Editors: Jess Hrivnak Andrew Prentice Sophia Smith wins the RIBA Richard Jebb Dean Hawkes President’s Medal Newsletter of Darwin College The editors especially welcome short Jess Hrivnak, Darwin Alumna (2003 articles, pictures, artwork and news Autumn 2006 - 2005), was awarded the Diploma in from our overseas alumni. Architecture in 2005. Her disserta- Correspondence to: tion was the best in the year and was [email protected] chosen by the Department of Archi- New Sponsorship for Darwin Boat Club tecture to represent Cambridge in the The relationship with Darwin Col- annual competition for the President’s lege Boat Club has also proved to be Medal of the Royal Institute of British a great vehicle for hospitality events Architects. In this competition work for CfEL delegates and contributors. is submitted by all of the schools of During this summer, CfEL were able architecture in the United Kingdom. to co-ordinate one of their teaching Jess’ dissertation, ‘Is Relative Sustain- programmes with DCBC’s participa- ability Relevant?’ was awarded the consultancy, Bioregional, where she tion in the May ‘Bumps’ on 15th medal and she received this from the is now Supply Manager and Prod- June. The Cambridge Summer Forum President, Jack Pringle, at a ceremony uct Specialist for a UK government was conceived as an opportunity for held at the RIBA headquarters in funded project, ‘One Planet Prod- practitioners and policymakers to learn about what makes such enter- Portland Place, London. ucts’, which aims to make sustainable The issue of sustainability is now prising places as Cambridge work. building products more competitive at the forefront of architectural edu- CfEL offered a two-day module in cation and practice and Jess’ research in the construction industry. This entrepreneurship aimed at profes- made a detailed study of a restaurant presents her with the opportunity sionals working in this field. During pavilion recently built in St. James’ to develop further her interests and the programme, delegates were Park, London to the design of Sir expertise in sustainable construction. invited to a special networking dinner Michael Hopkins. In this she explored On a more personal note, Jess has The Darwin College Boat Club has Jost Schatzman, Mens Captain at Darwin College attended by the DCBC President, Dr Chester White, how the term sustainability may be recently become engaged to be mar- been supported during 2006 by a one DCBC said “We are absolutely de- Dr Shai Vyakarnam, and CfEL En- effectively quantified and how the ried to Andy Macintosh who is also a year sponsorship deal with the Centre lighted about the deal with the CfEL impact of a sustainable building trepreneurs in Residence Jack Lang, graduate of the M.Phil and Diploma for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL) because it allows us to continue to might be measured. Calendar of alumni events part of the Judge Business School, put out some of the fastest crews Alan Barrell and John Snyder among in Architecture courses in Cambridge. Upon graduation Jess worked in University of Cambridge. The CfEL in Cambridge and also because the others. Following that, CfEL invited Sir Michael Hopkins’ practice, but at 2006 sponsorship deal, set up by the DCBC events and programmes run by the key contributors, entrepreneurs and the beginning of June 2006 she took committee and Dr Shai Vyakarnam CfEL will be interesting to many of us delegates along to a day at the boat up a new post at the environmental Dean Hawkes (pictured above), Director of CfEL and in DCBC and the rest of Darwin.” races which was organised with help Friday 17th November from the Darwin Boat Club Commit- Reunion Dinner (1978-85) - 7.30pm Senior Member at Darwin provides The Centre for Entrepreneurial the Boat Club with a generous con- Learning (CfEL) aims to spread the tee. The day was a great success for Darwin Magazine Puzzle by Groucho all those involved and an inspiration Friday 1st December tribution that enables it to maintain spirit of enterprise to the University of for future events. Former Fellows’ Reunion - 7.30pm and improve the high standards of Cambridge and beyond by delivering equipment and coaching. In return, a range of educational activities to Shai Vyakarnam is married to Darwin alumna Anna Vyakarnam 2007 the relationship with Darwin helps inspire and build skills in the practice to raise awareness of the activities of entrepreneurship. The Centre col- (1977-81) of the Centre to key undergraduate laborates with over 200 experienced Saturday 10th March and graduate audiences within the entrepreneurs, innovators and other Former Fellows’ Buffet Lunch - 12.45pm University. practitioners to provide relevant, Friday 16th March credible and practical training. The Darwin Society Dinner / Reunion Dinner programmes offered include elec- (1983-1990) - 7.30pm tive modules in undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the Univer- Friday 18th May sity, weekly lectures and workshops, Darwin Society Dinner - 7.30pm as well as open programmes such as Enterprise Tuesday, CfEL Summer Figure 1. A big rectangle filled with little rectangles. All the red rectangles have integer height. (For Friday 8th June example, the bottom-left red rectangle has height 8.) All the green rectangles have integer width. School and Enterprisers. Guest night and Former Fellows’ A number of small rectangles perfectly tile a big rectangle. If the small rectangles all have the Reunion - 7.30pm Inside property that at least one of their sides is an integer, can you show that the big rectangle also has at least one integer side? That is, either the width of the big rectangle is an integer, or its height is Friday 15th June Darwinian Achievements 2 Message from the Alumni Office 4 Darwin’s Green Credentials 7 an integer, or both. Reunion Dinner (1988-95) - 7.30pm Ugandan Gathering 2 Overseas Alumni Groups 4 Staff News 8-9 For various solutions please see: Hungary - 50 Years On 2 Boat Club News 5 The Total Eclipse 10 www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/abstracts/rectangles.html Friday 13th July 2006 Lecture Series 3 Book Review 6 Around Calcutta 11 David Mackay (Darwin College Fellow) asserts they can all be understood by a 10-year old, but the Old Darwinian Summer Party editors are inclined to dispute this! From the Emails 3 The Giving Back Awards 7 Profile - Patrick Mixon 11 2 11 Darwinian Achievements The Darwin and The Vice-Master, Prof Andy Fabian and Old Darwinian Dr Ann Prentice (1975-8) were both awarded the Order of the Cambridge British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s 80th Birthday Honours list.

Amir Shirzadi (Research Associate) has been awarded the Armourers and Brasiers Fellowship. This is a National Fel- Community lowship which has been awarded for the first time ever, in recognition of outstanding and continuing contributions to Materials Science. around Calcutta

Prof Sally Shuttleworth (1975-80) has been appointed the Chair and Divisional Head of Humanities at Oxford University. In January 2006, Harry Bhadeshia She is a Fellow of St. Anne’s College (see separate article). (Darwin College Fellow) visited Tata Steel in Jamshedpur, the Indian Above: At the British Council offices in Bangal. Centre (in yellow Sari) is Sohini Baner- Professor Dame Jean Thomas FRS (1967-69) has just been elected as Master of Catz. Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, jee, the secretary of the Darwin College India Society. Second from the right is Professor Shiv Brat Singh and third from right is Harry Bhadeshia. Jess Hrivnak (2003-05) has won the Dissertation Prize in this year’s RIBA President’s Medals awards (see separate article) the Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) at Shipur and the Below: From right to left, Judge Bose, Sohini Banerjee and her husband. Virologist Dr Nancy Cox (1970-75) has been named as one of Time Magazine’s 100: People who Shape our World and British Council/Darwin College Society one of Newsweek’s 15 People Who Make America Great (see separate article). in Calcutta. The list of the Cambridge contacts he met illustrates the depths Dr Anne Ferguson-Smith (Fellow) has been appointed to a Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship of the links – and these are only in and has also been elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organistaion (EMBO). the field of engineering and materials Dr Paul Robertson (Research Fellow) was awarded the World Leadership Forum Award for the Lecturer of the Year. science! In Calcutta, Sourabh Chatterjee (current PhD student at Darwin). At Tata Steel in Jamshedpur, Saurabh Old Darwinian gathering in Uganda Kundu (current PhD student at Dar- win), Dr Debashish Bhattacharjee (did Roger Whitehead (former Vice-Mas- his PhD at Churchill College), now ter) invited Ugandan ODs to a meal Director of Research at Tata Steel, at the Guest House of Makerere Jamshedpur. At the Indian Institute Chattopadhyay, Bengal Engineer- cal University, Singapore, did his PhD University, Kampala. Left to Right: of Technology, Kharagpur, Prof Shiv ing and Science University, spent at Queen’s College. Prof Datta, BESU, John Kakitahi (1974-5) is Associate Brat Singh, (obtained his PhD at six months in Cambridge and had who contributed to the special issue Professor of Public Health Nutrition at Darwin). Sohini Banerjee, who did frequent meals in Darwin. He initi- of ISIJ International on Neural Net- Makerere University Medical School. her law degree in Cambridge, now ated the now highly successful Neural works, organised in 1991 by Harry is a lecturer in law, and the founding Joseph Luswata (2003) is an advocate Networks and Genetic Algorithms Bhadeshia and Prof Hidetoshi Fujii Secretary of the Darwin College India activity at the BESU. Prof Marimuthu of Osaka University (formerly visiting in a leading Ugandan law firm. Eldad Society based in Calcutta. Prof Partha Murugananth, Nanyang Technologi- member of Darwin). Tukahirwa (1976-80) is Programme Manager for the Association for Agri- cultural Research in East and Central Africa (ASARECA). There have been a Profile total of 6 Ugandans at Darwin so this reunion represented 50%. Dr James Patrick Mixon, CEO and entering into early partnerships and as cancer, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis Chairman, Kherion Technology Lim- licensing agreements with existing are diagnosed and therapeutically ited leading vaccine and immunodiagnos- targeted in the near future. James Patrick Mixon completed tic producers.” Patrick Mixon, a US citizen, was Hungary – 50 years on his PhD in Molecular Virology at Kherion Technology Limited is assisted in establishing Kherion Tech- This year we celebrate the fiftieth an- book (alas, only in Hungarian), enti- Bryan Cartledge’s masterful his- Darwin in 2002, and has since gone a pioneer in technologies for the nology by the Global Entrepreneurs niversary of the Hungarian revolution. tled Az én forradalmam (My Revolu- tory of Hungary `The Will to Survive’ on to create a new biotech company development of novel vaccines and Programme at UK Trade & Invest- It was a momentous event, the first tion) published by PONT publishers in (Timewell Press) devotes seventeen Kherion Technology with fellow Cam- immunomodulators. Such applica- revolution against a regime which Budapest. In November he will also ment. He also attended the CfEL pages to the event which “shook the bridge graduates Jabed Chowdhury, tions include the use of data obtained called itself “Socialist” but was in fact take part in a conference at St Antho- Summer School 2002 (see our front Kremlin”. The books by Sebestyen Marc Creus and Mohib Uddin. from differential protein expression a one-party dictatorship modelled ny’s College, Oxford, devoted to the Kherion Technology Limited’s mission patterns for antigen screening and to page lead story on CfEL). and Cartledge will be discussed at an on Stalin’s Soviet Union. Though the events of the year 1956. is to be a world-leading provider of delineate and validate protein targets Commenting on why the company is evening, chaired by Francis Bennett in revolution was suppressed by Soviet Many books have been published antigen-based therapy by employing and the elucidation of biomarkers based in Cambridge Patrick argues: tanks, its memory remained a beacon on 1956 and this year there is a new the Barbican on October 6 this year, cutting-edge proteomics technology to improve the efficacy of therapeu- “It made sense to us to stay in the showing the way to the eventual crop of them, three by British au- while on October 8 a literary evening for the discovery, characterisation, tic responses. The company is also Cambridge area, not only because demise of the Soviet Empire. thors. Peter Unwin’s `1956: Power De- manufacture and commercialisation participating in a pan-European col- is planned at the same venue with Cambridge is a beautiful city and we As a student, George Gömöri fied’ (Michael Russell) discusses all the of novel therapeutic products. laborative project to develop a new the participation of George Szirtes, have built up a network of contacts (Emeritus Fellow), took part in the important events of that year, includ- Explains Dr Mixon: “We aim to bio-nanotechnology-based, “lab-on- Tibor Fischer, Stephen Vizinczey and 1956 revolution both as an organiser ing the Suez affair. Victor Sebestyen’s develop highly-effective immunodi- a-chip” diagnostic device. Kherion here, but also because of the East of and the editor of the student paper book `Twelve Days’ (Weidenfeld and George Gömöri. Poems will be read agnostics and vaccines, ultimately Technology’s vision is that its novel England’s world-renowned reputa- University Youth. He celebrated the Nicholson) deals specifically with on this occasion by Angela Pleas- participating in the launch of prod- protein technology will revolutionise tion for excellence in the life sciences anniversary by the publication of a the Hungarian Revolution and Sir ance. ucts in multi-billion dollar markets by the ways debilitating diseases such sector.” 10 3 The 2006 Darwin College Lecture Series: Survival languages perish by the day, but in describing this remorseless process, THE Peter Austin gave a vivid account of efforts to restore Aboriginal languag- es to today’s young native Austral- ians. A nice twist to the question of TOTAL our own survival came with Cynthia Kenyon’s engaging account of the discovery of the genetic mechanisms that programme ageing into living things. From here we moved to more apoca- ECLIPSE lyptic subjects. Richard Feachem’s discussion of surviving disease gave a reassuring overview of international public health policy in an ever-more Like all objects in sunlight, the Moon that of the Moon and lunar eclipses Main photo: A professional picture of the crowded world. Set against this, we has a shadow. We don’t usually are much more common. (Shame on eclipsed Sun taken from the Turkish coast during totality and showing the corona (the had James Jackson’s fascinating geo- notice it unless the shadow touches you if you’ve never seen one.) shapes are in part due to the Sun’s magnetic logical explanation of why ever more the Earth, at which place an eclipse There is an interesting link be- field) people are vulnerable to earthquakes is seen. A particularly long one was tween eclipses and Darwin College. and tsunamis. The College’s own visible this Spring, on March 27th, George Darwin (Charles’ second son Andrew Prentice captivated the audi- from the Eastern Mediterranean and and Plumian Professor of Astronomy) ence with a deeply moving account several Darwin Fellows independently was the first to show that the rais- of humanity’s eternal struggle with travelled to Egypt and Turkey to view ing of the tides on the Earth by the famine, ending with the paradox that this spectacular natural phenomenon. Moon’s gravitational pull causes the those freed of this curse are predis- I was with my family close to Moon’s orbit to slowly spiral away posed to the emerging menace of the centre-line of the eclipse path from the Earth at about an inch per obesity. Finally and appropriately, it where it crossed the Turkish coast, year. Long ago the Moon appeared was left to Diana Liverman to provide Chris Bishop and his family were a larger and eclipses more common an authoritative account of the threat few miles along the beach, Nicholas and in a million years or so it will of global warming that lies behind all Branson was in Western Egypt and have receded so far that there will be these things. But it would be mislead- Felicia Huppert and Jane Selby in no more total Solar eclipses visible ing to leave the impression of a pes- Capadochia, Turkey. Totality lasted from Earth. George Darwin probably simistic lecture series. One message almost 4 minutes when, together worked this out sitting in his armchair There were packed audiences once political projects, empires, was cast that stood out above all others was with the gorgeous solar corona, both in his study in Newnham Grange, again for the 2006 Darwin College by Paul Kennedy’s account of the that the various routes to survival are Mercury and Venus could easily be right where the Bursar now manages Lecture Series, this year on the theme communications systems that held to be found through rational intellec- seen in the dark sky. Being at a total the College finances! of Survival. Brought together by Emily them together. To explore how cul- tual enquiry. eclipse is unforgettable and difficult Shuckburgh (Darwin College Fellow), ture survives, Edith Hall took one of to describe in words since it engages Andy Fabian our speakers explored urgent issues the oldest stories, Odysseus and the Willy Brown so many senses. The temperature Vice-Master and Royal Society Re- in both human and natural worlds. Cyclops, and traced its varied retelling Master drops, birds go quiet as they’re fooled search Professor of Astrophysics Chris Bishop and family viewing the eclipse as A fascinating light on the vulner- to the present day. Victims of improv- Main image: Surviving Famine in Sudan. into thinking night has approached, totality approaches ability of those most ambitious of ing communications, the world’s Photo courtesy of Tom Stoddart/Getty (some) people ‘ooh’ and cheer, the Images sky darkens and the million degree outer solar atmosphere - the corona `Lost’ Old Darwinians Michael Jonathon Smith PhD Engineering From the emails - appears. It is well worth travelling 1973-1978 thousands of miles to witness. Mark Joshi writes: being sought by Carlos Martins Applied Mathematics 1994 Curiously the Moon and Sun have and 1997/8 almost exactly the same angular size alumni After six years working in banking, I made in the Sky as seen from the Earth Sofie von Graevenitz Mphil in Environ- a return to academia and I am now an (about half a degree). This is in part The Alumni Office regularly gets e-mails mental Studies 1996/7 associate professor (reader) at Melbourne why total Solar eclipses are rare. The from Old Darwinians seeking friends they University teaching financial mathemat- next one which is reasonably acces- have lost touch with. Please look at the Piyapat Bunnag Mphil International Rela- ics. I have also published two books with sible and with likely clear skies is well list of ‘lost’ alumni below, if you know of tions 1997/8 Cambridge University Press (C++ Design Shadows under a bush before totality (the gaps Turkey during the eclipse over a decade away. Since the diam- Patterns and Derivatives Pricing and The between the leaves act like many pinhole cam- the whereabouts of any of them please Chris Luecke Science 1995-2000 eter of the Earth is 4 times that of the eras producing multiple images of the partially take a moment to phone or e-mail the Concepts and Practice of Mathematical Moon, its shadow is much larger than eclipsed Sun) Alumni Office. Philip Owen Davies PhD Genetics 1998 Finance). Jane and I have had two sons, 4 9

Congratulations to Jennifer Gates (Moses and Mary Finley Research Fellow) who married Brandon Foster on April 22 in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

A Message from the Alumni Office

On 31st March Darwin College held site, in this newsletter and also in the able to provide this and many other its inaugural Alumni Reunion dinner e-bulletin. If you want to be at any services to you. Sally for alumni who matriculated between alumni gathering just e-mail or phone We would like to thank the many the years of 1964-1975. We had a the Alumni Office and we will ensure alumni for all the positive feedback Shuttleworth fantastic turnout and many Old Dar- that your name is added to the guest we are receiving; but please don’t Professor Sally Shuttleworth (1975- winians travelled from great distances list or an invitation will be sent to stop! We hope you will not hesitate 78) has recently been appointed to attend. These dinners will now be you. But do remember that some to e-mail, phone or pop-by when in Head of the Humanities Division at held regularly on a rolling basis – so functions and events have limited Cambridge. on 16th June we welcomed back space, so make contact early. the University of Oxford, and a fellow alumni who attended the College Also, please remember, to let us of St Anne’s College. After leaving between 1975-1980. The next meal have your new contact details if you Darwin she took up a fellowship at will be in the Michaelmas term for move, so we can continue to keep Harvard University, followed by an the 1978-1985 cohort. you informed and involved. academic post at Princeton, before The University Alumni Week- If you rowed whilst at Cambridge returning to the UK to teach at the end took place from Friday 22nd to then the Darwin College Boat Club University of Leeds. In 1994 she The Darwin Alumni Team consists of: Sunday 24th September. The theme would like to keep you in touch with took up a chair in the English Depart- this year was ‘Flights of Fancy’ with the Club, its events and alumni. Log ment at Sheffield University, serving The Bursar and Development Director, lectures on subjects as diverse as on to www.dar.cam.ac.uk/dcbc/alum- subsequently as Dean of Arts. She Peter Brindle ‘Wonderful Lives’ by Dr Nick Baylis ni/index.html. has published widely in the field of Tel: +44 (0) 1223 335664 her original PhD – nineteenth-century (who writes for the Times magazine Finally, can we ask you please E-mail: [email protected] literature and science. Most recently as ‘Dr Feelgood’) and ‘Intelligence to take a few moments to fill out she has co-directed a major research on the Wing: From Crafty Crows to the alumni questionnaire that project on ‘Science in the Nineteenth- Philosophical Parrots’ by Nicola Clay- has been mailed with this news- Alumni Secretary, Sophia Smith Century Periodical’, with fellow ton. Many tours of departments and letter. You do not have to answer Alumni Office tel: +44 (0) 1223 ex-Darwinian Jonathan Topham as a Colleges were also included in the every question but please complete 335690 key member of the team (for details programme. As part of this popular what you can. The aim of the Alumni E-mail: [email protected]. of publications and the electronic weekend Darwin College held a Fam- Office is to organise events and give database, see www.sciper.org). ily Buffet lunch for Old Darwinians in you news that is relevant to you. Ulti- The Bursar’s Secretary, Sandra James our beautiful grounds on the Satur- mately, it should be possible to link Tel: +44 (0) 1223 335666 day. If you and your family would like groups of Old Darwinians by career. E-mail: [email protected]. to attend future alumni weekends, So, for instance, Material Scientists more details are on our website could have e-mail contact with one Secretary to the Darwin College Soci- Farewell to Karen Asplen www.dar.cam.ac.uk/alumni/dcs_cal. another and perhaps meet up for ety, Andrew Prentice htm or phone the Alumni Office. ‘networking’ events. Filling out the Tel: +44-20-7168-5444 Karen Asplen worked in the secretaries frequently worked All events are advertised on the web- questionnaire will be pivotal in being E-mail: [email protected] Deanery for over twenty years, beyond the call of duty. This was first as a junior secretary and particularly evident at Christmas then as Chief Secretary. She was when they spent hours buying Overseas Alumni Groups a tower of strength performing and wrapping presents for the her duties with great dedication, children’s Christmas party. Karen Darwin College Alumni groups con- a cocktail reception (see separate times a year. Again details are avail- accuracy and always in good left Darwin to begin a family; tinue to flourish. After much hard article). If you would be interested in able from the Alumni Office. spirit. The fund of knowledge she recently married Simon and work by alumna Sohini Banerjee (LLM joining this group please contact the In Zagreb, Croatia, Julien Good- she built up about the job and now has a beautiful boy, Finley. 2002-03) the inauguration of Darwin Alumni Office. man (MPhil Criminology 1997-1998) her ability to remember names She will be sorely missed by all College Society India took place in In Tokyo alumni Erek Speckert is setting up a UK University Alumni and faces meant that she was who knew and worked with her. mid January at the British Deputy (PhD Material Sciences 1999-2004) Society and is already involving High Commission in Calcutta. The has recently initiated a Darwin Col- Darwin College alumni. Julien, who always able to deal with the We wish her, Simon and Finley evening was very successful starting lege Alumni group. Erek hopes that successfully helped to set up the Paris many queries from students in a very happy life and hope to with a lecture from Professor Harry this informal group will meet for group a few years ago, is a great a personal and friendly man- see them in college from time to Bhadeshia which was followed by meals and other social events several ambassador for Darwin! ner. She and the other Deanery time. 8 5 In celebration of Hugh Fleming DCBC Emeritus Fellow of Darwin College Mary’s Church at which Richard King celebrates gave a longer address: `It is an honour to express the deep debt of gratitude that Darwin successful College owes to Hugh Fleming. A Fellow of the College for 37 years, Hugh’s contribution was enormous. season His warm, out-going personality, and lively curiosity added so very much. Darwin College Boat Club during Lent Bumps His kindness to others and caring for 05/06 those in difficulty – staff, students Glorious sunshine and great results or fellows - were far beyond the call made May Bumps Week a fantastic of any duty. To the end of his life, he success for our Darwin boaties this took great interest in College matters, year! All four of our crews main- and his advice was always shrewd, tained or improved their position in sensitive and really useful. His photo- the Bumps chart. After bumping up 3 graphs provided one of the College’s places in the Lents and winning pots finest Christmas cards. But the great- at the Spring Head-2-Head Race, our est reflection of his and Julia’s gen- First Men went “Up 1” in the Mays. erosity was the gift of our beautiful Our First Ladies fought off some seri- bridge to the Small Island. A gift, it ous competition in the upper half of Dr Hugh Fleming, the first cardiologist professor of public health, who had need hardly be said, that was greater the second division and impressively at Papworth College and longtime visited Papworth Hospital on sabbati- than the £12 – 10s that the original demonstrated that they are still the Fellow of Darwin College, died on cal from New Zealand. I have never bridge cost in 1885. It is with pride fastest Ladies Graduate Boat in Cam- 5th August 2006 after a short illness forgotten the feeling and enthusiasm that I announce today that we shall bridge. Our Second Men also success- at the age of 82. Hugh was raised with which he, in 1944, described officially name it the Fleming Bridge. fully maintained their position at the in New Zealand and completed his to us the work that was being done At the bridge’s opening, he made a Head of the 4th division. The boat medical studies there. He began his there. When I visited in 1953, I never particular point of its symbolism. For (which was stacked with several old Our proud First Ladies after 4 successful days in the Mays career working with a remote Maori dreamt that I would spend 30 years Hugh saw Darwin College as a bridge boys including Darwin Fellows Torsten community from whom he probably of my life establishing and develop- – between disciplines, between na- Krude and Mark de Rond) unfortu- contracted the TB that was almost ing cardiology there.’ In the years tions, and between scholars. Hugh nately suffered from two equipment to blight his medical career. How- he worked at Papworth, he saw the Fleming was a central span of that failures during the week. On the ever, with typical perseverance he hospital grow into one of the world’s bridge and we shall all deeply miss his positive side, our old boys can now was determined to succeed and was leading medical facilities. lovely company.’ add yet another unbelievable story inspired to visit the UK after attend- The Master gave these words of Hugh leaves his wife, Julia, and about last-minute repairs involving ing a talk. He later wrote: ‘My first thanks and appreciation at a recep- two daughters, Jan and Jennie. shoestrings and gaffer tape to their knowledge of Papworth came from tion in Darwin which followed a Hugh Fleming 22nd October 1923 immense repertoire of rowing anec- a lecture by Sir Charles Hercus, our packed memorial service at Great St - 5th August 2006. dotes! Finally, our legendary Second Ladies turned into all-time heroes by Jenny Baker worked at Darwin going up four and “winning blades”! Well done, W2! College from 7th May 1984 until Jenny The club celebrated the end of she retired in May 2006. During the season in style with a reception in the first 2 years of her employ- the college gardens, a brilliant dinner Baker ment she fulfilled the role of As- followed by port and speeches in sistant Accommodation Officer. the Old Library, drinks at the bar and She then moved on to become midnight punting on the Cam! Good times in Seville for DCBC Accounts Manager, a position Besides Bumps Week, 2005-06 retires after saw a number of other highlights for Business School (see front page) and On behalf of the committee, I would she held for 20 years. Always DCBC. In early March, more than 25 it launched a new DCBC Alumni like to thank everyone who has sup- good company and very good at Darwin boaties travelled to Seville, Website. Over 200 Boat Club Alumni ported DCBC this year. Special thanks 22 years her job – all at Darwin will miss Spain, for a weekend of rowing, from all over the world have regis- must go to our head coaches Brett her. sightseeing, eating, drinking and par- tered already. If you would like to find Saunders and John Martin! I would tying in one of Europe’s hottest cities! out more about your former crew also like to thank Dr. Chester White service In the last few years Jenny has The trip was a truly memorable expe- mates, please visit and Prof. William Brown for their rience and it strengthened the club’s unfortunately been suffering www.dar.cam.ac.uk/dcbc/. We look continued support and enthusiasm! team spirit throughout the year! forward to hearing from you! with poor health. Many of you The committee also secured a new A busy year of fantastic events have fond memories of her and Jenny cutting a magnificent ‘retirement’ sponsorship deal with the Centre for and exciting races is now drawing to will wish her well. cake at her leaving party. Entrepreneurial Learning at the Judge a close for Darwin College Boat Club! Jost Schatzmann 6 7

everyone from utility workers to they’re needed. “She has worked snowboarders when to stay home The Giving Back to mobilize America’s government with a hot toddy. Like a true scientist, to prevent and prepare for a disas- Fredston loves her subject, finding it Awards ter,” says Max Stier, president of the beautiful even in its most menacing Partnership for Public Service, which and heartbreaking moments. Also a 15 People who Make has selected Cox as a finalist for its fine writer, she ably imparts her pas- America Great Service to America Medals, honoring sion. “Watching the slope for signs of extraordinary achievement among instability was like keeping vigil at a Nancy Cox was 9 years old when she government workers. deathbed, except that I was wait- had her first run-in with the influenza Together with her CDC team, Cox ing for the snow to come alive,” she virus. It was 1957, and the so-called developed a nasal-swab test for infec- writes. Somewhat adrenaline-charged Asian flu was making the rounds of tion with the H5N1 virus, which caus- herself, she describes one morning her Iowa hometown. Cox, her four es avian flu. Working with colleagues when she surfs an avalanche that she siblings and her mother all got sick. outside the CDC, Cox’s team recon- has deliberately set off on a mountain “I recall being very ill and having very structed the flu virus that killed tens behind her house. “After sliding a strange bodily sensations [from the of millions of people in 1918, hoping hundred feet, I could feel the mount- high fever],” Cox says. That year the At 57, Cox (above) has devoted to learn what made it so deadly. Her ing speed and turbulence of the flu killed some 70,000 Americans. her entire career to battling flu for team conducted another bold experi- avalanche and knew, with an ache Cox’s family recovered, but Nancy the CDC - where she heads the ment: combining the current H5N1 of regret, that it was time to take my had caught an influenza bug of her influenza branch - and the World virus with a contagious human-flu leave.” own. She went on to study bacteriol- Health Organization. From inside the virus (in her ultrasecure lab). “What In avalanches, Fredston finds both ogy at Iowa State, then headed to bureaucracy, Cox has already saved we’re trying to determine is whether physics and metaphor. They teach her Cambridge University in England, thousands of lives. Twice a year she or not the avian-flu virus gene and identifies strains of virus to be used in about impermanence and variability. where she earned a Ph.D. in virol- the human-influenza gene can work What they so aptly, repeatedly teach the latest flu vaccine. It’s an arduous ogy. Cox was fascinated by what together,” Cox says. If they do, it’s a the rest of us, she says, is that “acts process that never earns her much she calls the “changing nature of potentially deadly combination. But of God” - while shocking and tragic credit. “There is nobody who puts in the beast,” the way flu viruses adapt at least the world will have someone - should not be unexpected. But alas, such time and attention to making and jump from animals to humans. like Cox working on our side. we don’t always listen any better In 1976 she landed a fellowship at sure things are done right,” says Dr. than we prepare. It’s a lesson that the Centers for Disease Control and Keiji Fukuda of the WHO. Now facing Debra Rosenberg strikes home powerfully after Hur- Prevention in Atlanta, figuring she’d the possibility of a global avian-flu Reprinted with permission from ricane Katrina. Frustrated by the city return to academia after a few years. pandemic, Cox is at work on every Newsweek of Juneau’s reluctance to plan for the But she got hooked on public health. front: researching vaccines and devis- July 2006. inevitable in one of its mountainside “I wanted to be sure that the work I ing systems for tracking an outbreak neighborhoods, Fredston writes: “The did was having an impact on people’s in the United States so that antivirals Nancy Cox is a Darwin College Review by Florence Williams chorage in 1982. Once there, she option of doing nothing to diminish lives,” she says. and protective gear can get where alumna (1970-75) soon found herself not only forecast- a hazard is often the cheapest and As natural disasters go, avalanches ing avalanches but also conducting easiest, and therefore the most at- are underappreciated. Although there dramatic search-and-rescue missions. tractive. . . . In Juneau, however, the Darwin tops Colleges’ Environmental League table are scientific disciplines devoted to In quieter but nevertheless messianic ‘do nothing’ option is destined to be In June this year, it was announced Old Darwinians; and lastly, while rooms are responsible for organiz- their study, snowslides don’t have moments, she taught skiers and the most expensive. To paraphrase that the College had achieved first incorporating green systems is often ing, monitoring and promoting the the status of their big meteorological snowmobilers how to save their own U.S. historian Thomas Bailey, every place in the Colleges’ Environmental expensive, still we are able to reduce recycling activities in each property, siblings. In the wake of ferocious tsu- skins. Back then, she writes, “It was time history repeats itself, the price League Table for 2006. The League some costs – a result much beloved receiving a discount on their room goes up.” namis and hurricanes, it’s easy to see as though I had been pushed inside Table is compiled during the Lent of bursars! charge as compensation for taking on why. But avalanches, as Jill Fredston the tiger cage at a zoo, clutching a and Easter Terms each year by the the responsibilities. The Green Room makes vividly clear in “Snowstruck,” briefcase full of tiger statistics.” Cambridge University Environmental We approached the conversion of No system has since been adopted in have their own lore, and they can Part memoirist, part natural histo- Consulting Society (CUECS). 1 Newnham Terrace into new public many other colleges. chill even those of us far removed rian, Fredston (who is also the author rooms and the refurbishment of The from their deadly trajectories. of “Rowing to Latitude: Journeys The College had been making deter- Malting House and Nos 45 and 49 When we changed our approach to Consider Europe’s “winter of Along the Arctic’s Edge”) writes that mined efforts over the last five or so Newnham Road as new student ac- these environmental issues, we were terror” in 1951, when avalanches to keep herself and others alive, she years to be as environmentally aware commodation with environmental is- not planning on giving a lead in the pummeled 1,489 ill-sited buildings has to rely on field observation and as possible, especially when repairs or sues as a high priority; even this year’s higher-profile green campaign now and killed at least 198 people in experience. Nearly every winter day refurbishment schemes were neces- major refurbishment and extension underway across the colleges and Switzerland and Austria. Or the ice for 23 years, Fredston has traipsed sary. We saw the main benefits as of the outdated public toilet facilities avalanche that broke off Huascarán in into the mountains with her snow being that: we are ‘doing something incorporates the latest ‘green’ water, University. We were just aware of Jill Fredston studied at Darwin and Peru in 1962, sliding 13,000 vertical shovel, her inclinometer and often for the environment’; we are adding heating and lighting installations! In the need to consider any possibility the Scott Polar Institute in 1981/2. feet in 15 minutes to crush 4,000 vil- her husband and fellow avalanche to our members’ wider education on its final report, CUECS highlighted in order to achieve better facilities at Snowstruck is currently available in lagers and 10,000 animals. In 2002, chaser, Doug Fesler. As the direc- the need to lower consumption; we one system we, with the DCSA, had the best possible return. So it was a hardback published by Harcourt ISBN a glacier fractured in Russia’s Cau- tors of the Alaska Mountain Safety are showing various useful means devised and implemented over the very pleasant surprise to be told that 015101249. In January 2007 it will casus Mountains, killing at least 141 Center, they have dug out frozen, of achieving such reductions, for last couple of years as an excellent our efforts had been recognized by appear in paperback from Harvest people. smashed bodies too numerous to example, by using ‘green’ suppliers, low-cost way to raise environmen- CUECS in this way. Of course, now Books as ISBN 0156032546. Fredston, a native New Yorker count, hurled explosives at steep improving recycling, etc – all ideas tal awareness across a college: this we have the challenge of maintaining with a degree in polar studies from slopes from doorless helicopters in This review first appeared in the NYTimes Sunday Review in December 2005, and is reproduced here and examples that can be taken away involved identifying a Green Room in and improving on our environmental Cambridge, made her way to An- order to trigger slides and advised with permission. by current members as they become each property. Occupants of these activities….!