Minutes of the meeting of
the Swiss Commission For Astronomy (SCFA)
held in Bern on December 10, 2007


0) Attendance at the meeting :
Present :   W. Benz,  M. Carollo, M. Guedel, P. Jetzer, T. Schildknecht,
                  H.M. Schmid (guest from SSAA), F.-K.  Thielemann,
                  and G. Meylan (chair).

Excused : G. Burki, M. Mayor, D. Pfenniger, and
                  M. Steinacher (guest from SER).

Hereafter are the brief summaries of the discussions/decisions related to
each items of the agenda.

1)  List  of  the   members of  SCFA  :

Two members, M.  Mayor and T. Schildknecht,  reaching the end of their
term, will be replaced by other members  of their institutes, S.  Udry
and G.  Beutler,  respectively.  The maximum  number of members of the
SCFA being 12, there  is room for  a few more  active members.   It is
suggested to add two new  members : George  Lake from UniZH and Werner
Schmutz from PMOD/WRC Davos.  The process of formal membership via the
SSAA board and ScNat will  be initiated by  H.M.  Schmid, once G. Lake
and W. Schmutz will have been contacted.

2) SCFA updated rules :

It is decided to add in the rules the exact value of the length of the
term for the members (3 years, renewable).

3) SCFA budget 2008and the IYA2009 :

The SCFA 2008 budget has been decided  during the MAP/ScNat meeting on
Oct. 12 2007,  in  Bern.  The cut of  CHF  5000.-, related   to travel
expenses for young scientists, is  compensated by the increase of  CHF
5000.- allocated to the Swiss participation in the organization of the
IYA2009. The allocated budget amounts  to a total  of CHF 29'600.-  In
the  framework  of the  organisation  of the  IYA2009,  the Swiss SPOC
(Single Point of Contact between the general  organisors, the IAU, and
Switzerland) has so far been G. Burki (UniGE). Given the heavy load of
work related to his directorship of Geneva Observatory, G. Burki would
like to be replaced  as the Swiss SPOC.  A  few SCFA members find this
resignation  comming already  late in  the  process of  this important
international and  national event. It  is decided to  ask G.  Burki to
find himself a replacement.

4) IAU membership and the Swiss contribution to the IAU :

Because of the  ever increasing number  of Swiss astronomers, the  IAU
General  Secretary, K.  van  der Hucht, has written  on   Oct. 2, 2007
directly to MAP/ScNat  in order to  require, from 2008 on, an increase
of about 50 % of the Swiss annual contribution  to the IAU (from about
CHF 15,200.- to CHF 22,800.-).  The  president of the SCFA has written
to  van der Hucht in  order to tell him that,  in any case, this would
not be possible before  2009.  In the mean time,  it is decided to ask
each  directors of  all  Swiss  astronomical  institutes  to  identify
possible former active astronomers who  have dropped out of  astronomy
for a few years and are, nevertheless, still members of the IAU. These
people could be taken off the list of Swiss members of the IAU.  It is
obvious that all retired astronomers who have spent  all their life in
astronomy will remain IAU members.

5) Status of the Swiss roadmap for astronomy :

The Roadmap is printed now, in 2000 copies. It is proposed that copies
will be  sent  to various people  at  local and federal  levels (e.g.,
Parlement, Commissions at the Canton levels, Universities, EPFL, ETHZ,
NSF,   CRUS, Prodex,  Fines, ESO,  ESA,   EAS, journalist, newspapers,
etc...).  It is  agreed that a  cover letter, with German,  French and
Italian versions, will  be signed by  Simon Lilly (ETHZ)as coordinator
of the Roadmap,  W. Benz (UniBE) as  President of the Swiss Commission
for Space Research,   and Georges Meylan  (EPFL) as  president  of the
Swiss Commission for Astronomy.  It is also  decided to provide the PR
Offices of all  Swiss Universities having  been active in the  roadmap
with some material  for a PR related to  this roadmap.  It is expected
that all the PR  Offices will coordinate their   activies in order  to
have on single   release,  the same   day for all   Swiss astronomical
institutions. May be in early January, after the Holidays.

6) Two action items of the Roadmap are briefly discussed :

i) The  Theory Institute : it  is decided to ask   George Lake and Ben
Moore about the status of this project.

(ii) Summer school for PhD students in Swiss  Universities : There are
111 PhD students  in Switzerland.  A summer school  would be  of great
interest for broadening the horizon of these PhD students and bringing
them together once a year for a few days.   A board is set up (members
: G. Lake, S. Lilly, W. Benz, F.-K- Thielemann,  G. Meylan, G. Meynet,
and F. Pepe)   in order  to  define  the  way such   a  school may  be
organised.  We aim at organizing the first school in Summer 2009.

7) LAHE : Loi d'aide aux Hautes Ecoles.

The files of this new law, received from MAP only a few weeks ago, are
difficult to read and to understand. They represent the final stage of
a very long process,spanning  over more  than a  year.  Such a law  is
difficult to understand and evaluate without any more knowledge of the
background  and surroundings. MAP  had asked the  chair of the SCFA to
send back   input before  Nov  27 2007.   The chair  of  the SCFA just
replied  that it was impossible to  send any meaningful information at
such a  short  notice.  The SCFA decides   to send these  files to all
members   of   CHAP,   asking    for     remarks  to    be    sent  to
georges.meylan@epfl.ch

8) Miscellaneous :

F-K.Thielemann is   the   current    NSF rapporteur   for    astronomy
proposals.   His 4-year term   will  be   terminated  at  the  end  of
2008. Because of the heavy load related to this duty and the fact that
a sabatical would be in the middle of the next term, Friedel looks for
the name(s) of people who may replace him.  Suggestions are welcome.