History of the EAU
1972
Prof. Georgio Ravasini, holder of the chair of Urology at the University of Padua, gathered 10 well-known European urologists to discuss the formation of a European urology society.
1973
During the congress of the Société Internationale d’Urologie (SIU) held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the final constituent assembly took place. The EAU was born and welcomed 259 proposed members. As a neutral country, Switzerland was chosen as the permanent home of the EAU headquarters and Prof. Willy Gregoir was the first Secretary General.
1974
The first EAU Congress, chaired by Prof. Ravasini was held in September 1974 in Padua, Italy. At this congress Prof. G. Mayor officially announced the constitution of European Urology as the official scientific journal of the EAU. The journal was to be published from January 1975 on.
1984
During the 6th EAU Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, it was agreed to use English as the sole official language at future congresses. Prof. Steg was elected Secretary General and succeeded Prof. Gregoir.
1990
The 9th EAU Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, chaired by Prof. Frans Debruyne was preceded by an avalanche of information and clever publicity. More than 1500 papers were received of high scientific quality and the congress attracted an unusually large number of urologists from Central and Eastern Europe and also from the US, Japan, Australia, South-Africa and various Asian countries. At the Amsterdam congress the EAU truly became an “open” association.
1992
At the 10th EAU Congress in Genoa, Italy, chaired by Prof. Giuliani, Prof. Debruyne succeed Prof. Steg as Secretary General.
1993
The Netherlands becomes the new home of the Association’s headquarters, the EAU Central Office, from which all EAU activities are organised.
1996
At the General Assembly during the 12th congress in Paris, France the new structure of the EAU with various new committees for all the new activities were approved. From that moment on the EAU grew at tremendous in terms of membership, congress participants as well as activities.
1998
From the 13th EAU Congress in Barcelona, Spain on, the EAU congresses are organised annually. The organisation from that moment on is entirely in the hands of the congress department of the EAU Central Office.
2004
After 12 chairs Prof. Frans Debruyne resigns and Prof. Pierre Teillac is the new Secretary General of the EAU.
2007
Prof. Per-Anders Abrahamsson was elected as the new Secretary General of the EAU.
Today
The EAU has grown into a well established scientific organisation which numerous scientific activities. The EAU annual congress today is attended by more than 12,000 delegates and membership has grown from the initial
259 in 1973 to more than 14,000 in 2010!
