The BELGIAN VACUUM SOCIETY was founded on May 16, 1963 by two working groups. One was the section on Vacuum Technique of the "Société Royale belge des Ingénieurs et des Industriels, ASBI " founded in 1954, and the other was a contact group "Nuclear Sciences and Low pressures" of the "Institut interuniversitaire des Sciences Nucléaires" , Brussels, founded in 1955.
The purpose of BELVAC is to promote the development of vacuum science and technology and contribute to its advancement in Belgium. It also has its objective to create and maintain interesting and useful relations between its members concerning vacuum and to provide interesting and useful relations with foreign vacuum societes and with international organizations having the same objectives.
BELVAC is a non-profit society with legal status. The organization consists of a council with a president, a secretary six representatives in the IUVSTA Divisions and 11 administrators.
The two groups that founded BELVAC organized a number of joint meetings before participating in the organization of the "First International Congres on Vacuum Techniques" held in June 1958 in Namur, Belgium. It would require too much space to relate all the national and international meetings held, sometimes in cooperation with the French and the German Vacuum Societies.
BELVAC was the representative of the Belgian Standardization Organization in the six working groups of the International Standards Organization (ISO) TC 112.
BELVAC also serves as a liason between the Secretary General of IUSTVA and the Belgian Ministry of Justice on the IUVSTA Statutes.
At the present time, BELVAC publishes the "BELVAC NEWS" four times a year and organizes symposia and workshops.