always met with increasing interest by the scientific, technical and industrial communities. The general scope of the meetings has always been designed with the aim of active promotion of interesting scientific work and achievements at high technical levels. |
The Centre has published over 80 Proceedings on various specific aspects of heat and mass transfer. Each proceeding is related to a meeting of the Centre. International participation in the meetings is always a major aim. The total number of participants in the meetings of ICHMT since 1968 has been over 5000, coming from over 60 different countries.
 |
In order to promote the international activities of the Centre and reach as many scientists and researchers as possible in the field, the Centre signed a publication agreement with the publisher, Begell House, Inc., in 1994, since when Begell House has been printing and distributing the scientific work of ICHMT. In addition, the Proceedings of the Biotransport-98, Plasma-99, Turbine-2000 and Vim-2001 symposia were published in the Annals of New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) in accordance with a separate agreement signed between the Centre and the Academy. In June 2006, the agreement between ICHMT and Begell House, Inc. was renewed and expanded to include the creation of an ICHMT Digital Library Online (http://dl.begellhouse.com/references/1bb331655c289a0a.html). |
As emphasized in our Mission Statement, the Centre aims not only to provide attractive meeting occasions for all scientists active in the field, but also to foster international exchange of science and engineering in all branches of heat and mass transfer through the promotion of research, education, and the exchange of personnel. With this purpose of existence in mind, the Centre aims to be a reliable and state-of-the-art source of information in all its publications, and to create the means for generating international synergy, enthusiasm, and motivation among the scientists and researchers that will lead to new ideas, procedures, products, and standards to improve productivity and efficiency and to promote living in a cleaner environment.
The membership in the Centre is open to all non-governmental, non-profit, national and international organizations working in the field of heat and mass transfer. The number of member institutions of the Centre is now over 40 from 30 different countries.
One activity initiated by the Secretariat of the Centre in 1994 was the creation of the ICHMT Home Page on the Internet. This site is constantly updated, and has now grown to a significant size. It is being accessed by scientists all over the world.