George Michael Sheldrick, FRS (17 November 1942 – 20 February 2025) was a British chemist who specialised in

molecular structure Molecular geometry is the three-dimensional arrangement of the atoms that constitute a molecule. It includes the general shape of the molecule as well as bond lengths, bond angles, torsional angles and any other geometrical parameters that det ...

determination. He was one of the most cited workers in the field, having over 280,000 citations as of 2020 and an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 113. He was a professor at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

from 1978 until his retirement in 2011.

Early life

Sheldrick was born on 17 November 1942 in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, England. He was educated at

Huddersfield New College Huddersfield New College is a former grammar school and current sixth form college located in Salendine Nook on the outskirts of Huddersfield, in the county of West Yorkshire, England. On 30 November 2023 the college was assessed as 'Good' fol ...

, then an all-boys

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

. He completed nine O-Levels, six

A-Levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

, and two S-Levels. At A-Level, he achieved a distinction (the highest grade) in chemistry, mathematics and physics. Sheldrick was awarded a Major Scholarship to study

Natural Sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

. He specialised in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

in his final year. He graduated in 1963 with a first class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. He remained at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

to undertake

postgraduate research Postgraduate research represents a formal area of study that is recognized by a university or institute of higher learning. The notion of "postgraduate" refers to studies following a undergraduate degree. Postgraduate research either occurs within ...

under the

supervision Supervision is an act or instance of directing, managing, or oversight. Etymology The English noun "supervision" derives from the two Latin words "super" (above) and "videre" (see, observe). Spelling The spelling is "Supervision" in Standard ...

of Evelyn Ebsworth. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1966. The topic of his thesis was the investigation of

inorganic An inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds⁠that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemistry''. Inor ...

hydrides In chemistry, a hydride is formally the anion of hydrogen (H−), a hydrogen ion with two electrons. In modern usage, this is typically only used for ionic bonds, but it is sometimes (and has been more frequently in the past) applied to all co ...

using

nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, most commonly known as NMR spectroscopy or magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), is a Spectroscopy, spectroscopic technique based on re-orientation of Atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei with non-zero nuclear sp ...

, and was titled "''N.M.R. Studies of Inorganic Hydrides''".

Academic career

In 1966, Sheldrick was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

. During his time as an academic at the

, he also taught within the Faculty of Chemistry. He was a demonstrator from 1966 to 1971, and a lecturer from 1971 to 1978. Sheldrick joined the

in 1978. There, he was first

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Inorganic Chemistry Inorganic chemistry deals with chemical synthesis, synthesis and behavior of inorganic compound, inorganic and organometallic chemistry, organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subj ...

, then later Professor of Structural Chemistry. In 2011, he retired from full-time academia and was appointed Niedersachsen Professor (IE

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

Work

Sheldrick dealt with molecular structure elucidation by X-ray diffraction. He was the lead developer of the SHELX program suite, which is freely available online. In 2011, a graphical user interface for SHELX refinements called ShelXle was released.

Personal life and death

On 13 July 1968, Sheldrick married Katherine Elizabeth Herford. Together they had four children. He died on 20 February 2025, at the age of 82. His younger brother, William S. Sheldrick (1945–2015), was a professor of analytical chemistry at Ruhr University in

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

, Germany until his retirement in 2010.

Honours

*1970

Meldola Medal The Meldola Medal and Prize was awarded annually from 1921 to 1979 by the Chemical Society and from 1980 to 2008 by the Royal Society of Chemistry to a British chemist who was under 32 years of age for promising original investigations in chemistr ...

of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

*1978 Corday-Morgan Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry *1988 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft *1999 Carl-Hermann Medal of the German Society for Crystallography *2001

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

*2004 Max Perutz Prize of the European Crystallographic Association *2009

Gregori Aminoff Prize The Gregori Aminoff Prize is an international prize awarded since 1979 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the field of crystallography, rewarding "a documented, individual contribution in the field of crystallography, including areas concer ...

of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

*2011 Ewald Prize of the

International Union of Crystallography The International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) is an organisation devoted to the international promotion and coordination of the science of crystallography. The IUCr is a member of the International Council for Science (ICSU). Objectives T ...

*2024 George M. Sheldrick Prize The European Crystallographic Association awarded its first award in honour of George Sheldrick.

References

External links

Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheldrick, George M. 1942 births 2025 deaths English chemists German chemists British crystallographers Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Academic staff of the University of Göttingen People educated at Huddersfield New College Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge