This issue of the IUCr Newsletter contains the first of three articles devoted to crystallography in fourteen countries from South-Eastern Europe – in many respects, a cradle of European civilization, and a portal where Europe meets the rapidly emerging economies of the Middle and Far East. The old socio-political theories from the last century and the political turmoil that fol-lowed their desertion have greatly affected scientific research in South-Eastern Europe. Driven by social, economic or professional factors, many chemists and physicists moved to leading research laboratories in Europe and the United States, including brilliant visionar-ies such as Nikola Tesla and Nobel laureates such as Fric Pregl (an Austrian chemist born in Ljubljana, awarded in 1923), Leopold (Lavo-slav) RuiiCka (a Swiss chemist born in Vukovar and awarded in 1939) and Vladimir Prelog (of Croatian descent, born in Sarajevo, awarded in 1975). In the second half of the last century, researchers trained in the 'West returned to their native countries to teach and conduct research in mineralogy and crystallography. Through globalization, and improving economic stabil-ity in this part of the world there is real poten-tial for a reversal of the brain-drain process to a brain-gain. We are witnessing an increase in contributions to crystallography research from the South-East European nations as they embrace globaliza-tion in a multipolar but integrated world. Divisiveness and fortress mentality are giving way to a spirit of openness and broader vision.
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