This book aims to explain how and why the detailed three-dimensional architecture of molecules can be determined by an analysis of the diffraction patterns obtained when X rays or neutrons are scattered by the atoms in single crystals. Part 1 deals with the nature of the crystalline state, diffraction generally, and diffraction by crystals in particular, and, briefly, the experimental procedures that are used. Part II examines the problem of converting the experimentally obtained data into a model of the atomic arrangement that scattered these beams. Part III is concerned with the techniques for refining the approximate structure to the degree warranted by the experimental data. It also describes the many types of information that can be learned by modern crystal structure analysis. There is a glossary of terms used and several appendixes to which most of the mathematical details have been relegated.

About the Author:
Jenny Pickworth Glusker took her doctorate at Oxford, before moving to the US for postdoctoral work at the California Institute of Technology in 1955. She is now Senior Member Emeritus at the Institute for Cancer Research, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, and Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. She has held various senior positions, including President of the American Crystallographic Association (1979), Chair of the U.S. National Committee for Crystallography (1982-1984), and visiting professorships at several universities worldwide. Awards include the Garvan Medal, American Chemical Society (1979), the Public Service Award, American Crystallographic Association (1991) and the Fankuchen Award, American Crystallographic Association (with Ken Trueblood, 1995).

Kenneth N. Trueblood took his Ph.D. in chemistry at the California Institute of Chemistry in 1947. He remained at the University of California, Los Angeles until his death in 1998. For his profound influence on beginning chemistry students, he received the first UCLA Distinguished Teaching award (1961) and the national award for excellence in teaching given by the Manufacturing Chemists Association in 1978. For his work he received a Fulbright award (1956-1957), a Guggenheim fellowship (1976-1977), and the Fankuchen Memorial award of the American Crystallographic Assn (1995). He was elected President of the American Crystallographic Association in 1961.