IVth MINSK INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON HEAT
AND MASS TRANSFER
N. V. Pavlyukevich and I. G. Gurevich

On May 22-26, 2000, Minsk (Academic Scientific 
Complex "A. V. Luikov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute" (ASC HMTI) 
of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus) hosted for the eleventh 
time scientists and specialists working in the field of research of 
the phenomena and processes of heat and mass transfer and their practical 
applications.

The forum was dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the 
birth of A. V. Luikov, on whose initiative these meetings of scientists 
began in 1961 as All-Union conferences and, being held every four 
years since then, have become known and acknowledged worldwide, which 
is reflected in their current name, "Minsk International Forum on 
Heat and Mass Transfer" (the Ist Forum was held in 1988, the IInd 
in 1992, and the IIIrd in 1996).

Convening the regular forum, its organizers (National Academy 
of Sciences of Belarus, State Committee on Science and Technologies 
of the Republic of Belarus, Ministry of Education of the Republic 
of Belarus, "Belenergo" Concern, ASC 
HMTI, Division of Physicotechnical Problems of Power Engineering of 
the Russian Academy of Sciences, National Committee on Heat and Mass 
Transfer of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ministry of General and 
Professional Education of the Russian Federation, Institute of Technical 
Thermal Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, International 
Heat and Mass Transfer Center) understood its importance and significance, 
above all for scientists from the countries of the Commonwealth of 
Independent States, the state of whose science is currently in a difficult 
situation.

The interest and enthusiasm among scientific and technical 
workers with which the information on convening the forum was received 
confirmed the correctness of the decision made.

At two plenary sessions, 10 reports of leading scientists 
of the Republic of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and the USA were heard. 
To eleven sections, 556 papers and presentations were submitted; among 
them, 87 papers were presented to the section "Convective Heat and 
Mass Transfer," 36 to "Radiative and Combined Heat Transfer," 78 to 
"Heat Conduction and Problems of Optimization of Heat Transfer," 48 
to "Heat Transfer in Chemically Reacting Systems," 73 to "Heat and 
Mass Transfer in Two-Phase Systems," 40 to "Heat and Mass Transfer 
in Disperse Systems," 34 to "Heat and Mass Transfer in Rheological 
Systems," 31 to "Heat and Mass Transfer in Capillary-Porous Bodies," 
30 to "Heat and Mass Transfer in Processes of Drying," 69 to "Heat 
and Mass Transfer in Power-Generating Devices," and 30 to "Heat and 
Mass Transfer in Chemical-Technology Devices."

During the forum, four round tables were organized: "Heat 
Pipes," "Combustion and Chemical Technologies in the 21st Century," 
"Heat and Mass Transfer in Biological Systems," and "Heat Transfer 
and the Environment."

The forum was attended by 318 scientists, including 180 
scientists from Russia, 72 from Belarus, 23 from Ukraine, 13 from 
Lithuania, and 9 from countries far abroad.

Section papers were received practically from all the states 
of the former Soviet Union. Russia was represented by 312 papers and 
presentations, Belarus by 108, Ukraine by 75, Kazakhstan by 11, Tajikistan 
by 3, Azerbaijan by 1, Uzbekistan by 1, and the countries far abroad 
by 43 (including 11 papers from Lithuania and 4 from Latvia).

Apart from the investigations of the leading scientific 
centers of Russia (Institute of High Temperatures of the Russian Academy 
of Sciences, Institute of Mathematical Modeling of the Russian Academy 
of Sciences, Institute of Thermal Physics of the Siberian Branch of 
the Russian Academy of Sciences, Physics and Power Engineering Institute, 
and others), Ukraine (Institute of Technical Thermal Physics of the 
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Institute of Problems of 
Mechanical Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine), 
Belarus (Heat and Mass Transfer Institute of the National Academy 
of Sciences of Belarus, Institute of Problems of Power Engineering 
of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus), university science 
was represented rather widely at the forum.

By the beginning of the forum, 11 volumes of papers and 
presentations (on the topics of the sections) and "Annotations of 
the Papers and Presentations" in the English language had been published; 
the latter can be found on the Internet (just as the program of the 
forum).

Plenary and problem papers (not included in the section 
volumes) and also proceedings of the round tables are published in 
the present special issue of the "Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal."

The participants of the forum noted that its organizers 
were able, despite the challenge of our times, to preserve the high 
creative and organizational level inherent in the Minsk Forum and 
expressed hope for this forum of scientists to continue in the future.

Academic Scientific Complex "A. V. Luikov Heat and Mass 
Transfer Institute," National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk, 
Belarus. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 74, 
No. 4, pp. 3-4, July-August 2001.

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