Regarding David Sayre, Ed Lattman once opined in a Sayre's Equation
lecture to graduate students that if only David Sayre would focus his
attention on macromolecular crystallography again, that perhaps the
phase problem would be solved.
Lofty praise indeed.
Thanks for the anecdote Bob.
Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Robert Sweet
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 11:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] A bit of history: John W Backus obit [Broadcast]
I'm pretty sure that the crystallographer was David Sayre. I also
believe
(not documented well enough for wikipedia, but perhaps for here)
that IBM were so pleased with this performance that they made David an
IBM
Fellow, which meant that he could do anything he wanted for the rest of
his life. Here's what he decided to do:
He's known in crystallography for the Sayre Equation, a fundamental
relationship in direct methods. Also, maybe not so well known, he was a
major driving force behind the method of visualizing single molecules or
cells from diffraction patterns: J. Miao, H. N. Chapman, J. Kirz, D.
Sayre and K. O. Hodgson, TTaking X-ray Diffraction to the Limit:
Macromolecular Structures from Femtosecond X-ray Pulses and Diffraction
Microscopy of Cells with Synchrotron Radiation, Annu. Rev. Biophys.
Biomol. Struct. 33, 157-176 (2004).
He and I used to use adjacent darkrooms at the NSLS for developing x-ray
films (the '80's). I'd meet him on the long walk, ask what he was
doing,
and smile sympathetically when he said he was going to image single
yeast
cells. Well, they're essentially doing it now. One never want's to
underestimate David Sayre's ability to find phases.
When David retired from IBM and his adjunct appointment at SUNY Stony
Brook one of his old buddies from the FORTRAN project spoke at the
symposium. Perhaps it was Backus. They both said that the period of
developing that language in a small team was one of the happiest times
of
their lives.
Don't take this as fact, but this is what I remember.
Bob
On Tue, 20 Mar 2007, Bart Hazes wrote:
> The storey also made it to the CNN business page and they add...
>
> The Fortran programming language, which was a huge leap forward in
easing the
> creation of computer software, was released in 1957, said the report.
>
> Backus launched his research project at IBM (Charts) four years
earlier,
> assembling a diverse team of 10, including a chess wizard, a
crystallographer
> and a cryptographer, said the Times.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Full story @:
>
http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/20/news/newsmakers/backus/index.htm?postver
sion=2007032008
>
> Bart
>
>
> P.Artymiuk wrote:
>> A bit of history: NY Times obituary for John W. Backus, 82, developer
of
>> Fortran, without which CCP4 and much else would not have been
possible.
>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/obituaries/20cnd-backus.html?ex=133204
3200&en=adde3ee5a1875330&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
>>
>> Pete A
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
--
========================================================================
=
Robert M. Sweet E-Dress: [log in to unmask]
Group Leader, PXRR: Macromolecular ^ (that's L
Crystallography Research Resource at NSLS not 1)
http://px.nsls.bnl.gov/
Biology Dept
Brookhaven Nat'l Lab. Phones:
Upton, NY 11973 631 344 3401 (Office)
U.S.A. 631 344 2741 (Facsimile)
========================================================================
=
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