The UN and UNESCO have decided that 2014 should have the status of the International Year of Crystallography IYCr (www.iycr2014.org). IYCr marks the last 100 years of development of crystallographic research after Max von Laue and W.H. Bragg's experiments, which showed that röntgene radiation can be used to determine the atoms ' position in a crystal. The lecture gives a historical overview of this development, which has led to more than 28 Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry, illustrated by examples of the breadth of current crystallographic research stretching from mathematics to biology and Underpins the development of both hard and soft materials.