| Authorised form of name | Sheldrick; George Michael (1942-2025); chemist |
| Dates | 1942 - 2025 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 17 November 1942 |
| Place of death | Bovenden, Lower Saxony, Germany, Europe |
| Date of death | 20 February 2025 |
| Occupation | Chemist |
| Research field | Crystallography |
| Molecular biology |
| Biochemistry |
| Activity | Education:
Huddersfield New College; all-boys grammar school; Jesus College, Cambridge BA (1963); PhD (1966)
Career:
Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, later Professor of Structural Chemsitry, University of Gottingen, (1978-2011); Director of the Institute fur Anorganische Chemie, Gottingen, Germany; retired from academia and appointed Niedersachsen Professor (IE Emeritus Professor) (2011).
Memberships:
Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge 1966
Awards/Medals:
Meldola Medal of the RSC1970
Corday-Morgan-Medaille of the RSC 1978
Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Preis of the Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) 1988
Carl-Hermann-Medaille der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Kristallographie 1999
Max-Perutz-Preis of the European Crystallographic Association 2004
Gregori-Aminoff-Preis der Königlich Schwedischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2009
Ewald-Preis der International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) 2011 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 10/05/2001 |
| Relationships | Siblings: William S. Sheldrick (1945–2015), professor of analytical chemistry at Ruhr University in Bochum.
Spouse: Katherine Elizabeth Herford (m. 13 July 1968).
Children: Four. |
| PublishedWorks | RCN R69897 |
| OtherInfo | Major contributor to the field of chemical X-ray crystallography for the past four decades. He developed an extensive system of computer programs, SHELX, for structure determination and refinement, which had the particular distinction of giving full scope to the use of chemical knowledge and intuition.
Since 2024, the European Crystallographic Association awards the George Sheldrick Award. |
| Source | The Royal Society Fellows Directory, Professor George Sheldrick FRS, [URL: https://royalsociety.org/people/george-sheldrick-12264/; last accessed: 23/04/2025]
IUCr Newsletter (2025), Volume 33, Number 2, Obituary, George M. Sheldrick (1942–2025), Isabel Usón and Regine Herbst-Irmer, [URL: https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-33/number-2/george-m.-sheldrick-19422025; last accessed: 23/04/2025]
Chemistry Europe, Chemistry Views, George M. Sheldrick (1942 – 2025), [URL: https://www.chemistryviews.org/george_m_sheldrick-1942-2025/; last accessed: 23/04/2025] |
| Code | NA6887 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/2001/32 | Sheldrick, George Michael: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/004143 | Sheldrick, George Michael | 2001 |