AAAR's First 40 Years: Its Origins and Evolution

SUSANNE HERING, David Ensor, Aerosol Dynamics Inc.

     Abstract Number: 189
     Working Group: Invited by Conference Chair

Abstract
At the time AAAR was founded in 1982, the term “aerosol” was most often used by the lay public to refer to a spray can – whether it be hair spray or insect repellent. Now, 40 years later, a greater fraction of the public understands the term “aerosol” to mean fine airborne particles that can act as a pathway for transmission of respiratory disease, and even as a type of air pollutant.

Aerosol technology emerged from an unrecognized field to an important discipline during the latter half of the twentieth century. In 1960 the US Atomic Energy Commission (now subsumed into DOE) created the Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute to study late-occurring health risks from inhaling small amounts of radioactive particles. In 1970s the State of California funded the “Aerosol Characterization Experiment”, an expansive field experiment to unravel the science, and sources of the visibility-reducing smogs in Los Angeles. Around the same time the military’s interest in obscuration smokes for lasers led the development of an aerosol research program at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center. Critical advances were made in aerosol instrumentation including automated condensation particle counters, single particle optical counters and the electrical mobility analyzer.

At this time, aerosol research was published in a number of journals, and presented at a variety of conferences. Kenneth Whitby’s famous work on the multimodal nature of Los Angeles smog was first presented at an American Chemical Society Symposium and published in the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. Other papers appeared in Atmospheric Environment, and Environmental Science and Technology. 1970 saw the birth of the Journal of Aerosol Science, published by Pergamon Press under the editorship of C.N. Davies. In the US, conference presentations were spread between annual meetings of the Air Pollution Control Association, the American Chemical Society, and American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), supplemented by a few less formal meetings including the Aerosol Technology Meetings, and the Edgewood Aerosol Conferences. Aerosol science was a growing field in Europe as well, with annual aerosol meetings at the University of Mainz and at Battelle-Frankfurt, leading to the formation of the Gesellschaft fur Aerosol Forschung in 1972. Yet in the US there was no common home.

We think of professional organizations starting first, and then producing a journal. For AAAR the order was the opposite. AAAR was founded to support its journal. In 1978 David Shaw published not one, but two, books on aerosol science and technology based on an aerosol symposium held under the auspices of the AIChE. Given his success, Elsevier Science Publishing Co. approached him to start an aerosol journal. If there were to be a journal, it was decided there needed to be a professional organization behind it. The decision to form AAAR was made by Sheldon Friedlander, David Ensor, Benjamin Liu and David Shaw at a meeting held in Research Triangle Park, NC in the fall of 1981. Our first conference was held the following February in Santa Monica, CA, with 300 attendees. The first abstract submitted to that conference came from David Sinclair, for whom the AAAR Sinclair Award is named. The first issue of our journal, Aerosol Science and Technology, appeared that same year, directed by its founding editors, Ensor, Liu and Shaw.

In the early years, AAAR was run through the volunteer efforts of its leading members. In the ensuing period, as the AAAR grew, it adopted a formal structure, with codified by-laws, governing procedures and management. Likewise, the journal evolved, driven by the vision of its editors, increasing its scope and presence. Throughout its forty years, the traditions of AAAR and its journal continue to be driven by dedicated volunteers within its membership.