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European Crystallography Meeting
The Netherlands

The 14th European Crystallographic Meeting - ECM-14, attended by approximately 350 crystallographers from all over Europe, was held Aug. 2-7, at the U. of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands. The meeting was preceded by the 2nd European Powder Diffraction Conference (EPDIC-2) at the same location.

The meeting began with a lively get-together in the Bastille, a unique social building on the campus. The Opening Ceremony speakers were: S. Harkema (Organizing Committee), K. Huml (ECC), A. Kalman (IUCr), and Prof. Veltman (board U. of Twente). The daily scheme of the scientific program consisted of a plenary lecture in the morning, five parallel microsymposia, a plenary lecture after lunch and a poster session. A number of oral presentations were not given, due to the political and economical situation in some parts of Europe. Although it is much easier for people from Central and Eastern European countries to go abroad nowadays a journey to the Netherlands may cost as much as a year's salary.

The plenary lectures covered a broad range of interests. M. Hart gave the opening lecture on: "Anomalous Scattering in Structure Determination" in commemoration of J. M. Bijvoet. Hart included a historical account and interesting, new experimental results. A. Yonath described the crystallography of ribosomal particles. Ribosomes that use genetic information to produce proteins have unit cells of 200-2400 Å. Yonath presented a global view of these particles. The other plenary lectures were: H. B. Bürgi, "Contributions of Structural Chemistry to the Understanding of Chemical Reactivity"; M. Glazer, "Throwing Light on Crystal"; F. Hanic, "New Materials"; A. Kvick, "Crystallography at the ESRF, a Review of the Research Opportunities at the European 6 GeV Synchrotron Radiation Source"; T. Ryan, "Structural Characterisation of Epitaxial Thin Films by Reciprocal Space Mapping"; and H. Schenk, "Real-Time Diffraction, Interpretation, and Visualisation".

Poster sessions and commercial exhibitions (with more than 20 stands, featuring crystallographic apparatus, books, computer hard and software) were nicely mingled in the sports hall of the University. Prizes were awarded to the esthetically pleasing posters of G. Pfluegl, E. Gladyshevskii, B. Kojic-Prodic, and R. Gould.

The social program included a reception at the Music Center in Enschede, sponsored by the Royal Dutch Academy of Science, a soccer match between two teams of crystallographers, a lecture on "Serendipity" by P. van Andel, an excursion to the Zuiderzee open air museum, and a visit to Lelystad, the capital of a new province, consisting of land reclaimed from the sea. A few participants lost track of time while on the excursion. After a thrilling ride on the back of the guides' bicycles, the stragglers managed to get to Enschede by train. The conference dinner was held in the remote village of Saasveld where the Oxford Cryosystems Low Temperature Prize was awarded to Monica Mendelssohn for her contribution: "Divergent Beam Measurements of Isotopically Distinct LiF Crystals between 18 and 370 K".

S. Harkema and H. Schenk