Bookmark and Share

IUCr Congress, Glasgow, August 4-13, 1999

The scientific programme

The Scientific Programme for Glasgow in this newsletter was complied by the Programme Committee in Washington, D, taking proposals submitted from individuals, the Commissions and National Committees into account as far as possible. The programme is included here and this will be confirmed in the 2nd Announcement. The chairs and co-chairs have all been invited and only a few still remain to be confirmed. We are pleased to announce the 32 Plenary Speakers and their titles and look forward to a full and exciting scientific congress in Glasgow next year. The registration forms and full details for the Bursary applications, together with the general call for papers will be available in the 2nd Announcement and also given on the web site, where you should watch for any updates. This site will also contain the names of the speakers who have accepted the invitations to speak in the microsymposia, so that you will see the program take its final form over the next few months. There will be additional speakers selected from the submitted abstracts by the session chairs/co-chairs.

Members of the Programme Committee gathered in Washington, D.C. in July 1998 to prepare a first draft of the programme for review by the Executive Committee of the IUCr. Those present included (left to right): Irene Harris, Bill Duax, Menahem Kaftory, Ada Yonath, Judith Howard, Chris Gilmore, Mike Glazer, Andrzej Katrusiak, Lynn McClusker, Mark Spackman and Paula Fitzgerald.

The science kicks off with workshops on Aug. 4th. So far we have Powder Diffraction, the Cambridge Crystallographic Database and Electron Diffraction. The main meeting starts with the opening ceremony on the evening of the 4th when the Ewald lecture will be given. This is the IUCr's main award, although the prizewinner has not yet been announced. The remaining days, with the exception of the excursion day, run as follows: there will be two parallel keynote lectures each morning from 8:30 to 9:30 followed by coffee. This is followed by six parallel microsymposia from 10:00 to 12:30. Lunch follows for those not showing posters that day. The poster programme involves a new set of posters each working day. The poster area is part of the commercial exhibition as are the eating areas and an Internet cafe. The poster sessions run from 12:30 to 15:00 with those presenting encouraged to eat sandwiches at their posters. There will be a maximum of 300 posters on show in any one day except for the last three days when the commercial exhibition is closed and there will be more space. The second group of six parallel microsymposia will run from 15:00 to 17:30, and the day finishes with two more parallel keynote lectures from 17:30 to18:30.

Two named lectures are part of all this: there is the Lonsdale lecture on Aug. 7th, and the Bragg lecture the same day. Jack Dunitz, a native of Glasgow, will be giving the latter.

There is one evening session scheduled for Saturday Aug. 7th. This is the J. M. Roberston Symposium, to be organised by Prof. Jim Trotter. We hope to provide a buffet to bridge the small gap of one hour between the last keynote lecture and this session. It is going to be quite a day!

There will be some slots for Open Commission meetings, but these will run in parallel with either the posters or the microsymposia sessions in another smaller room. There will also be areas for non-commercial software demonstrations, a pressroom, and an accompanying members lounge with plenty of space to sit and talk.

Just in case you need more, there are sessions of the General Assembly for the 5th, 6th, 9th and possibly also the 11th. These will run from 19:30-22:00.

The social programme

It all begins with an opening ceremony full of music and pictures followed by wine and a buffet on the evening of Aug. 4th. On other evenings we can offer a reception in the Kelvingrove museum on Sunday night, a whisky tasting session, a blend your own whisky competition, a farewell fling courtesy of Strathclyde U. in the Barony Halls on the last night, Friday Aug. 13th. (Don't, whatever you do, go home early!), and an evening shopping at Marks and Spencer (including wine and some nibbles). On Wednesday night you can learn to dance a few easy Scottish ceilidh dances in preparation for the conference ceilidh in the Bute Hall at Glasgow U. The university's Hunterian museum will also be open that evening. A ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) is a uniquely Scottish experience replacing the usual conference dinner, and provides an unforgettable evening of music, dance (who cares if you get it wrong!), food, drink and great company! The closing ceremony is part of the farewell fling on Friday. There will also be two excursions to east end and west end pubs. (I get tired just reading all this!)

There will be a variety of options for the conference excursion. Currently we expect to offer: Inverary and Loch Lomond, Edinburgh, the Isle of Arran, golf, and a scenic geology tour. Accompanying members will be offered daily tours that include sightseeing in Glasgow and that other place (Edinburgh), a whisky distillery, Loch Katrine, Scone Palace, Callander and the Trossachs and shopping. Bring along your partner they will not be bored!

And finally, the eclipse of the sun or at least an 82% version of it. It will stop everything on the 11th at around 11:15. "Will it be sunny?", you ask, "Will I see the sun?". Oh yes (assuming you weren't on the pub visit the night before).

Satellites

This may not be enough crystallography for some of you, so we have four satellite meetings as well:

  • Synchrotron Radiation: Bob Cernik is organising this at Daresbury.
  • Structural and Dynamic Aspects of Ionic and Molecular Solids using Neutrons: Colin Carlile at Oxford
  • Cambridge Structural Database: Frank Allen at Cambridge
  • Computing School: Gérard Bricogne (and others at MRC) at Hinxton Hall near Cambridge.

What next?

The second announcement goes to print at the beginning of October. It contains registration forms, accommodation information (starting as cheaply as £37 for dinner, bed and breakfast in Strathclyde University complete with en-suite facilities, but you will need to book early for this offer), satellite registration and the full scientific programme. It will be mailed to you in a number of ways:

If you filled in the pre-registration form that accompanied the 1st announcement, you will be mailed this directly.

It will also appear in the IUCr Newsletter as an insert and there may be some mailings via your national crystallography association.

This means that you may get three copies; this is fine distribute the others to colleagues and students, but above all don't miss this event. Watch the web page for frequent updates: http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/iucr99/

If you have questions, e-mail: iucr99@chem.gla.ac.uk

Judith Howard, Programme Chair
Chris Gilmore, Local organiser

Programme Committee

Chair: Judith Howard (UK)

Committee Members:
Y. Amemiya (Japan)
E. Antipov (Russia)
P.E. Bourne (USA)
C.P.Brock (USA)
D.L. Dorset (USA)
R.Feidenhans'l (Denmark)
C.J. Gilmore (UK)
A. Katrusiak (Poland)
C. Kruger (Germany)
K. Lal (India)
L.B. McCusker (Switzerland)
G. Oliva (Brazil)
J.L. Smith (USA)
M.A. Spackman (Australia)
J.W. White (Australia)
A. Yonath (Israel)

Ex. officio:
W.L. Duax (USA)
M. Kaftory (Israel)

Co-Opted:
M. Glazer
P. Fitzgerald

Congress sponsors

  • British Crystallographic Assn
  • CCP4
  • Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre
  • City of Glasgow
  • Clariant GmbH Pigments Technology Research
  • Arnold Clark
  • Dept of Chemistry at the Univ. of Glasgow
  • Dept of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Strathclyde Univ.
  • Glasgow Development Agency
  • Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley Tourist Board
  • Int'l Union of Crystallography
  • ISIS Facility of the CLRC
  • Marks and Spencer
  • Microsource - a Division of Bede Scientific Instruments Ltd.
  • NASA
  • Nature
  • Nature Structural Biology
  • Nonius B.V.
  • Oxford Cryosystems
  • Pfizer Central Research
  • Philips Analytical
  • The International Center for Diffraction Data
  • 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals Inc.
  • Unilever Research
  • Univ. of Glasgow
  • Univ of Strathclyde