Frank Allen (chemist)
Frank H Allen | |
|---|---|
| Born | Frank Harmsworth Allen June 1944[1] |
| Died | 10 November 2014 (aged 70) |
| Resting place | Histon and Impington Cemetery |
| Alma mater | Imperial College London |
| Known for | Innovative data handling at CCDC |
| Spouse | Sandra J Newman |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | See list |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Crystallography |
| Institutions | University of British Columbia Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre |
| Thesis | X-ray structural studies of some biologically significant molecules (1968) |
| Doctoral advisor | Donald Rogers |
Frank Harmsworth Allen
Biography
Frank Harmsworth Allen was born in 1944 in Reading, Berkshire and raised in Pangbourne, a village 6 miles away and close to the River Thames. He was the only child of George W Allen and Gwendolen Retta (née Whittamore).
He gained a First in chemistry and a PhD in crystallography at Imperial College London, and in 1968 moved to Vancouver to take up a post-doctoral fellowship, working with James Trotter[3] at the University of British Columbia.[4] Before long, they had established the structure and conformation of thalidomide.[5]
A little earlier, in the
Appointments and awards
- Won the RSC prize for Structural Chemistry in 1994
- Gained the ACS Herman Skolnik Award in 2003
- Visiting professor of Structural Chemistry at the University of Bristol
- Member of the International Advisory Board of the PDB (RCSB)[6]
- Member of many commissions and committees of the IUCr
- Member of the Council of the European Crystallographic Association
- Vice President of the British Crystallographic Association from 1997 to 2001
- Member of the Board of Lhasa Limited
- Member of the editorial board for Springer Publishing's Structural Chemistry journal.[7]
Personal life
Robin Taylor, CCDC Emeritus Research Fellow, noted that
Frank was a sportsman. He played cricket for his county at school level and opened the bowling for a strong University Chemical Laboratory team. A desire to play cricket was one of his stated reasons for wanting a return home from Canada! He was a mainstay of Sawston hockey club … He sustained frequent injuries, including a broken nose, as is always a possibility when several men in close proximity to one another wave heavy sticks and propel hard spheres at high speed.[4]
He also had a dry sense of humour:
Retino-rectal Connexions
SIR, –Dr Robertson (Nature, 233, 435;
1971) refers to an annoying visual
condition which he calls tunnel vision.
Surely he means hindsight?
Yours faithfully,
F. H. ALLEN
N. W. ISAACSUniversity Chemical Laboratory,
Lensfield Road,
Cambridge CB2 lEW[8]
Frank married Sandra J Newman (Sandy) in 1966. They had three children: Ashley, Andrew and Stuart. Ashley was killed in a road accident in 1988, aged 20.
Frank Harmsworth Allen died on 10 November 2014. His funeral took place on the 27th at St Andrew's, Histon.[2] He was then buried at Histon and Impington (Mill Road) Cemetery.[9]
References
- ^ "Frank Harmsworth ALLEN". Gov.UK Find and update company information. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
- ^ a b c "University of Cambridge". Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ^ "James Trotter". The University of British Columbia. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- ^ a b c "Obituary by Robin Taylor" (PDF). Acta Crystallographica Section B. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ^ Allen, F H; Trotter, James (1971). "Crystal and molecular structure of thalidomide, N-(α-glutarimido)-phthalimide". J. Chem. Soc. B: 1073–1079.
- ^ "RCSB PDB Advisory Committee". RCSB PDB Protein Data Bank. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
- ^ Hargittai, István (2015). "Frank Allen (1944–2014), member of the Editorial Board of Structural Chemistry". Structural Chemistry. 26: 637.
- ^ Allen, F H; Isaacs, N W (17 December 1971). "Retino-rectal Connexions". Nature. 234: 426.
- ^ Parish Clerk, Histon & Impington Parish Council, 14 August 2023
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