Prof. Mark Spackman (University of Western Australia, Australia) and Dr. Carlo Gatti (Institute of Molecular Sciences and Technology, Italian National Research Council, Italy), both board members of CMC, have been awarded the prestigious Gregori Aminoff Prize in Crystallography 2013 “for developing experimental and theoretical methods to study electron density in crystals, and using them to determine molecular and crystalline properties”.

The Gregori Aminoff Prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences “for a documented, individual contribution in the field of crystallography, including areas concerned with the dynamics of the formation of dissolution of crystal structures”. The Laureates also receive SEK 100,000 to be shared equally (USD _~15,300).

Dr. Carlo Gatti has developed the Source Function, which permits the visualization of chemical bonds using only information from observed electron density and its derivatives. Further information can be found at www.istm.cnr.it/~gatti/more_file/v3_document.htm.

Prof. Mark Spackman has developed CrystalExplorer, a software tool for crystal engineering which uses Hirshfeld surface analysis for partitioning crystal space into molecular and atomic volumes. It provides quantitative terms for the strength of interatomic and –molecular interactions. Further information can be found at hirshfeldsurface.net.

The award will be presented at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ Annual Meeting on 5th April 2013.

The official announcement and further information regarding the prize and the Laureates can be found at www.kva.se/en/Prizes/Gregori-Aminoff-Prize/.