Most people, thinking back to the 12th edition of the European Powder Diffraction Conference (EPDIC 12), will be proud to say “I was there!” This biennial meeting, a major event in the powder diffraction field in Europe, was held this time in the Darmstadium Conference Center in Darmstadt, Germany, August 27 to 30, 2010.

Lead by Professor Hartmut Fuess and by Professor Paolo Scardi (Chairman of the EPDIC Committee), the conference was co-organized for the first time with the European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM-26). Professor Fuess was very successful in coordinating the two relevant communities whose meetings usually run on close but parallel rails. The international EPDIC participants numbered more than 450, and one third of them attended both events.

The EPDIC Prize for senior scientist and the EPDIC Award for young scientist were two highlights during the conference. The first one was given to Hugo Rietveld and the second one to Pavol Juhas. We all recognize that the revolution in powder diffraction was started with Rietveld, who presented a personal perspective and historical overview of his life in science and the beginning of the method we nowadays all know. Pavol Juhas completed the picture by illustrating the application to powders of the PDF method, one of the current Rietveld method competitors.

The conference was organized with two or three microsymposia running in parallel, each of them hosting an invited keynote and several contributed talks. Topics of these symposia ranged from instrumentation to high energy X-rays, neutron diffraction, structure solution, PDF and diffuse scattering, imaging, combined techniques, line profile analysis of nanoscale materials, thin films and surfaces, stress and texture, determination, nonambient and nonconventional techniques, biomaterials, ceramics, and materials for energy storage. A lot of well-known faces and speakers could be spotted participating in most of the microsymposia. We also had the pleasure of seeing some young additions that, based on their impressive talks, will certainly have a bright future. The level of talks in these symposia was excellent. In some cases sessions ran out of time owing to the great number of interesting questions following the presentations.

Despite the short duration of the event, six plenary talks (Bogdan Palosz, Torben Jensen, Nathalie Guillou, Helena van Swygenhoven-Moens, Harald Reichert, and Ute Kolb), almost 100 oral presentations, and at least 150 posters were presented by international contributors, a testament to the energetic nature of the powder diffraction community. A plethora of attendees took the opportunity to exchange scientific ideas while walking through the sponsor stands, during the abundant buffet lunches and coffee breaks, or wandering around the Darmstadtium labyrinth looking for symmetric features in the building or looking at the posters.

ICDD also had a high profile presence there, both on the scientific level (with a workshop on data mining lead by the veterans Tim Fawcett and Cyrus Crowder) and on the commercial level (with a strategically positioned booth that was able to attract the attention of a great number of attendees, and thanks to the hard work of Helen McDonnell!).

Rivers of beer, lots of wine, and lot of food were certainly not missed at the conference dinner, which was probably the only true moment of relaxation for most participants and for the organizers.

The EPDIC was also a good occasion to remember Lachlan Cranswick who prematurely passed away last year, and the last chance to have a good chat and a drink with Joerg Bergmann, who left us a few weeks after. I know many of us will miss them both. Ciao Lachlan. Ciao Joerg!

For all the others, see you in Grenoble in 2 years!