On behalf of the Organizing Committee it is our great pleasure to welcome you to Vienna to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Symposium on Essential Oils (ISEO 2019)!

Vienna’s history started around 4,000 years ago. Due to its position next to the Danube between the extension of the foothills of the Alps (Wienerwald) in the Southwest and the Hungarian lowlands in the Southeast it has always been a strategically perfect settlement and trading area. Vienna’s old name Vindobona derives from the Celtic language. The Romans built a military camp at the territory of today’s city center during the 1st century and their famous emperor Marcus Aurelius died here in 180 A.D. Later on Vienna became the capital of the Babenberg dynasty and subsequently of the Austrian Habsburgs. Walking around, especially in the first district, you can find archaeological excavations and magnificent buildings everywhere.

In 2019 Vienna topped for the 10th year in a row the worldwide Mercer Quality of Living Survey. It is well known for its high quality tap water that directly is being brought to the capital from the mountains by two water conduits with a length of 95 and 183 km, respectively, with no pumps involved. Austria’s capital is the only metropolis worldwide with noteworthy viniculture within the city limits and almost 43% of the city are green space. It is a multicultural melting point in the middle of Europe and its inhabitants are said to have “a heart of gold”.

ISEO’s history started 50 years ago. In 1969, in the course of a symposium of the Society of Medicinal Plants Research in Leiden (The Netherlands), four researchers founded a workshop to discuss their common research interests. The main agenda was to find a way to optimize the analysis of volatile compounds by means of an analytic technique which, at that time, was still in its infancy. Since then this meeting was repeated annually with increasing participants, which exceeded the number of 100 participants in 1982 in Wurzburg (Germany) for the first time. Till 1984 ISEO was exclusively organized by academia but in 1985 the symposium was hosted by Dragoco and Haarmann & Reimer (now Symrise) in Holzminden/Neuhaus (Germany). The entry of the essential oil industry brought another interesting perception to the meetings and it has become an integral part of ISEO.

In the meantime the interest in this symposium has literally spread worldwide, to all continents. 50 years ago its founders probably never would have thought of such a long-standing success! It provides an excellent possibility for researchers from academia and industry to exchange their experience and to discuss their results and findings in the field of essential oils and volatile compounds.

This year ISEO takes place in Vienna for the second time (after 1996) and the organizers wish all participants a highly exciting and fruitful symposium as well as many unforgettable memories of a very pleasant stay. Thank you for joining this meeting!

Johannes Novak and Iris Stappen

Presidents of the ISEO 2019 Organizing Committee

International Symposium, Essential Oils, 50th ISEO, 2019