Many Thanks to Jorge Pullin

The 310th installment of the International Loop Quantum Gravity Seminar (ILQGS) featured a panel on “20 years of ILQGS, and other anniversaries!” featuring Abhay Ashtekar, Carlo Rovelli and Thomas Thiemann as panelists. During this celebratory event, Jorge Pullin was presented with a plaque by the steering board.

Twenty years ago, Jorge Pullin founded the ILQGS series at a time when the use of online technology for scientific exchange was still highly unusual, especially in theoretical physics. At that time, there was little technology to support online conferencing. Zoom did not exist, Skype only allowed a few callers. Other solutions existed, but they required costly equipment unavailable to most research groups. Jorge Pullin proposed a practical solution. Only the audio would be shared via telephone bridge. Slides would be published in advance on a new online repository (https://relativity.phys.lsu.edu/ilqgs/) and distributed via newsletter maintained by Pullin. There was no video link and speakers had to indicate when to move to the next slide. At the other end of the bridge, participants could follow the presentation and ask live questions.

The idea of holding regular international seminars in a virtual format was both innovative and courageous. Equally visionary was Jorge Pullin's decision to make the audio recordings publicly available immediately after each talk. Over the past twenty years, the seminar has hosted more than 330 individual talks, becoming the place where results in loop quantum gravity are announced to the world.

The impact of this initiative on the loop quantum gravity community has been profound. The seminar series has become a central forum for discussing the most important developments in the field, greatly accelerating scientific exchange and collaboration. Beyond its scientific role, it has fostered a genuine sense of international community, bringing researchers closer together across institutions and continents. In fact, the International Society on Loop Quantum Gravity (ISLQG) itself emerged from a process of community building that was greatly strengthened by the existence of the ILQGS. By presenting cutting-edge science in an open and welcoming format, the seminar has also helped attract new generations of talented researchers to the field.

Reaching 310 seminars represents an extraordinary achievement and an immense amount of sustained work. Behind each meeting stood countless tasks, and questions of timing, frequency, format, technical infrastructure, and speaker selection all required careful judgment. Over the past twenty years, Jorge Pullin has not only managed these responsibilities with remarkable calmness and efficiency, but has also guided the seminar toward a model in which the community itself increasingly participated in shaping the program.

Thanks to Jorge Pullin's dedication and steady leadership, the International Loop Quantum Gravity Seminar has remained vibrant, useful, and healthy for twenty years, and it continues to thrive today. As Jorge Pullin is stepping down and the seminar series continues, the International Society on Loop Quantum gravity will follow his vision. Hanno Sahlmann, president of the society, speaking for many, who have benefited from the seminar series, expressed gratitude and appreciation.

“Thank you, Jorge, for this remarkable contribution!”—Hanno Sahlmann on behalf of the Steering Board of ISLQG.