Sutherland, Gordon Brims Black McIvor (1907–1980)

Scottish physicist who used infrared spectroscopy to study molecular structure. He elucidated the structure of a wide range of substances, from proteins to diamonds. He was knighted in 1960.

Sutherland was born in Caithness and studied at St Andrews and Cambridge. He was at Cambridge 1934–49, then went to the USA as professor at the University of Michigan. In 1956 he returned to Britain to become director of the National Physical Laboratory. He was master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1964–77.

Working with English physicist William Penney, Sutherland showed that the four atoms of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) do not lie in the same plane but that the molecule's structure resembles a partly opened book, with the oxygen atoms aligned along the spine and the O–H bonds lying across each cover. Later, during World War II, Sutherland and his research group at Cambridge analysed fuel from crashed German aircraft in order to discover their sources of oil. At Michigan he was one of the first to use spectroscopy to study biophysical problems; he also continued his investigations into simpler molecules and crystals.