Particulate Systems Analysis 2011

As a committee member of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Particle Characterization Interest Group (PCIG), I look forward to attending the triannual Particulate Systems Analysis (PSA) conference. As event sponsors, the PCIG aim to promote diverse particle and powder technological applications.

Malvern participation

PSA 2011 was the UK’s biggest particle characterization conference this year and, in addition to presentations given by other Malvern colleagues, I presented a paper, a poster and chaired two sessions. Malvern exhibited with Debbie Huck, Lisa Makin, and Andrew Lake manning our stand.

I presented a paper on NIST gold standards with PANalytical’s Joerg Bolze on DLS and SAXS comparison of NIST standards. All delegates will of course receive a copy of this presentation but if you didn’t attend the event and would be interested in receiving one, please contact me.

I co-authored the poster, ‘Minimum sample size and measurement uncertainty in the particle size distribution analysis of powders’ with Arjen Tinke  from Janssen in the Netherlands. This poster is now in print and will be available for public consumption in future.

ISO meeting

On behalf of Malvern Instruments, I also attended an ISO International Standards Organization TC24/SC4 sub committee meeting (Particle Characterization group section) that was held in conjunction with PSA 2011.  Here I fulfilled my role as Convener of WG10, the Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering section as well as participating in other working groups such as laser diffraction and reference materials.

In addition to meeting with old friends and colleagues, a highlight for me was being able to visit the beautiful city of Edinburgh.

Portrait of James I & VI The PSA 2011 dinner was held in the Library in Universityof Edinburgh. In this magnificent room hangs the portrait of King James I and James VI (the same man!). As I looked up at him, I remembered that this remarkable monarch not only reigned over Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 but also England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603. However, In addition to this King James is the founding monarch of the United States!

Under his reign, we have the first successful colonies planted on the American mainland–Virginia, Massachusetts, and Nova Scotia (Latin for New Scotland) in SE Canada. The King himself ordered, wrote, and authorized the Evangelistic Grant Charter to settle the Colony of Virginia.

Not bad for one lifetime!