Spanish Relativity Meetings (ERE)

Brief History of the ERE

Collected and written by J. M. M. Senovilla

The Spanish Relativity Meetings (Encuentros Relativistas Españoles, E.R.E.) are annual gatherings which take place in some spanish city and to which many spanish researchers on Relativity, Gravitation and Cosmology usually attend. The idea is that each active spanish group working on gravitation and related matters explains their main interests and achievements while interacting with other groups and colleagues, at an international level, in a friendly and usually very pleasant atmosphere. These meetings are also an invaluable place where young spanish students can learn the latest developments and the worth-exploring lines of investigation. Thay can also train themselves in the english language at the same time that they present their own research progress and results.

The meetings are held in September by tradition, except in exceptional cases, and are organized by the different research or university groups in succession. Hitherto, there have been more than thirty meetings (see the full list below), and sometimes they have been held within other series of meetings, such as the Summer School at El Escorial or Santander, or the Scientific Meetings of the Mediterranean Sea (Trobades Científiques de la Mediterrània), among others.

It all started with a course given by Prof. Lluís Bel at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (where Lluís Mas and his students were) in 1976, in which people with interest in Gravitation and Relativity (very few at that time!) had the opportunity to meet and got to know each other. In 1976 (just after dictator's death), those researchers were concentrated mainly ---but not only--- in Barcelona and Madrid. Following the leadership by Bel, the wish to continue the contacts and the collaborations immediately appeared, and the idea of holding meetings where everyone could explain and discuss the ongoing work emerged. Thus, there was a first gathering* organized by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (where Jesús Martín and students were in 1977) to which a substancial number of people from Barcelona, both from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (with Lluís Mas and his students) and from the Universitat de Barcelona (where Ramon Lapiedra, his students and colleagues were then) attended.

The first editions of the meetings gathered many of these spanish researchers, who were scarce in number and without much financial support from the institutions at that time. Nevertheless, those pioneers (led essentially by Prof. Lluís Bel and his mentioned collaborators, mainly Ramon Lapiedra, Jesús Martín and Lluís Mas) persevered with the efforts of maintaining alive the meetings and the relativity field in Spain. Thanks to them, the relativistic community grew very much during the 80's. Today there are many relatively big groups around the country, many of an excellent quality, and the international connections and collaborations are numerous, fruitful and intense nowadays.

In this sense, there were several important turning points for the structure of the E.R.E., such as the Spanish Relativity Meetings held in Bilbao in 1982, in Salamanca in 1988, again in Salamanca in 1998 and 2008, and in Oviedo in 2005. The ERE-82 proceedings were published for the first time, as have been ever since. In ERE-88, the organizers chose a monographic subject of interest and relevance (namely, Gravitational Wave Detection) and split the meeting in two different parts: the first having plenary lectures by international invited speakers and contributions related with the monographic matter; the second following the tradition and containing several workshops where the interaction between groups was kept. This pattern was followed by all the organizers of the subsequent meetings until today. The ERE-98 included a deserved Bel-fest on the occasion of his official retirement. Finally, the ERE-05 and ERE-08 achieved the record of attendancies, with more than 150 participants from all over the world.


Nowadays, the Spanish Relativity Meetings are deservely well-known and enjoy a good reputation around the world. Many relativists from all possible geographic origins have attended some of the latest editions.

The full list of the E.R.E. editions together with those to come in the near future are given in what follows, including the organizing group and the place where the meeting took place.

ALL ERE MEETINGS

Edición Organizador Sede
ERE-77* Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Madrid
ERE-78 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Barcelona
ERE-79 Universidad de Granada Granada
ERE-80 Universidad de Santander Santander
ERE-81 Universidad de Salamanca Salamanca
ERE-82 Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea Bilbao
ERE-83 Universitat de les Illes Balears Palma de Mallorca
ERE-84 Universidad de Santander Santander
ERE-85 Universitat de Barcelona Maó, Menorca
ERE-86 Universitat de València València
ERE-87 Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias La Laguna, Tenerife
ERE-88 Universidad de Salamanca Salamanca
ERE-89 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Barcelona
ERE-90 Universitat de les Illes Balears Palma de Mallorca
ERE-91 Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea Bilbao
ERE-92 Universidad Complutense de Madrid El Escorial, Madrid
ERE-93 Universidad de Oviedo Salas, Asturias
ERE-94 Universitat de Barcelona Maó, Menorca
ERE-95 Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias La Laguna, Tenerife
ERE-96 Universitat de València València
ERE-97 Universitat de les Illes Balears Palma de Mallorca
ERE-98 Universidad de Salamanca Salamanca
ERE-99 Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea Bilbao
ERE-00 Universidad de Valladolid Valladolid
ERE-01 U. Complutense y U.Politécnica Madrid Madrid
ERE-02 Universitat de Barcelona Maó, Menorca
ERE-03 Universitats d'Alacant i València Alacant
ERE-04 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid - CSIC Madrid
ERE-05 Universidad de Oviedo Oviedo
ERE-06 Universitat de les Illes Balears Palma de Mallorca
ERE-07 Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife
ERE-08 Universidad de Salamanca Salamanca
ERE-09 Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea Bilbao
ERE-10 Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía - CSIC Granada
* This first edition, sometimes called the "zero-th meeting", was not called E.R.E. yet, but everyone recognizes it as the starting point of the E.R.E. series.