International Union of Crystallography

In 1944 the yearly meeting of the X-ray Analysis Group (XRAG) of the UK Institute of Physics was held in Oxford, and the distinguished German crystallographer Paul Peter Ewald, who then taught at Queen's University Belfast, was invited to give the evening lecture. In it he gave a historical survey of some of the stages in the evolution of X-ray crystallography and ended with a strong plea for the formation of an international society or union which would represent, and unify publication for, the new science. This idea was followed up by the British crystallographers, and particularly by Sir Lawrence Bragg, the Chairman of XRAG. In June 1946, within a year of the termination of fighting in WWII, he arranged for an international meeting of crystallographers in London which was attended by some 120 scientists from most of the allied countries. In that London meeting Ewald was elected Chairman of the Provisional International Crystallographic Committee, which put into action the decision to form the International Union of Crystallography.