This past week the RSC welcomed 2000 delegates from all over the world to the 42nd IUPAC Congress in Glasgow, titled "Chemistry Solutions".

The event had exciting scientific offerings for all, comprising over 600 presentations, 1200 posters and 27 exhibition displays.

Glasgow, and Scotland more generally, recognised the prestige that the conference brought to the city, and news from the conference was widely reported in the Scottish media.

Featured in the morning BBC Scotland news bulletins and the Daily Record, Scotsman, Evening Times, and The Herald newspapers, the conference lifted the profile of the RSC and chemistry in general in the eyes of the public.

The Herald feature story interviewed several eminent scientists in attendance at IUPAC 2009, such as Nobel Prize-winning Sir Harry Kroto and former RSC Council member Professor Lesley Yellowlees. It asked of them and others the question, "Why has Scotland produced so many great scientists?"

This has also been the focus of an RSC competition, where the most thought-provoking Twitter message explaining Scotland's prodigious scientific output could win its author a new Apple iPhone 3GS.

Details of the competition are available on the RSC blog. The Herald article can be viewed on their website.