This special issue contains papers related to the tenth Liblice Conference on the Statistical Mechanics of Liquids, held at Srni (Sumava National Park), Czech Republic, from June 17–22, 2018. Professor Ivo Nezbeda and Dr. William R. Smith acted as guest editors for the papers of this issue.
The conference series was founded by Ivo Nezbeda, and its first meeting took place on June 20–24, 1983, at Liblice Stately Manor, a congress centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The second conference was held three years later at Bechyne Stately Manor, another facility of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Since 1986 the meetings have been held every four years, each organised by Ivo Nezbeda. The conference series has been devoted to basic research in statistical mechanics and the application of molecular – based theories of liquids. The aim has been to provide an effective forum for contacts and for the exchange of ideas, with an emphasis on discussions rather than on formal presentations, highlighting achievements and challenges in both theoretical and applied aspects of the discipline.
From its original modest intentions to cover the fundamentals of liquid state theories and the methodology of molecular simulations, the series has gradually grown to also include developments in the treatment of inhomogeneous systems (interfacial and nano-scale systems), biomolecular systems, polymers, colloids, self-organising systems, nucleation, chemically reacting systems, and subcooled/glassy states.
Liblice III in 1990 was again held at Bechyne Stately Manor, and from 1994 onwards each conference was held in a mountain or countryside resort. The format since then has been as follows: the opening of the conference takes place on the Sunday evening with an invited talk followed by a social mixer. Since Liblice V in 1998, the talk has been named the Molecular Physics Lecture, and generously sponsored by the Taylor and Francis Group. The scientific programme begins on Monday, with daily morning and evening sessions, and afternoons are devoted to various social/outdoor activities and/or informal scientific discussions. An organised sightseeing tour to an interesting site that can be easily reached from the conference is part of the programme on Wednesday, and the Conference Banquet takes place on Thursday evening at the close of the conference. Over the years, the conference attendees have included most of the leading scientists in the field of liquid state statistical mechanics. The conference web site at http://liblice.icpf.cas.cz/ contains a detailed history of each meeting, participant photos, and programme details.
The Liblice X Molecular Physics Lecture was presented by John Weeks, who spoke on ‘Solvation thermodynamics and structure in simple liquid mixtures and aqueous solutions’. A special brief session was held Monday morning to honour four leading researchers in the field who had passed away since Liblice IX: Lesser Blum, David Chandler, Bill Steele and George Stell. The 11 invited keynote talks were complemented by 41 contributed talks and 66 posters.
This is the last conference in the series to be organised by Ivo Nezbeda. On behalf of all the attendees over the years, we hereby extend our sincere thanks to Ivo for his devotion and his success in making this one of the premier conferences in its topic area.