International Tables for Crystallography

By Theo Hahn, former Chairman of the Commission on International Tables

Since its foundation in 1948, the IUCr has been publishing a series of reference volumes with the present title International Tables for Crystallography.

The purpose of this series is to collect and critically evaluate modern, advanced tables and texts on both well established and novel topics that are relevant to crystallographic research and to applications of crystallographic methods in all sciences concerned with the structure and properties of materials. Particular emphasis is given to:

Symmetry: theory and practical applications of space groups, plane groups, layer groups, point groups and their subgroups;
Diffraction methods and techniques of crystal structure determination both in direct and reciprocal space, Fourier transformation in crystallography;
Physical and chemical properties of crystals.

The tables in each volume are accompanied by practical explanations and examples, as well as by advanced theoretical sections which should also be useful for teaching purposes. Each volume is written by an international team of experts under the responsibility of one or two editors.

A brief publication history of International Tables

The International Tables started in 1935 with the first series, comprising two volumes, under the title Internationale Tabellen zur Bestimmung von Kristallstrukturen. The second series consisted of four volumes and was published between 1952 and 1974 with the title International Tables for X-ray Crystallography. The present third series, International Tables for Crystallography, started in 1983 with the publication of Volume A, followed in 1992 by Volume C, in 1993 by Volume B, in 2001 by Volume F, in 2002 by Volume E, in 2003 by Volume D, in 2004 by Volume A1 and in 2005 by Volume G. Comparison of the titles of these series reveals the progressively more general nature of the tables, extending the original topics of symmetry and X-ray structure determination towards incorporation of electron and neutron diffraction techniques, as well as fundamentals of crystallography and physical and chemical crystal data. In 1985, a Brief Teaching Edition of Volume A was published.

Details of the present volumes and their contents can be found on the International Tables home page.

The Commission on International Tables home page provides some general information about the series and links to:

a list of the members of the Commission and the volumes they edit;
a list of all the editions and editors of International Tables for Crystallography and its predecessors International Tables for X-ray Crystallography and International Tables for the Determination of Crystal Structures published since 1935;
links to descriptions and contents of recently published editions of International Tables for Crystallography;
descriptions and contents of new volumes and editions of International Tables for Crystallography in various stages of preparation.

Order form (PDF format) for all volumes

We wish to remember A. J. C. Wilson, the Chairman of the Commission on International Tables from 1981 to 1993 and the editor of Volume C until 1995. He died in 1995, in the midst of intensive work on the second edition of Volume C. Arthur Wilson is the first editor of the present series of International Tables who is no longer with us, and we all remember him as a lively, hard-working and competent friend.