As might be expected, it proved impossible to gain any agreement or consensus for elections of an Executive Committee or Officers at a large General Business Meeting (attended by over 200 people); after a prolonged and somewhat heady discussion, it was agreed that the author should act as provisional Secretary to take responsibility for organising the elections. As a result of the ensuing postal ballot, sent to over 400 European Neurochemists and independently scrutinised by Frode Fonnum (Norway), the following were elected to the first Council : Robert Balazs (U.K.), Herman Bachelard, † Dietmar Biesold (Germany, the then D.D.R.), † Alan Davison (U.K.), Georgio Gombos (France), Armand Lowenthal (Belgium), Roger Marchbanks (U.K.), Volker Neuhoff (Germany, the then BRD), Simo Oja (Finland), † Giuseppe Porcellati (Italy), Juan Sabater (Spain), † Lars Svennerholm (Sweden), Case Van den Berg (Holland), Hans Winkler (Austria), Helmut Woelk (Germany, the then BRD), with the author (U.K.) confirmed as Secretary. The Committee then elected Dietmar Biesold as President and Volker Neuhoff as Treasurer. According to the constitution, one-third resigned by ballot and was allowed to stand for re-election. After that, Council members rotated off after 4 years service and were allowed to stand for re-election for one further term, unless they became an Officer. Elections have continued to be by postal ballot, after advertisements in the Journal of Neurochemistry.
Table 1. ESN Council Members 1976-2004
|
| Joan Abbot (UK) |
1996-2004 |
Jean-Marie Matthieu (Switzerland) |
1990-1996 |
| Vera Adam-Vizi (Hungary) |
1996-2004(S) |
Teresa Miras-Portugal (Spain) |
1992-2000 |
| Yves Agid (France) |
1988-1994 |
Katarzyna Nalecz (Poland) |
2000-2004 |
| Jan Albrecht (Poland) |
1994-2000 |
Volker Neuhoff (Germany) |
1976-1984(T) |
| Dominique Aunis (France) |
1984-1981984-19861984-1986 |
Barbara Oderfeld-Nowak (Poland) |
1979-1986 |
| Natalia Avrova (Russia) |
1988-1994 |
Simo Oja (Finland) |
1976-1984 |
| Herman Bachelard (UK) |
1976-1984(S,P);1990-1996 |
Neville Osborne (UK) |
1984-1990 |
| Robert Balazs (UK) |
1976-1984 |
Giancarlo Pepeu (Italy) |
1984-1986 |
| Nicolle Baumann (France) |
1979-1986;1992-2000 |
†
Giuseppe Porcellati (Italy) |
1976-1984 |
†
Dietmar Biesold (Germany*) |
1976-1982(P) |
Juan Sabater (Spain) |
1976-1984 |
| Volker Bigl (Germany*) |
1988-1996(S) |
Christiane Richter-Landsberg (Germany) |
2000-2004 |
| Elizabeth Bock (Denmark) |
1984-1990(T);2000-2004 |
Arne Schousboe (Denmark) |
1984-1990 |
| John Clark (UK) |
2000-2004 |
Wilfried Seifert (Germany) |
1998-1994(T) |
| Annica Dahlstrom (Sweden) |
1984-1992(P) |
Janos Somogyi (Hungary) |
1984-1988 |
| Svetlana Dambinova (Russia) |
1994-2000 |
Hermona Soreq (Israel) |
1992-1996 |
†
Alan Davison (UK) |
1976-1984 |
†
Lars Svennerholm (Sweden) |
1976-1984 |
| Dusan Dobrota (Slovakia) |
1996-2004 |
Albert Teelken (Netherlands) |
1994-2000 |
| Mike Dowdall (UK) |
1984-1990 |
Guido Tettamanti (Italy) |
1990-1996 |
| Pam Fredman (Sweden) |
1992-2000(P) |
Keith Tipton (Ireland) |
1990-1996 |
| Antonio Giuditta (Italy) |
1990-1996 |
Victor Tsetlin (Russia) |
2000-2004 |
| Anna–Maria Giuffrida-Stella (Italy) |
1984-1990 |
†
Stan Tucek (Czechoslovakia) |
1984-1990(P);1996-2000 |
| Giorgio Gombos (France) |
1976-1984(S) |
Tony Turner (UK) |
1986-1996(S,P) |
| Gianfrancesco Goracci (Italy) |
1996-2004(T) |
Cees Van der Berg (Netherlands) |
1976-1984 |
| Norbert Herschkowitz (Switzerland) |
1984-1998 |
Sylvester Vizi (Hungary) |
1984-1996 |
| Ferdinand Hucho (Germany) |
1996-2004(T,P) |
Clive Williams (Ireland) |
1996-2000 |
| Maurice Israel (France) |
1990-1994 |
Hans Winkler (Austria) |
1976-1984 |
| Jakob Korf (Netherlands) |
2000-2004 |
Helmut Woelk (Germany) |
1976-1980 |
| Richard Kvetnansky (Czech Rep.) |
1990-1996 |
Ephraim Yavin (Israel) |
1996-2000(S) |
| Michal Linial (Israel) |
2000-2004 |
Francesco Zaffra (Spain) |
2000-2004 |
| Armand Lowenthal (Belgium) |
2000-2004 |
Bernard Zalc (France) |
1996-2000 |
| George Lunt (UK) |
1979-1988(S) |
Herbert Zimmermann (Germany) |
1986-1992(T) |
| Roger Marchbanks (UK) |
1976-1980 |
|
|
| P: President |
S: Secretary |
T: Treasurer |
†Deceased |
*Former DDR |
As can be seen in, the 63 Council members who have served since 1976 (of which there were only 14 women) represented a wide spread of European countries: Austria 1, Belgium 1, Czechoslovakia 1, Czech republic1, Denmark 2, France 6, Finland 1, Germany 8 (2 from the former DDR), Hungary 3, Italy 6, Ireland 2, Israel 3, Netherlands 3, Poland 3, Russia 3, Slovakia 1, Spain 3, Sweden 3, Switzerland 2, U.K. 10. The predominance of U.K. members may reflect the existence of a national Neurochemical Group (founded as part of the Biochemical Society in 1967), but is more likely to be due to the advantages of speaking in one's own language.
| Officers of the Society |
| Year |
President |
Secretary |
Treasurer |
| 1976-1980 |
D.Biesold (DDR) |
H.Bachelard (UK) |
V.Neuhoff (BRD) |
| 1980-1984 |
H.Bachelard (UK) |
G.Gombos (F) |
V.Neuhoff (BRD) |
| 1984-1988 |
S.Tucek (CZ) |
G.Lunt (UK) |
E.Bock (DK) |
| 1988-1992 |
A.Dahlstrom (Sv) |
A.Turner (UK) |
|
| 1992-1994 |
A.Turner (UK) V.Bigl (D) |
V.Bigl (D) |
W.Seifert (D) |
| 1994-1996 |
A.Turner (UK) |
V.Bigl (D) |
P.Fredman (Sv) |
| 1996-2000 |
P.Fredman (Sv) |
E.Yavin (IL) |
F.Hucho (D) |
| 2000-2004 |
F.Hucho (D) |
V. Adam-Vizi (H) |
G. Goracci (I) |
CZ - Czechoslovakia; BRD - former West Germany; DDR - former East Germany; D - United Germany; DK - Denmark; F - France; I - Italy; IL - Israel; Sv - Sweden UK - United Kingdom |
There have been 16 members who have served as Officers since 1976, of whom only 4 have been women. The relatively low proportion of women as ESN Officers (25%) or Councillors (22%) is similar to ASN (20% Officers and 27% Councillors), both being significantly higher than of ISN (about 10% in both categories).
Starting with the elections of the first Council, all announcements of Society affairs, including elections, have appeared in the Journal of Neurochemistry. The abstract books of the meetings were published in miscellaneous forms (sometimes unfortunately without IBSN numbers) before an agreement in 1993 to publish as a supplement of the Journal of Neurochemistry, subsidised by ISN. In all of the meetings held to date we have held true to the principle of having the abstracts available at registration.
