Through the good services of Henry Rzepa, WATOC Communication Officer, this first issue is being distributed electronically, which will be the medium for close contact within WATOC.

Although WATOC was formed as the "World Association of Theoretical Organic Chemists", no restriction to organic chemistry has ever influenced the nature of the organisation. The much broader scope is more accurately reflected in the new name, "World Association of Theoretically Oriented Chemists". We are indebted to Professor Gernot Frenking of the University of Marburg, the new Global Coordinator, for this suggestion. The First World Congress of WATOC, held in Budapest, in 1987, brought together Eastern and Western scientists, still in the old political era. The Second World Congress, also organized by our Past President, Imre Csizmadia, held at his home University in Toronto, Canada, 1990, was attended by 800 scientists and emphasized the broad nature of the subject. The Third World Congress of WATOC, organised by Keiji Morokumaa and Eiji Osawa in Toyohashi, Japan, 1993, was also well attended despite the great geographical distances many participants had to travel.

An especially attractive scientific program is planned for the Fourth World Congress of WATOC, suggested to be held in one of the world's truly unique cities, Jerusalem, July 7-12, 1996. Details of the anticipated Jerusalem meeting, as well as information on smaller conferences and other events sponsored by WATOC, will be provided in future issues of the Newsletter.

This new electronic format for the WATOC Newsletter is expected to further enhance the role of WATOC in providing members with information on new scientific breakthroughs, important events, and other news of interest to all theoretically oriented chemists.

The Congress began on Sunday July 18 with the WATOC general Meeting, followed by the opening ceremony. A highlight of the latter was the presentation of the Schrödinger Medals for 1991, 1992 and 1993 to Keiji Morokuma, Josef Michl and Jan Almlöf. We were also entertained by some impressive local traditional drum bands. A get-together party in the evening allowed participants to renew old acquaintances and make new ones.

There was an intense scientific program of high standard during five of the following six days. The monrings were occupied with Plenary Lectures (15 in total: Siegbahn, Jorgensen, Bernardi, Kato, Bauschlicher, Gasteiger, Itai, Michl, Still, Nagase, Almlof, Dedieu, Nakatsuji, Schaefer and Schleyer). In the afternoons, we had four parallel sessions of invited lectures (32) and contributed oral presentations (80). In the evenings, there were poster sessions (roughly 150 posters).

By Thursday, we were ready for a break, and an excursion had been organized to Ise-Shima National Park. The excursion took in Mikimoto Pearl Island, where we discovered the processes involved in the culturing of pearls, and the Ise Jingu Shrine. At the Conference Banquet on Thursday evening, we were treated to some excellent traditional Japanese dancing as well as classical singing and piano, followed by a sumptuous meal of Japanese delicacies.

A testimony to the unwavering interest of the participants was provided by the packed theatre for the final lecture of the meeting on Saturday morning, presented by Paul Schleyer. The Congress concluded with an invitation to everyone present to come together again at the fourth WATOC World Congress in Jerusalem, Israel, in July 1996.

We are indebted to our Japanese hosts, particularly chairman Keiji Morokuma dn secretary Eiji Osawa and their committee, for all their efforts in putting together a terrific meeting and for the warmth of their hospitality.

Professor Amiram Goldblum, Chairman - WATOC '96.
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, 
School of Pharmacy, Hebrew University, Jerusalem,
Israel, 91120.
Fax: 972-2-410 740 (also 972-2-784-010)
E-mail: amiram@vms.huji.ac.il

Professor Yitzhak Apeloig, Program Chairman.
Department o fChemistry, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology,
Haifa, Israel 32000
Fax: 972-4-237 599 (also 972-4-233 735)
E-mail: chdean@techunix.technion.ac.il