Editorial

A preview of the XVI Congress and General Assembly of the IUCr, Aug. 20-29 begins on page 5. Highlights include summaries of reports from commissions of the IUCr, statistics about the financial status of the IUCr, a list of candidates for election to the IUCr Executive Committee for the next triennium, and announcement of bids from Israel and the United Kingdom to host the XVIII Congress in 1999. A summary of the scientific program includes a listing of the 399 oral presentations. Because of the space limitations the titles have been edited to retain only the critical content. The illustrations interspersed within the list of titles are taken from the contributed abstracts. An effort was made to find attractive illustrations from different areas of research that reflect the range of research results that will be presented in Beijing. The Editor accepts responsibiliry for the selections. Members of the program committee, headed by Professor X.-j. Xu, provided summaries of the oral and poster contributions in the categories for which they were responsible. They offered interesting observations about highlights in their area and trends in the field. Unfortunately, there was not enough space to do justice to their comments in this issue. The next issue of the IUCr Newsletter will contain reports from the meeting and an effort will be made to identify specific highlights.

Plans are well under way for the XVII Congress and General Assembly to be held in Seattle, WA, USA, Aug. 8-17, 1996, through the auspices of the US National Committee for Crystallography (USNCCr) and the American Crystallographic Assn. (ACA) which is the North American Regional Associate of the IUCr. A planning committee appointed by the USNCCr, and headed by Robert Bryan, has been meeting regularly for two years. The entire committee will be in Beijing to observe the proceedings, learn from the experience, and listen to suggestions, wishes, and concerns from the attendees. There will be a USNCCr/ACA booth in the exhibit area where you are welcome to talk to committee members and collect information on plans for the Congress and satellites in 1996.

The Community

This issue contains brief accounts of the scientific careers of four prominent crystallographers whose recent deaths are a loss to our crystallographic family. We truly are an extended family that reaches beyond national boundaries. While I was a Fulbright fellow in Yugoslavia in 1987, Biserka Kojic-Prodic generously arranged visits to crystallographers in Zagreb, Ljubljana, Belgrade, and Novi Sad. It is painful to witness the devastation nationalism has brought to that beautiful country and to remember that we have crystallographer friends who reside in parts of it that are now at war with one another. The IUCr is one of the oldest international unions and has always worked to maintain free circulation of scientists and scientific thought from its inception. As a family, we must keep unrestricted scientific communication alive. A current example of crystallographers reaching across borders is provided by the ACA/USNCCr project to assist crystallographers in the Former Soviet Union that is described on page 27. I would like to repeat the appeal that appears there for contributions to this fund so that the $15,000 challenge grant from The Sloan Foundation can be matched and the research of additional crystallographers in the FSU can be supported.

Also in this issue are a number of meeting reports including extensive coverage of the Fall 1992 and Spring 1993 meeting of the BCA and the Annual Meeting of the ACA for 1993. These reports were condensed from more detailed coverage in the BCA and ACA newsletters provided by meeting organizers, program committee members, and session chairs. Detailed reports with photographs and illustrations from all meetings with a significant focus on crystallography are welcome. The program chairs for future European Crystallographic Meetings in Dresden, Germany in 1994, Lund, Sweden in 1995, and future meetings of the Asian Crystallographic Association are especially urged to provide summary reports including meeting highlights, photos, and illustrations.

Distribution

The second issue of the IUCr Newsletter was posted from Lancaster Press in Pennsylvania on May 1. Most US copies were delivered by May 10. Copies arrived in the UK, the Netherlands, and Hungary by May 25, and it was another month before copies arrived in Poland. Still no word on when they reached Russia, Japan, China, or India. A message from S. Hall in Perth, Australia indicated that the copies of the first issue arrived during the first week of May, four months after publication. Crystallographic associations in several countries are experimenting with distributing the Newsletter internally. Bulk shipments of the second issue were made to the Crystallographic Associations in France, the Czech and Slovak Region, and Japan. Crystallographers in Poland and South Africa have also agreed to explore the possibility of internal distribution. A simple email message telling me when your copy of this issue of the Newsletter arrived would be greatly appreciated.

The Centennial

The 100th anniversary of the discovery of X-rays will occur in 1995. A full color calendar for the year 1995 is being planned to commemorate the event. You are invited to submit photographs of crystals, structures, equipment, or other subjects related to crystallography to be used to illustrate the calendar. Submitted material should be accompanied by an explanation of how, where, and why it should be placed in the calendar. In particular, color illustrations for each of the 12 months should include an explanation of why the picture should be used to illustrate a particular month. All material must be received by Mar. 1, 1994, so that the calendar may be available for sale by July 1, 1994. All profits from the sale of the calendar will go to support the XVII Congress and General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography in Seattle in 1996.