Approximately 750 neutron scatterers from 38 countries in 6 continents descended on Sydney, for the eighth International Conference on Neutron Scattering.
The conference, with John White (ANU) and Trevor Hicks (Monash U.) as honorary chairs and held under the auspices of the Bragg Institute,AINSE and ANBUG, was held in the Sydney Convention Centre, right at the water's edge in Sydney Harbour, and featured a wonderful dinner cruise for the majority of delegates, with fine views of Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the southern night sky.
Another highlight of the meeting was the Wednesday afternoon visit to the new OPAL reactor, which is essentially complete and which will commence hot commissioning in early 2006.
A strong scientific program was constructed, with plenary talks covering the whole range of neutron applications from engineering and the earth sciences to biophysics, in addition to the traditional neutron strengths in polymers, correlated-electron physics and materials discovery.
A particular highlight was a keynote lecture by the year's Buckley Prize winner, Gabriel Aeppli, on "Neutrons and Nanotechnology", showing how neutrons continue to contribute in strong complementarity to scanning-probe methods.
There were also 2 special symposia on macromolecular (protein) crystallography and neutron interference/coherence. In addition to the strong program of oral presentations, two massive poster sessions were held - few attendees had ever seen so many posters (>300 on each evening) presented together in a single spacious room.
In another evening session, prizes were given out by the Japan Society for Neutron Science, to Kazu Yamada of Tohoku University, and the Walter Halg Prize of the European Neutron Scattering Association to Albert Furrer and Hans-Ulrich G?del from Switzerland.
It was the first time that this conference had been held in the Southern Hemisphere, and the first time outside of Europe, North America or Japan. We were particularly pleased to see a large number of delegates from neighbouring countries in South-East Asia, and acknowledge support from the International Atomic Energy Agency in supporting their presence.
All in all, it was an excellent meeting of the whole neutron family, spread around the world as we are. The next international meeting in the series will be in the United States, at a location yet to be decided, in 2009.
Published: 27/11/2005