Symposium on Supernova Explosions and Gamma-Ray Bursts

On 2 July 1967, two American military satellites, part of the VELA programme, recorded an intense flash of light. VELA program was in charge of control the treaty of 4 August 1963, limiting the testing of nuclear weapons. The detection of the flash at first appeared to ressemble an atomic explosion; was a rapid increase in the flux of gamma photons in a very short time, the proof that the treaty was breached? Not infrequently the spies of the skies noticed other explosions, some similar to those generated by an atomic explosion. But the satellites were unable to detect the site of an explosion on Earth, nor on the moon nor in fact anywhere in the solar system. After many years the military experts were forced to conclude that the explosions couldn't be coming from the blue planet. Atomic peace was preserved. But a new mystery began : the Cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts 50 years after the discovery of the most powerful explosions of the universe, we are glad to welcome students from all over the world in Cargèse for the third Landau-Dirac Ph.D training School dedicated to Supernovae Explosions and Gamma-Ray Bursts !