ISOLDE III

ISOLDE III was held in Boston and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA on June 7-12, 1984 organized by J. P. Osleeb and S. J. Ratick.

ISOLDE III program can be downloaded from here.

 

Group photos taken during ISOLDE III:

isolde-iii-2

isolde-iii-1

 

More photos are available here.

 

You can share your memories from ISOLDE III by using the comment box below.

Permanent link to this article: http://isoldeconference.org/isolde-iii/

1 comment

    • H.A. Eiselt on April 19, 2013 at 5:08 am
    • Reply

    ISOLDE iii in Boston in 1984 was my first ISOLDE. I had just switched topics from networks to become a locator, & now was sitting in a cab with Louis Hakimi, the founder of modern location theory. What a wonderful experience for a (then) relatively young academic, especially as he was really human! (Where I came from, people of his standing are seen to be walking the halls of Valhalla, rather than mingling with the mortals). This experience even made up for the unpleasantness of the cabdriver & the fact that the guy had no clue where he was going.
    Eventually, we ended up at the dock, took the ferry & arrived on Thompson Island, to me by far the most memorable of any locations of any ISOLDE meeting. They showed me “my” room, which turned out to be a somewhat dingy place with bunk beds. The last time I slept in a bunk bed was in the army, & sharing anything with anybody is not my idea of fun (my wife will readily attest to that). Anyway, it turned out that I would be the only occupant of that room, which was much more acceptable. I took an upper bunk, unpacked my stuff, & started to read. This had to be accomplished by holding the book directly underneath the central ceiling light, but some ten minutes later I gave up as my eyes started to tear, it was just too dark. Further inspection revealed that the light fixture consisted of a single 15 Watt bulb. I had never known that they actually made these, certainly not in this part of the world. So I went to bed, hoping for a good night’s sleep. Alas, the night ended at 4 or 5 in the morning, when there was some noise, as somebody took a shower. I was ready to wring some neck(s), but it turned out that this was one of the few females, who did not want to shower with the boys & got an early start. After such initiation, things started to look up, even though the place never lost its “juvi” feel. I don’t think it was ever an actual detention center, but it most certainly had that feel.

    During the breaks, Gilbert Laporte & I frequently took the toll-free ferry just to get ourselves a coffee on the mainland, & to chat. We also went out to a part of the island with marshes & we had the good fortune to witness a fantastic pale sundown.

    Before the next ISOLDE, Rick Church had the idea to print up some T-shirts with “I survived Thompson Island” written on them, but somehow none of us ever got around to actually do it.

    As customary in those days, the second part of the conference was designed to make up for the “hardships” of the first few days, & we were in a rather luxurious hotel on Martha’s Vineyard. As nice as it was, to me, it could not measure up to the island. All I remember is the banquet, which I wanted to attend, of course. However, as I approached the dinidn hall, I noticed a sign on the door, which stated that attendees were expected to sport formal attire. As I had no such thing on me, I decided not to embarrass myself & forego the dinner. Instead, I took a walk through town, where I ended up chatting with a real estate lady, who asked me, if she could sell me “something nice & expensive.” Once we were over the fact that I was a poor academic & there would be no sale, we had a nice talk. Later on I found out that the sign that had made me miss the dinner was not meant for ISOLDE people, but for their regular customers. Nowadays just about everybody knows that locaters are an informal & very friendly bunch, but I sure as heck did not know that at the time.

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