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The Ewald Prize

The establishment of the Ewald Prize, for outstanding contributions to the science of crystallography, was announced in February 1986 and was given wide publicity. The name of the Prize was chosen with the kind consent of the late Paul Peter Ewald, to recognise Professor Ewald's significant contributions to the foundations of crystallography and to the founding of the International Union of Crystallography, especially his services as the President of the Provisional International Crystallographic Committee from 1946 to 1948, as the first Editor of the IUCr's publication Acta Crystallographica from 1948 to 1959, and as the President of the IUCr from 1960 to 1963.

Shortly after the death of Professor Ewald, his family informed the President that Professor Ewald had wished to make a bequest to the IUCr. After consulting Mrs Ewald, this generous bequest, together with a donation from the Ewald family and a donation from the IUCr, was used as starting capital for the Ewald Prize. The interest from this capital and further donations from the IUCr are used to finance the Prize.

The Prize consists of a medal, a certificate and an award of USD 30,000. It is presented once every three years during the triennial International Congresses of Crystallography.

Nominations Forms for the eighth Ewald Prize will be available in autumn 2006.

Professor P. Coppens awarded the seventh Ewald Prize

The IUCr is pleased to announce that Professor P. Coppens (Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA) has been awarded the seventh Ewald Prize for his contributions to developing the fields of electron density determination and the crystallography of molecular excited states, and for his contributions to the education and inspiration of young crystallographers as an enthusiastic teacher by participating in and organizing many courses and workshops.

The presentation of the Ewald Prize will be made during the Florence Congress Opening Ceremony on 23 August 2005.

Professor Michael M. Woolfson awarded the sixth Ewald Prize

In 2002 it was announced that the sixth Ewald Prize had been awarded to Professor Michael M. Woolfson (Physics Department, University of York, York, UK) for his exceptional contributions in developing the conceptual and theoretical framework of direct methods along with the algorithm design and computer programs for automatic solutions that changed the face of structural science and for his contributions to crystallographic education and international collaboration, which have strengthened the intellectual development of crystallographers worldwide.

The presentation of the Ewald Prize was made during the Geneva Congress Opening Ceremony in August 2002.

G. N. Ramachandran awarded the fifth Ewald Prize

In 1999 it was announced that the fifth Ewald Prize had been awarded to Professor G.N. Ramachandran for his outstanding contributions to the field of crystallography: in the area of anomalous scattering and its use in the solution of the phase problem, in the analysis of the structure of fibres, collagen in particular, and, foremost, for his fundamental works on the macromolecular conformation and the validation of macromolecular structures by means of the 'Ramachandran plot', which even today remains the most useful validation tool.

The presentation of the Ewald Prize was made during the Glasgow Congress Opening Ceremony in August 1999.

M. G. Rossmann awarded the fourth Ewald Prize

In March 1996, it was announced that the fourth Ewald Prize had been awarded to Professor M. G. Rossmann (Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA) for his work on molecular replacement and the use of non-crystallographic symmetry in the determination of macromolecular structure and for his research on the structure of viruses, which is foremost among the triumphs of crystallography.

The presentation of the Ewald Prize was made during the Seattle Congress Opening Ceremony in August 1996.

N. Kato awarded the third Ewald Prize

In April 1993 it was announced that the third Ewald Prize had been awarded to Professor N. Kato (Department of Physics, Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan) for his outstanding and profound contributions to the dynamical theory of X-ray diffraction of spherical waves by perfect crystals and slightly deformed (nearly perfect) crystals, for the experimental exploitation of these theories towards the characterization of the defect structure of single crystals and for his extraordinary achievements in X-ray diffraction topography.

The presentation of the Ewald Prize was made during the Beijing Congress Opening Ceremony in August 1993.

B.K. Vainshtein awarded the second Ewald Prize

In 1990 it was announced that the second Ewald Prize had been awarded to Professor B.K. Vainshtein (Institute of Crystallography, Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia) for his contributions to the development of theories and methods of structure analysis by electron and X-ray diffraction and for his applications of his theories to structural investigations of polymers, liquid crystals, peptides and proteins.

The presentation of the Ewald Prize was made during the Bordeaux Congress Opening Ceremony in August 1990.

J.M. Cowley and A.F. Moodie awarded the first Ewald Prize

In 1987 it was announced that the first Ewald Prize had been awarded to Professor J.M. Cowley (Tempe, Arizona, USA) and Dr A.F. Moodie (Clayton, Victoria, Australia) for their outstanding achievements in electron diffraction and microscopy. They carried out pioneering work on the dynamical scattering of electrons and the direct imaging of crystal structures and structure defects by high-resolution electron microscopy.

The physical optics approach used by Cowley and Moodie takes into account many hundreds of scattered beams, and represents a far-reaching extension of the dynamical theory for X-rays, first developed by P.P. Ewald.

The presentation of the Ewald Prize was made during the Perth Congress Opening Ceremony in August 1987..