My friend and colleague John Sherwood, who has died aged 87, was an academic physical chemist who made a huge contribution to the understanding of organic crystals and their imperfections.
Organic crystals are ubiquitous in our everyday life: in pharmaceuticals, fuels, soap, candles, chocolate, ice-cream, agrochemicals, explosives and fibre-optic components. John studied the imperfections in such crystals and how these affected their performance and effectiveness, and was involved in creating ultrapure, perfect and large (greater than 10cm3) single crystals of many materials for use in both academia and industry.
John was born in Redruth, Cornwall, the son of William Sherwood, a French teacher, and his wife, Lily (nee Rose), a housekeeper. He attended Aireborough grammar school in Bradford and afterwards studied chemistry at the University of Durham, where he met Margaret Shaw; they married in 1958.
After a doctorate at Durham, in 1960 John was appointed as a lecturer in chemistry at the Royal College of Science and Technology, Glasgow (now the University of Strathclyde). Becoming professor of chemistry in 1977, he established the first research centre into the growth and perfection of organic crystals, producing crystals of a quality still to be bettered.
John worked closely with industry and government agencies on many projects, including improving polymer fibre purity; inhibiting fuel crystallisation in cold weathers; controlling the stability of explosives; and developing new crystals for fibre-optic communications systems.
He published more than 250 research papers and was a fellow of both the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was a founder member, and later chair, of the British Association for Crystal Growth.
John was an excellent mentor of junior colleagues, encouraging them to collaborate, gain international experience and develop leading careers in both academia and industry.
He held a succession of senior academic offices at Strathclyde. He was dean of the faculty of science for three years, then deputy principal of the university for six years. In 1994 he became Strathclyde’s vice-principal – a position that is elected by fellow academics. He won confidence and respect with his courtesy and personal warmth to all, and by the knowledge that he stood for the core values of the academic community.
Retiring in 2002, he was an active member of the Episcopal church in Bearsden, Glasgow, and was a keen gardener. He enjoyed the great outdoors and family holidays were spent walking in the countryside and exploring new places in his camper van. Both John and Margaret had a particular love for India, making many trips there to visit work contacts and friends. John continued to write and publish, only stopping quite recently because of ill health.
Margaret predeceased him earlier in 2020. John is survived by their daughters, Rosemary and Jennifer, and by four grandchildren, a great-grandchild and his younger brother, David.
