12. Event title:
Crystallography: 100 years of using waves and making waves
13. Description of the core message of your event and key topics to be covered (c.100 words):
The diffraction of X-rays by crystalline solids was discovered in 1912 and first put to practical use in 1913 in the UK, leading to two Nobel prizes. Since then the technique has developed enormously and now has applications across physical and life sciences, medicine and engineering, with impact on everyday life through pharmaceuticals, genome projects, virus studies, modern construction materials and catalysts, and environmental concerns. It has featured in work leading to 28 Nobel prizes. It is the most powerful technique available for investigating structures at the molecular level, a key support for many branches of modern science and engineering, and subject with a visual appeal for the non-specialist.
14. Does the event have particular local relevance?:
15. If so, please indicate what this is:
Crystallography is a major research area in Newcastle and Durham Universities and there is considerable local expertise across the breadth of the subject.
16. How does your event relate to this year's theme of 'Making waves'?:
The technique has played a part in many developments that are familiar in everyday life, and will continue to do so; applications include the development of many common medicines, plastics for construction and commodity use, concrete, battery materials and other energy storage, carbon fibres, industrial catalysts, etc. It also 'uses waves' in the form of X-rays.
