History
AIRAPT grew from the Gordon Research Conference on Research at High Pressures (GRCHP), the first one of which was held in 1955. The Gordon Conference incorporates research from the international community. However, the GRCHP is always held in the United States and is limited in size. At the 1962 GRCHP Orson Anderson, then a professor at Columbia University, jumped up to the speaker's rostrum and said to the conferees, "Why don't you organize a Gordon Conference in Europe?" There was general agreement that this should be done. Especially enthusiastic about this idea were B. Vodar (France), H. Ll. D. Pugh (United Kingdom), L. Deffet (Belgium), C. J. M. Roijmans (The Netherlands), J. Osugi (Japan), L. F. Vereschagin (USSR), and E. U. Franck (Germany). Afterwards, Boris Vodar worked particularly hard to realize this proposal. Since the name Gordon Conference is protected legally, a new name was needed. The founders decided to establish a new international organization dedicated to high pressure research. Prof. Deffet of Belgium suggested the official name.