The wingspan of mathematical crystallography

A special virtual issue of Acta Crystallographica Section A on mathematical crystallography is now available.

This virtual issue http://journals.iucr.org/special_issues/2014/MathCryst/ collects together a series of articles originally published in the journal between March and July 2014.

Crystallography is a natural area for the collaboration of physical science and mathematics. Much of 'mathematical crystallography' arose during the 19th century from the work of mathematicians, mineralogists, physicists and chemists. It was, and is again, a genuinely interdisciplinary field. Moreover, the growing demand for materials in general, and crystals in particular, will entail a growing need for an expanded mathematical toolkit. Whatever the advances in packaging software for non-mathematically inclined users, mastery of a mathematical toolkit requires a good understanding of the mathematics.

Such considerations led to the formation of a MaThCryst 'workgroup' in 2002, which the 20th IUCr Congress in Florence transformed into the Commission on Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography in August 2005. The MaThCryst workgroup had organized a school in Nancy that June, and from that event came a special issue on Mathematical Crystallography in Acta Crystallographica Section A in March 2006 (Volume 62, Part 2). Since then, the MaThCryst Commission has organized and participated in many activities all over the world. In particular the lack of a solid education in fundamental crystallography among chemists, crystallographers, physicists and other participants has prompted the Commission to develop other itinerant schools, which are becoming a tradition.

MaThCryst plans four activities this year. For details, see the MaThCryst website at http://www.crystallography.fr/mathcryst

The Commission also organizes satellite conferences and workshops all over the world. A recent and fruitful cooperation with US mathematicians has resulted in crystallographic special sessions at sectional meetings of the American Mathematical Society and specialized conferences of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Perhaps befitting this digital age, this is a virtual issue, spanning three regular issues, but all appearing during the International Year of Crystallography. The result is a wide but necessarily incomplete selection from the panorama of research activities. We are confident that this virtual issue demonstrates the actuality and the importance of mathematical crystallography for every researcher interested in the periodic structure of matter, whatever the dimension and geometry.

This is an excerpt taken from the full editorial which can be found at http://journals.iucr.org/special_issues/2014/MathCryst/