ACS PRF | ACS
All e-Annual Reports
45770-SE
10th International Conference on Molecule-based Magnets, August 2006, Victoria, BC, Canada
The 10th International Conference on Molecule-based Magnetism (ICMM) took place from August 13-17, 2006 in Victoria, British Columbia, marking the first time this international meeting has been hosted in Canada. 274 delegates from 22 countries gathered in Victoria and fortunately the weather cooperated providing a most pleasant setting. Scientifically, the meeting commenced with a new ‘keynote' lecture in Olivier Kahn's name, created by the 2006 ICMM Organizing Committee as tribute to a true pioneer and leader in molecular magnetism. Dante Gatteschi*, the inaugural ICMM Kahn lecturer, provided an entertaining and outstanding opening to the conference.
The scientific content of the meeting was rich and intense: 65 invited and contributed talks and 235 poster presentations made for a jam-packed program, which also included a wonderful experimental demonstration session on the magic of molecular magnets organized by Michel Verdaguer and Bob Thompson. The program was loosely organized into contemporary themes in molecule-based magnetism. Sunday provided a glimpse of current advances in the magnetism of organic radical-based materials. Monday focused on multifunctional materials, highlighted by an opening plenary lecture by Phillipp Gütlich* (Mainz) on spin crossover. Tuesday dealt with coordination complexes and materials and was commenced by a plenary lecture on spin glasses by Art Epstein (Ohio State); Juan Nova's* (Barcelona) plenary on intermolecular magnetic interactions marked the beginning of Wednesday's session on physical and computational approaches to understanding molecule-based magnetic materials. Finally, Chris Murray (IBM) introduced the world of magnetic nanoparticles to open Thursday's session on nanomagnetism. It was particularly telling that the one of the more difficult task facing the organizing committee in assembling the program was deciding where to place many of the presentations which clearly fell under two or more of these themes. This is a tribute to the truly cross-disciplinary nature of the field.
*Recipient of PRF-SE travel funds
