June Sutor

Dorothy June Sutor (6 June 1929 – 27 May 1990) was a New Zealand-born crystallographer who spent most of her research career in England. She was one of the first scientists to establish that hydrogen bonds could form to hydrogen atoms bonded to carbon atoms. She later worked in the laboratory of Kathleen Lonsdale on the characterisation and prevention of urinary calculi.

Early life and education Sutor was born in New Zealand, in the Auckland suburb of Parnell, on 6 June 1929, the daughter of Victor Edward Sutor, a coach builder, and Cecilia Maud Sutor (née Craner). She was educated at St Cuthbert's College, and went on to study chemistry at Auckland University College. She published her first single-author Acta Crystallographica paper, The unit cell and space group of ethyl nitrolic acid, whilst a student.

In 1954, Sutor went to the United Kingdom, and took up a travelling scholarship and Bathurst Studentship at Newnham College, Cambridge.

Research and career Sutor moved to Australia in 1958, working as a research officer in Melbourne. She worked on hydrogen bonding and computational chemistry, writing programs for the EDSAC. She investigated the structure of theacrine, DNA and other purine compounds.

Sutor moved back to New Zealand, working briefly for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research before taking leave to look after her father, who died in 1964. In 1966, Sutor was offered a job by Kathleen Lonsdale at University College London. She studied urinary calculi and searched for ways to prevent them. Sutor had good contacts with hospital staff, and even managed to secure Napoléon III's bladder stone. She was supported by a grant from the Nuffield Foundation.

Death and legacy Sutor died of cancer in London on 27 May 1990. Their work included 113 neutron diffraction patterns in the Cambridge Crystallographic Database, and found that Sutor's C–H⋯O bond distances were correct to within .