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Editorial

[Bill Duax]
A summary report on the last three volumes of the Newsletter was presented to the Executive Committee at the XII Congress and General Assembly in Geneva. The review reflected how diverse the field of crystallographic research is and how well the newsletter has come to reflect its international scope.

Highlights of the twelve issues published during the 1999-2001 triennium included extensive coverage of the XVIII Congress and General Assembly in Glasgow, preliminary information concerning the XIX Congress in Geneva, cover stories on the 50th anniversary celebration of the IUCr held at the annual meeting of the three regional associates, the publication Crystallography Across the Sciences, a collection of review articles based upon the 50th anniversary symposia, the development of online IUCr journals including the new all electronic Acta Cryst E, Structure Reports, special issues on women in crystallography, dedicated to Dorothy Hodgkin, on the role of crystallography in proteomics, and on the explosive growth of the Protein Data Bank.

Reports of 73 meetings on crystallographic topics in 27 countries were published. Twenty-one of these meetings were general in nature and covered a range of crystallographic topics. The 46 on specific topics concerned materials, powder diffraction, synchrotron applications, hydrogen bonding, chemical crystallography, electron diffraction, electron densities, crystal growth, engineering and chemistry, software, data collection, supramolecular structure, surfaces, strain, molecular biology and drug design.

With the assistance of Andrea Sharpe summaries of selected papers from current IUCr Journals became a regular feature in the newsletter. Twenty-three pages were devoted to summaries of 31 Papers.

Cover illustrations in the 1999-2001 triennium period included examples of small molecule crystallography, macromolecular structures, polymorphism, electron densities, and Geneva meeting sites. Sadly, obituaries of 24 prominent crystallographers were included in the issues of this triennium.

Each issue also contained a letter from the President, news of IUCr Commission activities, notices of elections, awards to crystallographers, and information on books, web sites, resources, and activities of interest to crystallographers. Contributions from crystallographers everywhere were sought, material was gathered from newsletters of crystallographic associations and societies and from leading science news magazines. Reports were received from national crystallographic associations in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, US, UK, and Turkey. Photos were provided by contributors or drawn from the personal collection of the editor. Almost all submitted contributions were published and all material was edited to varying degrees.

The staff of the editorial office in Buffalo, NY, is responsible for desktop preparation of all copy, all negotiations with the printer, postal authorities, and distribution houses, correspondence with contributors, maintenance and production of the mailing list, and solicitation and handling of all advertising.