Durward William John Cruickshank

{{Infobox scientist

| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|03|07|df=y}}

| birth_place = London, UK

| death_date = {{death_date_and_age|2007|07|13 |1924|03|07|df=y}}

| death_place = Alderley Edge, UK

| name = Durward William John Cruickshank

| image = File:Durward William John Cruickshank.gif

| fields = Crystallography

| known_for = Thermal ellipsoid

| caption =

| education = Loughborough University
University of London
University of Cambridge
University of Leeds

| doctoral_advisor = Ernest Gordon Cox

| academic_advisors =

| workplaces = University of Leeds
University of Glasgow
University of Manchester

| website =

}}

Durward William John Cruickshank {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS}} (7 March 1924 – 13 July 2007), often known as D. W. J. Cruickshank, was a British crystallographer whose work transformed the precision of determining molecular structures from X-ray crystal structure analysis. He developed the theoretical framework for anisotropic displacement parameters, also known as the thermal ellipsoid, for crystal structure determination in a series of papers published in 1956 in Acta Crystallographica.{{Cite journal |last=Cruickshank |first=D. W. J. |date=1956-09-10 |title=The determination of the anisotropic thermal motion of atoms in crystals |url=http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S0365110X56002035 |journal=Acta Crystallographica |language=en |volume=9 |issue=9 |pages=747–753 |doi=10.1107/S0365110X56002035 |bibcode=1956AcCry...9..747C |issn=0365-110X}}{{Cite journal |last=Cruickshank |first=D. W. J. |date=1956-09-10 |title=The analysis of the anisotropic thermal motion of molecules in crystals |url=http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S0365110X56002047 |journal=Acta Crystallographica |language=en |volume=9 |issue=9 |pages=754–756 |doi=10.1107/S0365110X56002047 |bibcode=1956AcCry...9..754C |issn=0365-110X}}{{Cite journal |last=Cruickshank |first=D. W. J. |date=1956-09-10 |title=Errors in bond lengths due to rotational oscillations of molecules |url=http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S0365110X56002059 |journal=Acta Crystallographica |language=en |volume=9 |issue=9 |pages=757–758 |doi=10.1107/S0365110X56002059 |bibcode=1956AcCry...9..757C |issn=0365-110X}}

Early life and education

Cruickshank was born in London on 7 March 1924, the son of William Durward Cruickshank and his wife Margaret Ombler Meek, both of whom were doctors. He was educated at St Lawrence College in Ramsgate, Kent. He studied engineering at Loughborough College (which became Loughborough University in 1966), receiving an external degree with first class honours from the University of London in 1944.

From 1944 to 1946 he worked for the Admiralty in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) on naval operational research, including on underwater submersibles.

Cruickshank subsequently studied mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class BA in 1949, an MA in 1954 and finally a ScD in 1961.{{Cite web |title=Durward William John Cruickshank (1924-2007) |url=https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-15/number-3/dwj-cruikshank-1924-2007 |access-date=2022-04-21 |website=www.iucr.org}}{{Who's Who | title = CRUICKSHANK, Prof. Durward William John | id = U12478 | volume = 2024 | edition = online}} He received a PhD from the University of Leeds in 1952.[https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH2168&type=P The University of Glasgow Story, People, Durward Cruickshank]

Academic career

Cruickshank joined Gordon (later Sir Gordon) Cox's group at the University of Leeds as a temporary research assistant and where he was appointed Lecturer in Mathematical Chemistry in 1950 and promoted to Reader in 1957.[https://www.leeds.ac.uk/secretariat/obituaries/2007/obituary4914.html University of Leeds, Durward Cruickshank FRS, obituary, published 19 July 2007] From 1962 to 1967 he was the first Joseph Black Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow.{{Cite journal |date=1962 |title=Chemistry at Glasgow: Prof. D. W. J. Cruickshank |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=194 |issue=4828 |pages=531 |doi=10.1038/194531c0 |bibcode=1962Natur.194S.531. |s2cid=4183634 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free }}

In 1967 Cruickshank moved to Manchester, becoming Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) where he remained until his retirement as Emeritus Professor in 1983. He was Deputy Principal there from 1971 to 1972. UMIST became part of the University of Manchester in 2004.{{Cite journal |last1=Helliwell |first1=J. R. |last2=Abrahams |first2=S. C. |date=2007-09-01 |title=Durward William John Cruickshank (1924–2007) |url=http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?es0361 |journal=Acta Crystallographica Section A: Foundations of Crystallography |language=en |volume=63 |issue=5 |pages=375–379 |doi=10.1107/S0108767307039062 |pmid=17703069 |bibcode=2007AcCrA..63..375H |issn=0108-7673|doi-access=free }}

He kept doing research after his retirement, publishing his last paper in 2007,{{Cite journal |last1=Ahmed |first1=H. U. |last2=Blakeley |first2=M. P. |last3=Cianci |first3=M. |last4=Cruickshank |first4=D. W. J. |last5=Hubbard |first5=J. A. |last6=Helliwell |first6=J. R. |date=2007-08-01 |title=The determination of protonation states in proteins |url=http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S0907444907029976 |journal=Acta Crystallographica Section D: Biological Crystallography |volume=63 |issue=8 |pages=906–922 |doi=10.1107/S0907444907029976 |pmid=17642517 |issn=0907-4449}} the year he died.

Honours and awards

Cruickshank was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1979.{{Cite journal|last1=Beagley|first1=B.|last2=Helliwell|first2=J. R.|authorlink2=John R. Helliwell|date=2018|title=Durward W. J. Cruickshank. 7 March 1924—13 July 2007|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=65 |pages=71–87 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.2018.0018 |s2cid=105934572 |doi-access=free}} In 1991, he received the Dorothy Hodgkin Prize of the British Crystallographic Association, where he served as Vice President from 1983 to 1985.

Cruickshank was awarded the honorary degree of DSc by the University of Glasgow in 2004.

Death

Cruickshank died from cancer in Alderley Edge, Cheshire on 13 July 2007 at the age of 83. His wife, Marjorie, predeceased him. He was survived by a son and a daughter.