Jekyll2024-02-19T17:58:36+00:00/feed.xmlBCACrystallography is a vital part of modern research into the structure and properties of materials ranging across the scientific fields of Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Materials science and Engineering.{"links"=>[{"label"=>"Twitter", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-twitter-square", "url"=>"https://twitter.com/britcryst"}, {"label"=>"Facebook", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-facebook", "url"=>"https://facebook.com/britishcrystallography"}, {"label"=>"Github", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/BritishCrystallographicAssociation"}]}Analytical Services Technician - Diffraction University of Glasgow2023-12-20T08:00:00+00:002023-12-20T08:00:00+00:00/job/opportunities/2023/12/20/technician<p>Closing date extended to 9 January 2024</p>
<p>There is an opportunity for an Analytical Services Technician to work within the School of Chemistry and work with users across the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Glasgow.</p>
<p>The postholder will manage the day to day running of the Diffraction facility, which includes powder and single crystal X-ray diffractometers and a dedicated electron diffractometer.</p>
<p>The post involves providing an expert technical service, overseeing day-to-day operations, training and assisting users, carrying out data collection and detailed analyses on samples submitted to the facility, and coordinating the maintenance of instrumentation.</p>
<p>This post is full time (35 hours per week) and offered on an open ended basis. Relocation assistance will be provided where appropriate.</p>
<p>For more information and to apply for the role follow the link here: <a href="https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DEU798/analytical-services-technician-diffraction">https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DEU798/analytical-services-technician-diffraction</a></p>{"links"=>[{"label"=>"Twitter", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-twitter-square", "url"=>"https://twitter.com/britcryst"}, {"label"=>"Facebook", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-facebook", "url"=>"https://facebook.com/britishcrystallography"}, {"label"=>"Github", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/BritishCrystallographicAssociation"}]}Closing date extended to 9 January 2024BCA BSG Winter Meeting 2023 11th Decemeber2023-10-23T08:00:00+00:002023-10-23T08:00:00+00:00/bca/meetings/2023/10/23/bca-bsg-winter-meeting<p>The BCA BSG Winter Meeting 2023 will take place on the 11th December at The Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, University of Oxford, Oxford.
Registration is now open, <a href="https://registrations.hg3conferences.co.uk/bsgwintermeeting23">please find a link to registration here</a>.</p>{"links"=>[{"label"=>"Twitter", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-twitter-square", "url"=>"https://twitter.com/britcryst"}, {"label"=>"Facebook", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-facebook", "url"=>"https://facebook.com/britishcrystallography"}, {"label"=>"Github", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/BritishCrystallographicAssociation"}]}The BCA BSG Winter Meeting 2023 will take place on the 11th December at The Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, University of Oxford, Oxford. Registration is now open, please find a link to registration here.Online Course on Equations of State2023-09-01T08:00:00+00:002023-09-01T08:00:00+00:00/bca/education/2023/09/01/EquationsOfState<p>Prof Ross Angel is offering a full online course on Equations of State through the University of Pavia this autumn semester.</p>
<p>This course is designed for absolute beginners, and may be useful for PhD students or undergraduates working within extreme conditions research.</p>
<p>To register for the course please follow this link: <a href="https://www.mineralogylab.com/event/equations-of-state-course/">https://www.mineralogylab.com/event/equations-of-state-course/</a></p>{"links"=>[{"label"=>"Twitter", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-twitter-square", "url"=>"https://twitter.com/britcryst"}, {"label"=>"Facebook", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-facebook", "url"=>"https://facebook.com/britishcrystallography"}, {"label"=>"Github", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/BritishCrystallographicAssociation"}]}Prof Ross Angel is offering a full online course on Equations of State through the University of Pavia this autumn semester.Olga Kennard2023-03-03T05:30:00+00:002023-03-03T05:30:00+00:00/news/2023/03/03/Olga-Kennard<p>It is with sadness that we pass on news of the death of Dr Olga Kennard.</p>
<p>Olga founded the Cambridge Structural Database, and was well-known to many in the British Crystallographic Association. She was a BCA Founder member and also an Honorary member. An obituary will be published in an upcoming issue of Crystallography News.</p>
<p>Further information about Olga’s achievements can be found in this post on the CCDC website.
<a href="https://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/discover/news/celebrating-dr-olga-kennard-1924-2023/">https://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/discover/news/celebrating-dr-olga-kennard-1924-2023/</a></p>{"links"=>[{"label"=>"Twitter", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-twitter-square", "url"=>"https://twitter.com/britcryst"}, {"label"=>"Facebook", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-facebook", "url"=>"https://facebook.com/britishcrystallography"}, {"label"=>"Github", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/BritishCrystallographicAssociation"}]}It is with sadness that we pass on news of the death of Dr Olga Kennard.Crystallography at Birkbeck2023-01-24T05:30:00+00:002023-01-24T05:30:00+00:00/news/2023/01/24/crystallography-at-birkbeck<p>Birkbeck, University of London celebrates its 200th Anniversary in 2023. As it was
where much crystallographic development took place – and was the location of the
first Department of Crystallography – it seemed appropriate to mark the occasion. So
we are publishing here a <a href="/assets/pdf/Crystallograpy%20at%20Birkbeck_for_web.pdf">personal account by Rex Palmer</a> – apart from Alan Mackay,
the longest surviving member there from earlier days – his personal account of some
of people and some of the crystallographic work done in the College over the past
eight or so decades since Bernal took over the Chair in Physics there from Patrick
Blackett.</p>
<p>This is an extended version of a shorter article by Rex that was published in the
March 2023 Crystallography News. You might also like to refer to the articles in the
Bernal special issue of Crystallography News (September 2021), where Christine
Slingsby, Paul Barnes and John Finney respectively discuss more of the biological,
materials and liquids work that came out of the Department in the Bernal era.</p>
<p>John Finney</p>
<p>UCL</p>
<p><a href="/assets/pdf/Crystallograpy%20at%20Birkbeck_for_web.pdf">Click here to download the PDF</a></p>{"links"=>[{"label"=>"Twitter", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-twitter-square", "url"=>"https://twitter.com/britcryst"}, {"label"=>"Facebook", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-facebook", "url"=>"https://facebook.com/britishcrystallography"}, {"label"=>"Github", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/BritishCrystallographicAssociation"}]}Birkbeck, University of London celebrates its 200th Anniversary in 2023. As it was where much crystallographic development took place – and was the location of the first Department of Crystallography – it seemed appropriate to mark the occasion. So we are publishing here a personal account by Rex Palmer – apart from Alan Mackay, the longest surviving member there from earlier days – his personal account of some of people and some of the crystallographic work done in the College over the past eight or so decades since Bernal took over the Chair in Physics there from Patrick Blackett.BCA Spring Meeting 2023: Abstract submission open2022-11-23T07:30:00+00:002022-11-23T07:30:00+00:00/news/spring-meeting/2022/11/23/spring-meeting-2023<p>The BCA Spring Meeting 2023 will be held from the 3rd to the 6th April 2023 at the University of Sheffield.</p>
<p>The meeting will include the YCG symposium on the 3rd April, before the main meeting begins on the 4th April.</p>
<p><strong>Abstract submission and registration are now open!</strong> <a href="https://registrations.hg3conferences.co.uk/bca2023">Please follow this link to submit your abstract and register.</a></p>
<p>Latest updates on twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/britcryst">https://twitter.com/britcryst</a>. Official meeting hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BCA23">#BCA23</a> unofficial hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23bcaspringmeeting">#bcaspringmeeting</a></p>{"links"=>[{"label"=>"Twitter", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-twitter-square", "url"=>"https://twitter.com/britcryst"}, {"label"=>"Facebook", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-facebook", "url"=>"https://facebook.com/britishcrystallography"}, {"label"=>"Github", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/BritishCrystallographicAssociation"}]}The BCA Spring Meeting 2023 will be held from the 3rd to the 6th April 2023 at the University of Sheffield.BCA Spring Meeting 20232022-09-08T09:30:00+00:002022-09-08T09:30:00+00:00/news/spring-meeting/2022/09/08/springmeeting2023<p>The BCA Spring Meeting 2023 will be held on the 3rd to the 7th April 2023 at the University of Sheffield.</p>
<p>The meeting will include the YCG symposium on the 3rd April, before the main meeting begins on the 4th April.</p>
<p>Abstract submission will open in October 2022.</p>
<p>Latest updates on twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/britcryst">https://twitter.com/britcryst</a> Official meeting hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BCA23">#BCA23</a> unofficial hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23bcaspringmeeting">#bcaspringmeeting</a></p>{"links"=>[{"label"=>"Twitter", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-twitter-square", "url"=>"https://twitter.com/britcryst"}, {"label"=>"Facebook", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-facebook", "url"=>"https://facebook.com/britishcrystallography"}, {"label"=>"Github", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/BritishCrystallographicAssociation"}]}The BCA Spring Meeting 2023 will be held on the 3rd to the 7th April 2023 at the University of Sheffield.BCA Spring Meeting 20222022-04-11T09:30:00+00:002022-04-11T09:30:00+00:00/news/2022/04/11/bca-spring-meeting<p>The BCA Spring Meeting 2022 start today (11th April 2022). Here are a few useful links if you are attending:</p>
<p><a href="https://registrations.hg3conferences.co.uk/hg3/frontend/reg/thome.csp?pageID=73158&ef_sel_menu=1641&eventID=201">Meeting website</a></p>
<p><a href="https://registrations.hg3conferences.co.uk/hg3/frontend/reg/tOtherPage.csp?pageID=72914&ef_sel_menu=1733&eventID=201">Scientific Programme</a></p>
<p><a href="https://registrations.hg3conferences.co.uk/hg3/frontend/reg/tOtherPage.csp?pageID=73562&ef_sel_menu=1651&eventID=201">Venue information</a></p>
<p>Latest updates on twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/britcryst">https://twitter.com/britcryst</a> Official meeting hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BCA22">#BCA22</a> unofficial hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23bcaspringmeeting">#bcaspringmeeting</a></p>{"links"=>[{"label"=>"Twitter", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-twitter-square", "url"=>"https://twitter.com/britcryst"}, {"label"=>"Facebook", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-facebook", "url"=>"https://facebook.com/britishcrystallography"}, {"label"=>"Github", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/BritishCrystallographicAssociation"}]}The BCA Spring Meeting 2022 start today (11th April 2022). Here are a few useful links if you are attending:BCA Statement on Ukraine2022-03-29T08:30:00+00:002022-03-29T08:30:00+00:00/news/2022/03/29/bca-ukraine-statement<p>The BCA Council issued the following statement on behalf of the British Crystallographic Association.</p>
<h1 id="statement-of-support-for-ukraine">Statement of Support for Ukraine</h1>
<p>The British Crystallographic Association condemns the terrible attacks on Ukraine by Russian armed forces which have precipitated a rapid and enduring humanitarian crisis. We are deeply concerned about the lives and wellbeing of our fellow Ukrainian crystallographers, scientists and citizens, and the future of crystallographic science in the country.</p>
<p>In common with many scientific fields, crystallography has thrived and progressed through international co-operation and sharing of knowledge. We add this appeal for a rapid end to the hostilities to those of many scientific organisations, communities and scientists around the world, including many Russians who have spoken out against the war.</p>
<p>The BCA will endeavour to assist Ukrainian colleagues displaced by war by offering to share information for those seeking temporary positions in the UK.</p>
<h2 id="how-to-help">How to help</h2>
<p>Support the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal by donating to or fundraising for the Disasters Emergency Committee: <a href="https://www.dec.org.uk/">https://www.dec.org.uk/</a></p>
<p>The Council for At Risk Academics offers support to academics who have been forced to flee their homes due to violence or conflict. You can support them by donating or by volunteering in some of their programmes in the UK <a href="https://www.cara.ngo/how-to-help/">https://www.cara.ngo/how-to-help/</a></p>
<p>Please direct any enquiries to <a href="mailto:president@crystallography.org.uk?subject=Ukraine%20Support">Richard Cooper (BCA President)</a></p>{"links"=>[{"label"=>"Twitter", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-twitter-square", "url"=>"https://twitter.com/britcryst"}, {"label"=>"Facebook", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-facebook", "url"=>"https://facebook.com/britishcrystallography"}, {"label"=>"Github", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/BritishCrystallographicAssociation"}]}The BCA Council issued the following statement on behalf of the British Crystallographic Association.Jack Dunitz2021-12-01T08:30:00+00:002021-12-01T08:30:00+00:00/news/2021/12/01/Jack-Dunitz<p>It is with sadness that we learned the news that Professor Jack Dunitz died on 12 September aged 98, following a short illness.
Jack was a giant of modern crystallography and many of us keep his textbooks close at hand at all times. Much of his career was based
at ETH-Zurich, but he had roots in the UK and a close association with the BCA, being both an Honorary Member and one of the Founder
Members of the Association. An announcement can be accessed from <a href="https://chab.ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/d-chab-news/2021/09/jack-dunitz-deceased.html">ETH Chemistry and Applied Biosciences news page</a></p>
<h1 id="obituary">Obituary</h1>
<h2 id="jack-dunitz-9th-march-1923---12th-september-2021">Jack Dunitz: 9th March 1923 - 12th September 2021</h2>
<p>It was with deep sadness and a huge feeling of loss that we learned of the passing of Jack Dunitz at the age of 98. Jack was Emeritus Professor at ETH, Zurich, where he worked from 1957 until he retired formally in 1990, although for years he continued to travel, give talks and to meet fellow scientists.</p>
<p>Jack was always an inspiration to many of us reading this newsletter today, and we grew up with his papers and incredible insight into our subject and the clarity of his talks, where we were lucky enough to have enjoyed those wonderful times. I can recommend a very recent interview with Jack and the ACS Editor in Chief, Erik Carreira which is in the link below. Despite his age, Jack demonstrates so well his sense of humour and intellect, which shine through in this interview.</p>
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<p>I met Jack first in Oxford in Dorothy Hodgkin’s lab in the mid/late 1960s and it was wonderful as a young DPhil student to have had that opportunity, as Jack was already such a well-known name in our field. Subsequently I got to know Jack well and we met at many conferences, at the Erice Crystallography Schools, the regular CCDC student days and a memorable visit to my lab in Durham. It was always a bonus to sit and listen to him talking, explaining things to the students, asking just the right questions and always enjoying the interaction with other chemists and crystallographers. Jack was without doubt wonderfully inspiring and such a human and knowledgeable face of crystallography.</p>
<p>His legacy to us all is enormous and Jack will be remembered for the way he taught and inspired others, in particular the young, the kindness he showed to nervous students and the patience he demonstrated to new comers to our field who were keen to learn the basics and more, from Jack himself.</p>
<p><img src="/assets/images/posts/jack-dunitz-photo-by-jak-howard.png" alt="Photo of Jack Dunitz lecturing (image credit: Judith A. K. Howard)" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Photo credit: Juditk A. K. Howard</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Jack was born in Glasgow, went through school there and entered Glasgow University in 1940 to read chemistry, encouraged by his school chemistry teacher who had ‘made the subject interesting ‘. For his graduate studies, Jack was assigned to the lab of J Monteath Robinson, who had demonstrated the power of isomorphous replacement, but Jack did not use that in his doctoral studies, nor the ‘heavy atom’ methods, but they had explored the ‘new’ Patterson function. After his PhD he travelled south to Oxford to join Dorothy Hodgkin’s lab, to learn about structure solution from 3 dimensional diffraction data and here he spent two years [1946-48] before taking up a post doc in Caltech with Linus Pauling [1948-1951]. There followed another period at Oxford [1951-1953] and a further 2 years at Caltech and NIH [1954-1955] where he worked with the biophysicist Alex Rich to establish a lab of structural research at Bethesda. Jack was recruited in 1956 by Sir Lawrence Bragg to join him at the Royal Institution, London and it was from there that he was appointed to the position at ETH, Zurich as Professor of Organic Chemistry (1957), where he established X-ray crystallography as the essential tool for chemical structure analysis.</p>
<p>Jack received many honours and awards in his life, including a number of Honorary degrees, the Paracelus Prize 1986 (Swiss Chemical Society), the Aminoff Prize 1990 (the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences), the membership of several National Academies and he was elected FRS in 1974.</p>
<p>Jack’s research took him into many ‘new’ areas and upon each he made a significant impact, changing the way we see and understand chemistry today. He studied the structure and reactivity of medium ring compounds, ion specificity of biologically important ionophores and demonstrated the importance of structure-energy relationships. He derived the Burgi-Dunitz Angle with his colleague Hans-Beat Burgi, which changed our understanding of chiral reactions and helped direct syntheses of enantiomerically pure compounds. He pioneered use of the very early Cambridge database (CSD) to gain new insights into families of structural data and showed how to use these results in a predictive manner. He became involved with the CCDC as a Governor and Trustee of the Board and continued to attend their student days into his 90’s. The students loved to see him and, nervously, try to answer Jack’s penetrating questions. Jack was deeply interested in the expanding and now commercially important study of polymorphs; in experimental charge density; all forms of hydrogen bonding – which had started in his doctoral thesis; phase transformations in the solid state and crystal structure prediction.</p>
<p>In the late 1940s he had worked with Verner Schomaker at Caltech to determine the structure of cyclobutene by gas-phase electron diffraction, another pioneering breakthrough. His work in Oxford, with Leslie Orgel, in determining the structure of ferrocene was a true landmark in organometallic chemistry (1953) and in that famous year, together with Dorothy Hodgkin on a visit to Cambridge, they witnessed the exciting new structure of DNA built by Watson and Crick. It was also the year he married Barbara Steuer, with whom he had recently celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary.</p>
<p>Jack was a deeply committed scientist and chemist, someone who loved his research work and his teaching and this he never stopped doing. His love of chemistry and science was paramount, but his interest in the arts and in music was also for him a very positive part of his life. Jack and his wife Barbara had been keen hikers into the local mountains of Switzerland and he was known to be doing serious exercise and swimming into very recent old age. I met Jack twice when he was over 90, once in Paris for the International Year of Crystallography (2014) and again in Cambridge to celebrate with Olga Kennard, 50 years of the CSD (2015). It was great to see that he hadn’t lost his love of science and sharp, enquiring mind at all.</p>
<p>We shall miss Jack’s regular presence at so many of our crystallography meetings, but we can enjoy his legacy and whatever each of us recall about meeting him and sharing his time to discuss our subject, to which he was so passionately and so deeply connected for his entire lifetime.</p>
<p>In his autobiography La Primavera Jack wrote ‘If I had another life, I would be happy to live it along much the same lines as I have lived this one’ . How wonderful an epitaph?</p>
<p>We think now of Barbara, their children (2), grandchildren (6) and great grandchildren (8) and extended our sincere sympathy to them all from the BCA.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Judith A. K. Howard<br />
Durham University<br />
October 2021</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Further reading: La primavera: autobiographical notes: <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hlca.201300038">Helvetica Chimica Acta, 96,(2013) 545-563</a></p>{"links"=>[{"label"=>"Twitter", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-twitter-square", "url"=>"https://twitter.com/britcryst"}, {"label"=>"Facebook", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-facebook", "url"=>"https://facebook.com/britishcrystallography"}, {"label"=>"Github", "icon"=>"fab fa-fw fa-github", "url"=>"https://github.com/BritishCrystallographicAssociation"}]}It is with sadness that we learned the news that Professor Jack Dunitz died on 12 September aged 98, following a short illness. Jack was a giant of modern crystallography and many of us keep his textbooks close at hand at all times. Much of his career was based at ETH-Zurich, but he had roots in the UK and a close association with the BCA, being both an Honorary Member and one of the Founder Members of the Association. An announcement can be accessed from ETH Chemistry and Applied Biosciences news page