Mr. Robert L'Hermite, RILEM founder

From June 17 to 20, 1947, upon the invitation of Robert L’Hermite, Director of the “Laboratoires du Bâtiment et des Travaux Publics de Paris”, a group of laboratory directors met in Paris. They represented fifteen different nations and their goal was to renew international relations which had been interrupted by the war. From this goal RILEM was born. In meetings which followed — in Italy, then in Switzerland — a structure was defined for international cooperation between institutions for testing and research on materials and structures.

Forty-seven persons having thirty different nationalities have presided over RILEM’s fortunes, from Professor Gustavo Colonnetti (Italy), founder member of the association, to Dr Nicolas Roussel (France) whose mandate started in September 2021, the year of the 75th RILEM Annual Week.

RILEM 75th Anniversary Book (Temporary Appendix)

RILEM 50th Anniversary Book

Thirty years of RILEM

Key dates

• 1947: Founders meeting, on the initiative of Robert L’Hermite (June 20, 1947).
• 1949: Finalisation, in Zurich, of the cement testing method developed by the task group “Cement and Concrete”, created in 1948 by Robert l’Hermite and Raoul Dutron, still well known today as the “RILEM CEMBUREAU” method. • 1955: First meeting of RILEM in Morocco, on the invitation of J. Delarue, Director of the Casablanca Laboratory. • 1960: First meeting in the Middle East, at Haifa (Israel), under the presidency of Professor Shalon.
• 1951: Publication of the first RILEM Bulletin (of which 44 issues were published).
• 1954: Adoption, at Trondheim (Norway), of the Statutes and Bylaws of the association.
• 1956: Creation of the first Technical Committee, 01-CW (Winter Concreting), chaired by N.P. Plum. Task: to gather information and promote research on the properties of concrete and winter concreting. 
• 1959: First issue of the new series RILEM Bulletin (of which 37 issues were published).
• 1966: Launching of the association’s internal reform, in Mexico. Finalisation of the existing structure was completed in 1969.
• 1967: Creation of the RILEM Medal
• 1968: First issue of Materials and Structures
• 1971: First meeting in Buenos Aires. The involvement of Latin America furnished an important contingent of members as a result of this meeting.
• 1977: The association celebrates its 30th anniversary in Budapest. A commemorative brochure is published.
• 1981: The RILEM Medal was renamed the Robert L’Hermite Medal, in honour of the President-Founder of RILEM.
• 1983: Approval of a Long Range Plan for RILEM at Brno, proposed by Dr James R. Wright in 1981 at Casablanca.
• 1987: First RILEM Congress in Versailles, on the occasion of the association’s 40th anniversary.
• 1987: RILEM Strategic Workshop: Madrid I - “New Prospects for RILEM”.
• 1992: RILEM Strategic Workshop: Madrid II - “New Prospects for RILEM”.
• 1994: First edition of the Compendium of RILEM Technical Recommendations.
• 1994: Key objectives established for RILEM, under the impetus of Mr Jacques Baron.
• 1996: RILEM on Internet: http://www.rilem.ens-cachan.fr
• 1997: Creation of RILEM Publications SARL, a subsidiary of RILEM.
• 1999: Creation of Concrete Science & Engineering Journal.
• 2002: Concrete Science & Engineering Journal merged with Materials & Structures Journal.
• 2004: Materials & Structures Journal online registered through DOI (RILEM Publications is a CrossRef Member).
• 2005: RILEM proceedings and reports published online, pay-per-view articles for publications (journals, conference proceedings, state-of-the-art reports).
• 2006: Materials & Structures Journal published by Springer, new web site with increased services to members. 
• 2016: Creation of the open-access journal, RILEM technical letters, and creation of the Gustavo Colonnetti Medal

RILEM’s first seventy-five years have been marked by the personalities and determination of the founder members, and by the presidents who have headed the association.

RILEM Founding Members

• S. BECHYNE, Czechoslovakia
• J.-L. BIENFAIT, The Netherlands
• F. CAMPUS, Belgium
• G. COLONNETTI, Italy
• E. L. Da FONSECA COSTA, Brazil
• S. A. DELPECH, Argentina
• E. FORSLIND, Sweden
• W. GLANVILLE, United Kingdom
• G. HANSEN, Denmark
• R. L’HERMITE, France
• F. LEA, United Kingdom
• W. OLSZAK, Poland
• M. ROCHA, Portugal
• E. TORROJA, Spain
• M. ROS, Switzerland
• M. P. WHITE, United States

RILEM Presidents

• Prof. Nele DE BELIE , 2024-2027
• Dr Nicolas ROUSSEL, 2021-2024
• Dr Ravindra GETTU, 2018-2021
• Mr. Johan VYNCKE, 2015-2018
• Prof. Mark ALEXANDER, 2012-2015
• Dr Peter RICHNER, 2009-2012
• Prof. Arnon BENTUR, 2006-2009
• Dr Åke SKARENDAHL, 2003-2006
• Dr Carmen ANDRADE, 2000-2003
• Dr Jacques BRESSON, 1997-2000
• Prof. Folker H. WITTMANN, 1994-1997
• Prof. Torben Christen HANSEN, 1991-1994
• Dr Ivan DUNSTAN, 1988-1991
• Prof. Elio GIANGRECO, 1985-1988
• Dr James R. WRIGHT, 1982-1985
• Prof. Theodor H. ERISMANN, 1979-1982
• Prof. Fernando L. CARNEIRO, 1979
• Prof. Theodossius T. TASSIOS, 1978
• Dr Roland TOBIAS, 1977
• Prof. P. C. KREIJGER, 1976
• Dr Bernard STEELE, 1975
• Prof. Elio GIANGRECO, 1974
• Prof. Dimiter VATCHEV IVANOV, 1973
• Dr James R. WRIGHT, 1972
• Prof. Simon A. DELPECH, 1971
• Prof. Georg WÄSTLUND, 1970
• Prof. Dan DUMITRESCU, 1969
• Dr Alfred HÜTTER, 1968
• Dr Robert L'HERMITE, 1967
• Prof. Emilio ROSENBLUETH, 1966
• Prof. Erol YALTKAYA, 1965
• Prof. Boris Grigorietvitch SKRAMTAEV, 1964
• Prof. Waclaw OLSZAK, 1963
• Prof. Edvard AMSTUTZ, 1962
• Dr Stanislav BECHYNE, 1961
• Prof. Rachel SHALON, 1960
• Prof. Julije HAHAMOVIC, 1959
• Dr Frederick LEA, 1958
• Prof. Edward WEGELIUS, 1957
• Prof. Hubert RÜSCH, 1956
• Mr. Jean DELARUE, 1955
• Dr Inge LYSE, 1954
• Prof. Manuel Coelho Mendes da ROCHA, 1953
• Prof. C. A. LOBRY DE BRUYN, 1952
• Prof. Eduardo TORROJA, 1951
• Prof. Ferdinand CAMPUS, 1950
• Prof. Mirko ROS, 1949
• Prof. Gustavo COLONNETTI, 1948

RILEM Honorary Presidents

• 2025 Prof. Dr Hoàng TÙNG, Vietnam
• 2024 Dr Alexandra BERTRON, France
• 2023 Prof. Nemy BHANTIA, Canada
• 2022 Prof. Takafumi NOGUCHI, Japan
• 2021 Dr Pedro CASTRO BORGES, Mexico
• 2020 Prof. John L. PROVIS, Sheffield, United Kingdom
• 2019 Prof. Changwen MIAO, Nanjing, China
• 2018 Prof. Erik SCHLANGEN, Delft, The Netherlands
• 2017 Prof.  Manu SANTHANAM, Chennai, India
• 2016 Prof. Ole Mejlhede JENSEN, Lyngby, Denmark
• 2015 Prof. Jay SANJAYAN, Swinburne, Australia
• 2014 Prof. Vanderley JOHN, Sao Paulo, Brazil
• 2013 Dr Nicolas ROUSSEL, Paris, France
• 2012 Prof. Mark ALEXANDER, Cape Town, South Africa
• 2011 Prof. Christopher LEUNG, Hong Kong, China
• 2010 Prof. Wolfgang BRAMESHUBER, Aachen, Germany
• 2009 Prof. David YANKELEVSKY, Haifa, Israel
• 2008 Prof. Luigia BINDA, Varenna, Italy
• 2007 Ir. Carlo De PAUW, Ghent, Belgium
• 2006 Prof. Jacques MARCHAND, Quebec City, Canada
• 2005 Prof. Vyatcheslav R. FALIKMAN, Moscow, Russia
• 2004 Prof. Dr. Hiroyuki YAMANOUCHI, Tsukuba, Japan
• 2003 Mr. José-Manuel CATARINO, Lisbon, Portugal
• 2002 Dr. Carmen ANDRADE, Madrid, Spain
• 2001 Prof. Hans REINHARDT, Stuttgart, Germany
• 2000 Dr Jacques BRESSON, Paris, France
• 1999 Prof Åke SKARENDAHL, Stockholm, Sweden
• 1998 Prof. David W. S. HO, Ballarat, Australia
• 1997 Prof. Folker H. WITTMANN, Zurich, Switzerland