September 2002 Newsletter

Contents

1. Editorial
2. 2002 Spring Meeting - Workshop Reports
3. Ron Jenkins
4. Autumn Meeting 7^th November 2002, Manchester Materials Science Centre - Programme Registration Form
5. Spring Meeting 2003 Programme Overview
6. IG Posters and Workshops at Spring Meeting April 2003 York University -IG Programme
7. Industrial Group AGM 16^th April 2003 York University
8. Newsletter mailing list
9. International X-ray Analysis Society update
10. Industrial Group Survey Results
11. Committee Members and Addresses (2002-3)

Thanks to Bede Scientific
who sponsored the distribution of the paper edition of this Newsletter.

Forthcoming Events

Industrial Group Autumn Meeting 7^th November 2002, Hulme Hall, Oxford Place, Manchester.
2003 BCA Spring Meeting - York University, 15 - 17^th April.

Editorial

Welcome to this latest issue of the IG newsletter. Things have been relatively quiet since the BCA Spring Meeting in Nottingham. By all accounts, it was a very successful event, although there is some concern over the relativ ely small number of industrial delegates. Problems such as the Easter holiday and the difficulty in taking a week off work were highlighted. With this in mind, changes have been made to next year’s meeting (see details in this newsletter), which should hopefully encourage more IG members to attend.

There are a number of forthcoming meetings, so please make a note in your diary. As always I would welcome any contributions from members. In particular articles about meetings attended, r ecent developments in your field and book reviews. Please also consider becoming a member of the committee. It’s a chance to influence the running of the Industrial Group and doesn’t take up too much of your time.

Finally, we were all saddened by the recent death of Ron Jenkins. He will be sadly missed.

Philip Holdway
Editor

Ron Jenkins 1932 - 2002

Dr Ron Jenkins, born 10th April 1932 died peacefully at his home in Downingtown Pennsylvania on 19th June 2002. He was one of the great pioneers, teachers and leaders in the field of X-ray analysis, well known and highly respected in materials science circles around the world. A devout Christian and devoted family man he is survived by his wife of 47 years Phyllis, five children and five grandchildren.

Ron was born in Oxford an d awarded a scholarship to the City of Oxford High School. He studied Physics and Metallurgy at the University of London, Chemistry at the Oxford Polytechnic Institute (ONC, HNC, LRSC) and was awarded his PhD (Chem. Phys.) at the Polytechnic Institute of New York.

Ron started his career as an Analytical Chemist at Esso Research in Abingdon in 1953. At this time he served two years national service as a meteorologist in the RAF. In 1962 he became manager of the X-ray applications Laboratory for Philips Research and Control Instruments in London. In 1967 he moved to Philips in Eindhoven to head the X-ray Applications Laboratory and in 1971 to Philips Electronic Instruments in Mahwah New Jersey as Principal Scientist. He took up the post of Principal Scientist with ICDD in 1986 becoming Executive Director in 1996 and serving as Corporate Secretary and member of the Board of Directors. His ceaseless efforts saw the introduction of CD-Rom Technology, the growth of membership and massive ex pansion of the PDF file.

The X-ray community has lost one of its leaders but Ron’s legacy of teaching x-ray science will live on. It is estimated that 5000 students attended his workshops around the world. Many will fondly remember his BCA workshops in Leeds, Cardiff, UMIST and Daresbury, especially those fortunate to receive one of his textbooks and have it personally signed. He wrote 10 textbooks and contributed 11 book chapters on x-ray methods, presented over 200 scientific papers on the subject and prepared two audiovisual courses for the American Chemical Society.

His technical achievements were recognised by the scientific community and he received many awards and honours including: Gold Medallist, Society for Applied Spectroscopy 1982; Birks Award in X-ray Spectrometry 1986; Barrett Award in X-ray Diffraction 1993; Jenkins Award for Lifetime achievements in X-ray Analysis 2002. He is the only person to receive both the Birks and Barrett awards. Ron’s abil ity to tell a good story was suitably rewarded by easily winning a light hearted after dinner competition at the 1998 Denver Conference. As chairman of its organising committee since 1981 the Denver Conference owes much to Ron for his unstinting and dedicated work.

In addition to his technical achievements, Dr. Jenkins was a member of STURP (Shroud of Turin Research Project) and lectured over 50 times to about 6000 people regarding the artefact. His book "Closing the Gap between Science and Religion" outlines his dedication to the Christian faith. He was most recently a member of the Church of the Nazarene, where he served as Council member, Choir Director, Vocal Soloist and Sunday School teacher. He was also a trustee of the Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts for many years. His love of music was expressed as a vocal soloist and playing the trombone in a local brass ensemble. Denver Conference attendees will doubtless remember his participation in post-banquet entertai nment, as a member of the “Powdermen” Barbershop Quartet!

Ron was a compassionate man with a charismatic sense of humour who brought leadership and enthusiasm to all aspects of his life. A celebration of Life Service was held at the West Chester Church of the Nazarene, Pennsylvania on the 22 June. He will be lovingly remembered by many people around the world who were touched by his life.

Dave Taylor

News letter Mailing list.

To keep cost down and to ensure that the newsletter gets to the appropriate people it is essential that we know your correct address. Also if there is a more appropriate contact in your organisation or if you no longer require a copy please let us know by contacting any of the committee officers.

If you would like an e-mail notification of the WEB posting of future IG Newsletters then send an E-mail to [email protected] t - with the title SUBSCRIBE WEB NEWS

Industrial Group Survey

A recent survey was conducted regarding the topics for future Industrial Group meetings. Thanks to all those who sent in replies and to Brett Cooper for collating the results. The survey involved giving each topic a score of 0 – 9, with 9 being of most interest. The top ten topics with their mean score is shown in the table below:

The Industrial Group committee has noted these results and will be trying to ensure that these topics are covered in forthcoming meetings, (see information for the Autumn and Spring meetings elsewhere in this newsletter). In the meantime, if there are any other topics you would like to see discussed at a future IG meeting, please send your ideas to Phil Holdway (Hon Sec) or any member of the Committee.

International X-ray Analysis Society (IXAS) - update.

The first full IXAS membership election has taken place and Prof. Paolo Scardi of the University of Trento has become President–Elect. George Havrilla is now the IXAS President with Bob Snyder remaining on the Council for one more year as the Past President.

The fou nding sponsors are about to be joined by the rest of the X-ray Analysis community and the equipment pages should see rapid expansion. For more details of an e-society aimed at the x-ray materials scientist visit the website at www.ixas.org