Jens-Boie Suck was born in 1938, and studied Physics in Kiel, Vienna and Göttingen. His career in neutron scattering started during his PhD, thesis completed in 1975, where he determined the scattering laws of polycrystalline and liquid rubidium, measured at the cold neutron rotating crystal time-of-flight (TOF) spectrometer at FR2 in Karlsruhe. Soon he became one of the true pioneers in the field of neutron spectroscopy, especially with TOF techniques. Already during years at Karlsruhe in the early 1970s, he participated in the construction of two new TOF spectrometers, one being the forerunner of IN4 at the ILL, where he remained until 1980. The second, very German sounding TOF, KARTOFFEL (KARLsruher TOFspectrometer) was transferred to the Siloé reactor at the CEA Grenoble, with Helmut Schober as the instrument responsible.
Always close to instrumentation he first developed a charge sensitive pre-multiplier for 3He detectors. His expertise in neutron detectors helped to convince the directors to equip the ILL spectrometer IN6 with the first true wide angle multi-detector system at that time. He was the first to perform very high temperature experiments up to 1400 K at ILL in the 1970s. Jens-Boie returned to the ILL as senior scientist from 1990 to 1995 and advocated for building a new type of spectrometer, which became the Italian CRG instrument for Brillouin scattering, BRISP.
He habilitated in Bale, Switzerland, and lectured there first as ‘Privatdozent’ and later as Adjunct Professor. In 1995, he was appointed Professor for Materials Science and Liquids at the Technical University in Chemnitz where he continued research on quasicrystals, nanocrystals, glasses and liquids. At the Institute of Physics in Chemnitz, there was already a topical focus on disordered materials, and thus close collaboration with other experimental and theory groups could easily be established. The mostly neutron scattering related experimental projects received support from a small theoretical sub-unit within his working group.
Scientifically, he was mainly interested in understanding the atomic structure and dynamics of disordered or partially ordered systems, such as liquids, metallic glasses, quasi- and nano-crystals. In the course of his academic career, he published more than 150 papers and edited three books. After his retirement Jens-Boie moved back to Göttingen, the place of his Alma Mater, but remained scientifically active as emeritus professor in Chemnitz. He continued to frequently spend time in Grenoble, which had become his second home, not only scientifically but also due to the beauty of the mountains and the prospects to go hiking in summer and skiing in winter.
Jens-Boie was a kind, supportive and generous person who was always willing to share his knowledge and expertise with others. It was a pleasure to have a coffee with him because he was a really curious and interested in many subjects. He was deeply respected by colleagues and his legacy will undoubtedly live on through his contributions to the field of neutron spectroscopy, and the impact they made on those who knew them.
Jens-Boie Suck passed away in April 2023 in Göttingen at the age of 84, after two years of illness. He is survived by his wife Ute, his two daughters, and nine grandchildren.