Crystallography on stamps

The depiction of crystallography on stamps began in 1939 with the issue of a Danzig stamp commemorating Wilhelm Röntgen who discovered X-rays.^[1] Crystallographic stamps contribute to crystallography education^{[2]: 24 [3]: 286} and to the public understanding of science.^[4]: 64

Wilhelm Röntgen, Free City of Danzig, 1939

Crystallography on stamps was promoted as part of the International Year of Crystallography in 2014.^[5][6]

Scope

7th Crystallography International Congress, USSR, 1966

Personalised stamp commemorating Max von Laue and the IYCr, Moldova, 2014^{[7]: 35–36}

A crystallography stamp has one or more of the following characteristics:

• It depicts a crystallographer, or a polymath who did significant work in the crystallography field
• It depicts a crystallographic concept, such as quasicrystals,^{[8]: 29–30} or a crystallographic object, such as a crystal prepared for X-ray diffraction
• It depicts a crystallographic symbol or formula such as Bragg's law^{[7]: 35–36}
• It commemorates a crystallographic event, such as an international congress, or an international year in the crystallographic field^[9]

The following types of material are excluded (although they may also be collected by crystallography stamp enthusiasts):

• Postal stationery,^[10] e.g. a postcard depicting a crystallographer with a non-crystallographic stamp affixed
• Cinderella, local, private or personal issues, i.e. unofficial stamps
• Non-postal stamps, e.g. revenue stamps^[11]
• Stamps issued by non-existing/unrecognized countries and/or in excess of actual postal requirements

Examples

Crystallographers

Wilhelm Röntgen, India, 1995

Stamps depicting individual crystallographers are sometimes issued by countries to commemorate the birth or death anniversaries of their significant national crystallographers,^[12] For example, on August 6, 1996, the British postal service (Royal Mail) issued a stamp honouring Dorothy Hodgkin, a pioneer of protein crystallography (Great Britain's first female Nobel laureate, in 1964, in Chemistry).^[13] Some countries have also issued stamps depicting internationally famous scientists associated with crystallography. For example, up to 2023, 55 stamps from 40 countries have been issued commemorating Wilhelm Röntgen the discoverer of X-rays.^[14][15]

A number of crystallographers have been awarded the Nobel Prize^[16] and have subsequently appeared on stamps.^[17] The following Nobel prize-winning crystallographers (or their work) have been depicted on stamps: Charles Glover Barkla, Paul D. Boyer, Lawrence Bragg, William Henry Bragg, Georges Charpak, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Francis Crick, Robert Curl, Clinton Davisson, Peter Debye, Johann Deisenhofer, Louis de Broglie, Jennifer Doudna, Ben Feringa, Andre Geim, Herbert A. Hauptman, Dorothy Hodgkin, Jerome Karle, Martin Karplus, Aaron Klug, Brian Kobilka, Harry Kroto, Robert Lefkowitz, Michael Levitt, Hartmut Michel, Konstantin Novoselov, Ardem Patapoutian, Linus Pauling, Max Perutz, Venki Ramakrishnan. Wilhelm Röntgen, Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Dan Shechtman, Richard Smalley, Thomas A. Steitz, Fraser Stoddart, George Paget Thomson, Max von Laue, Arieh Warshel, James Watson, Maurice Wilkins, Ada Yonath.

Crystallographic concepts and objects

• 
  Body-centred cubic structure, Belgium, 1958
• 
  Mining for minerals, Canada, 1963
• 
  Crystallogenesis, USSR, 1978

Stamps depicting a crystallographic concept or object are sometimes combined with a portrait of the crystallographer responsible for inventing the concept or object. Examples of crystallographic concepts and objects are shown in the gallery above: a 1958 Belgian stamp illustrating body-centred cubic structure, a 1963 Canadian stamp illustrating mining for minerals, and a 1978 Russian stamp depicting crystallogenesis and commemorating Soviet-Polish cooperation in space flight.

Crystals and crystallographic symbols

• 
  Geologist and garnets, USSR, 1968
• 
  Rhenium dimeric anion with a Re-Re bond, USSR, 1968
• 
  Amethyst, Romania, 2006

Stamps depicting crystals or crystallographic symbols are shown in the gallery above: a 1968 Russian stamp depicting a geologist and garnet crystals, a 1968 Russian stamp depicting a Rhenium dimeric anion with a quadruple Re-Re bond (Re₂Cl₈^2-),^[18] and a 2006 Romanian stamp illustrating amethyst crystals.

International Year of Crystallography

IYCr and curcumin, India, 2014^{[8]: 30–31}

The International Year of Crystallography (IYCr) took place in 2014. To promote crystallography the following countries issued stamps to commemorate the IYCr: Austria (personalised), Belgium, India, Israel, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Moldova (personalised), North Korea, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.^{[7][19][20][21]}

Publications

No book has yet been published exclusively in the area of crystallographic stamps, however much crystallographic material is included in the book A philatelic ramble through chemistry by Edgar Heilbronner and Foil Miller.^[22]

Daniel Rabinovich is the current leading writer in the field having published articles on the International Year of Crystallography,^[7][8][21] and 35 articles covering chemistry, crystallography and physics philatelic subjects in the journal Chemistry International from 2007 to 2013.^[9]

The Chemistry and Physics on Stamps Study Unit (CPOSSU) of the American Topical Association has published a members' journal Philatelia Chimica et Physica since 1979 and a number of articles cover crystallographic topics.^[23]

Listings of new issues of crystallographic stamps are included in the monthly Scott Stamp magazine and in Linn's Stamp News; they are also available online from October 2010 to date in the Science & Technology section.^[24]

References

1. Klickstein, Herbert S.; Leicester, Henry M. (1947). "Philately - A Chapter in the History of Chemistry". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 2 (3): 337–378. doi:10.1093/jhmas/ii.3.337. PMID 20266807.
2. Rappoport, Zvi (1992). "Chemistry on Stamps (Chemophilately)". Accounts of Chemical Research. 25: 24–31. doi:10.1021/ar00013a004.
3. Schreck, James O. (April 1986). "Postage Stamps as a Teaching Tool in Chemistry". Journal of Chemical Education. 63 (4): 283–287. doi:10.1021/ed060p128.
4. Yardley, Christopher B. (2015). The representation of science and scientists on postage stamps (PDF). Canberra: ANU Press. ISBN 978-19250-2178-3.
5. "Crystallography and philately". IUCr. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
6. Mani, Jagannath (2014). "Crystallography meets philately" (PDF). IUCr. p. 33. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
7. Rabinovich, Daniel (2016). "International Year of Crystallography (IYCr): Collateral Philatelic Materials". Philatelia Chimica et Physica. 37 (1): 34–42.
8. Rabinovich, Daniel (2014). "International Year of Crystallography (IYCr): A Midyear Philatelic Report". Philatelia Chimica et Physica. 36 (1): 28–41.
9. Rabinovich, Daniel (2014). "The International Year of Crystallography (2014): A Philatelic Celebration". Chemistry International. 36 (6): 39–42. doi:10.1515/ci-2014-0636.
10. Miller, Rick (14 January 2012). "Postal stationery offers collecting variety". Linns Stamp News. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
11. Mackay, James (2003). Philatelic Terms Illustrated (4th ed.). Stanley Gibbons Limited. p. 170. ISBN 9780852595572.
12. Caswell, Lyman R. (October 1990). "American Chemists and Physicists on Postage Stamps". Journal of Chemical Education. 67 (10): 842–847. doi:10.1021/ed067p842.
13. García-Granda, Santiago; Montejo-Bernardo, Jose (2012). "X-rays and crystallography. A story through stamps". Acta Crystallographica Section A: Foundations and Advances. A68: s129. doi:10.1107/S0108767312097516.
14. Guzei, Ilia (2023). "Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen - on international postage stamps". Retrieved 16 August 2024.
15. Munk, Peter L.; Peh, Wilfred C.G. (2023). "Rontgen and the Discovery of X rays on stamps". The Canadian Philatelist. 74 (1): 14–19.
16. "Nobel Prize winners associated with crystallography". IUCr. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
17. Miller, Foil A.; Kauffman, George B. (September 1990). "Nobel Laureates in Chemistry - A Philatelic Survey. Part III. 1935-1988". Journal of Chemical Education. 67 (9): 774–781. doi:10.1021/ed067p774.
18. Rovner, Sophie L. (17 December 2007). "Chemophilately". Chemical & Engineering News. 85 (51). American Chemical Society: 29–31. doi:10.1021/cen-v085n051.p029.
19. "Crystallography matters ... more! postage stamps". IUCr. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
20. Wang, Linda (17 February 2014). "Job Help From Jon Stewart, Crystallography Stamps". Chemical & Engineering News. 92 (7). American Chemical Society: 56. doi:10.1021/cen-09207-newscripts.
21. Rabinovich, Daniel (2014). "International Year of Crystallography (IYCr): A Year-End Philatelic Report". Philatelia Chimica et Physica. 36 (4): 160–167.
22. Heilbronner, E.; Miller, F.A. (2004). A philatelic ramble through chemistry. Zürich: Wiley-VCH. p. 268. ISBN 3-906390-31-4.
23. "PCP Index to Volumes 1-20 (1979-1998)" (PDF). CPOSSU. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
24. "Stamp programs: by topic". Linn's Stamp News. August 2024.