TOWARD OTHER EARTHS

We are planning to host an international scientific conference, to be held
on 22-25 April 2003,  in Heidelberg, Germany. This  will be the first major
meeting of the DARWIN/TPF community. The conference will be sponsored by
ESA/NASA.

The conference will include an introductory lecture, invited talks,
contributed talks and posters on the major scientific topics listed below,
and a public talk. Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to
pre-register at the conference web-site. Pre-registration will start in
September.

SCIENTIFIC TOPICS:

Results of Planet Searches
New Search Strategies
Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems
Conditions for Life
DARWIN and TPF Mission

SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:

Thomas Henning (Germany) Chair
Malcom Fridlund ( France) Co-Chair
Charles Beichman ( USA)
André Brack ( France)
Michael Burton ( Australia)
Pascale Ehrenfreund (The Netherlands)
Tom Herbst (Germany)
James Hough ( United Kingdom)
Michel Mayor (Switzerland)
Antonella Natta ( Italy)
Alain Léger ( France)
Alan Penny ( United Kingdom)
Jonathan Lunine (USA)
Andreas Quirrenbach (The Netherlands)
Rafael Rodrigo (Spain)
Wesley Traub (USA)
Sergio Volonté (France)
Harald Yorke (USA)



LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:

Daniel Apai
Kurt Birkle
Hermann Boehnhardt
Tom Herbst
Maria Janssen-Bennynck
Ralf Launhardt
Ilaria Pascucci



IMPORTANT DATES

August 2002: First Announcement
September 2002: Start of pre-registration
October 2002: Second Announcement
November 2002: Invited speakers confirmed
February 2003: Programme finalized
Beginning of March 2003: Registration deadline



WEB-SITE:

The conference Web-site can be found at URL:

http://www.mpia.de/DARWIN