Page 112 - Neutrons for Sciences and Society

Neutrons for Science
thermal guide. The Eulerian cradle (4-circle) was equipped with a cryostat allowing data collection from the sample crystal down to 20 K, a record temperature for this type
of instrument. Later on, it became very versatile when equipped with an optional second monochromator (C. Zeyen and A. Filhol), an innovative zero-gravity dilution cryostat and a spin echo option (C. Zeyen), a “banana” multi-detector (B. Ouladdiaf), etc.
Apart from instrument building it seemed necessary to train researchers on protein crystallography which appeared to be
a very important research field for a high-flux reactor, and for which D6 had been constructed. The first idea for this training was to invite David Blow, an eminent English crystallographer and one time student of Max Perutz, to come to Grenoble with a permanent post. This was late in 1970, or January 1971. David Blow in his reply of 15 January 1971 declined the offer, while expressing his interest in neutron diffraction and proposing collaboration. Hartmut Fuess, one of the first scientists at the Institut was sent for a year to work with Dorothy Hodgkin who had solved the structure of vitamin B12, and had completed the X-ray work with a neutron study. Then in September 1972 Ulrich Arndt, coming also from Max Perutz’s group, was recruited, staying until August 1973. The D6 diffractometer (Fig. 5.2) was shown to be ill-adapted, and the field of protein crystallography was dropped, before being re-adopted on conventional diffractometers. [2018 addition: however the Laue technique pioneered by D6 resurfaced 20 years later with the innovative Laue diffractometers LADI77 making use of a large image plate
77 Cipriani F., Castagna J.C., Lehmann M.S., Wilkinson C. (1995) Physica B 213-214, 975-977, DOI 10.1016/0921- 4526(95)00340-F
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