Jack Dunitz was known for his use of crystal structure analysis as tool for studying chemical problems such as the structure and reactivity of medium-ring compounds, the ion specificity of natural and synthetic ionophores, chemical reaction paths, molecular motions, electron density distributions, polymorphism, phase transformations in solids, solid-state chemical reactions, and the analysis of weak intermolecular interactions in condensed phases.

He was a recipient of the Paracelsus Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society (1986), the Gregori Aminoff Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1990), and the Buerger Award of the American Crystallographic Association (1991), among other awards.

Jack was a member of the German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, Academia Europaea and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was also a Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was an Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the British Crystallographic Association, the Swiss Society of Crystallography and the Swiss Chemical Society.

Professor Jack Dunitz FRS died on 12 September 2021.