XIth International Conference on Small‐Angle Scattering

Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973-5000, USA, , , , , , , and . Correspondence e-mail: schneider@bnl.gov The XIth International Conference on Small-Angle Scattering (SAS99) explored the role of small-angle scattering in a broad range of scienti®c disciplines concerned with the correlation of structure, interaction, and properties of complex materials. Contributions to the scienti®c program demonstrated that scattering when complemented with other techniques or when analyzed with physically meaningful computational models provides new insights into structure and dynamics of solids, soft matter, and solutions. Excellent papers and posters, many of them now given in these proceedings, demonstrate that scattering methods, the underlying physics and theory, the requisite instrumentation, and its application to increasingly complex materials are actively advanced by researchers in all disciplines, and equally fast in neutron and X-ray diffraction. Many aspects of these developments were discussed by the 293 high-spirited SAS99 participants from 23 countries who presented their results in 311 contributions, 170 of them given orally and 141 as posters. After thorough review 107 papers were accepted for publication. Four parallel sessions were required to accommodate the programs in alloys and ceramics, biology, colloids, complex ̄uids, polymers, polymer processing, surface and interface, theory and technique, and ultra small-angle scattering. The well attended sessions in nearby but separate auditoriums were a compliment to the insightful work of the Scienti®c Program Committee in shaping a representative and diverse program from the submitted abstracts. Each of the four conference days opened with a plenary session of three invited lectures that highlighted novel experimental techniques on Monday, addressed the sometimes hairy challenges in complex materials the next day, and summarized advances in experimental techniques on Thursday. The Wednesday plenary session was a tribute to Paul W. Schmidt, who had passed away earlier that year in the middle of an active career. H. Brumberger, the initiator and chairman of the ®rst conference in this triennial series, remembered Paul Schmidt as a friend and colleague, and the following plenaries built on Paul's pioneering work on supercritical ̄uids, fractal structures, and the nanostructure of ceramic oxides. This main conference day concluded with the fascinating Conference Lecture by J. Squire, who led his audience through the `movements in a molecular symphony ± diffraction probing of nature's linear motor'. Recognizing that achievements in small-angle scattering are rarely rewarded by professional and scienti®c organizations, and aiming to further recognize the scienti®c achievements of Paul Schmidt, R. Triolo sponsored four awards consisting of a gold and three silver medals. H. Brumberger, D. Schaefer, and R. Triolo agreed to de®ne criteria and select worthy recipients from the conference participants. The Paul W. Schmidt Award for a signi®cant contribution at SAS99 was given to G. D. Wignall of Oak Ridge. The three silver medals were reserved for early-career scientists. For her outstanding oral presentation C. Maurizio (U. Padova) was recognized, and the awards for best posters in small-angle methods and in applied small-angle scattering were won by Y. A. Akpalu (NIST) and M. MuÈ ller (ESRF). R. Triolo will continue to sponsor these awards for the next several years with the hope that one of the small-angle special interest groups will adopt them. The award nominations were indeed a challenge as about half of the participants at SAS99 were early-career scientists or students. Strong multidisciplinary research programs at universities as well as new opportunities created by an increasing number and diversity of experimental facilities at synchrotrons and next-generation neutron sources appear to attract investigators in all disciplines. The members of the International Advisory Board anticipated this trend and had encouraged the organizers to explore frontiers in low-resolution structure determination by inviting the participation of young investigators. Their innovative research, broad spectrum of interest and enthusiastic Dieter K. Schneider Sow-Hsin Chen