Call for visuals to be presented in a slide show at the IUCr Congress 2011 in Madrid, Spain

Deadline: July 28, 2011

An increasing number of researchers – artists and scientists equally – are exploring the intriguing space between science and art. On the one hand, natural science researchers are commonly confronted with visual research methods and results that involve design, visual perception, and aesthetics. On the other hand, artists often use scientific methods and instruments, and engage themselves in methodological questions and science-related topics.

At the XXII Congress of the International Union of Crystallography in Madrid, Spain, 22-30 August 2011, the IUCr together with the Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage (CrysAC) will provide a platform to illustrate the important place of crystallography and the multiple aspects of its research at the interface between the arts and the sciences.

This call addresses all artists and crystallographers whose work and interest pertain to both the arts and the sciences. Each contributor is invited to submit up to 10 visuals (images as well as short animations and movies).

A selection of these visuals related to crystallography will be presented as a continuous looping slide show during the IUCr Congress 2011 in Madrid.

By sending the materials, the authors declare to be copyright owners and accept that a selection of their visual materials will be integrated into the slide show during the IUCr Congress 2011 in Madrid.

Accepted file formats: any file that can be integrated into a PowerPoint show. Standard image formats are: tif, ps, pdf, jpg, gif, png, avi, and swf (videos and animations not longer than 2 minutes).

Every image/video should be sent with the following accompanying information: authors’ names, contact person, contact address and e-mail, image/video title, year of creation, materials/techniques, dimensions, and possibly a 2-sentences introduction stressing the intent, the purpose or the context of the work.

Please e-mail your visual materials by July 28, 2011 to:

The 2011 Gjønnes Medal in Electron Crystallography will be awarded to Archie Howie and Michael Whelan for the development of the dynamical theory of diffraction contrast of electron microscope images of defects in crystals, and other major pioneering contributions to the development and application of electron microscopy, diffraction and spectroscopy of materials. The Gjønnes Medal in Electron Crystallography recognizes an outstanding contribution to the field of electron crystallography. The award is named in honour of its first recipient, Professor Jon Gjønnes of the University of Oslo, who received the award at the XXI IUCr Congress in Osaka, in August 2008.

“The basic scientific achievements of the last century - which one may epitomize by three words:  the atom, the computer and the gene - rest on two main efforts: Quantum theory - which is prerequisite to our understanding of the atoms and the way they are put together, Crystallography - which is the basic, never-ending task of exploring the atomic architecture of matter"- Jon Gjønnes

Archibald "Archie" Howie FRS (born 1934) is a British physicist, known for his pioneering work on the interpretation of transmission electron microscope images of crystals. Born in 1934, he attended Kirkcaldy High School and the University of Edinburgh. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he subsequently took up a permanent post. He is a fellow of Churchill College and currently President of its Senior Common Room (SCR). In 1965, with Hirsch, Whelan, Pashley and Nicholson, he published the seminal text Electron Microscopy of Thin Crystals. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1978 and awarded their Royal Medal in 1999. In 1992 he was awarded the Guthrie Medal and Prize. He was head of the Cavendish Laboratory from 1989-1997.

Michael J. Whelan FRS (born 2 November 1931) is a British scientist. He and Archibald Howie won the 1988 Hughes Medal of the Royal Society "for their contributions to the theory of electron diffraction and microscopy, and its application to the study of lattice defects in crystals". He also received the 1998 Distinguished Scientist Award in Physical Sciences from the Microscopy Society of America and the 1965 C.V. Boys Prize from the Institute of Physics. As of 2011, he is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford.

The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) will host a user discussion forum at the IUCr Congress in Madrid.

This informal session will provide an opportunity for expert and non-expert CSD users to share ideas, problems and solutions. The aim is to help users to get the maximum benefit from their use of the CSD from the deposition of data, through to getting what they want when searching.

We also hope to discuss the implications that increasing throughput and scientific complexity have for the way CCDC operates and the challenges presented by the evolving expectations of the scientific community.

A panel of CCDC editorial staff, research scientists and software developers will be on hand to answer queries, but discussions between users as well as CCDC staff will also be encouraged.

The session will take place on Wednesday, August 24th from 13:00 to 14:50 in the Bratislava room. Refreshments will be provided. There is no charge for attendance, but numbers are limited, so please register in advance.

To register, please visit:

• Overview of the Alba Synchrotron
• The optics of BL13-XALOC
• Description of the End station
• Applications and practical aspects