Electrostatics [Editorial]

The 8th Conference of the French Society of Electrostatics was held in Cherbourg from the 3rd to the 5th July 2012 and was organized by the Laboratoire Universitaire des Sciences Appliqu??es de Cherbourg (LUSAC), a research laboratory of the Universit?? de Caen Basse-Normandie. The French Society of Electrostatics (S.F.E.) was founded by Professor G??rard Touchard in 1998. Under his leadership, this friendly society holds every two years its scientific conference supported by a community of French, North African, East European, Japanese and North American researchers. The scientific program of the 8th Conference consisted of 2 invited lectures, 35 papers presented in oral sessions, and 38 papers in posters distributed over 7 topics. The topics were measurements and characterisations of dielectric solids, characterisations of components, electric discharge and corona effects, electrostatic phenomena in industrial processes, transport and ageing, electrostatic liquids, electrostatic in life science medium. The conference attracted 67 attendees from 11 countries. The attendees were invited to the gala dinner in the Cit?? de la Mer and to visit the French nuclear powered submarine "Le Retoutable", the largest submarine open to the public.