This issue of the journal celebrates the numerous accomplishments and outstanding contributions of Allen B. Edmundson to our contemporary knowledge of the threedimensional structures and functions of proteins. The idea to prepare this 'Festschrift' was proposed to me by Marc Van Regenmortel (Editor-in-Chief) in March 2001, during a culinary event of fine food and wines in a charming restaurant in Strasbourg, France. John Marchalonis, who was on Sabbatical in Paris, quickly and enthusiastically joined this project. It was difficult to limit the contributions to only those included in this issue, from Allen's former and current graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and colleagues. All those approached were eager to participate in this project that honours a great scientist, a keen and competitive athlete and our mutual good friend.
Rather than to try and summarize all of Allen's work we requested that he write his reminiscences, which he has done in a paper entitled 'Joyous moments along the road from here to there and back again' (this issue), which paraphrases the alternative title for The Hobbit-J.R.R. Tolkien. The scientific journey took Allen from the small country town of Flat River, Missouri, where he was born on the 16 June 1932, to the prestigious Dartmouth College where he graduated summa cum laude with an A.B. in pre-medicine (1954), for which his tuition was covered with an athletic scholarship and by working as a kitchen hand in the institute's cafeteria. He received highest honours for these undergraduate studies and was selected to the first graduate Photograph of Dr Allen B. Edmundson (Ph.D.) at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, where he is currently a Member and Head of the Protein Crystallography Program.