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.

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.

- Man, crystal, pearl and coral: myths and symbols

- King, Prince and Bishop: gems in majesty

- the science of gems

Many events will be organized around the exhibition: concerts, conferences, demonstrations, ...

More information at http://www.aicr2014.fr and http://www.musee-saint-antoine.fr

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.

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.

Lectures are FREE but places are limited. Registration link: http://www.liv.ac.uk/events/science-and-society/form.php 

Programme of the event

Session one 10:00-12:30

Chair: Professor Ronan McGrath, University of Liverpool

Professor Andy Cooper (Chemistry, Liverpool) Crystallography of porous organic systems
Professor Stephen Pennycook (University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN) Real space crystallography with aberration-corrected electron microscopy
Professor Danny Shechtman (Technion, Israel) Discovery of icosahedral phase and the field of quasi-periodic crystals

The session will be followed by lunch and an opportunity to view the Victoria Gallery & Museum collections.

Session two 13:45-15:55

Chair: Professor Samar Hasnain, University of Liverpool

Professor Richard Garratt (Sao Carlos, Brazil) Protein crystallography in Brazil: How it has changed in 25 years?
Professor Tetsuya Ishikawa (RIKEN, Japan) X-ray lasers - new horizons of crystallography
Barkla Lecture (sponsored by RIGAKU): Professor Gautam R. Desiraju (IISc, Bangalore, India) Crystal engineering: From molecules to crystals.

Tea and coffee will be served after the session.

Session three 16:15-18:00

Chair: Professor Stephen Holloway, University of Liverpool

Bragg Lecture (sponsored by DECTRIS): Professor Sir Tom Blundell (Cambridge) The contribution of crystallography to biology and drug discovery: Something to Bragg about!
Reflections from Patience Thomson, daughter of Sir Lawrence Bragg
Crystallography & Society: Presentations by Vivien Perutz and Dr Michele Zema.

Vote of thanks: Professor Ian Greer

The session will be followed by a drinks reception.

In the framework of the celebrations for the UN International Year of Crystallography at the University of Melbourne, Professor Michael Parker will present a public lecture at the Bio21 Institute in Melbourne, Parkville, Australia on the topic "Shining a light on Alzheimer's disease through X-ray crystallography".

Abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common and devastating age-related disease with no effective disease-modifying treatments. Approximately, 34 million people worldwide are currently afflicted by AD and its prevalence is expected to triple over the next 40 years as people live longer. The mechanisms by which the disease progresses to cognitive decline in the sufferer are complex and not fully understood. A defining pathological feature is the deposition of extracellular plaques in the brain composed primarily of a peptide called amyloid beta (Aβ): a proteolytic breakdown product of the much larger Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP). Most pharmaceutical activity in AD research has focused on Aβ, its generation and clearance from the brain.