Crystallography matters ... more!

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. 

Eine neue Kluft im Steinbruch Eibenstein lieferte beachtliche Kalzitkristalle, z.T. Phantombildungen und Kalzite in Chalcedon.

Aus Motlas O.Ö. wurden herrliche Quarz-Stufen, Andalusit, Beryll, Schörl und Orthoklas angekauft.

In der Mittelvitrine werden aus der Studiensammlung des Museum besondere Stufen ausgestellt: Einzel-Quarzkristalle und Stufen (auch Amethyst), sowie seltene Mineralien wie Amstallit, bzw. aus dem Fundort Kottaun; ferner Beryll, Chalcedon, Schörl u.a.

Ebenso wurde der größte Feldspatkristall Österreichs aus Wanzenau bei Rosenburg dem Krahuletz-Museum übergeben und ist dort im Rahmen der Mineralien-Dauerausstellung zu sehen.

In a joint effort of the Colombian and Venezuelan Societies of Crystallography, two courses on X Ray Diffraction Techniques are being organized: a course on X ray Powder Diffraction which will take place in Mérida, Venezuela, from June 23 to 27 of 2014, and a course on Single Crystal X Ray Diffraction which will take place in Bucaramanga, Colombia, in September. The participation is open to undergraduate and graduate students and young scientists from academic institutions, as well as professionals from the industrial sector. Students, young researchers, and professionals from other Latin-American countries are most welcome.

The Course on Powder Diffraction integrates the basic principles, common practices, and applications of X ray diffraction techniques for the analysis of polycrystalline samples. Particular attention will be paid at obtaining good experimental data for their appropriate use in different applications.

Three fundamental aspects constitute the core of the powder diffraction course: (1) use of X ray diffraction techniques for qualitative and quantitative analysis of polycrystalline materials; (2) use of the program GSAS-II (Structure refinement using the Rietveld Method); (3) Microstructure characterization (Use of the program PM2K2). These topics will be presented in the context of conventional X ray diffractometers and of synchrotron radiation.

The Invited Speakers are: Dr. Robert Von Dreele (Argonne National Laboratory, USA), Prof. James A. Kaduk (Illinois Institute of Technology, USA), Prof. Matteo Leoni (Universita degli Studi di Trento, Italy), and Prof. José Antonio Henao (Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia). Professors Asiloé J. Mora, Graciela Díaz de Delgado, Belkis Ramírez, Gerzon Delgado, and Miguel Delgado (ULA, Venezuela) and Dr. Alexander Briceño (IVIC, Venezuela) will also be instructors.

This event is being supported by Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela), FONACIT (Venezuelan Science Funding Office) and the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD).

Click here to download the poster of the event 

Please join us for a three-day Chemical Crystallography workshop at the University of Montana, June 26 – 28, 2014. The workshop is intended for chemistry graduate students and novice crystallographers (including postdocs and faculty) who wish to increase their knowledge of X-ray crystallography and their proficiency in handling data and solving crystal structures.

We have scheduled this workshop in conjunction with the commissioning of a new NSF-funded Chemical Crystallography facility to support research activities in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the School of Pharmacy at the University of Montana. This facility features a state-of-the-art Bruker D8 Venture instrument with both Cu and Mo X-ray sources, a large PHOTON 100 CMOS detector and an Oxford CryoStream low-temperature attachment.

The opening is scheduled on June 23rd, with the presence of Professor Robert Huber, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. The results of the Photo Contest will be announced.

The Australian satellite of the IYCr2014 photo competition Crystallography in Everyday Life saw Crystal 29 conference delegates select their favorite images from more than 130 entries submitted world-wide.

The 15 stunning images celebrate the wonder of crystallography, symmetry and crystals as symbolized in the places, objects and experiences of everyday life and will now form part of the traveling exhibition around Australia.

Graziano Lolli from Italy won the first prize in this category with a photo of "romanesco broccoli".

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 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)

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.

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.

The 1^st FEBS-INSTRUCT practical crystallization course in the middle EU is in fact the 6^th run of the FEBS practical course named "Advanced methods in macromolecular crystallization VI“ that will take place at the Academy and University Center at Nove Hrady (Czech Republic) from June 20^th to June 27^th, 2014. The course is intended for undergraduate (5th year) and postgraduate students and postdocs with an interest in macromolecular crystallization.

The planned course is quite different from the established courses in protein crystallization. The course is designed to bring over the message of the benefits of more rational approaches to macromolecular crystallization and is aimed at a healthy mixture of advanced discussions of the theory and laboratory experiments. To achieve this goal, we have invited a number of prominent experts in the field as teachers and tutors.

 Proposed deadline for applications: March 31, 2014

 For more information about the course, please have a look at the website http://febs.img.cas.cz or contact organizers.

 Ivana Kuta Smatanova, e-mail: ivanaks@seznam.cz

Pavlina Rezacova, e-mail: rezacova@img.cas.cz

Juan Manuel Garcia-Ruiz, e-mail: jmgruiz@ugr.es

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 GE3C XXIV Symposium will take place in Bilbao in June 2014, from the 23th to 26th. The Congress will be held at the Bizkaia Aretoa building: the auditorium of the University of the Basque Country (UPV / EHU) in the city of Bilbao. This building, designed by architect Alvaro Siza, is located in one of the most emblematic areas of Bilbao, over the sea loch and next to the Guggenheim Museum, just in the middle of Abandoibarra Avenue.

This is a very special year for Crystallography since on July 3th, 2012 the General Assembly of the United Nations (resolution 66/2849) decided to proclaim 2014 as The International Year of Crystallography. The proclamation points out that education in crystallography and its applications is critical to address challenges such as health and environmental problems, since crystallographers determine the structure of proteins and small molecules used in the design of essential drugs also proposing solutions to the pollution of soil and plants.

We wish to make the most of our Basque spirit, land and people together for junction and interchange, to facilitate the exchange of ideas, diffusion of our groups´ latest scientific findings, the establishment or strengthening of partnerships and the promotion of young researchers working in fields related to Crystallography.

Topics: biomaterials, crystal growth, crystallography, materials for energy, porous materials, organometallic compounds (MOFs), nanomaterials, ...