Sponsored, in part, by the
CHEMICAL INSTITUTE OF CANADA
TheXVIIIth International Union of Crystallography Congress and General Assembly was held 4-13th August 1999 in Glasgow, Scotland, U.K. Dr. Harry Howell in the UK suggested that since there were now several countries running crystal growing contests, it would be worthwhile to combine the results of these contests, display them at the IUCr Congress, and have an international judging. Thus the idea for the contest was hatched. Alum was chosen as the substance to be used.
For Canada, this meant running a special contest in the spring. In all, we had 21 crystals submitted from schools in the Saguenay and Quebec City areas in Quebec, Brampton, Pembroke, and Toronto areas in Ontario, and Taber Alberta. We submitted our top five crystals with respect to quality and over all score - because of overlap, this meant eight crystals.
Although four other countries with alum contests were approached to submit crystals, in the end, only six crystals from the UK were also entered.
So, how did Canada do?
Very well, thank you :-)
In terms of overall score, we placed second through fifth and in terms of crystal quality, we placed first through fourth! Congratulations to all!
The following Table lists all the crystals by School, Students, Weights, Quality Scores, Overall Scores, and Overall & Quality Rankings. Later, we hope to show pictures and a more detailed description of the Canadian crystals.