Ferdi Schuth gave a very interesting lecture at the Rideal Conference this afternoon on the encapsulation of catalysts to make them thermally stable at high temperatures…
Professor Schuth also Guest Edited a recent PCCP themed issue on ‘nanocatalysis’ – take a look today!
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/journals/journalissues/cp#!issueid=cp013007&type=current
The Rideal Conference on Catalysis began yesterday in Cardiff, UK, and has got off to a great start!
Cynthia Friend gave an interesting plenary talk on the catalytic processes in fundamental surface chemistry – highlighting her recent PCCP Perspective article:
The mystery of gold’s chemical activity: local bonding, morphology and reactivity of atomic oxygen
T. A. Baker, Xiaoying Liu and Cynthia M. Friend
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011, 13, 34-46
DOI: 10.1039/C0CP01514H, Perspective
Faraday Discussion 150: ‘Frontiers in Spectroscopy‘ took place in Basel, Switzerland from the 6th-8th April 2011.
Takeshi Oka from the University of Chicago gave an insightful introductory lecture on spectroscopy and astronomy commenting on how spectroscopy has grown hand-in-hand with astronomy. Session 1, focussing on precision spectroscopy and chaired by Gerard Meijer, got everything off to a good start and everyone quickly got into the swing of the unique way in which Faraday Discussions work! That evening we had a drinks reception at the Hotel Bildungszentrum 21 to accompany the poster session. With more than 80 posters on display it was a great turn-out and an electrifying atmosphere!
Thursday was an early start for the biomolecules session chaired by John Simons and included a fascinating conversation over ways in which gas-phase and condensed-phase scientists could work together. Another notable dialogue was between Klaas Wynne and Martina Havenith over her paper. We returned to the Hotel Bildungszentrum 21 for a lovely lunch in the garden before beginning session 3 on theoretical spectroscopy, chaired by Casey Hynes.
The conference dinner was held at Safran Zunft and before the meal began we were treated to a concert of English and Italian duets blending the comic and tragic sides of love. The food was exceptional and after dinner the Faraday Loving Cup was circulated around the entire room. Mike Ashfold, the current President of the Faraday Division was sporting the spectacular badge of office and gave a tremendous speech despite claiming that ‘speeches weren’t his thing‘! The Skinner Poster Prize was awarded to Andreas Messmer, from Goethe-University, for his poster on structure determination of reactive catalyst-substrate complexes by 2D infrared spectroscopy.
Luckily Friday’s session on spectroscopy for dynamics, chaired by Mike Ashfold, wasn’t quite such an early start. John Muenter was keen to point out that David Nesbitt’s paper referenced his daughter’s PhD thesis! Martin Quack summed up the conference very thoroughly in his concluding remarks, stating that it was “by far the best organised meeting I’ve seen thanks to John Maier and the organising committee“. We think everyone who attended the conference would concur that John Maier and Stefan Willitsch, along with everyone else involved, certainly did a fantastic job.
Jennifer Newton and Tina Hodkinson
Keep an eye out for the published volume of this Faraday Discussion, which will be going online this summer – or sign-up to our free contents e-alerts to have Faraday Discussion 150 delivered straight to your inbox!
We welcome your ideas, contact Faraday Discussions with your topic proposal for a future Discussion
Faraday Discussion 150 started today in Basel, Switzerland.
This Discussion is titled ‘Frontiers in Spectroscopy’ and aims to review recent advances in spectroscopy and identify current frontiers of research and future directions. The meeting brings together both experimentalists and theoreticians, and scientists from different fields including chemistry, physics, the biosciences and related disciplines.
Check out the Faraday Discussions twitter feed (@Faraday_D) this week for latest news from the FD150!
Sign-up to the Faraday Discussions free e-alert to be notified when this volume is published online in summer 2011!
Plenary Speakers:
Stephen Chu, Secretary of Energy for the US government, gave a plenary lecture at the Annual Biophysical Society meeting earlier today.
Dr Chu began his scientific career as a physicist and went on to win the Nobel Prize for his biophysics research. Today he talked about his group’s current research interests into sub-wavelength imaging and detecting protein binding events in real-time.
He then went on to discuss the influence fundamental biophysics is having on the search for future energy sources, including new metabolic pathways for biofuels synthesis and Li-ion batteries.
Chu then went on to say that if new alternative energy sources are really going to take off – then the government need to set directives that will force the current energy industries to make these changes happen – just like they did in the 50’s with frost-free refrigerators!!
Take a look at the great energy research published in both PCCP and Energy & Environmental Science today
The 55th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting got off to a great start yesterday in Baltimore, USA
There was a very interesting session on Protein Dynamics – Experimental & Simulations covering a range of topics, but all the speakers agreed on the point that it is the use of computational methods alongside experimental evidence that is the key to solving the intricate details of protein folding. Each lecture also highlighted the importance of solid state NMR in this field…
…Take a look at the PCCP solid state structure prediction themed issue today!
Also watch out for our collection of high profile articles on protein folding coming soon, including Perspective review articles covering the areas of theory, modelling and experimental studies in this fast moving area.
Then come and see us at the RSC Publishing booth 742!
Let us know if you are going to be there and visit our booth, where you can find out the latest news from PCCP and RSC Publishing – plus pick up some journal freebies!
I will be at the Biophysical Society Meeting in Baltimore and it would be great to meet you there!
Jane
Deputy Editor, PCCP
Be at the cutting edge of developments in molecular spectroscopy…
Faraday Discussion 150: Frontiers in Spectroscopy
6 – 8 April 2011
Basel, Switzerland
Final registration deadline: 04 March 2011
This meeting will provide a forum to discuss cutting-edge developments and future challenges in molecular spectroscopy.
Themes:
Faraday Discussion 150: Frontiers in Spectroscopy – don’t miss out – register today!
Faraday Discussion 151: Hydrogen Storage Materials
18 – 20 April 2011
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxon, UK
***Last chance to register for early bird discount – Friday 18 February***
Early bird registration and poster abstract deadline: 18 February 2011
This meeting aims to bring together the diverse range of workers in the field of hydrogen storage materials, from those involved in materials discovery and characterisation, to those studying mechanisms or developing applications – register now to get discounted rates!
Themes:
Faraday Discussion 151: Hydrogen Storage Materials – Register today!
PCCP is delighted to be sponsoring a ‘Poster Prize’ at the forthcoming FEMTO10 conference.
FEMTO10
10-15 July 2011, Madrid, Spain
FEMTO10 is the 10th Edition of the Femtochemistry Conferences and will bring together scientists from all over the world to present and discuss the most recent advances in Femtosciences, including reaction dynamics, coherent control, structural dynamics, solvation phenomena, liquids and interfaces, fast processes in biological systems, strong field processes, attosecond electron dynamics and aggregates, surfaces and solids with contributions from both theory and experiment.
Important Dates
Watch out for the announcement of the winners and for more information visit: http://www.femto10.com/
