The Cryogenic Engineering Conference: 1954–1984

Abstract

The first Cryogenic Engineering Conference was held at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), Boulder, Colorado, in 1954. Timmerhaus¹ has given the early history of the NBS Cryogenic Laboratory and the Cryogenic Engineering Conference and has acknowledged the many contributions of Russell B. Scott of NBS to the early development of the Conference, The subsequent history of the Conference has been marked by the waxing and waning of several fields of cryogenic activity, for example, the AEC hydrogen program, the NASA space vehicle development program, and the LNG storage, transfer, and metrology work. These peaks and valleys are, however, superposed upon a generally increasing background of activity in refrigeration systems, cryogenic fluid and material properties, heat transfer, and applied superconductivity. At the present time the conference is characterized by many papers on superconducting applications, refrigeration systems for 1.8 – 5 K, and space science and technology.