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Dr. Marcin Nowotny, Head of Laboratory of Protein Structure will represent Eastern Europe during the Opening Ceremony of the International Year of Crystallography. Dr. Nowotny and his research will be presented in a session ’’Young talented crystallographers of the World’’. The Opening Ceremony will be held in Paris on 20-21 January, 2014.

The International Year of Crystallography 2014 (IYCr2014) [nbsp]

[nbsp] 2014 was chosen as the year to celebrate crystallography as it is close to the anniversaries of two major landmarks in the field’s history. Just over a hundred years ago, father-and-son team William Henry and William Lawrence Bragg first showed that diffracted x-rays can be used to map the positions of atoms within a crystal and determine its three-dimensional structure. It is also around 400 years since one of the earliest studies of crystal structures: astronomer Johannes Kepler’s observations of ice crystals in snowflakes. This year also commemorates the 50th anniversary of another Nobel Prize, awarded to Dorothy Hodgkin for her work on vitamin B12 and penicillin.

[nbsp] Another core aim of the international year is to advance crystallography as an academic field, particularly in countries that do not have a large crystallographic community. The IUCr hopes to achieve this through a global series of scientific meetings and summits, which will focus on building international links. They will also encourage collaboration through the OpenLab , a network of crystallographic laboratories that will deliver workshops and hands-on training to researchers and students from neighboring regions and countries.

The major objectives of the IYCr2014 are:

-[nbsp] to increase public awareness of the science of crystallography and how it underpins most technological developments in our modern society,

-[nbsp] to inspire young people through public exhibitions, conferences and hands-on demonstrations in schools,

-[nbsp] to illustrate the universality of science,

-[nbsp] to intensify the programme Crystallography in Africa and create similar programmes in Asia and Latin America,

-[nbsp] to foster international collaboration between scientists worldwide, especially North–South contributions,

-[nbsp] to promote education and research in crystallography and its links to other sciences,

- to involve the large synchrotron and neutron radiation facilities worldwide in the celebrations of IYCr2014, including the SESAME project set up under UNESCO auspices.

The lead sponsor of IYCr2014 is the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr). The IUCr is an International Scientific Union founded in 1948, specifically to promote international cooperation among scientists and to promote the growth of the science of crystallography through research, publication and education.
The lead partner of IYCr2014 is UNESCO. For IYCr2014, UNESCO will act through its International Basic Services Programme (IBSP).