In German, they do not say PhD supervisor, they say “Doktorvater”. George taught me about crystallography, people, and human virtue, about how to try to make everyone happy in the end; how not to be too hasty, and to challenge what you’re being told. He joked a lot and told us about the 261st space group (Fd). We had ice cream after mensa, and wine after paper writing. He made me come to his office not with questions, but also with my disproven answers. He shared his ideas freely. As I grew, I could understand more of them, and got to join in the discussion, which was exhilarating. In the last years, he told me his brain was not what it used to be, and I knew this was true – still, sitting in the winter garden at his house, he beat his nurse in chess, and there was walnut ice cream for dessert.
He will be missed. Andrea Thorn. From: CCP4 bulletin board <CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> On Behalf Of Martin Martinez Ripoll Sent: 24 February 2025 11:56 To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] George Sheldrick (1942-2025) Dear Isabel, dear Regine, We acknowledge receipt of the sad news of Georg Sheldrick’s passing and of the heartfelt text in his memory. We also publicly share this sorrowful news in: https://www.xtal.iqf.csic.es/ Martin _________________________________________ Dr. Martin Martinez-Ripoll Research Professor Emeritus martin.m.rip...@csic.es<mailto:martin.m.rip...@csic.es> xmar...@iqf.csic.es<mailto:xmar...@iqf.csic.es> Department of Crystallography & Structural Biology www.xtal.iqf.csic.es<http://www.xtal.iqf.csic.es/> www.xtal.iqf.csic.es/Cristalografia/<http://www.xtal.iqf.csic.es/Cristalografia/> Telf.: +34 917459550 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Spanish National Research Council [cid:image001.jpg@01DB86B4.A2DFE8E0] De: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] En nombre de Isabel Uson Enviado el: viernes, 21 de febrero de 2025 23:21 Para: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK<mailto:CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> Asunto: [ccp4bb] George Sheldrick (1942-2025) 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<mailto: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<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 ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 ######################################################################## 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/
