George Guy Dodson FRS FMedSci (13 January 1937 – 24 December 2012), was a British biochemist who specialised in

protein crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract in specific directions. By measuring the angles and ...

at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

Education

Dodson graduated from the

University of New Zealand A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. His doctoral thesis, completed in 1961, was titled ''An X-ray analysis of an alkaloid and some investigation into nickel bis-salicylaldahyde triethylene tetramine''.

Career

Dodson did

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

with

Dorothy Hodgkin Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (née Crowfoot; 12 May 1910 – 29 July 1994) was a Nobel Prize-winning English chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential for ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. He devised along with Hodgkin, very intricate experimental, crystallographic and computer techniques that led to the final solution of the structure of

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the insulin (''INS)'' gene. It is the main Anabolism, anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabol ...

. Dodson was head of the structural biology laboratories at the

and

National Institute for Medical Research The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC); In 2016, the NIMR became part of the new F ...

, London. During his career he collaborated with many scientists including Dale Wigley,

Gideon Davies Gideon John Davies FMedSci, FRS (born 6 July 1964) is a British structural biologist and chemist known for his research on the structure, mechanism, and biological roles of carbohydrate-active enzymes. He is a professor at the University of York ...

, Andrzej Brzozowski, Leo Brady and

Max Perutz Max Ferdinand Perutz (19 May 1914 – 6 February 2002) was an Austrian-born British molecular biologist, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with John Kendrew, for their studies of the structures of haemoglobin and myoglobin. He went ...

Awards and honours

Dodson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1994. His nomination reads Dodson was also a Foreign Member of the

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three b ...

(ForMemINSA) and the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci). He was a recipient of the

RSC RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock Ste ...

Structural Chemistry Award in 1991.

Personal life

Dodson was married to the scientist

Eleanor Dodson Eleanor Joy Dodson FRS is an Australian-born biologist who specialises in the computational modelling of protein crystallography. She holds a chair in the Department of Chemistry at the University of York. She is the widow of the scientist Gu ...

with whom he had four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodson, Guy 1937 births 2012 deaths British crystallographers Academics of the University of York Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) New Zealand fellows of the Royal Society Foreign fellows of the Indian National Science Academy National Institute for Medical Research faculty New Zealand emigrants to England People from Palmerston North University of Auckland alumni