This series of videos commemorates the life and legacy of George Sheldrick and shares some memories of many of his friends and collaborators. Should you wish to make your own contribution, then please contact Isabel Uson or Regine Herbst-Irmer.
Mariusz Jaskolski, A. Mickiewicz University Poznań learned metal identification with the valence bond method. And a story on communication around code from the other side of the iron curtain in 1972.
Bill Clegg, Newcastle University shares the lessons he learned in computer programming.
Gerard Bricogne, Global Phasing Ltd. learned that there is much to be gained from producing highly efficient implementations of relatively simple ideas and that there is also room for fancy approaches to coexist, so that both complement each other.
Udo Heinemann, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine shares memories from the start of his crystallographic career as a student in Göttingen attending George’s lectures to chairing the first edition of the Sheldrick Prize in 2024, his last official intervention as president of ECA.
Louise Jones, IUCr Editorial Office shares the story of a paper so significant that its citations rocketed the impact factor of a specialised crystallographic journal above that of the highest general ones.
Erhard Irmer, Georg-August Universität Göttingen shares how George highly valued education and gave teachers opportunities to successfully enrol in science.
Andreas Heine, Philipps Universität Marburg received valuable career advice and has never forgotten the joy of seeing a new crystal, a new structure, a new featured revealed in the electron density.
Ilia Guzei, University Wisconsin-Madison shares experiences showing how George thought about computing and how collegial he was.
Tim Grüne, Universität Wien learned active environmental concern, team spirit and friendly competition.
Horst Puschmann, OlexSys learned that there was still a lot to develop in small-molecule crystallography.
Carmelo Giacovazzo, CNR-University of Bari shares a text with two stories of the quest for direct methods solutions for small molecules and macromolecules (voiceover, figures, and captions by I. Usón)
John Davies, Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre remembers the birth of SHELX76 and the moment its name was first announced.
Judith Howard, Durham University remarks on George’s generous support from the onset of the Olex project.
Eleanor J. Dodson and Keith S. Wilson, University of York lay out how George provided elegant, complete tools to navigate the whole process of crystallography and remember the exciting and fruitful time when their interests on macromolecular crystallography first converged.
Andrea Thorn, Helmholtz Center Berlin learned to challenge what you are told and not to just have questions but to venture your own answers.
Garib Murshudov, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology learned even when George was not teaching, you could not stop learning from him: in particular integrity, simplifying complex problems and generosity.
Stefanie Freitag-Pohl, Durham University learned beyond crystallography that she belonged in science.
Ehmke Pohl, Durham University learned that you do not need to know everything and every detail to start contributing but to never stop learning and the tremendous value of a diverse group.
John Helliwell, University of Manchester talks about education, collaborations with Durward W. J. Cruickshank, protein precision and projects enabled by SHELX.
Ton Spek, Utrecht University met George in Oxford at the ECM4 in 1977 and learned from the clever algorithms in the open, SHELX76 code. Greatness acknowledging errors marks the true scientist.
Elspeth Garman, University of Oxford learned that you could always get valuable advice from George to solve difficult crystallographic problems like the ones described in this video.
Larry Falvello, University of Zaragoza learned in the 70s in Cambridge direct methods, handling complex disorder the tools to independence and mentoring.
Alexandre Urzhumtsev, Université de Lorraine had learned reading George’s papers but could not meet him in person until the political changes in the 90’s opened the world. Then he valued his availability and humbleness.
Ursula Pieper, US Department of Agriculture as a PhD student and system manager in the group (1988-93), learned science, computing, not to hesitate and about mentoring.
Sue Byram, Bruker values learning to be a better person from a highly ethical role model.
Charles Campana, Bruker learned George’s vision of future crystallography at the beginning of the 80s and of a long, fruitful interaction.
Kay Diederichs, Universität Konstanz was impressed about the speed and the insight with which George solved difficult experimental phasing problems at the beamline.
Meitian Wang, Paul Scherrer Institut describes the profound impact of George’s work on structure solution success at the beamlines and hence on the work of so many crystallographers.
Tobias Beck, Hamburg Universität learned the passion for science and to always be open for new opportunities and not to care for appearances or hierarchy.
Madhumati Sevvana, Sanofi received the books of Dorothy Hodgkin and Carmelo Giacovazzo for encouragement and formulas and learned crystallography on small-molecules before being given macromolecular projects.
Claudia Millán SciBite and Massimo Sammito AstraZeneca learned a lot in the afternoon coffee group discussions, from B-factors and phase combination to the value of fairness and humbleness.