he text goes back over the various phases that led to the constitution of the Association through the original documents.
The first signs of crystallography in Italy can be dated back in the twenties for Chemistry and thirties for Mineralogy. As soon as the IUCr came to life, Italy adhered to it through CNR and started to publish consistently in the official review of the Union, Acta Crystallographica. This relevant attendance to the international crystallographic community brought the VI IUCr Congress in Rome in 1963 and afterwards in 1966 Prof. Scatturin proposed the foundation of an Association which put together scientists who devoted their research to crystal structures with the intent that favour the development of this field of science.
The writing of the articles of the Association needed efforts from different contributors mainly for the aim of the Association which should have been as wider as possible in order to embrace all the scientists involved in crystallography.
The first assembly and then the official birth of the Associazione Italiana di Cristallografia was 19th January 1967. During the assembly the charter members have been appointed as all those who took part to the referendum which decided the constitution of the Association. Moreover the members of the council have been selected as well as the first election was called. The first AIC Congress was held in Perugia, 11-13 January 1968 and it dealt with automatic diffraction. Several researchers from different manufacturers were invited to talk about automatic diffraction.
During the Assembly three commissions were constituted: teaching and nomenclature, crystallographic computing and automation and instrumentation.
The next Congress would be held in Parma, a relevant site for crystallography in Italy.