Why MARSEILLE AND Grenoble?
On the initiative of M. Schieber (Jerusalem) Secretary General of C. I. C. C. and R. Kern (Marseille), the Groupe Français de Croissance Cristalline (G. F. C. C.) was created in Paris on the 15th January of 1968.
The I. C. C. G. 2 (Birmingham 1968) assembly expressed general agreement on the proposal of M. Schieber to organize I. C. C. G. 3 in Marseille, France in 1971, appointing W. Dekeyser and R. Kern joint co-chairmen with B. Mutaftschiev as Secretary General.
I. C. C. G. 3 was held in July 1971 in Marseille, on the Luminy campus (650 participants, 420 international, 321 papers presented, 200 published).
Raymond Kern created the Centre de Recherches sur les Mécanismes de la Croissance Cristalline (C. R. M. C. 2) on the Luminy campus in 1980. In the next decades, this Center evolved by merging new laboratories (1988, 2004, 2008) and eventually became the Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille (CINaM).
Grenoble also has to do with crystal growth, with a great record of experts (B. Chakraverty, F. Durand, F. Forrat, J-.J. Favier, J. Villain, B. Ferrand, J-.P. Garandet, etc.). In 2004, the 14th International Conference on Crystal Growth ICCG-14 was organized in Grenoble, by the « Grenoble team »: Th. Duffar (Coordinator), J. Villain, P. Wellmann, ... Today, Grenoble is a flourishing academic campus and R&D site very active in crystal growth (from physics and chemistry to biology) with many healthy companies.