IYCr2014 Opening Ceremony

The launch event of the International Year of Crystallography has been announced on the iycr2014.org website. The Opening Ceremony will be held on 20-21 January 2014 at the main UNESCO Building in Place de Fontenoy, in Paris. The ceremony will occur in the prestigious setting of the Hall 1 lecture theatre, where the General Conferences of UNESCO are commonly held.

The programme will celebrate crystallography and the great advances in science arising from the discovery of X-ray diffraction by crystals a century ago. This discovery has had an enormous impact on our deeper understanding of the structure and properties of matter and of the functionality of materials and molecular entities of all dimensions. Evidence for this can be found in a host of well-recognized novel findings.

Furthermore, the IYCr2014 Opening Ceremony will stress the importance of cooperation among countries and will aim to use science to bring nations together and ignite new collaborations, in particular South-South and North-South. Increasingly, nations need to understand the importance of investing in science generally, and in crystallography in particular. Opening access to knowledge and technology in all parts of the world is the key for the fruitful development of science and is the main objective of IYCr2014.

The IUCr and UNESCO are working together to make this a memorable event to mark the beginning of a new awareness in the public about crystallography and how it underpins most technological development in our modern society, to inspire young people and foster collaborations. The educational, political and research programmes for IYCr2014 will be introduced and open to discussion.

About 2000 participants are expected to attend, including Ambassadors and representatives of governments of member countries to UNESCO, as well as crystallographers from all over the world and delegations from other international scientific and educational societies. Participation is open to anyone wishing to take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.