I’m very sorry to hear this news. George was indeed one of the giants in our field, and his contributions have shaped every sub-discipline of crystallography. We will miss him.
Randy Read > On 21 Feb 2025, at 22:21, Isabel Uson > <0000cb655fae2581-dmarc-requ...@jiscmail.ac.uk> wrote: > > Dear Colleagues, > it is with a heavy heart, that we must announce the passing of George > Michael Sheldrick. > Everyone in crystallography knows George as a giant in the development of > computing methods despite his unassuming manner. His SHELX programs for > structure solution and refinement have shaped the field and their use has > been key to innumerable projects. The same is valid for his contribution to > data processing and analysis in the programs he wrote for Bruker detectors. > Only those young to crystallography will have missed that while typically our > papers are scored by the impact factor of a journal, one paper of George > rocketed the impact factor of the journal Acta Crystallographica A from 2.05 > to 54, surpassing that of Science, Nature or Cell in the year 2010. This > establishes how many scientific projects must have been aided by George´s > insightful work and bright solutions. > Those of us who have had the privilege to meet George in person also know him > for his passion for problem solving, originality, sense of humour and deep > humanity. > George has touched the lives and careers of so many group members, providing > a work environment that was simultaneously sheltered and free. He was always > receptive to our ideas, encouraging our independence, providing the means to > support them and giving us credit for what we accomplished. At the same time, > we were spared the financial worries or conflicts attached to any institute. > If Goethe was right in writing that character is built in the tempest of life > while talent requires the calm, George shaped the optimal environment to > develop our talents. An unusual trait of George is that he always pondered > what people said, not who said it. Experience shows that humans are more > ready to value what their friends, allies and referents state as being > correct and search for reasons why their competition must be wrong! This lack > of prejudice may explain why George´s research group was always most diverse: > he gave everyone fair opportunities. > In lectures, talks or conversations, George would explain complicated > concepts making them come across as compellingly simple. His teaching would > always prompt critical thinking, as when he faked a nuclear explosion > producing a mushroom in his chemistry lecture with experiments. This was the > 80´s and half of the audience started an im promptu demonstration against > nuclear power before being absorbed in the debate of why this was impossible > and the analysis of what experiment had really taken place. > Working with George was inspiring and fun, it covered a broad range of > interests in chemistry, geology and biology evolving along the years. In > Cambridge and Göttingen, George closely supervised more than a hundred > theses. Former students and co-workers would frequently stop in Göttingen and > pop up to join the coffee time, where daily group discussions would take > place. Many of us have kept in touch ever since, resorted to him for advice > or just for the pleasure of discussing science and puzzling problems. > George Sheldrick will be missed. > > Regine Herbst-Irmer and Isabel Usón > > If you would like to express your condolences to George´s family, please use > the following email address: a.sheldr...@gmx.de > > > -- > ICREA Res. Prof. Isabel Usón > Crystallographic Methods > Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, > Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona, Spanish Research Council; > Barcelona Science Park, Helix Building, 08028 Barcelona (Spain) > http://chango.ibmb.csic.es/ARCIMBOLDO > http://shelx.uni-goettingen.de > To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 ----- Randy J. Read Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge Cambridge Institute for Medical Research Tel: +44 1223 336500 The Keith Peters Building Hills Road E-mail: rj...@cam.ac.uk Cambridge CB2 0XY, U.K. www-structmed.cimr.cam.ac.uk ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CCP4BB, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/
