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 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

National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology. Running each year in August, it features approximately 1000 events around Australia, including those delivered by universities, schools, museums and science centres. These events attract a wide audience from children to adults, and science amateurs to professionals. Over one million people participate in science events across the nation.

Now into its 16th year, National Science Week provides an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of Australian scientists to the world of knowledge. It also aims to encourage an interest in science pursuits among the general public, and to encourage younger people to be fascinated by the world we live in.

Here are some photos from the crystals display at the Launch of National Science Week at the Shine Dome, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, which was held on Thursday 14th August 2014. Kids had 6 weeks to grow crystals during May/June and all crystals were submitted in July. The announcements of all winners was made on 20 August during the National Science Week and the Awards giving ceremony will be on August 30th during the University of Canberra open day.

See also information about the ACT Crystal Growing Competition.

National Science Week is supported by the Australian Government in a variety of ways. Other partners include the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Australian Science Teachers Association (ASTA).

Reflections: tales from within the crystal

School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

Crystals have long captivated humankind, from ancient healing remedies and myth and legend, to modern fashion trends and industrial applications.

Scientific interest in crystals was piqued over 400 years ago by Johann Kepler who detailed the beautiful symmetry of ice crystals. By the 20^th century, scientists discovered that X-rays could be used to determine the arrangement of the atoms which comprise the crystal, creating the field of Crystallography.

This exhibition celebrates the International Year of Crystallography bringing together crystal specimens, models and instruments used throughout history to solve the mysteries that lie within the crystal.

The first Virtual Conference on Computational Chemistry (VCCC-2013) was held from 1st to 31st August 2013. Following the success of this conference, we are now planning for the second virtual conference, VCCC-2014, from 1st to 31st August 2014.

Chemistry is no more about test-tubes and experiments but it also involves the use of efficient and accurate computational methods.

This virtual conference will also be held as part of the International Year of Crystallography. Computational chemistry is also used to complement research involving crystallography.

ICT can be used effectively for conferences and thus, virtual conferences have gained popularity. The major advantage of virtual conference is the lower cost involved for participation. One simply has to have access to the Internet or email to be involved in the conference.

Just over a hundred years ago a narrow beam of X-rays was fired at a crystal for the very first time. The experiment, an early attempt to investigate the nature of this recently discovered radiation, showed that it was wavelike and so constituted a new type of light. Although that was in itself a profound discovery, scientists realised immediately that the far more interesting outcome of the experiment was the revelation that X-rays could be used to 'see' the atomic structure of matter in three dimensions at a level of detail beyond the reach of even the most powerful microscopes.
The technique of X-ray crystallography, first used to work out the atomic structure of simple crystals and minerals, has since been applied to the far more elaborate molecular structures found in chemistry and biology. It is arguably one of the greatest scientific advances of the 20th century. In this lecture I will recount the curious origin of the technique (including its Australian roots), explain how it works and discuss how crystallography opened up an entirely new landscape for scientists to explore.

Stephen Curry, a native of Northern Ireland, is a Professor of Structural Biology at Imperial College where he teaches life sciences students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. His main research interests currently are in structural analysis — mainly using X-ray crystallography— of the molecular basis of replication RNA viruses such as foot-and-mouth disease virus and noroviruses (which include the infamous ‘winter vomiting bug’).
Curry is also a regular science writer. Since 2008 he has been writing about his research and the scientific life past and present on his Reciprocal Space blog and at the Guardian. He has a particular interest in the history of X-ray crystallography and made several short films on the subject in collaboration with the Royal Institution.
In addition Curry is a founder member and vice-chair of Science is Vital, a UK group that campaigns on scientific issues, and is also on the board of directors of the Campaign for Science and Engineering.