Celebrating the International Year of Crystallography: a new look for Crystal Research & Technology

Abstract

The year 2014 was proclaimed as the International Year of Crystallography (IYCr2014) by the United Nations in July 2012 (resolution 66/284). The IYCr2014 will be jointly organised by the United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) and by the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr). The booklet „Crystallography matters – International Year of Crystallography 2014“ published by UNESCO gives a brief survey on the development of crystallography and outlines its impact to biology, chemistry, physics, mineralogy and materials science (e.g. available at www.dgk-home.de). The IYCr2014 Opening Ceremony will take place at the main building of UNESCO in Paris on January 20–21, 2014 (for details of the programme see, www.iycr2014.org/opening-ceremony). The satellite workshop “Crystallography – a key to knowledge” will be held at the same building in Paris on January 22, 2014. The main goal of this workshop is to describe the state of the art of crystallography in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences (the lectures will be recorded and will be available at http://video.upmc.fr/). All nationally or internationally events organized within the scope of IYCr2014 can be found at the official web page: www.iycr2014. Considering further that 2014 marks the centenary of the beginning of modern crystallography and its identification as the most powerful tool for structure determination of matter, Being aware that 2014 provides an opportunity to promote international collaboration as part of the sixty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the International Union of Crystallography. The modern development of crystallography began when Max v. Laue, Walter Friedrich and Paul Knipping confirmed the periodic order of crystals experimentally by their famous X-ray diffraction experiments in Munich in 1912. A year later father William H. Bragg and son William L. Bragg solved the first crystal structures (NaCl, KCl, CaF2, ZnS, FeS2, NaNO3, CaCO3) from X-ray data. The pioneering work of X-ray crystallography was honoured by awarding Nobel Prizes in Physics. Max von Laue got the Nobel prize in 1914 “for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals”. A year later the prize was awarded to father and son Bragg “for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays”. The IYCr2014 celebrates the 100th anniversary of the award of the Nobel Prize to Max von Laue. It should be mentioned it is also the 50th anniversary of the award of the Nobel price in chemistry to Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, one of the pioneers of investigating protein structures “for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances” like vitamin B12. The work of many Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry has been, at some point or another, associated with crystallography (see e.g. http://www.iucr.org/people/nobel-prize). Seizing this important occasion for the field, the editorial team has decided to celebrate “The International Year of Crystallography 2014” to both give Crystal Research & Technology a face-lift with a modern, fresh graphical layout and to launch it anew. The layout changes include a new article layout, a new logo and full-page covers. The re-launch will be a long haul process which starts with the expansion of the advisory board. In its 48 years-long history, the Journal has kept its community updated on many of the advances in the field. As the twenty-first century progresses, it is now all but inevitable that the world will see the rise of several science powerhouses such as China and India as well as other so-called BRICS countries. In order to keep up with the potentially deep consequences in our field, the Journal must and will change in response. It is with this in mind that we wish to welcome our newest board member, Professor Hong Liu from the State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University. The accession of Professor Liu to the board will be the first of many additions to the board of the Journal as we seek to widen its scope and reach a more diverse audience in the coming years. We hope that the new and improved Crystal Research & Technology will continue to serve the needs of our authors and readers.