Crystallography matters ... more!

The practical sessions consist of a Demonstration Fair, where a number of stands will simultaneously offer the students the opportunity of attending short (30 minutes) practical sessions carried by the teachers at scheduled times. This year we have extended the number of demonstrations and the time scheduled, namely May 28th afternoon and May 29th the whole day.

Come enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the Land of Enchantment with a little science on the side!

Congratulations to our 2014 Award Winners 

• John Helliwell - Patterson Award 
• Borden Lacy - Etter Early Career Award 
• Dan Rabinovich - Wood Writing Award 

Program Co-Chairs

• Christine Beavers - cmbeavers@lbl.gov
• Petrus Zwart - phzwart@lbl.gov

Local Chairs 

• Zoe Fisher - zfisher@lanl.gov
• Kate Page - kpage@lanl.gov

Many initiatives have been and are being organized to involve schoolchildren at Mudaliarpet, Pondicherry (India) into crystallography on the occasion of IYCr2014.

1. At first, the students were given a brief introduction on various crystals, which made them think about how crystals are formed.

2. Following this, a team of students were selected for a project on Crystal Growth - investigating the size, shape and number of crystals formed, taking various substances such as table salt, sugar, epsom salt, borax, potassium nitrate and alum. 

3. A Radio Talk was given by the teacher and the students on the "International Year of Crystallography".

4. A lecture was given on the topic to the school students, following which a demonstration -cum- exhibition, along with a poster presentation by the teacher is to be arranged for view for the public around the school locale. 

5. A next attempt to telecast the above in the television is made.

6. Students of our school are participating in the IYCr2014 Crystal Growing Competition. 

The 2014 Spring Conference of the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) will be held for the first time in Lille (France) from 26 to 30 May and will be the largest conference ever organized by E-MRS with a plenary session, 29 parallel symposia as well as poster sessions, one exhibition and much more. The exciting scientific programme will highlight the latest advances in international materials research and demonstrate key novel applications. Special emphasis will be given to the fields related to materials for energy and environment; nanomaterials; materials and light; hybrid organic and biomaterials; crystal growth in materials science, jointly organized with the International Organization for Crystal Growth. An additional feature of the conference will be the bilateral energy conference organized together with MRS-USA, as well as the presentation along selected symposia of Japanese research initiatives promoted by the J-MRS, followed by open discussion, the workshop devoted to grand challenges in materials, the special session devoted to on-going European initiatives in the field of materials and how to promote global actions in key research areas (Europe in Motion), besides tutorial courses devoted to the field of energy and oxides, among others.

In addition a major exhibition of equipment manufacturers, book editors and service units will be organized. Furthermore a number of satellite events are planned to encourage and develop an exciting scientific curiosity towards the wonderful world of materials and their applications! Indeed, it is becoming even more obvious that for the future era of sustainable growth and economic prosperity new advanced materials are the crucial issue to be addressed, crosscutting all main industrial fields, such as biotechnology, energy and the technologies of information and communication.

These activities are complemented by the outstanding plenary events taking place on Wednesday afternoon which will include 2 outstanding speakers. The session will continue with the award of the EU-40 Materials Prize, a prize reserved to researchers aged under 40 who are showing exceptional promise for leadership and have made outstanding and innovative contributions to Materials Research in Europe. The presentation of the Graduate Students Awards will conclude the session.

We predict this will be the largest and most exciting E-MRS Conference ever organized, breaking all records! We really look forward to your active participation and contributions to the discussion.

The photograph exhibition "Entre Art et Sciences: le Corail en Images, de l'Animal au Cristal" will be hosted at the Scientific Centre of Monaco (CSM) from 7 April to 3 June 2014.

El Museo de Historia Natural "Dr. Carlos A. Torres de la Llosa" de Montevideo, Uruguay ha realizado una exhibición especial de Cristales y Estructuras Cristalinas aprovechando su colección de minerales para celebrar el Año Internacional de la Cristalografía 2014. En la exposición se agregan a los minerales algunas figuras con las estructuras atómicas correspondientes.

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The Natural History Museum "Dr. Carlos A. Torres de la Llosa" of Montevideo, Uruguay has created a special exhibit of Crystals and Crystal structures using its own minerals collection to celebrate the International Year of Crystallography 2014. The exposition contains some figures with the atomic structures of the selected minerals.

The exhibition and lectures "World of Crystals" (original title Svět krystalů) aim at showing the amazing shapes of the crystals from the whole world and from the Železné hory (Iron Mountains) National Geopark in particular.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on 6 May at 6.30 pm in the exhibition hall of the Vodní zdroje Chrudim s r.o.

Opening times: Monday to Friday, 8.00 to 4.00 pm.

Download the poster of the exhibition

The exhibition “In the unusual world of crystals” shows the beauty of crystals, the history of their investigations and their various applications. 

The exhibition was organized to celebrate the International Year of Crystallography IYCr2014 and the 650th Jubilee of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. 

Sites of Exhibition:

• Faculty of Chemistry JU,  14 May -14 June 2014
• Jagiellonian University Professors Garden, Krakow, 14-18 May 2014
• Main Jagiellonian Library , Krakow, 18 June – 18 July 2014
• Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research PAS, Wroclaw, 26-28 June 2014

and is scheduled to be displayed in many other places (Krakow, Wroclaw, Czestochowa, Poznan, Opole, Warsaw) in the second half of 2014.

A photo gallery is available at http://www2.chemia.uj.edu.pl/krysztaly_wystawa/?page_id=77

More about the exhibition (in Polish): http://www2.chemia.uj.edu.pl/krysztaly_wystawa/

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Wednesday, 21 May at 6 pm at the regional library of Lower Austria in St. Poelten.

Click on the image to download the invitation to the exhibition.

Following the great success obtained in Reggio Emilia, the exhibition “L’ENIGMA ESCHER- PARADOSSI GRAFICI TRA ARTE E GEOMETRIA”, a major retrospective exhibition of the work of Maurits Cornelis Escher, will be on display at "Il Filatoio di Caraglio" (Cuneo, Italy) from 29 March to 29 June 2014.

The exhibition presents the work of the Dutch graphic artist from his debut on the scene to his latest years, bringing together 130 works, including lithographs, etchings and drawings, on loan from museums, libraries and national institutes – among which the Galleria d’Arte Moderna of Rome and the Fondazione Wolfsoniana of Genoa – as well as from some important, private collections.

A special section is dedicated to tilings, with a panel illustrating the 17 crystallographic planar groups and some original examples of Escher's plane-filling drawings.

The exhibition is included in the events for IYCr2014 celebrations in Italy. 

Read the press release on the Reggio Emilia exhibition mentioning the connection with IYCr2014 (in Italian)

Venue: Planetario de Pamplona

21 May, 7.30 pm: Los Minerales en La Tierra. Esther Lasheras, Universidad de Navarra

28 May, 7.30 pm: Photo 5: la imagen de ADN más famosa de la historia. Javier Novo, Universidad de Navarra

4 June, 7.30 pm: Las caras del cristal. Una aproximación multidisciplinar a la historia de la cristalografía. César Tomé, Universidad del País Vasco

18 June, 7.30 pm: Kriptonita, estalagmitas y otros cristales peculiars. Jose Ramón Isasi Allica, Universidad de Navarra

25 June, 7.30 pm: Neutrones en la vida cotidiana. Javier Campo, CSIC Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón

The exhibition will open on May 9th with a speech by Sven Lidin, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Lund University and Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

The exhibition "Living with crystal" (original title in Slovenian: Živeti s kristali), organized on the occasion of the International Year of Crystallography, will be open from 13 February 2014 to 11 January 2015 at the Slovenian Museum of Natural History, Ljubljana. 

On display: Photographs of minerals, Crystal drawings, Mineral and crystal collections, Jewellery, Fluorescent minerals, Interactive presentation of minerals and rocks on Biedermeier tables, Interactive play "Umek the Mineralogist", Microscopic world of crystals.

Authors: Miha Jeršek, Mirjan Žorž, Breda Činč Juhant, Katarina Fuchs

Con motivo de este año tan especial, se ha organizado la exposición titulada "Los minerales: Año Internacional de la Cristalografía".

La exposición trata de ofrecer un recorrido por las características principales de los minerales, los cristales inorgánicos naturales. Estas características van desde cuales son las posibles formas de la celda unidad (sistemas cristalinos) hasta las principales propiedades físicas que presentan como consecuencia de su composición y su estructura, y que, con frecuencia, nos permiten identificarlos.

Confirmed lecturers 

Dott. Samuele Ciattini (Centro di Cristallografia Strutturale, Università di Firenze), Il CRIST ai raggi-X

Dott. Giorgio Guastella (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli, Direzione Regionale per la Lombardia, Laboratorio e Servizi Chimici, Milano), Applicazioni della diffrazione a raggi X in ambito doganale

Dott.ssa Chiara Vladiskovic (Dipharma Francis S.r.l., Baranzate, Milano), Principi Attivi Farmaceutici: a cosa serve la diffrazione da polveri?

Dott.ssa Laura Chelazzi (Dipartimento di Chimica «Giacomo Ciamician», Università di Bologna), Oltre i confini del cristallo singolo: aspetti applicativi della determinazione strutturale da polveri microcristalline

The full programme is available at the website.

Download the poster of the event

Every year, the third week of May, Uruguay celebrates the Science and Technology week. In 2014 the week will be motivated by the International Year of Crystallography 2014 and will have the motto "it all depends on the crystal you look through".

Researchers and graduate students will be offering talks focusing on the impact of Crystallography in our lives. The opening ceremony of the week will include a Dissemination Lecture on Crystallography. Lectures, about 1h long, will be offered to Primary and Secondary schools (both public and private), Teaching institutions in general and Social institutions from all the country. An estimate of 50 lectures on different aspects of crystallography will be given from May 19 to June 30 where the activities of the Sci & Tech week officially end.

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Cada año, durante la tercera semana de mayo, Uruguay celebra la Semana de la Ciencia y la Tecnología. Este año las actividades están motivadas por el Año Internacional de la Cristalografía 2014 y tendrá como llamador la frase "todo depende del cristal con que se mire".

Tanto investigadores como estudiantes de postgrado darán charlas enfocándose en el impacto de la Cristalografía en nuestras vidas. El evento de apertura de la semana estará basado en una charla de divugación de Cristalografía y las charlas, de 1 hora aproximada de duración serán ofrecidas a Escuelas Primarias y Secundarias (públicas y privadas), instituciones de enseñanza en general e instituciones sociales de todo el país. Se estima que unas 50 charlas serán dictadas sobre distintos aspectos de la cristalografía desde el 19 de mayo al 30 de junio cuando concluyen oficialmente las actividades de la Semana de la Ciencia y la Tecnología.

This MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) explains the basic building blocks of crystals, their symmetrical structure and introduces free software for crystal structure exploring. To be enrolled to this online course, visit the web site and click on the green button "Enrol with email".

The course is organized in chapters, every week a new chapter will be launched starting on April 18th.

Frank Hoffmann and his team from the University of Hamburg invite you to be part of the crystal admiring community.

The University of Malaya organizes a one-day symposium on chemical crystallography entitled "Celebrating the International Year of Crystallography, IYCr2014".

Guest of honour: Prof. Dr Gautam R. Desiraju, IISc (Bangalore), current President of the International Union of Crystallography and UM HIR Academic Icon.

Venue: Auditorium Bangunan Makmal Kimia (New Chemistry Building), University of Malaya.

​Fees (inclusive of tea breaks and lunch, Abstract book; payment on the day): RM10 students (under-graduates, free); RM20 others.

Registration​ (name, status and institution) to Miss Nabihah (bha_namn@yahoo.com.my) by May 25th - limited to 130 participants.

Offers of Oral Presentations with titles (10-15 minutes) to Dr Nadiah (nadiahhalim@um.edu.my) as soon as possible. Students are especially encouraged to offer to present.

Offers of Poster Presentations (with titles and Abstract) to Miss Wani (haz_wani87@hotmail.com) by May 25th - limited to 50 presentations. 

Thanks to the Department of Chemistry for sponsorship and to MoE High Impact Research scheme for hosting Prof. Desiraju.

Click here to download the poster of the event 

As part of the lecture series to celebrate the International Year of Crystallography at FCT-NOVA, on May 28, Dr João Morais Cabral (IBMC, Porto) will give a talk entitled "A molecular study of a component of the bacterial machinery involved in hyperosmotic adaptation".

Prof Cabral's challenging research includes the structure of KtrAB (Nature, 496, 323-8, 2013), which is a bacterial K+/Na* transporter that is involved in the first steps of adaptation to hyperosmotic shock. This process involves signaling by ATP/ADP and a change in the conformation of the transporter. Dr. João Cabral will present the crystal structure of the KtrABATP transporter and will describe biochemical and functional experiments that reveal details of the molecular mechanism of transport activation.

Read the short biographies of all speakers of the FCT-NOVA lecture series at http://xtal.dq.fct.unl.pt/iycr2014/Speakers.html

The Departments of Applied Geosciences and Mathematics & Science of the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech), supported by the Geological Society of Oman, proudly present

Crystals, Forbidden Symmetries & Quasi-Crystals

Michaela Bernecker & Florian Rupp
together with the Students of Applied Geosciences at GUtech

Wednesday, 28th of May

Oil and Gas Exhibition Center

  5:00 pm  Reception

  5:15 pm  Introductory talk by Florian Rupp

  5:45 pm  Special student talks

  7:00 pm  Official opening of the exhibition

Abstract

The talks “Crystals, Symmetries and Quasi-Crystals” form the opening ceremony of an exhibition along with activities of the 2014 UNESCO year of crystallography at which we celebrate the 100thbirthday of the awarding the Nobel Price in Physics to the deciphering of the inner structure of crystals due to X-ray diffraction.

In our talks, we highlight the main steps leading to today’s under-standing of crystalline structures and their symmetries by discussing the ground-breaking discoveries of the last centuries: Stenos Law, classifications of planar and spatial packings, and X-ray diffraction. In particular the role of symmetries is outlined and why only certain rotations are allowed in crystals and others are strictly forbidden, like 5-fold rotations. To the great surprise of the scientific community exactly such a forbidden 5-fold rotation symmetry was realized in an alloy crystal in the 1980s. We illustrate why this is possible and what further types of forbidden symmetries occur in crystalline structures now known as quasi-crystals. For solving the riddle of the quasi-crystals the 2011 Nobel Price in Chemistry was awarded.

Special talks by students of Applied Geosciences at GUtech dedicated to the deeper understanding of certain topics round up the evening, before the exhibition is officially opened.

28. Mai 2014: Dr. Leopold Weber, i.R. BMWFJ

„Die Genese von Großlagerstätten in Raum und Zeit“

Der Vortrag findet im Rahmen des IYCr2014 um 18:30 im Vortragssaal des Naturhistorischen Museums statt

Einlass 18:15 unter Vorlage des Mitgliedsausweises bei der Kassa

Gemeinsame Veranstaltung der Freunde des Naturhistorischen Museums (http://freunde.nhm-wien.ac.at/aktivitaeten/vortraege.html) und der Österreichischen Mineralogischen Gesellschaft (http://www.univie.ac.at/OeMG/vwien.html)