Obituary - Frank Allen (1944 - 2014)

Frank Allen (1944 - 2014)

Frank Allen

It is with great regret we announce that Frank Allen died, November 10, 2014, aged 70. Frank joined the Chemical Crystallography Group at the University of Cambridge in 1970 and played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Cambridge Structural Database. He went on to become the Scientific Director and then the Executive Director of the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. Following his retirement in 2008, Frank remained with the CCDC as an Emeritus Research Fellow, enabling him to continue to indulge his passion for structural chemistry. Frank’s research involved collaboration with many scientists around the world, resulting in over 200 papers.

He was also a wonderful teacher, supervising more than 20 doctoral students and introducing many more to structural chemistry through workshops over many years. His contributions to other influential organizations, his vigorous editorship of Acta Crystallographica Section B, the numerous conferences he organized and presentations he made meant Frank was known to and respected by crystallographers the world over. Frank has long been a leading figure in international crystallography, and was a wonderful colleague, becoming a friend to all those who worked with him. He will be sadly missed.

(This information was taken from the CCDC website (ccdc. cam.ac.uk). A full obituary will be published by the IUCr (R. Taylor, Acta Cryst. (2014). B70, 1035–1036)).