Dear All,
I'm very sorry to say that our colleague and my good friend Alan
Dickinson died earlier today, after a long fight with cancer. His
daughter Helen has just written to tell me.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been made, but will be announced on
the Web site that the family have set up for him:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/asdickinson
I'm not qualified to write an obituary, so I'll confine myself to some
personal memories. Alan was one of the stalwarts of theoretical atomic
and molecular physics in the UK, who made his career as Professor in
Theoretical Atomic Physics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. I
first met him when I was a graduate student, some time in the early 80s.
He was always interested, always willing to offer his time and
encouragement. He was a leading light in CCP6, the EPSRC Collaborative
Computational Project on Heavy Particle Dynamics (later renamed to
Molecular Quantum Dynamics). We used to share thoughts and ideas on
intermolecular forces, on atomic and molecular collisions, and most
recently on cold atoms and molecules. Until very recently he travelled
over to Durham quite regularly for seminars, and he always had something
interesting to say about the latest developments, with a quiet, wry
humour that was his trademark. We will miss him.
Jeremy Hutson
--
Prof. Jeremy M. Hutson, FRS
Dept. of Chemistry
University of Durham
Durham Tel. (0191) 334 2147 (UK)
DH1 3LE Tel. +44 191 334 2147 (International)
England FAX: +44 191 384 4737
World-Wide Web home page: http://www.dur.ac.uk/j.m.hutson/
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