The year 2019 is the 100th anniversary of IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry), and the 150th anniversary of the development of the Periodic Law of the Elements, independently by Dmitri Mendeleev and Lothar Meyer. UNESCO has also declared 2019 as “International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements”.
In this respect, several events have been planned in 2019, which the three major activities are the Global Women’s Breakfast, The Periodic Table Challenge and the Periodic Table of Younger Chemists. To celebrate the mentioned anniversaries, and also to mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11 February), IUPAC invited the universities, companies, national chemistry societies and other scientific organizations, to organize a Global Women’s Breakfast on 12 February 2019.
This event entitled “Empowering Women in Chemistry: A Global Networking Event, The Global Women’s Breakfast” was taken place at 210 locations, in more than 50 countries around the world, all on the same day.
The Global Women’s Breakfast (GWB) aimed to Celebrate IUPAC100, the accomplishments of women scientists throughout history and to assist women chemists to expand their network of contacts, both locally and internationally. In the IUPAC website, the world map highlighted the countries that registered to join the GWB. The event was launched in New Zealand on the morning of February 12, 2019 and progressed through the Asia-Pacific region into Europe, Africa and finally onto the American region.
On behalf of the Chemistry department, Dr. Delara Mohammad-Aghaie (Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry) registered this event in the IUPAC website, and organized it on 12 February (8:30-11:30 am) in the Shiraz University of Technology. It should be mentioned that the Shiraz University of Technology was the only place, which this event was took place in Iran.
At the beginning of event, Dr. Mohammad-Aghaie gave a lecture about the IUPAC 100, the International year of the periodic table, and the Global breakfast for women, along with its aims and prospects.
Later the breakfast was served in a very friendly environment, where the faculty members and students had the chance of open communication with each other.
Some group photos were taken and sent later to the IUPAC organization, as a part of a submitted report by Dr. Mohammad-Aghaie to the GBW committee of IUPAC.
