Professor Gautam Desiraju, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, was elected President of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) during the IUCr General Assembly in Madrid, Spain, last month. Desiraju has played a major role in the development of crystal engineering for nearly three decades and will head the IUCr for the triennium 2011–2014.

Professor Gautam Desiraju was born in Madras, India, and received his B.Sc. at the University of Bombay, India, in 1972. He was awarded his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, in 1976. After two years at Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, New York, USA, he joined the faculty at the University of Hyderabad, India, as Lecturer in 1979, being appointed Reader in 1984 and Professor in 1990. He left the University of Hyderabad in 2009 and is currently at the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

His 1989 book on crystal engineering and 1995 review in Angewandte Chemie on supramolecular synthons redefined several aspects of the subject of crystal engineering, and in particular led to an emphasis on the study of hydrogen bonds and other intermolecular interactions. He has been involved with a range of journals, and currently serves on the International Advisory Board of Angewandte Chemie.

• Editorial: Science in a Changing World
  Gautam R. Desiraju,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50(25), 5590—5591.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201102495
• A Bond by Any Other Name
  Gautam R. Desiraju,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 50(1), 52—59.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201002960
• Supramolecular Synthons in Crystal Engineering—A New Organic Synthesis
  Gautam R. Desiraju,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1995, 34(21), 2311—2327.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.199523111