Panta rhei – everything flows
Heraclitus reflected that you cannot step twice into the same river. The topic of changeability and fluidity, so vividly described in the ancient metaphor, has its scientific roots in technical and natural sciences.
The Jubilee of the 15th International Conference on “Transport & Sedimentation of Solid Particles” was dedicated to the subject of solid particles and transport and sedimentation regarding hydrotechnics. The meeting, which was held from September 6th through the 9th, was attended by many experts from around the world, including member from: the United States, Canada, South Africa, Nigeria, Australia, China, Iran, India, Great Britain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Holland and Poland. Included among the guests was an Honorary Professor of Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences - Professor Ronny Verhoeven, From the University in Gent.
The Dean of Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, Professor Jerzy Sobota and a Rector of Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Professor Roman Kołacz gathered in the Pope John Paul II Conference Center and welcomed attendees. The 40-year old history of the conference (and the first of its kind being held in Wroclaw) was presented by its founder Professor Vladimir Parzonka. Since that time, a series of conferences (launched in Wroclaw) have also been organized in the Czech Republic, Belgium, Georgia and Russia. The conferences quickly became a place for meetings and engineering debates, for scientific authorities on the various aspects of hydraulic transport of solid particles.
– “There is something fascinating about science. The observational results allow us to predict what will happen in the future” – Professor Kenneth Wilson from Canada playfully provoked in his inaugurating speech – “Mark Twain in "Life on the Mississippi," wrote that the river between Cairo (Illinois) and New Orleans shortened in less than 130 years from 1215 miles to 973 miles. This means that every year, it is shorter by more than a mile, and this in turn suggests that in 742 years the Mississippi will be only 1.3 miles long”.
Apart from solving these sort of puzzles, participants also had the opportunity to see "Żelazny Most", Europe's largest tailings reservoir, which was built during the extraction of copper ore from Lubin mine, Polkowice-Sieroszowice and Rudna, owned by KGHM Polska Miedź (KGHM Polish Copper SA.).
