The First Annual Meeting of the European Geophysical Society was held on September 25–28, 1973, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. The total registration was 482, of which 59 were students under 26 years of age.The idea of holding annual meetings for geophysicists in Europe could be traced to a proposal at a geophysical meeting in Madrid some 4 years ago. Keith Runcorn made the first step when he helped organize the First European Earth and Planetary Physics Colloquium at Reading in the spring of 1971. At a general assembly of that colloquium the question of the future was discussed. Although the participants unanimously wished for a periodical gathering of European geophysicists, considerable difference of opinion existed concerning the ways and means of implementing the concept. Idealists argued against an organized society and hoped that future EEPP colloquiums could be organized on an ad hoc basis by volunteers from various countries. However, the majority voted in favor of the proposal to establish a dues‐assessing European Geophysical Soci