Thirtieth Anniversary of Biannual International Conference on Ion Beam Modification of Materials, IBMM - From “Ion Implantation” to “Ion Beam Modification”

A review is given on the start and early years of the biannual conferences 'Ion Beam Modification of Materials' (IBMM), on the thirtieth anniversary of the meeting held in Budapest, 1978. Organizers of this first IBMM conference decided to broaden the scope of the previous few conferences on ion implantation to embrace side effects, like ion beam mixing, etc. also by giving a new name. The start was not free from influence of politics of the times. The scientific success, however, gave enough ammunition for the coming times to IBMM, mainly through continuous support of leading scientists of the field. Thus, it became the most important forum of studies of basics of ion beam processes. Numerous references illustrate the start and the early topics dealt with at the meetings.