International support for IYCr2014

The UN adopted the resolution that 2014 should be the International Year of Crystallography at its Sixty-Sixth General Assembly on 3 July 2012.

The lead partners for IYCr2014 (IUCr and UNESCO) are particularly grateful to Professor A. Thalal of the University Cadi Ayyad in Marrakech and the Moroccan Crystallographic Association who played a crucial role in preparing the resolution, which was most effectively presented by the permanent Moroccan UN delegation in New York.

Support for IYCr2014 has been received from the International Council for Science (ICSU) and its member scientific unions, including IUPAC (Pure and Applied Chemistry), IUPAB (Biophysics), IUPAP (Pure and Applied Physics), IUBMB (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), IMU (Mathematics), IAU (Astronomy), IUHPS (History and Philosophy of Science), IUPHAR (Basic and Clinical Pharmacology) and IUFRO (Forest Research).

The active involvement of the 43 National Committees for Crystallography representing 52 countries, the National and Regional Crystallographic Associations and large-scale scientific facilities (SESAME for example) is welcome. Travelling exhibitions in Africa, Latin America and Asia will be based on scientific hubs in the three regions, and the willing involvement of these host centres reflects the widespread support for IYCr2014 and the importance of crystallography everywhere.