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D. M. Blow Poster Prize

In honor of the contributions made by Prof. David Blow to the BCA and the field of protein crystallography, the BCA has renamed the BCA Poster Prize 'The D. M. Blow Poster Prize'. This prize, consisting of a cash award and the Blue John trophy, is awarded annually for the best biological poster at the BCA Spring Meeting. David was instrumental in founding both the BCA and its Biological Structures Group. The Blue John Trophy is a piece of Blue John crystal mounted on an oak plinth , originally donated by Peter Harrison, the owner of the Treak Cliff Cavern at Castleton. Blue John stone was first discovered around 1750 in Treak Cliff. It became very fashionable to have ornaments on a fireplace in Blue John. Some was exported to France to have clockwork movements fitted. The French described the mineral as 'Blue Jaune' after its colour which is basically yellow with bands of blue. The French name was subsequently corrupted by the English into 'Blue John'. The base of the mineral is calcium fluoride and in Treak Cliff this fluorite vein is adjacent to mildly radioactive rocks. The blue colour is thought to be due to the inclusion in the crystal lattice of hydrocarbons which have been modified by subjection to millions of years of mild radiation. The mineral is thought to be found only in one hill in Derbyshire. The piece of crystal that forms the prize was mined in 1976 from the top of the Witches Cave in Treak Cliff. The quality of the piece is exceptional. The cubic morphology (space group Fm3m) is well defined and the surface displays many lattice dislocations with the overall faces being concave in nature.