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Geoffrey Luckhurst awarded the Freederikz Medal
At the 9th European Conference on Liquid Crystals (ECLC2007) held in Portugal, Professor Geoffrey Luckhurst was awarded the Fredericksz Medal of the Russian Liquid Crystal Society. The Fredericksz Medal was initiated in 1997 and is the highest award of the Society, marking outstanding contributions in the fields of chemistry, physics and applications of liquid crystals. Two Medals are usually awarded every year; one to a Russian scientist and the other to a non-Russian. The first laureates in 1997 were Professor George Gray and Professor Viktor Tsvetkov. Other recipients have included Professors Chandrasekhar and Saupe.
Geoffrey was presented the Medal at the opening ceremony of ECLC 2007 by Professor Valery Shibaev, himself a previous winner of the Medal in 1998. The award was made to Geoffrey for his major contributions to the chemical physics of liquid crystals, spanning over 40 years. His first liquid crystal paper was published in 1964 focussing on the electron spin resonance spectra of free radicals dissolved in liquid crystals. Much of his early research involved pioneering the experimental use of liquid crystal solvents in ESR, which led him to consider the theory of spin relaxation and the anisotropy in the linewidths caused by that of the liquid crystal host.
Following these studies, his interest switched to the behaviour of the liquid crystal itself. He developed a range of molecular field theories for molecular systems of increasing complexity with his most recent achievement in this area being a theoretical description of liquid crystal dendrimers. In parallel, he pioneered the use of computer simulation techniques beginning with lattice systems through to his seminal work on the powerful Gay-Berne model potential.
These theoretical and computer simulation studies have underpinned and informed his interests in the design and synthesis of new materials. Most notably this includes his work on liquid crystal dimers and the discovery of new intercalated smectic phases. More recently he has used this molecular architecture to explore two quite different areas; the biaxial nematic phase and flexoelectric materials.
In addition to his work aimed at understanding the behaviour of liquid crystals at the molecular level, he also has interests in the macroscopic behaviour of liquid crystals. Originally this involved ESR studies of the director distribution in a spinning nematic subject to a magnetic field. More recently he has developed experiments using NMR spectroscopy to determine the director distribution and how it changes as a function of time when subjected to a combination of magnetic and electric fields.
Geoffrey has been an active member of the liquid crystal community throughout his career and has served as President of the International Liquid Crystal Society (1996– 2000) and Chair of the British Liquid Crystal Society (1996–2002). Together with Professor Ed Samulski, he founded the journal Liquid Crystals in 1986 and served recently as guest editor on the special issue marking its 20th anniversary. Amongst his edited works is the seminal text The Molecular Physics of Liquid Crystals co-edited with Professor George Gray, which collected the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on the Molecular Physics of Liquid Crystals held in Cambridge in 1977. Twenty-two years later another meeting on the Molecular Physics of Liquid Crystals directed by Professors Claudio Zannoni and Tim Sluckin was held in Erice to celebrate his 60th birthday.
The Fredericksz Medal is the latest of a number of awards and distinctions given to Professor Luckhurst for his work; others include the G W Gray Medal of the British Liquid Crystal Society (2002) and election as an Honoured Member of the International Liquid Crystal Society (2004).
In writing this short account of Geoffrey’s research and achievements, I have deliberately avoided making reference to his co-workers over the years. By contrast, he is always generous in acknowledging the contributions of his colleagues, but here I have taken the view that you know who you are! In summary, there are few, if any, who have made defining contributions to our understanding of liquid crystals in such a variety of fields ranging from theory to synthesis as Geoffrey and the award of the Fredericksz Medal is richly deserved.
Date: June 2007
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