News

On Saturday, Dec 16, our dear friend and colleague Ross Smith died of cancer.  Below is the message circulated on the 3DEM list, signed by Ueli Aebi, Andreas Engel, Martin Kessel and Alasdair Steven, who all know him from the time in Eduard Kellenberger’s lab at the Biozentrum in Basel.

Ross was one of the early pioneers in the development of image processing software dedicated to the reconstruction of symmetric assemblies.  I first met him in the early seventies.  For me his passing away was totally unexpected, and a shock.  I will forever remember his wit, his charm, his brilliance.

–Joachim

Dear Friends,

It is with deep sadness that we announce  the passing away of our colleague Philip Ross Smith, who died peacefully in his sleep on Saturday Dec. 16, after a protracted battle with cancer.

Ross will be remembered as one of the pioneers of the field of Three Dimensional (3D) Electron Microscopy as it came to be known in the late 1960’s and 1970’s.  During his early work at the Biozentrum in Basel Ross pioneered the development of the image processing software package Micrograph Data Processing Program (MDPP) which he applied to exploring the 3D structural organization of the bacteriophage T4 capsid and its contractile tail.

In 1978 Ross joined the faculty at the New York University School of Medicine where he devoted his career to developing novel computing resources for education and research in the life sciences and for solving problems in medical informatics.

A Memorial for Ross is being planned for the near future.

We extend our deepest condolences to Ross’ wife Marjorie and daughters Rebecca and Laura.

Ueli Aebi, Andreas Engel, Martin Kessel and Alasdair Steven