XAFS conference proceedings and JSR

This issue brings together papers from the 10th International Conference on X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS X) held in Chicago in August 1998. This is one of the major synchrotron radiation conferences, held every two years since 1981 when the ®rst international meeting of XAFS experts was held in Daresbury, coincident with the operation of the ®rst of the second-generation dedicated synchrotron radiation sources. The proceedings of these conferences have so far been published in a variety of journals and books. Now that the synchrotron radiation community have a journal of their own, it is only natural that the proceedings of this major synchrotron radiation conference is published in JSR. It is particularly satisfying to see these proceedings in JSR immediately after the proceedings of SRI'97, the largest of the synchrotron radiation conferences held every three years. We hope that, like the SRI'97 proceedings (Volume 5, Part 3, 1998), these proceedings will also be well received by the community. The XAFS conferences have evolved over the years with the more recent conferences covering not only the advances in instrumentation, theory and method but also their applications in disciplines ranging from biological to environmental sciences. The size of the XAFS community has increased beyond the expectations of any of the pioneers of XAFS, several of whom were present at the conference and whose contributions form part of this issue. We are particularly pleased that the conference delegates were able to hear the ®rst-hand historical account from Farrel Lytle, who has been on the centre stage of modern XAFS from its conception. The article from Lytle (pp. 123± 134) is an essential reading for all concerned with X-ray physics. It traces the development of XAFS from the ®rst observation of an absorption edge by Maurice de Broglie. An insight is provided as to how anòbvious' explanation of XAFS in terms of photoelectron scattering was missed for decades, including by those involved with X-ray absorption and X-ray diffraction. The front cover of the issue is based on the historical account given in this article. This issue thus represents an important stage in the development and exploitation of XAFS as well as JSR. The papers for this proceedings issue were refereed to the usual standards of JSR and differed in signi®cant ways from the previous XAFS proceedings. Previously, the majority of the papers were refereed during the meeting. The papers for this conference were …