obituary 390 doi:10.1107/S0909049513003130 J. Synchrotron Rad. (2013). 20, 390–392 Journal of Synchrotron Radiation ISSN 0909-0495 Roger Fourme (1942–2012) We announce with great sadness the untimely death of Roger Fourme, who played an important role in the advancement of synchrotron radiation research and was one of the founding co-editors of the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation. Roger Fourme first enrolled into a curriculum for training school teachers, but his professors soon convinced him to switch to university studies in physics. After he obtained his PhD in this discipline, he became Assistant Professor at the University of Cre ´ teil near Paris, then Full Professor at the Universite ´ Paris XI, Orsay, in the late 1970s. There he joined the LURE synchrotron, which he soon placed in a prominent position on the international map of macromolecular crystallography and where he later acted as Head of the Biology Department. In the late 1990s he became an enthusiastic advocate of the construction of the French third-generation synchrotron, SOLEIL. He was one of its Science Directors until he retired in 2007, after which he continued working at SOLEIL as an Emeritus Professor. Roger has published extensively in the IUCr journals, including Acta Crystallographica (pre-1970), Acta Crystallographica Section B and Section D, Journal of Applied Crystallography and Journal of Synchrotron Radiation. He was a founding co-editor of the latter, reflecting his extensive reach into the field of synchrotron crystallography for life sciences in Europe. Roger did not believe in grabbing the limelight for himself, but was tireless in pursuing avant-garde developments that could benefit the whole field as much as possible. Many who crossed paths or worked with him over the years recalled this after we learned of his untimely death on Christmas Eve at the age of 71, while he was skiing with his sons and grandchildren. Ge ´ rard Bricogne, for instance, says ‘‘it was Roger’s unique enthusiasm, his radiant optimism, and his faith in how much could be achieved by simply pulling one’s own sleeves up, that convinced me to take up a staff position within the French CNRS at the LURE synchrotron, which led to my long-term collaboration with him’’. Roger’s scientific contributions are concentrated in the area of experimental phase determination by means of anomalous scattering, in which his name is inseparable from that of his friend Richard Kahn who also died prematurely in the very recent past. Roger Figure 1 Roger Fourme.