John C. H. Spence (1946–2021)

John Spence presenting his talk "From X-ray tubes to X-ray lasers" at the IYCr2014 Opening Ceremony at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, in January 2014. Photo credit: Radomír Kužel.

We regret to announce the recent death of John Spence, Richard Snell Professor of Physics at Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ, USA), Director of Science at the National Science Foundation BioXFEL Science and Technology Center (Buffalo, NY, USA) and much-respected Editor of IUCrJ.

Professor Spence will be remembered for his innovative world-leading contributions to both biology and materials science. He co-led the team that conceived the first application of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) to structural biology using protein nanocrystals and he pioneered femtosecond serial crystallography, which allows, for instance, the structure determination of membrane proteins and viruses in their native environment before the onset of radiation damage. He was also a world leader in the development and application of atomic-resolution electron microscopy and its use for the study of atomic defects in crystals and semiconductors. Amongst his many honours, John was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 2015 and, just this year, was awarded the Gregori Aminoff Prize.

In addition to his position as the Main Editor (Physics and FEL Science and Technology) of IUCrJ since the journal's launch, John was Co-editor of Acta Cryst. A from 1989 to 1999 and served on the IUCr Commissions on Electron Diffraction (now Electron Crystallography) (1996–2002; Chair 2002–2005) and Charge, Spin and Momentum Densities (now Quantum Crystallography) (1999–2008). Recognising his immense influence on the development of crystallography for society and the future, he was invited to speak at the IYCr2014 Opening Ceremony (see photo).

For a list of papers by John Spence appearing in IUCr journals, please click here. A full obituary will be published in due course.