SGK/SSCr: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Kristallographie
In 2017, the Swiss Society for Crystallography started new projects to promote the crystallography and the scientific results obtained by the society members. In particular, at the annual meeting held in Geneva, the second edition of the prize for the best PhD thesis discussed during the previous biennial term. The prize was awarded to Dr. Stef Smeets, who carried out his PhD thesis at the ETH, under the supervision of Dr. Lynne McCusker. It is notable that 5 top candidates have applied and all of them have received prizes from respective universities or even from other societies.
During the annual meeting, many presentations focused on the progresses and the increased research opportunities now available for crystallographers in Switzerland and worldwide, especially concerning the free-electron lasers and neutron diffraction.
A new initiative was then launched to honor a worldwide reckoned crystallographer from the University of Geneva who prematurely died in 2017, Dr. Howard Flack. The initiative consists in a series of lectures given by a prestigious invited speaker at Swiss universities. For 2018, prof. Omar Yaghi from Berkeley (USA) was nominated and his lecture tour will take place on April 2018. Prof. Yaghi is the initiator of the field of Metal Organic Frameworks, materials based on organic linkers and metal connectors. The crystallographic research in this field is fundamental. In the next years, one expect to see prosecution of this initiative.
The section of Crystal Growth was also revitalized thanks to a special collaboration with the German Society of Crystal Growth, and a joint meeting was organized. It is envisaged continuation of this cooperation and new cooperations with other european societies.
The traditional Zurich School of Crystallography was held in Zurich from 11 to 22 June. The event is organized on a two years base and it has now become a famous event.
Last but not least, many Swiss crystallographers attended the General assembly of the International Union of Crystallography, held in Hyderabad (India) on 21-28 August 2017. Switzerland was in fact amont the 10 most represented countries and many researchers, including young scientists, had the opportunity to present their results to an excellent audience.
1 issues of the Society Newsletter (Nr. 98)
The Zurich School of crystallography (University of Zurich, 11-22 June 2017).
The 5th German Swiss Conference on Crystal Growth GSCCG-5/DKT 2017 (March 08 to 10, 2017, Freiburg, Germany).
Annual Meeting of the Swiss Ccrystallographic Association (University of Geneva, 12 September 2017)
THe Swiss society for crystallography is part of the European crystallographic Associations and delegates attended the assembly of the European Crystallographic Association and all sessions of the special interest groups of this association.
A new partnership with the German Association of crystal Growth was established.
4 travel grants were issued to participate to meetings organized by the society, as well as to the general Assembly of the Internation Union of Crystallography (held in Hyderabad, India) or other international schools.