International Union of Crystallography

O. Kennard awarded the twelfth Ewald Prize

The twelfth Ewald Prize has been awarded to Dr Olga Kennard (Cambridge, UK) for her invaluable pioneering contribution to the development of crystallographic databases, in particular the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD), which as she early foresaw, has led "… to the discovery of new knowledge which transcends the results of individual experiment". Her own surveys using the CSD were fundamental in the development of crystal engineering, and are outstanding examples of the use of crystallographic databases as an essential tool for analysis and prediction. As founder of the CSD, director of the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) over decades, and being involved in the founding of the Protein Data Bank (PDB), Olga Kennard has made a fundamental impact on the development of modern crystallography.

The CCDC's Suzanna Ward delivered Dr Kennard's Ewald Prize Lecture during the Opening Ceremony of the 25th IUCr Congress on 14 August 2021.

The IUCr asked Dr Kennard about her life and work; read her account here

For a list of papers by Dr Kennard appearing in IUCr journals click here. She also published a paper in the second issue of Acta Crystallographica in 1948 under her maiden name, Weisz.