Abstract

Keywords: Report of the Executive Committee . <h2> 1. Twenty-First General Assembly and International Congress of Crystallography</h2> The Twenty-First General Assembly and International Congress of Crystallography were held at the Osaka International Convention Centre, Osaka, Japan, 23-31 August 2008, by invitation of the Science Council of Japan and the Japanese National Committee for Crystallography. A report, including a detailed report of the General Assembly, has been published [ Acta Cryst. (2009), A 65 , 390-442 ]. The General Assembly and Congress were attended by 2477 scientists, 140 accompanying members and 58 exhibitors from 66 countries and territories. The Eighth Ewald Medal and Prize were accepted by Dr D. Sayre at the Opening Ceremony. The first Gjønnes Medal in Electron Crystallography was awarded to J. Gjønnes. There were 36 Keynote Lectures, 98 Microsymposia and Open Commission Meetings. The abstracts in the published book of Collected Abstracts were prepared from electronic submissions and were also provided on a CD-ROM. A commercial exhibition comprising 58 companies and booksellers was organized. The General Assembly met on the evenings of Sunday 24 August, Monday 25 August and Thursday 28 August. Applications for membership from the Regional Committee of Crystallographers from Algeria, Latvia, Morocco,