Spring/Summer 2011 the magazine of Imperial College London
War Zone Where innovation is forged?
generating genius The summer schools changing lives
Spray Me Haute couture chemistry
David Warren The maker of the black box spring/summer 2011 18 inside > issue 36 Staff • Editor-in-Chief: Tom Miller (Biology 1995) • Creative Director: Beth Elzer • Editor-at-Large and Features Editor: Natasha Martineau (MSc Science Communica- tion 1994) • Alumni Editor: Zoe Perkins • News Editor: Laura Gallagher • Sub Editor and Production: Saskia Daniel • Mailing and Subscriptions: Elizabeth Atkin • Contributors: Anna Codrea- Rado, Tanya Gubbay, 24 Behind the scenes Colin Smith, Simon Watts, liquid asset Katie Weeks Civil engineers simulate the ocean in a wave basin The magazine for Imperial’s 12 friends, supporters and alumni, 26 Going public including former students of Open air labs Imperial College London, the Nearly half a million citizen former Charing Cross and West- 3 Rector’s welcome 18 Picture this scientists sign up to help minster Medical School, Royal Spray-on science monitor urban and rural Postgraduate Medical School, 4 Inbox Science goes out in style as environments St Mary’s Hospital Medical Editorial and contributors spray-on technology goes School and Wye College. from lab to catwalk and 28 Travel 5 In brief chemical engineering meets Into Africa Published twice a year by the Spotlight on recent events haute couture Beate Kampmann’s open lab Communications and Develop- and discoveries straddles nearly 3,000 miles ment Division. imperialmagazine 20 Feature from London to the Gambia @imperial.ac.uk 10 Product pipeline Technologies of Attention to detail war and peace 29 Alter ego Subscriptions Spin-out technologies for New thinking from David light fantastic If you would like to subscribe to seeing in new ways Edgerton reassesses the Theoretical physicist Imperial magazine please email relationship between war and Martin McCall puts in some imperialmagazine@imperial. 11 Question time innovation and the role that out-of-hours fancy footwork ac.uk On the move Imperial has played on the dance floor en M i ll er A ll en Transport experts advise on Online future priorities for getting 30 Good reception www.imperial.ac.uk/ around London Staff, friends, supporters and imperialmagazine n: Ma r k i o n: r at t
alumni get social at recent us 12 Careering ahead College events Opinions, beliefs and view- Ill frozen moments points expressed by authors v l jevi c a Photographer and explorer 31 Obituaries in Imperial magazine do not s Phil Wickens describes his necessarily reflect those of wild career on ice 32 In memoriam the College. n Rado n Sloboda 13 Campus life 34 Alumni noticeboard No part of Imperial magazine Social science may be reproduced in any form Felix editor Kadhim Shubber without permission. 35 Calendar s c ien e) o n writes on social networking y- and life in the Library ©Imperial College London 2011
14 Feature a (spr Wi ck ens, Genesis of genius ) Ph i l ) Equal access to higher
education is a priority for i c Ar ct a n t
financial analyst alumnus On the cover ( s: David Pollard 20 Illustration by Post Typography Photo
2 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 welcome | From the Rector We’ve taken a long, hard look at our existing alumni magazine and have overhauled its content and design.
Imperial’s readers already all have something in common: we are members of an extended family. Whether you are an alumnus, parent, supporter or just count yourself as an interested friend, I hope you will findImperial a good quality read and that it will strengthen the links between us. Your letters and comments are very welcome.
Domestic affairs During my first twelve months as Rector significant changes to the UK’s higher education system came into view. We are without question moving into a new world. Public expendi- ture on research is relatively unchanged for an institution of Imperial’s global quality, but of our education (which for Both visits herald a new approach to keeping from 2012 there will be a big our science, engineering and College links around the world in good shift in the balance of funding medical subjects is expensive) health, and more are planned for later this for undergraduates. Direct and giving all who can benefit year (see inside back cover). government support will largely from our courses the opportu- A champion for Imperial’s inter- end and UK and EU students nity of an Imperial education. national outlook has been our Chairman, will instead pay for their univer- A clear implication of these the former diplomat Lord Kerr. John retires sity tuition (£9,000 per year at changes is the need for Imperial this summer as Chairman of Court and Imperial) through a loan that to have greater independent and Council after more than six years of steering they will pay back when they are sustainable sources of financial through a period of considerable change, not earning enough to do so. support for students. This year least establishing Imperial as an independ- In response we have created alumni have responded to our ent university in its own right in 2007. a financial aid package that appeals as never before – more Fortunately for us, the Deputy Chairman, will support our twin objec- and more of those who have Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, has tives of maintaining the quality benefited from an Imperial been appointed to succeed John. We are education themselves are delighted that a person of such talents is able assisting future generations of to follow him. students. For all your donations Wishing you an enjoyable and fulfilling I am enormously grateful on summer.
C UNI T GR A P H I C P HOTO behalf of the College.
E /TH Best wishes,
RI D GE Global effects This year I have been delighted GU TT
VE to meet many proud Imperial alumni and supporters in the UK and across the globe. Along- side the October signing of our agreement with Singapore to international links develop a new medical school SIR KEITH O’NIONS FRS is Rector of Imperial College Sixty Taiwanese alumni we had a wonderfully attended London. He is a geologist who has worked at Oxford, Cambridge ey, (LAB) DA (LAB) ey, lc Finn-Ke M i k e r) cto gathered for a reception reception, and visits to China and Columbia Universities, and has served the UK government R e hosted by the Rector in s: ( s: and Taiwan at Easter have led as Chief Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Defence, and as Taipei on 27 April. to many positive exchanges. former Director-General of the Research Councils. Photo
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 3 | letters INBOX
As Imperial magazine emerges from its makeover and contributors replaces Imperial Matters, we reflect on the making of this publication, and invite your thoughts and ideas on ← Nic Fleming is a journalist, rock future stories. climber and former street performer. He A new magazine for Imperial unusual requests along the way. began his journalism This issue is about exploration of one sort or Thank you to those interviewees career on the Daily another. Some articles feature new ways of whom we tracked down in the Express show business getting about; others focus on where people Antarctic (page 12) and the desk. More recently have come from, where they are going to, or Gambia (page 28). Please take he was science and medical correspondent at what they get up to along the way. a bow all those who endured The Daily Telegraph. As a keen but not particularly Our own exploration has been in extreme wind chill to transform competent climber, he thoroughly enjoyed inter- charting a new course for this magazine for Dalby Court into a dance floor viewing explorer Phil Wickens (page 12). Imperial’s alumni, supporters and friends. one winter weekend (page 29), We aim to bring you the most interesting and everyone who helped with and thought-provoking stories and images the Genesis of genius photoshoot Lee Elliot → from this university community, and to (page 14) when College was Major feed your brains with the latest discoveries, closed for the extended Easter writer of the Genesis creativity and thinking coming out of the break. We would like to raise a of genius feature College. To help us meet this challenge, we special glass to Noah, our (page 14) is Director have taken a new editorial approach by over- Creative Director’s newborn, of Research and hauling design and content, and tapping into who (almost) managed to time Policy at the Sutton the talents of a new group of writers, artists his arrival until after we went Trust, which supports and photographers from all over the world. to press. educational opportunities for able young people A lot of people have kept us travelling We hope that you will find from non-privileged backgrounds. He was previ- hopefully, especially those who said yes to things that surprise and amuse ously an education journalist at The Guardian you amongst these pages, and and THE. He graduated from the MSc in Science that you will share your discov- Communication at Imperial in 1994 and holds a eries more widely, whatever PhD in theoretical physics. your connection with Impe- rial. In future issues, this page will feature your observations, ← Sonia van suggestions and challenges to Gilder Cooke, us, so please get in touch and an environmental let us know what you think, or journalist, investi- what you would like to see in gates the power of future issues. citizen scientists for Going public (page 26). Sonia studied environmental science at Yale and Oxford before At full stretch realising that she prefers words to numbers. Dance photographer Adrian Weinbrecht She is currently extremely content writing for shoots from the hip for this issue’s article New Scientist and online magazine Slate. on life outside the office: find out what rocks the world of physicist Martin McCall on page 29. Tim Radford, → former science editor of The Guardian and author of geographical memoir The Address Book, writes about a SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS • by post to Imperial Magazine, Level 2 Faculty new model for inter- Building, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ • by email to national research in [email protected] • by online comment at Travel (page 28). When he sets off on a trip, www.imperial.ac.uk/imperialmagazine • by Twitter @imperialcollege • he usually packs a Dickens paperback, and tries or in pictures at www.flickr.com using tag IMP150 to remember the advice of the great reporter James Cameron: “Take half the luggage, and twice the money”.
4 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 /in brief events + discoveries
The meteorite, Catch a which is roughly the size of a tennis ball, could reveal vital clues to the falling star origins of the universe. 50,000+ Five minutes Every six weeks, Dr Phil Bland receives a Number of documented meteor- ite falls over the past 200 years that could package of film from farmers in the vast save your life Australian desert. Taken from an array of ‘star 10 gazing’ cameras set to track meteorite fireballs Number of meteorites traced In April 2011, the UK as they fall to Earth, the film provides clues back to their origins government announced a about where meteorites may have landed. new five-minute, one-off 100m screening test for bowel Last December, Phil and colleagues in the Radius within which the scien- cancer, following a clini- Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering tists can pinpoint a meteorite’s cal trial led by Imperial. travelled to Australia and found their second crash site using special cameras The new test, known as meteorite in two years. The researchers are Flexi-Scope, could save 4.56 billion thousands of lives: about now using the images to trace rare information Year record of solar system’s one in 20 people in the about where it came from in space. formation and evolution UK will develop bowel cancer, with nine in 10 cases occurring in people over 55. Flexi-Scope is a flex- ible sigmoidoscope that allows doctors to see and remove small growths on the bowel wall before they A hoodie that hugs + turn cancerous. The trial followed over smart clothing for people with 170,000 people aged Autistic Spectrum Disorders 55–64 for 16 years. Bowel cancer mortality was A deep pressure vest zipped into applauded the competition as reduced by 43 per cent a hooded sweatshirt could help an excellent way of encourag- in the patients who had people with problems in process- ing researchers to expand their the Flexi-Scope test ing sensory stimuli, such as those work, consider commercial compared with those in with autistic spectrum disorders. opportunities and contribute to the control group. Inflating the vest generates an the UK economy. “No other bowel cancer screening technique m m W h ipps evenly distributed hug-like pres- Squease was set up by o sure over the upper body, reduc- students from the Industrial has ever been shown to prevent the disease,” said e) T o ri t e) ing anxiety in stressful situations Design Engineering course Professor Wendy Atkin
M e t and helping some people to calm jointly run by the Royal down and concentrate better. College of Art and Imperial. in the Department of The clothing will be avail- It was supported by the Design Surgery and Cancer who able from September 2011 and London Incubator, launched in led the trial. y gr a p h y ( Photo The research, published u. u. comes from spin-out company 2008 and funded by the National Squease Ltd, which won the Endowment for Science, Tech- in the Lancet, was funded imi z Sh 2010 Research Councils UK nology and the Arts. The Incuba- by the Medical Research Business Plan Competition. tor has supported 11 businesses Council, the National Insti- Announcing Squease as the since it started, of which seven tute for Health Research, and Cancer Research UK. ing o Sh i o n: r at winner, David Willetts, Minister continue to receive support, and t
us for Universities and Science, four have successfully exited. Ill
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 5 | in brief Pole position In December 2010, a team of explorers and scientists completed the first there-and-back crossing of Antarctica in wheeled vehicles.
Imperial was the scientific partner to the The red radar device in the foreground Engineering, was one of the team: Moon Regan Trans-Antarctic Expedition was used to detect dangerous ice cre- “It was amazing to see how my body team, which travelled across Antarctica vasses. The explorers used wireless sen- coped in such extreme conditions, using via the South Pole in state-of-the-art six- sor technology developed at Imperial to the wireless sensors. A simple 500-metre wheel-drive science support vehicles that monitor in real time how their bod- walk at the South Pole was the equivalent doubled up as mobile laboratories (above ies were responding to the extreme of me doing 10 laps around an Olympic centre and right). The Winston Wong conditions in Antarctica. The technology cycle track at 25 kilometres per hour. BioInspired Ice Vehicle (above left) was recorded how the environment and The most inspiring part of expedition was powered by biofuel and named after the temperatures of around minus 43 degrees the 3,000-metre descent down Leverett expedition’s main sponsor, triple alum- Celsius affected their stress levels over Glacier, where clouds of ice surrounded nus Professor Winston Wong (Physics their 20-day journey. our vehicles, making navigation really dif- 1971, MSc 1972, PhD Chemical Engineer- Ray Thompson, Senior Research ficult. Ten times more people have been ing and Chemical Technology 1976). Associate at the Institute of Biomedical into space than to that part of the world.”
6 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 in brief |
TOP/doctors + scientists A healthy dose of Imperial staff and alumni have been ranked top of their fields by The Times. Its 2010 Top Doctors Directory selected 16 alumni and many staff as eminent specialists in their fields, and nine were named in the ‘Eureka 100’ list of the most important contemporary figures in British science. With so much talent to choose from we haven’t space to celebrate them all, but here is a small selection.
Dr Richard Budgett MR Barry Jones Professor Dr John Shneerson (National Heart and (Charing Cross Valerie Lund (St Marys Hospital Lung Institute 2001) Hospital Medical (Charing Cross Medical School 1971) School 1974) Hospital Medical For his contribution School 1977) For his work on sleep, to sports medicine. For his career as including establishing Watch out for him at leading consultant For her work in ear, the UK’s largest sleep London 2012 Olym- plastic and cranio- nose and throat, centre at Papworth pics, when he’s over- facial surgeon, with including allergy, Hospital in Cambridge, seeing all medical and particular expertise inflammation, and nose and developing a anti-doping services in in facial surgery on and sinus tumours. sleep service for his capacity as Chief children. He has She may be the only patients with neuro- Medical Officer. He published numerous designated Professor logical conditions won rowing gold at papers about facial, of Rhinology in the UK including narcolepsy, the 1984 Los Angeles breast and cranio- and was awarded a CBE sleepwalking and Olympics. facial surgery. in 2008. sleep violence. o n mps tho n n y to
Photo: George Pagliero/MOON REGAN TRANSANTARCTIC EXPEDITION ng) la a ng) , (y , I mperi al
Professor dr simon singh Professor Professor TFC/ simon donaldson (Physics 1987) Jim Virdee Guang-Zhong Yang S The journey Department of Department of Physics Department of Mathematics For his work as TV (PhD Physics 1979) Computing (PhD
Terrain Antarctica producer, journal- Computing 1999) d ee) (vir n, y to C la Transport Winston Wong Bio-Inspired For his work on the ist, libel law reform For leading the t Ice Vehicle and two six-wheeled spatial properties of campaigner, and Compact Muon For his research into science support vehicles smooth four-dimen- author of popular Solenoid (CMS) medical imaging, D) Rob er UN D)
Size 10-person team sional manifolds, books on science experiment at the sensor technology (L , Distance 4,000 km which won him the and mathematics. Large Hadron Collider and robotic surgery, Days it took 20 days, 12 hours, Fields Medal in 1986. His latest book, at CERN in Geneva, especially in improv-
30 minutes He leads an interdis- Trick or Treatment? where scientists ing accuracy and RE H E ALTHCA Top speed 65 miles per hour ciplinary research Alternative Medicine from 38 countries are control. Currently team that uses maths on Trial, is about tackling some of the developing ways of
to solve scientific complementary and most fundamental doing surgery without GE UdGE TT) (B s: problems. alternative medicine. questions of nature. making incisions. Photo
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 7 | in brief
Saving the science budget
Research co-authored by Professor Jonathan Haskel from Imperial College Business School is credited with helping to protect the science budget from the big cuts predicted in the government’s 2010 spend- ing review.
£3.5 billion
research generates first class An Imperial researcher who is develop- ing materials to help the body to repair £45 itself has this year been cited as one of the billion world’s top 100 women in a list compiled by The Guardian.
Professor Molly Stevens (Centre for Educational Develop- The work showed that the ment 2005), from the Departments of Materials and Bioengi- £3.5 billion a year spent on neering, appears alongside astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, publicly funded research talk show host Oprah Winfrey, and US Secretary of State generates an additional an- Hillary Clinton. The list was compiled by an expert panel nual output of £45 billion in using more than 3,000 suggestions from Guardian readers. UK companies – evidence that Professor Stevens and her group are working on bone- Minister for Universities and like materials that could mend patients’ bones after they Science David Willetts drew U ni t have been in an accident or have had surgery. They are also on in discussions with key creating materials to repair tissue, such as heart muscle, decision-makers.“It is hard to which could help patients recover after major heart attacks. point to other papers that have In addition, Professor Stevens has made considerable had such a linear effect on a government decision,” said
advances in developing materials for detecting disease- gr a p h i c Photo h e ri d ge/T related proteins, which could provide doctors in developing Professor Haskel. “Imperial is
essentially a knowledge fac- G u tt ve countries with a quick and cost effective way of diagnosing a patients for a range of diseases, including cancer and HIV. tory, and it is therefore fitting Professor Stevens said: “I feel extremely honoured that I that our research investigates evens) D evens) St
have been nominated alongside other women around the how investment in knowledge y O ll
world who have been such trailblazers in their fields.” can serve the economy.” M : ( : Photo
the cat that got the cream Game, set and match The London Student Journalism Network crowns Imperial College holds onto its unbroken Varsity Imperial student newspaper Felix Publication of record for the 4th year in a row, with 50 teams the Year, following its stint as a daily, producing competing in 25 matches. But at 25-12, Imperial five issues in five days for one week. Medics take home the rugby honours once again.
8 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 in brief |
Get briefed on climate change The Grantham Institute of Climate Change is publishing a series of briefing papers by Imperial academ- ics to keep you up to date with recent developments, and to put research in the context of interna- tional policy. Topics so far include solar energy for heat and electricity, carbon capture and storage, and Parts of a car’s bodywork could road transport technology and miti- Body double up as its battery, thanks to gation. See http://bit.ly/mct4BA a new material being developed by for more. double Imperial engineers and scientists and EU partners including Joint practice Volvo. The material can store Imperial has partnered with Singa- pore’s Nanyang Technological Univer- and discharge electrical sity to create the Lee Kong Chian energy, but is also strong School of Medicine, which will accept and light enough to be its first students in 2013. Professor used for parts in future Martyn Partridge, Senior Vice Dean of the new undergraduate School, said: hybrid vehicles. “The ethos is to produce the sort of doctors that you and I would like to have caring for us.”
Records set THE CAR IN FRONT IS A S U P E R C A R
Last year, a group of Imperial students and alumni completed a 26,000 1 kilometre journey across the Americas in an all-electric supercar. The First in the world Racing Green Endurance team drove their Radical SRZero down the to drive the entire 26,000 kilometres of the Pan-American Highway. They used the journey length of the Pan-American to show that electric vehicles can have outstanding performance and are Highway in an a viable low-carbon alternative to combustion engine vehicles. electric car “At every stop we were surrounded by people from all differ- ent backgrounds – from curious businessmen in San Francisco to a tailpipe carboN 200-strong crowd of onlookers including local farmers at the Guate- emissions malan border,” said project manager Alexander Schey (Mechanical Engineering 2009). “They were all surprised when we told them that it 0 could run for over 500 kilometres on around $5 of electricity.” Ran on lithium iron phosphate batteries
Continents y H adla n d y 2 Countries reen) An d G reen) ing Rac : ( : 14 Photo
pearly white tooth palace new dimension for maths Children are being asked to sidestep the tooth Mathematicians are creating their own version fairy and donate 12,000 baby teeth for a glittering of the periodic table for all possible shapes in resin palace to inspire people about the regen- three, four and five dimensions, by looking for erative potential of adult stem cells. building blocks from around 500 million shapes.
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 9 | Product pipeline
attention to detail
Recent inventions from Imperial go further than the eye can see. This issue, we focus on four spin-outs that are redefining what high-res means for consumers and businesses.
1 / Ionscope 3 / Cortexica Nanoscience comes to life thanks to By reverse engineering the way high-resolution imaging technol- that humans see things, Drs Anil ogy from Ionscope. Its scanning Barath and Jeffrey Ng, Department systems, based on ion conduct- of Bioengineering, have developed ance, can view live or soft surfaces a technology platform through in 50 times more detail than a Cortexica Visual Systems for conventional optical microscope. computers to recognise images Ionscope Chief Scientist Professor more intelligently. Modelled on the Yuri Korchev, of the Department of way that human nerve cells respond Medicine, developed the technol- to visual stimuli, the technology ogy as part of his research to can be licensed for developing track the tiny detail of biomedical large-scale image searches on TV, processes, such as how hormones video and the internet. An early act in kidney cells. application is BrandTrakTM, which recognises logos across broadcast channels to give businesses a frame by frame analysis of their TV brand 2/ Molecular vision exposure. Other potential applica- Plastic electronics pioneer Professor tions include helping consumers Donal Bradley (Physics 1983) of the search the web for products using Department of Physics, co-founded photos taken with their phone, Molecular Vision to develop rather than having to type text into a technology for measuring multiple search engine. diagnostic health markers at nano- sensitivities in a single test. The low-cost, point-of-care disposable device based on Bradley’s optical 4 / Microsaic Systems detection technology measures Analysing chemical samples just got previously incompatible markers a whole lot more space and energy- simultaneously to provide results efficient thanks to a new generation more quickly. By cutting a series of mass spectrometers from a i c
of diagnostic tests down to one, Microsaic. Co-founder Professor s doctor and patient can make better- Eric Yeatman (Electrical Engineer- r o informed decisions about treatment ing 1989), from the Department of mi c ,
more rapidly. Electrical and Electronic Engineer- t e x i ca ing, specialises in the semiconduc- tor processes that have shrunk the essential analysis components r co o n, visi u la r
so they fit on one chip. Industries c
such as drug development and food ol e safety testing will benefit from the smaller instruments, which are now
the size of a desktop computer. m pe, i o ns co s: p hoto
10 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 question time | On the move How is research making it easier to get around London?
professor john polak is Head of the Cen- Professor stephen glaister is tre for Transport Studies in the Department Professor Emeritus of Transport and Infra- of Civil and Environmental Engineering structure, Centre for Transport Studies, and Director of the RAC Foundation. Managing transport networks and providing travellers with information have traditionally One of the biggest transport issues for London been seen as separate activities. But finding ways is to find a way of providing for the predicted to bring them together will help meet new challenges in trans- increase in population, which is expected to lead to an increase in port policy, and help people better manage transport systems and daily trips from 24 to 27 million in the next 20 years. I research personal travel. the economics of transport, especially the costs and benefits of One way is to exploit the ever increasing amounts and urban public transport systems, and the benchmarking of transport diversity of data available from GPS, CCTV and number plate systems across the world. recognition technology from London’s transport network. One By international standards, public transport in London meas- of our current research projects – FREEFLOW – does just ures up well: we are making improvements to existing infrastruc- this, and has recently been successfully trialled in and around ture, such as the Tube; and new projects, such as Crossrail for new Hyde Park Corner, one of the busiest traffic hotspots in rail connections across London, are also progressing. central London. It is the roads that require urgent attention, More data gives us a fuller picture, more as private vehicles are used more than public accurate predictions, and better ways of transport for personal travel in London. using those predictions. When FREE- Priorities include ways of improv- FLOW research reaches a commer- ing operational efficiency, handling cial stage, it could help us manage increased congestion, and making events such as the Olympics, environmental improvements and which will place significant new increasing funding. We need to demands on both people and make more impact than existing transport systems in London. user charging and cycling initia- tives currently achieve.
dr davID howey (PhD Electri- Dr Ralph Clague (Physics cal and Electronic Engineering 1995, MSc 1996, PhD 2008) 2009) is a Research Associate is Power Systems Manager at in the Department of Mechani- Gordon Murray Design and an cal Engineering Honorary Research Fellow at Imperial Road transport is responsible for high levels of carbon dioxide, particulate Sustainable vehicle design is and other emissions. My research aims moving from being an academic problem to address this by improving the conversion to becoming an issue for engineering. I am and storage of energy in the powertrain – the lucky enough to work with a foot in each camp. systems, such as batteries and motors, that produce My current preoccupation is to find a way of doing and deliver power to move hybrid or electric vehicles. something radically different with personal transport in cities. More efficient vehicles, such as hybrids, are essential if How can we engineer and design private vehicles to incor- we are to fulfil our commitment to reducing greenhouse gases porate the latest technologies, maintain safety, and cut produc- and comply with the EU Air Quality Framework Directive. The tion and running costs? We are looking to new technologies next few years will see a gradual electrification of the powertrain, to develop a lighter city car that gives off lower emissions. The especially for urban vehicles making short, stop–start journeys. design will make it efficient for the school run and the weekly Reducing emissions sometimes comes at the expense of a shop, as well as an occasional trip to the airport. more energy-intensive production process, so we need to find These new priorities are also important for the next genera- the best balance. My hope is that we can also make tion of design engineers. Imperial students will always love things less confusing for people looking to buy the concept of fast vehicles. But these days they new vehicles, so that the current industry are less inspired by petrol engines, and more
nn Lin d em a nn t i a n investment in this area can be matched by interested in finding ways of matching speed consumer confidence in the technology and with sustainability. affordable pricing.
n: C h ris i o n: r at t us Ill
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 11 | careering ahead
Occupation: + How did your last expedition go? Freelance photographer, explorer, expedition guide In November I led an Alpine and lecturer As a rewarding way to earn Club expedition to a peninsula a living, Phil Wickens’ east of the Lemaire Channel, Location: (Biology 1991, PhD 1997) in Antarctica. We climbed six Peak District, UK previously unclimbed moun- combination of photo- tains, including one called First Job: graphing stunning wildlife Mount Matin, which turned Researching biocides for building timber and landscapes, leading out to be 1,000 metres higher expeditions up unclimbed than it was on the map, because Best Job: the explorer Jean-Baptiste Field assistant with the summits and lecturing on Charcot compiled the original British Antarctic Survey polar biology, geology and maps in 1908 using sightings made from the sea, from where Greatest exploration history is pretty only a shoulder, rather than the challenge: hard to beat. Completing PhD summit, was visible. By Nic Fleming
+ What do you like to photograph? I enjoy wildlife and landscape photography but I’m a bit shy when it comes to photographing >> frozen people. + How did you get into moments climbing and exploring? It really started when + Why does Antarctica keep I joined the Outdoor drawing you back? Club at Imperial. At Once it bites you, it doesn’t let one point everyone go. It is incredibly beautiful, was saying they were harsh and unspoilt. going to organise an It’s amazing to see how life expedition but they has adapted to living on the didn’t, so I ended up extremes, and wonderful to organising one to the be in a place where none of the Pamirs, in Tajikistan, in wildlife has any fear of you. 1992. We climbed five To them you are just like mountains with some another penguin walking past. new routes and first British ascents, and + Are you particularly attracted to collected specimens for the unclimbed peaks? Natural History Museum. Yes, there’s something attractive about going where no human + Did your expeditions get in the has ever set foot before. way of your studies? It’s just like the feeling that No, quite the opposite. For my draws you up to mountain PhD project I was developing passes to see what is on the a method of preventing decay other side, only on a larger scale. in building timbers. The people It’s certainly not about the fame, I was climbing with studied fortune and riches. Or if it is, in a wide range of disciplines, I haven’t yet worked out how to Wi ck ens and while on trips they would get those yet! suggest different people to speak Ph i l ges) to. I ended up getting fantastic ➊ Phil enjoying a rare moment of good weather off the south- + What’s your top careers tip? help from the Departments of ern-most point of South Georgia. // ➋ A chinstrap penguin Those I work alongside all have im a er oth wading through a melt pool from its nesting site at Baily Head, Chemistry, Chemical Engineer- Deception Island. // ➌ Negotiating heavy brash ice on the a passion for what they do and ing and Chemical Technology, Antarctic Peninsula. Phil’s picture was taken from the top of the places they go. If you would ll (A o n, a ss Civil Engineering and Math- Spirit of Sydney’s mast. // ➍ Mike Fletcher (also an Imperial happily do something without B ematics, at a time when there alumnus) starting up the crux ice slope during the first ascent being paid, then that’s the right Z ak ) of Mount Cloos (1200m), Antarctic Peninsula. Ph i l was not much multidisciplinary job for you. ( : research going on. p hoto
12 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 CAMPUS LIFe | social science Students can’t get by today without a life online, says Kadhim Shubber
Engineering student in March. Social media drove efforts to find him. Thousands of people came together in a group dedicated to raising awareness about him; when it comes to getting attention, with over 26 million Facebook users in the UK today, posters on Facebook are just as important as posters on streets. When the sad news of his death emerged, the memorial page on Facebook became a place for people to recount their memories of him and express their grief. May he rest in peace. On the other hand, the limitations of the online world are as obvious at Impe- rial as its successes. An online marketplace, called iConnect and created by a group of entrepreneurial students, has yet to threaten the poster boards on the Walkway as the place of choice to advertise for new flatmates. Candidates running recently for positions in the Students’ Union created Facebook groups, but they all learnt that it’s face-time on the ground that actually wins votes. Though Facebook helps us to remember the names of all the people that we meet in Freshers’ Week, it’s in the physi- cal world that we truly make and maintain our friendships. Despite this, however, Face- book (and to a lesser extent, Twitter) has become a forum for Imperial’s community to coalesce. We live parallel lives; a physical one and a digital one. After the Varsity rugby match between the Medics and the College, It’s hot. Uncomfortably hot. Unbearably hot. Library hot. the banter continued online when Felix The bright sunshine that those fortunate souls out there are uploaded photos of the match. As Imperial’s • Racing Green Endurance team drove from enjoying on the Queen’s Lawn, not only makes revision all the more Alaska to Argentina in an electric sports car, difficult but adds insult to injury, by powering the rather unpleasant we followed their adventures on Twitter. When I want to have a party, or organise greenhouse effect in the library. drinks with my friends, I create an event on Facebook. Rows upon rows of computers only exacer- tance of online social networks in modern Ultimately, if you can’t get online, then bate the problem. It’s a quirk of the twenty- protest. Over 1,000 students (and some of you can’t fully participate in Imperial’s first century that students value the Central their lecturers) discussed the changes in a community. For that reason the demand Library more for its computers than its protest group on Facebook and through for computers in the library is unlikely to books. (Empty desks are also appreciated; events they rallied hundreds to show abate. In response, the library has launched plenty of elbow room to use our laptops, their discontent. By contrast, neither the a new feature at the entrance that lets you smartphones and iPads). But this is inevita- proposed hike in tuition fees, nor the cuts know where you can find a free computer. ble. Computers, and in particular the social to higher education funding, elicited much Unfortunately it doesn’t solve the perennial networks that we access through them, are more than a shrug from the student body problem of finding that your ‘free’ computer an indispensable part of university life. at Imperial –whether this shows acumen or has been claimed by an elusive character Perhaps the biggest story so far this apathy is debatable. I suspect that the former who has marked their territory with a bag n n to year, an event that brought students out to is true; Imperial College Union was one of and some books – the limitations of technol-
Fu lla r protest in December, was the restructure of only two student unions, of which I know, to ogy strike again. vi d a the Department of Life Sciences announced publicly support the Browne Review. last summer, which led to 14 redundancies. A more sombre use of social networks Kadhim Shubber is Editor of Felix, the Imperial
n: D i o n: r at Leaving aside the arguments for or against like Facebook emerged after the disappear- College London student newspaper. He is on sabbatical from t us the restructure, it demonstrated the impor- ance of Anthony Soh, a first year Mechanical his Physics degree for a year. Ill
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 13 feature | genesis of genius
14 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 genesis of genius
by Lee Elliot Major As Imperial launches a campaign to sustain scholarships and financial aid for future students, portraits by Imperial magazine catches up with an alumnus, Tricia Malley and Ross Gillespie who is using his own experiences to guide boys from under-represented backgrounds into higher education.
y pure chance I meet Dr David Pollard (Physics 1978, PhD 1983) a few days after the Prime Minister has done him a huge favour. The Bnews pages and airwaves are still busy covering David Cameron’s criti- cism of Oxford University’s ‘disgraceful’ under-representation of black pupils among its undergraduate ranks. What has catapulted this story up the news agenda is not the alarming fact that only one Afro-Caribbean student made it into Oxford in the 2009–10 academic year. No, the press have pounced on Cameron’s wider and inaccurate claim that there was a solitary ‘black’ student admitted last year. Oxford was quick to issue a potentially embarrassing rebuttal to its former student: in fact, 27 British students of its 3,000 new undergraduates were self-declared as black last academic year. (The equivalent figure from Imperial is 42 out of 2,574.) The episode says as much about the preoccupations of the white- centric Oxbridge educated elite of the British press as it does about the accuracy of the PM’s briefing notes. But for David (pictured left on a return visit to Imperial) the high profile mistake has been an unexpected publicity boon. No amount of campaigning could have highlighted so succinctly one of the toughest educational challenges facing the country: the tragic waste of academic talent among black Afro-Caribbean boys. “I would have preferred it if he had got his facts right, but it is very good of him to raise the issue,” says David. “As it turns out, the mistake has made people more aware of the big differences between black students of Caribbean rather than African extraction.” David’s passion is ensuring that bright black boys – many from broken homes on inner-city estates – fulfil their academic, specifically scientific, promise and gain entry to the country’s elite universities. Some say it is a scandal that still only around half of all pupils at age 16 in England leave school with the very basic attainment measures – gaining at least five C grades and above in their GCSEs including English and maths. Among black Caribbean boys, only just over a third – 37 per cent – passed this minimum threshold in 2009–10. David is ideally qualified to speak on the subject. As a young man from Guyana, he was one of two or three black students among the sea of white faces in the undergraduate physics lecture theatre at Imperial College in 1975. With a PhD, also earned at Imperial, and a high-flying career behind him, he is now active at Imperial again.
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 15 David is chairman of Generating Genius, a university access scheme with a specific aim: to turn talented black boys, particularly those with Caribbean heritage, into scientists and engineers. It all started at a school reunion, when David got chatting to Dr Tony Sewell, chief executive of Generating Genius, and found a kindred spirit. Here was someone who shared his concerns and was doing something about it. The two, perhaps unwittingly, have become role models for a special group of protégés. In 2006, 25 boys aged 12–13 spent three weeks during the holi- days on a summer school at Imperial, engaged in ‘hands-on’ science with some of the College’s leading academics. Every year since, most of the group has returned for more. These are no ordinary out- of-school lessons: in one project, the boys present their plans for combating malaria; in another they apply their new-found knowl- edge of cutting edge robotics. At the end of the summer school, the students present their work to a panel of experts. The work of the charity is underpinned by two fundamental insights. The first is that it is not colour or creed, but culture and class that drive low aspirations and achieve- ment among the boys. The second is that their educa- tional decline needs to be halted during early secondary school, before the boys have reached their teenage years, and when a place at an elite university like Impe- rial or Oxford is yet a distant dream. Writing in The Daily Telegraph in the aftermath of Cameron’s comments, Tony sums up the challenge: “The real issue is that this group, whose grandparents came here in the 1950s, have simply integrated into the wider poor working class, and fallen victim to exactly the same problems.” “Caribbean children are more likely than any other to come from a seriously disruptive family background – whereas their African cousins, blessed with stable families and the new arrival’s determination to build a better life, are shooting up the educational rankings. Just like the white working class, the Caribbean community has become mired in a culture of dependency, where you can still be rewarded for doing nothing.” David, “but it all goes to pot by the time This appears to be a distinct phenomenon in they do their GCSEs at age 16”. Britain: the white working classes and Caribbean David believes the downward spiral of cultures have melded into one to create a new anti- “David’s academic results during the teenage years is educational sub-culture. Two groups of children have partly due to the dysfunctional home lives become conspicuous for being bottom of class in inner passion is that many boys lead but also, he asserts, city schools across the country: white working class ensuring that “the whole view of the system towards them and Caribbean boys. The much debated black-white changes”. This includes, he argues, many gap in the United States has less meaning on the UK bright black teachers, who are fearful of the young men in side of the Atlantic. their classroom. “It creates the wrong envi- The impact of different family cultures came into boys fulfil ronment for someone to shine academically,” sharp focus, David says, when Eton College, the famous their academic says David. “The kids are very able, but their independent school near Windsor, approached the lives can be difficult and chaotic. You realise charity with a potentially life-transforming proposi- promise and that if you don’t help them, if you don’t keep tion. “We had a generous offer from Eton for some of carrying the ball now, it will be dropped, and our boys, or others whom we could nominate, to try for gain entry it will be difficult to get it back.” a scholarship to study at sixth form there from autumn All this is a far cry from the aspirational 2010,” he says. “But we could get very few Afro-Carib- to elite upbringing enjoyed by David during the bean families to go for that. They just weren’t keen at universities.” 1970s in the small Caribbean country of all on sending their children to what they saw as some Guyana on the northernmost tip of South posh place in the country. What we found was that America. “The (grammar) school always the children getting put forward were, to a man, black had high expectations of what I would African. The Africans didn’t have a problem at all, but become and what I was doing,” he says. black Caribbeans just didn’t want to know.” One role model at the school was head It is little wonder that Afro-Caribbeans make up boy, Trevor Phillips (Chemistry 1975), such a tiny minority of the few places won by black now head of the UK’s national equalities students at Oxford or Imperial. As universities are at body. David’s father was a leading academic great pains to explain, their admission figures are largely at the University of Guyana, establishing a the product of earlier educational gaps that emerge social work degree course; his mother was before and during school. For black Afro-Caribbean also a social worker. It is fair to assume that boys, results during primary school are quite good, says they played a large part in instilling the
16 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 “When they see a black kid…they are not think- ing here might be a next Stephen Hawking or Roger Penrose. That has got to change.”
academic fervour and social conscience that character- the 1980s; yet black Caribbean boys remain the educa- ises their son and David still retains a keen interest in tional outcasts. creating opportunity the politics of Guyana. In frugal times, the challenge for Generat- Far left: Generating genius David travelled to London to study physics at ing Genius is now to raise more funds and scale up. Chief Executive Tony Imperial in 1975, taking a first class degree. Then at The charity wants to recruit more cohorts of black Sewell (l) and Chairman Cambridge, he gained the notoriously tough Master’s students and offer activities during holidays through- David Pollard aim to turn degree – the Mathematical Tripos Part 3 in applied out the school year. One idea has been to start Saturday talented black boys, maths and theoretical physics and got engaged to his classes. But funds have been hard to find. “We are not particularly those with wife Annabelle (now a consultant gynaecologist). touching as many as we could do,” says David. Caribbean heritage, into He then returned to Imperial to do a PhD in theoretical But now the charity is armed with actual results. scientists and engineers. physics. It was as theoretical as it gets: estimating the Seventeen of the original 25 boys lasted the five-year cosmological constant, the number that tells us when programme, between 2005 and 2010. All have received the universe will stop expanding. offers to study at an elite university (including five from After a stint at the University of Guyana, he Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial), and 90 per cent are returned to the UK. David became a senior physicist predicted to get A or A* grades in their science A-levels at BP – applying science to develop large oil and gas this summer. production projects. Then a headhunter from the City While it is difficult to discern the exact impact the came knocking in search of physicists like David, who programme is having, these are impressive outcomes could apply their differential equations to predict trends for a group where 90 per cent are from single parent in the financial markets instead. At the Citigroup bank backgrounds, and 95 per cent will be the first in their David was, until 2007, a director developing strategies family to go to university. and valuation tools for high frequency bond trading. These 17 are the few bucking the national trend. He now continues on a freelance basis. But David argues that the importance of this agenda “It turns out that the equation that governs how goes beyond the small numbers involved: “In terms of you price an option is the same equation that governs Britain’s reputation for fairness and opportunity, I think heat conduction in pipes,” says David. “The diffu- it is an important thing.” sion of information on stock prices is not that differ- So, how soon does David think it will be before ent from the kinetic diffusion in molecules.” What he Britain has its own Obama moment – the first black finds most satisfying about the job is the immediacy PM? “We will more likely find someone of Asian back- of the feedback. In his academic work on the cosmo- ground before a black person has a chance,” he says.
k .u logical constant, “you could live and die and not know “I would have thought that would be a generation away co . whether you were wrong or right”, he explains, whereas at least.” in finance, “you know by the end of the day when you And what would he say, if asked for advice on y l ig htltd see the profit and loss statement”. this issue by the current Prime Minister? David says: A generation on from his studies at Imperial, David “I don’t think there is one silver bullet that will work. b r oadda
. remains the exception for male Caribbeans in Britain. We need to find the people involved with other organ- For the Pollard family, this came to light when David’s isations like Generating Genius – those who are www daughter, Arésé (Biological Sciences 2005, MSc Busi- getting somewhere with this thing – and support them ness School 2006), won a place to study biology at until there is enough momentum for a national policy
ss G i ll espie/ ss Imperial in 2002. The make-up of the lecture theatres to emerge.”
Ro had changed a lot in three decades – with ethnic minor- He does however believe that there is a lot still ities now a significant presence. But it was predomi- to do at universities today. “When they see a black nantly young Asians who had broken into the elite kid there, they are not thinking here might be a next ey a n d Mall ey university ranks. And it was mostly females making up Stephen Hawking or Roger Penrose. That has got to the small contingent of black Caribbeans. Universities change.” He has a dream of course – that one day such a s: © Tri c i a © s: have seen a huge expansion of student numbers since genius may be generated at Imperial. p hoto r a i t t Po r
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 17 spray-on science + + +
Silly string sprayed by party goers was the inspiration for this Over the years, they experimented with mixtures of fibres, à la mode collaboration between chemical engineer Profes- polymers and solvents, so that their liquids would turn into sor Paul Luckham and Spanish designer Dr Manel Torres (top fabric when sprayed onto a surface. They explored particle l-r). The duo met in 1998 when Manel was at the Royal College and aerosol technologies, and learnt how to balance one- of Art, working on ways of making fashion more futuristic. off artistic creations with reproducible scientific results.
18 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 picture this | spray-on science o n mps n T ho n y to , L a , v l jevi c a s Rado n Sloboda , , ine P re w C a r ol ine , y k ing z e tt y , Jod , n G i ll e tt Ia n , Tei x eir a They set up Fabrican Ltd to commercialise their products: the For London Fashion Week in autumn 2010, Manel transformed technology for spraying liquids using pressurised spray guns Imperial’s Main Entrance into a catwalk. He designed a spray- mingue z or aerosol cans; materials of different strengths, colours and on Spring Collection of white dresses that was the talk of the D o softness; fabrics that stick strongly to surfaces and those town and captured the imagination of journalists from around o n a r do that can be peeled away. Their breakthrough came when they the world. Healthcare, design and transport companies have Le : S sprayed a T-shirt that could be taken off and put on again. since been in contact about other uses for the technology. P HOTO
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 19 ogies
technoeacle p and ar w of
20 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 feature | technologies of war and peace
By putting scientific experts and technological development at the heart of the Second World War, a new history by David Edgerton reassesses the relationship between war and innovation. ogies hen I speak with scientists of the wartime Engineering Advisory and engineers about the role Council that advised the War Cabinet. ofW the British in the Second World He was also scientific advisor to the War, conversation often turns to the Ministry of Production, and noted in general effect of war on science and the 1956 special centenary number of technology. I am told that war has been The Engineer: a great stimulant to science and to the “Though war stimulates advances development of inventions. This has it does so only in restricted fields. long been the view of many scientists, In other fields advance is brought almost technol engineers and even historians. They to a halt not merely ‘for the duration’ but ace might use a classic example such as for long afterwards. ...during the war, e penicillin. Discovered in the 1920s in the thoughts of many brilliant men had p St Mary’s Hospital, it was shown to have to be turned away from the creation of extraordinary anti-bacterial properties things beneficial to the human race and in humans at the beginning of the concentrated upon devising new means and Second World War. By the end of the of destruction or new means of averting ar war it was produced in large quantities, an enemy’s destructive intentions...” and went on to transform peacetime Stanier believed that the influence w medicine with remarkable speed. Yet, of war upon engineering advancement of there have also been authoritative was to retard rather than to further it, dissenting views about the relationship and that the benefit was “more than between war and innovation. over-balanced by the setbacks suffered Perhaps the most surprising in other fields and the wastage of talent dissenter was Sir Henry Tizard, Rector inherent in the design of destructive of Imperial from 1929 until 1942. He instead of constructive things”. was also, in effect, chief scientific advisor The conventional argument with to the Air Ministry and Ministry of which they disagreed was that war forces Aircraft Production until 1943. Since government to invest more in research the 1930s he had been at the forefront and development in general, and that this of supporting the development of radar leads to the development of sciences and (most famously), as well as jet engines, technologies for civilian and military use. atomic weapons and operational Hidden within such arguments are power- research. Speaking in 1948, when he was ful and influential assumptions about the the equivalent of chief scientific advisor relations between science, technology and to the Ministry of Defence, he said: “It war. These suggest that modern war relies is a mistake to suppose that science on great inventions derived from civil- advances rapidly in a war. Certain ian research. Such was the story told for branches of science may receive a special aircraft, radio, new explosives and propel- stimulus, but on the whole the advance lants and, of course, atom bombs. Science of knowledge is slowed”. and technology were inherently civilian; The great railway engineer Sir their power was shown by the application William Stanier had been a member to war. In this view, the military were cast
illustrations by Mark Allen miller
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 21 as technologically conservative, resistant to the former curator once memorably pointed out to me. new machines offered by civilian ingenuity. Those In assessing the role of war in driving the progress who held this view, often also believed that these tech- of science and technology, we also need to recognise the nologies would bring about a world of perpetual peace, if significance of the military and military institutions for only human organisation were modernised, in the form of science and technology. It is greater than we might imagine. a world state. Take, for example, the history of Imperial College Such assumptions may help explain a curious implicit London. More than half of its 15 Rectors have had distinction made between different kinds of machines significant and long-standing connections to the military. used by armed forces. Compare, for example, London’s Sir Alfred Keogh, the first long-serving rector (1910–22), Science Museum with its Imperial War Museum, both of was a medical man, and creator and great organiser of which are full of machines. In the Science Museum we the Royal Army Medical Corps. Successive Rectors from find military aero-engines, military aircraft, early rockets 1929 to 1954 – Sir Henry Tizard, Sir Richard Southwell (including V2s, illustrated below), radar and the story and Air Chief Marshall Sir Roderic Hill – came from the of atomic bombs, but none of the tanks, guns, or military aeronautical world. From the late 1960s through bombs that reside in the Imperial War Museum. to the 1980s, two nuclear knights, both later nuclear peers, The distinction here is that, presided: William Penney (Math- while aeroplanes, aero-engines, ematics and Mechanics 1929, PhD electronics and atomic physics are 1930), Rector from 1967–73, led essentially civilian and have proved the team that built the first British their worth by their centrality to war, atomic bombs; Brian Flowers, ‘pure weapons’ lie outside the realm Rector from 1973–85, played a of science and technology. But does leading role in developing atomic this distinction make sense? Would energy in postwar Britain. More it not be better to think of separate recently, three Rectors have worked but overlapping realms of military as chief scientific advisor to the and civil machines, both subject Ministry of Defence: Lord Oxburgh, to research and rapid advance? Sir Roy Anderson (Botany and Plant This is, in effect, what Tizard and Technology 1968, PhD 1971) and Stanier thought, and I believe that Sir Keith O’Nions. Together with the answer is an obvious ‘yes’. Less Cambridge, Imperial also provided obvious, perhaps, is that machines the core of scientific civil servants and techniques, such as aviation, who rose to senior positions – men radio and radar, routinely labelled like A.P. Rowe (Physics 1920, DIC as civilian innovations that have 1924), who headed the main radar transformed war, should be seen as laboratory during the war, and primarily military. Harold Roxbee-Cox (Aeronautics Aviation and aero-engines were 1923, DIC 1926), who supervised overwhelmingly a military concern, the jet engine programme. even in peacetime before and after The world of weapons devel- the Second World War (some 75 opment stretched beyond govern- per cent by value was military). The ment laboratories and programmes. connections between radio and the military had been It involved not just academic research scientists, but intimate from the earliest days, when the Navy was the also industrial researchers, inventors, military offic- major customer for radio. Radio remained closely allied ers and, indeed, politicians. The idea that the British to the state through the inter-war years. Radar was the political and military elite have been technologically product of military research establishments. The atomic conservative is wrong. For example, in the Second bomb was more clearly distant from the military, but World War, Britain saw an extraordinary cult of inven- soon became an essentially military project. tion, and its high priest was Winston Churchill. The Perhaps the Science Museum should consider myths that have accumulated around Barnes Wallis removing its primarily military technologies, like aero- (inventor of the bouncing bomb and a Civil Engineer- planes, aero-engines, early radio, many early comput- ing researcher in 1937–38) and, to some extent, Frank ers, and most of the nuclear field, and donate them to Whittle (co-inventor of the turbojet engine) are just that. the Imperial War Museum? Or better, maybe it should The reality was very different. display a wider range of weapons that were as much the Winston Churchill not only personally supported all product of science and technology, as the civilian tech- sorts of inventions, and kept unorthodox inventive organ- nologies it focuses on. For the military used science and isations going, but invented an extraordinary machine technology, not only to develop the aeroplane, radio or himself. In November 1939, he came up with an idea, atom bomb, but also guns, explosives and poison gas. a sketch, for a gigantic earth-moving mole that would We might also consider why the V2 rocket is prominently cut huge trenches. His idea was that 200–300 of these displayed in both the Science and War Museums point- 100-ton monsters would be used along a front of 20–25 ing upwards, rather than downwards in the direction in miles, moving through the night from one front line to which most Londoners would have experienced it, as a the other. Churchill wanted a means of “breaking a dead-
22 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 lock on the French front without repetition of the slaugh- opment to “improve the operational efficiency of equip- ter of the previous war”. They were to be powered by a ment and methods now in use”. Rolls-Royce Merlin aero-engine, precious things in early These were also very much the views of Sir Henry 1940, which even Churchill could not prise out of the Tizard, another key figure in promoting operational hands of the Air Ministry, despite his furious efforts. With research. With Blackett, he opposed the British atom bomb the fall of France, the machine was essentially redundant, programme on the grounds that it was likely to take longer and Churchill, now in Downing Street, reduced the order and cost more than promised. They were proved correct, to 33 machines, and then to four, which did get built. with no bomb being made until the US one in 1945. Far It is tempting to look at Churchill’s mole and to from being cheaper than conventional explosive, it was the assume, since no-one else made one and none was most expensive explosive device ever made: the US bomb needed, that the whole effort was thoroughly misplaced. took at least two years longer, and cost 50 times more, than Yet, in a different scenario, the mole could have become a the British bomb was meant to. Here, it is scientists who famous and decisive weapon, one which might have led, seem to be the technological conservatives. say, to an Anglo-French march on Berlin in 1941. The war inevitably also saw wasted invention. Yet the There were other inventors in Parliament. William extent to which some of these wasteful inventions became Helmore, MP for Watford, invented a giant air-launched known as important contributors to victory is surprising. and radio-guided torpedo powered by aero-engine, The atomic bomb is the most famous new device of the which was developed at the end of the war. A former war, but its contribution to fighting the war was negative. MP, Sir Dennistoun Burney, worked on a gliding It marked, rather than brought about, the end of conflict. torpedo, the Toraplane. He also invented a recoilless British jet engines made no impact. Although the two gun (he had invented the mine-sweeping paravane in the artificial Mulberry harbours towed to the Normandy Great War, and was later to pioneer the freezer-trawler). beaches were much celebrated, they contributed less Military inventors included Major than propaganda implies, then and General Sir (as he became) Millis Jeff- since. The PLUTO (Pipe Line Under eris, who ran an outfit called ‘Winston “It is a mistake the Ocean) was designed to take petrol Churchill’s Toyshop’, which was respon- to suppose that across the English Channel. Built sible for all sorts of gadgets, and Lieuten- science advances at great expense, it turned out to be ant Colonel Stewart Blacker, inventor of rapidly in a war.” quite unnecessary and worked very the Blacker Bombard and the Petard, and badly. The impact of the bounc- important contributor to the Hedgehog anti- Sir Henry Tizard, ing bomb was exaggerated: it led to submarine device and the PIAT anti-tank Rector, 1929–42 severe losses, ensuring that Bomber gun. Or take the reclusive genius Geoffrey Command never used it again. Of the Pyke, inventor of the iceberg aircraft carrier, famous developments only radar and or the lawyer Edward Terrell (son of Terrell of penicillin made definite positive contri- Terrell on Patents), inventor of plastic armour. butions, to which can be added the So much invention was going on that, more recently known code-breaking for some senior scientists, it was causing methods and machines. problems. A particularly vocal opponent of over-inven- What then is the verdict? Does war accelerate or tion, and indeed of Churchill, was the only scientific Nobel decelerate the progress of science and technology in laureate ever to sit in Parliament. In 1940, A.V. Hill was general? My view is that, on balance, Tizard and Stanier elected by the graduates of the University of Cambridge were right: the development of key civil technologies has to one of their two parliamentary seats as an independent probably been retarded by war. On the other hand, we conservative. He complained to parliament in February should not neglect the significance of the military and 1942: “There have been far too many ill-considered inven- military-related institutions that have been remarkably tions, devices, and ideas put across, by persons with influ- productive of military technologies (contrary to cliché), ence in high places, against the best technical advice… some of which are mistakenly characterised as civilian They have cost the country vast sums of money and a technologies applied to war. corresponding effort in development and production, The proper answer is that we cannot really be certain. to the detriment of profitable expenditure of labour and As with so many debates about science and technol- materials elsewhere.” We know from Hill’s papers that he ogy, this one must proceed by assertion and anecdote thought the greatest waste of money was the anti-aircraft rather than carefully analysed evidence. It does so, not at rocket programme, strongly backed by Churchill, which random, but within a framework of assumptions that we he described as a “most infernal waste of time, effort, would do well to be aware of, and against a backing track manpower and material”. of quiet dissenting voices, not least from Imperial, which Another example is physicist Patrick Blackett, then provide a little grist to the mill of critical analysis. at Manchester but later to become a key figure at Impe- rial. Blackett engaged in a general critique of the pursuit David Edgerton (PhD Social and Economic Studies of novelty, criticising the call for ‘new weapons for old’ 1984) is the Hans Rausing Professor at Imperial’s Centre as a form of “escapism”. Too little effort was going into for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. “the proper use of what we have got”, he wrote. Changing His latest book, Britain’s War Machine: Weapons, tactics could be more effective than changing weapons. Resources and Experts in the Second World He wanted to redeploy scientists from research and devel- War, is published by Allen Lane.
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 23 → liquid asset Built in 2003, Imperial’s wave basin provides researchersi with 360,000 litres of water to explore how waves behave
02 Marine renewable energy Dr Johannes Spinneken (PhD Civil and Environmental Engineering 2009) on the left, is looking for ways to harness wave energy, which could meet up to a quarter of the UK’s current electricity demand. His research challenge: how to translate the large but relatively slow forces of waves into the smaller, faster forces that drive electricity generators? The answer may lie in snake- like energy converters that float on the water surface and absorb energy along the crest of the wave as it passes.
24 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 behind the scenes | liquid asset
01 offshore engineering How offshore structures interact with waves is of keen interest to the oil and gas in- dustry. The basin is in Skempton Building and is equipped with pressure transducers, laser sensors and video imag- ing to observe how waves and structures interact. Here, civil engineering students (right) are getting ready to test → how waves hit a platform deck from below, using a model liquid asset jacket structure that will be fixed to the basin floor. Built in 2003, Imperial’s wave basin provides researchersi with 360,000 litres of water to explore how waves behave U ni t 03 making waves Measuring 20m x 12m with a depth of 1.5m, the basin fills in just one hour with over 1,000 bath tubs of water, recreating ocean events at a scale of 1:100. The still water in this picture reflects the calm before the storm that will be whipped up by programming the numbered red paddles to create waves of specific gr a p h i c p hoto h e ri d ge/T frequency and direction. The articulated basin floor can ve gu tt ve a
be modified to replicate conditions for deep water and D : shallow coastal engineering. Photo
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 25 sheer quantity of data also helps us identify clear trends that we can then Open air labs look at more closely.” Results from A nationwide project is harnessing the curiosity of the soil survey have been encourag- communities, raising environmental awareness and ing: pH data from the citizen corps closely matches British Geological generating publishable research data at the same time. Survey records. It’s no mystery why so many by Sonia Van Gilder Cooke ordinary people eagerly join in. But what could coax busy scientists to give their time? OPAL awards a series of research grants to scientists, It’s a brief that might stump even the most couldn’t tell a which must be split 50:50, with cutting edge research group: to mobilise sycamore from half going to research and the other thousands of ordinary people, and get an ash now send half to support public engagement. them to produce publishable scientific in regular reports Research funds may have attracted data. Yet that’s exactly what Imperial’s of the species the scientists’ attention, but many Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) network in their woods. have ended up volunteering them- is doing, by partnering top scientists Even children’s selves and their families to spend with the public. In all corners of England, games play a part: weekends with the public. people are taking samples from ponds, “we’re studying A lot of research simply wouldn’t counting bees and tracking aeroplane how manmade get done without the programme. contrails. The fruits of that work will environments can change wind speed and It was an OPAL grant that enabled show up in peer-reviewed journals. And direction by blowing bubbles,” says Linda, Imperial atmospheric scientist luckily, there’s a lichenologist who’s up to referring to an activity in the climate survey Professor Ralf Toumi (Chemistry running it all. that is particularly popular with school kids. 1987) to use data from weather Dr Linda Davies (T.H. Huxley School The data’s journey from school play- monitoring stations in schools across 2003), who heads up the £13 million Big ground to Imperial’s database is just the London’s 32 boroughs. Ralf’s group Lottery-funded OPAL project, has none of beginning. From there, researchers analyse helps the kids become mini mete- the reticence you might expect from a lichen and transform it into indicators of environ- orologists, while new data on solar lover. Under her direction, universities from mental change to inform environmental irradiance is whisked automatically to Newcastle to Plymouth have joined with policies. “Common organisms like earth- Ralf’s lab, helping him to track pollu- local communities to study topics as diverse worms are often neglected when it comes to tion above London more accurately. as hedgehog ecology and orchard loss. In monitoring,” says Linda. “We’re providing Birmingham, teams are investigating how data that simply hasn’t been collected before.” bees, birds and bats survive in the big city. In OPAL has also swelled the ranks of natural Hundreds of people who the East Midlands, groups of young people history societies, which will sustain enthusiasm previously couldn’t tell a are mapping the region’s heaths. “We’ve generated by the project. And where there trained 40 hedgehog champions in York,” wasn’t a group, OPAL created one: the newly sycamore from an ash now Linda says, proudly. minted British Earthworm Society teems send in regular reports of It’s an undeniably sprawling, ambitious with fans of the prosaic creature. programme and, so far, it’s been a success. This native fascination with flora and the species in their woods. To date, 425,000 participants have collected fauna is what spurred Linda’s involvement wildlife and habitat data from 11,000 sites in the first place. While surveying lichens around England. OPAL has brought in in London for her research, she was often OPAL-funded research has everyone from school children and asylum approached by people who wanted to know already made its way into the pages of seekers to young offenders and pensioners. what she was up to. “Everybody wanted to scientific journals, with more papers Project partners include the Natural History talk with me,” she recounts. “It was amazing to be published during the first phase Museum and the Met Office. but I would think, I’ve got to survey 200 of the project. Despite OPAL’s value Once every six months, OPAL channels trees today. I simply cannot afford to stop to science, however, Linda empha- this enthusiasm by launching a nationwide and chat.” Davies concluded there had to be sises that all the research in the world biological survey. Forty thousand budding a way to bring busy scientists and curious won’t solve environmental problems field assistants (half of whom are schoolchil- citizens together, and the seeds of OPAL without a public that cares. It is this dren) head out to gather crucial information were planted. that is inspiring her to secure support about English nature. Participants then feed So far, so warm and fuzzy, but can OPAL for continuing the project, and why their data – whether it be the number of actually produce quality science? That’s where one of her favourite OPAL moments froghoppers in a hedge or the pH of their the top-flight scientists come in and carefully came while working with a group of local lake – into an online public database. translate their research questions into activi- young offenders from Southwark. One elderly lichen spotter from Sheffield ties for the public, says Linda. “We’ve put in Strolling back after a day in the park, says counting the little organisms for OPAL’s a lot of work to make sure the data is rigorous one young man turned to her and air quality survey gives her a reason to go by minimising error and uncertainty in our said, simply: “Trees are the greatest.” out. Hundreds of people who previously methods and results,” she explains. “The Now that’s a good peer review.
26 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 going public | open air labs
get involved
Encourage friends, family and colleagues to take part in OPAL surveys and help scientists build up a more accurate picture of England’s natural environment: www.opalexplore nature.org/surveys
AIR SURVEY: monitor lichens and tar spot fungus to track local air quality
BIODIVERSITY SURVEY: find out which hedgerows attract the most wildlife
BUILT ENVIRON 1 MENT SURVEY: discover how invertebrates cope with urban living by 425,000 participants have collected wildlife identifying bugs on and habitat data from 11,000 sites around england your doorstep
CLIMATE SURVEY: help improve the accuracy of computer climate models, assess our sensitivity to chang- ing temperatures and measure how we affect wind speed and direction
SOIL and earth- worm SURVEY:
AL check soil condition 2 3 and contribute to
rms) O P o rms) a national map of earthworm species
➊ OPAL Director Linda Davies (l) WATER SURVEY: launches the Climate Survey // ➋ survey plants and The OPAL Air Centre at Silwood Park animals in local ey, (W ey, lc Finn-Ke M i k e re) Campus looks at the effect of pollu- tion on plants. // ➌ Counting species lakes and ponds to in local hedgerows helps OPAL iden- find out more about ir c en t a ir ➍ al tify biodiversity hotspots. // Life water quality
o p is looking up for hedgehogs in East Hull where residents are working with scientists on a project to conserve them. // ➎ Wildlife expert Chris Packham presents a specimen of one of the world’s longest earthworms, Megascolides australis, to launch
reen, ( G reen, Jak e bbl es) (Bu s: the Soil and Earthworm Survey with 4 students from St Albans School. 5 Photo
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 27 | TRAVEL
Beate’s open lab approach takes six hours. She gets picked means that a team of over 80 up at the airport and can be in African and European staff has the lab in half an hour. the opportunity to work in both “I have a house there. If I countries, leading to a shared left here now, with a credit card, vision for the research, more passport, laptop and my office teaching opportunities, and keys, I’d be all right. I wouldn’t ultimately better prevention and need much else, apart from my patient care. noise reduction headphones. The model gives every- I have grown very fond of one access to state-of-the-art those. Before the Gambia, I laboratory equipment. European was travelling to Cape Town scientists get to see first-hand a lot and it’s a 12-hour flight what tuberculosis (TB) and overnight. When you are in other infections do to chil- economy, 12 hours sitting up dren in Africa. TB is a global is a long time.” She also has a hazard but it claims very few travel pillow, a small thing with lives in Britain. “In developing rice grain sized stuffing that can countries, most problems arise form any shape, and socks for because the treatment is given keeping her feet comfortable. too late, when the lungs have collapsed or the TB has reached Off the beaten track the central nervous system or Once in the Gambia, there’s bones”, Beate explains. “That sometimes a five or six-hour is not going to change very Land Rover ride from the main quickly, which is why we still laboratory on the coast along need a better vaccine.” dirt roads to rural research Brought up near Cologne in sites inland. “Infection patterns Germany, Beate (PhD Paediat- can vary significantly between rics, Obstetrics and Gynaecol- different communities, and it’s ogy 2000) knew she wanted important to take the full range Into Africa to be doctor from a young of conditions into account,” age. She studied paediatric explains Beate. “For example, medicine in the UK, and began malnutrition is more common to ask questions: “Why did this in rural areas, often making Academic paediatrician Dr Beate Kampmann’s child become seriously ill with children more vulnerable recent appointment as Head of Vaccinology at this disease, while that child to diseases.” walked out of casualty with the When we meet, Beate has the Medical Research Council unit in the Gambia same bug and nothing much just returned from a work trip has helped fulfil her long-held ambition of bring- happened?” that this time included some An interest in HIV and TB travel with her family – the ing laboratory and field work closer. Her work on took her to Africa, and another writer and journalist James tuberculosis in children has involved setting up puzzle. The BCG vaccine Cusick and their son, Sebastian. an open lab between research sites in West Africa against TB has been available “The inland rural areas offer a for more than eight decades. “It different flavour from the more and at Imperial in London, where she is a Reader is the world’s most widely used tourist-oriented coastal towns in Paediatric Infection and Immunity. But closer vaccine, and we still don’t really and villages. Each morning we international collaborations and a dedication to know why it works in some were woken by an extraordinary people and not in others.” concert of birdsong. We also got improving global health still require time spent to travel down the Gambia river travelling, she tells Tim Radford. Travelling light by boat, which is where you see Looking for ways of solving such the real beauty of the country.” problems keeps Beate on the Sebastian started travelling the move: “When you work in global world in a sling with his mother, health, travel becomes part of the when he was just six weeks old. package. You have to go where “When he was 11, he said to me: the action is,” she says. “We are ‘Mama, I can fly to Cape Town not great on carbon footprints.” by myself next year; that will be
She flies to the Gambia for 10 my New Year’s resolution’. We C a mp b e ll erine C ath i o n: r at t
days or so every other month. It make an excellent travel team.” us Ill
28 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 alter ego |
By day, Professor Martin McCall (Physics 1983) bends light around space and time, deriving equa- tions that hide objects and events in Harry Potteresque fashion. Two nights a week however, the theoretical optical physicist shrugs off his academic mantle, dons a smooth-soled pair of shoes and sets out for the dance floor. Martin’s wife Estralita first encour- aged him to join a Ceroc class with her eight years ago. He confides: “when Light I started I had two left feet, and was at least as nervous as when I gave my recent inaugural lecture”. Time spent practising fantastic this fusion of jive and salsa has clearly not been wasted, as he fluently leads and spins Estralita around campus for this photoshoot. “Dancing gives me a refreshingly different way of socialising with people,” says Martin. “The only connection with physics is that I choreograph my work trips to coincide with dancing events whenever possible.” One of his main collaborators works in New Zealand, where the local Ceroc teacher reserves a music track for the student who has travelled furthest to be at her class. With 12,000 miles under his belt, Martin can be confident that she will save the last dance for him.
Photo by Adrian Weinbrecht, on location under the Faculty Building looking towards the Queen’s Tower.
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 29 Good reception | november 2010–april 2011
The Grantham Institute for Climate Change welcomes Singapore’s High Commissioner, His Excellency Michael natural history film maker Sir David Attenborough for a Eng Cheng Teo, opens the London project office at Q&A session with staff and students. Imperial for the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.
Professors Paul Elliott, Jaspal Kooner and Philippe Froguel (l to r) celebrate the launch of Imperial’s School of Public Health. e G reen Jak e r) cto R e , ( ,
good King z e tt y
reception Jod )
Friends, family and colleagues gather at a memorial event Professor Colin Caro discusses the helical arterial stent On w ur ah h i (C , to celebrate the life and work of Lord Flowers (1924-2010), he invented with a young visitor at the Science Museum, one of Imperial’s most popular Rectors. where it is exhibited in the new biomedical gallery. ine P re w C a r ol ine Sc ien c e) g B I g ers, low (F o n, mps ho T n y to n) L a i o n) vi at
Professor Wendy Barclay leads her team Federal Aviation Authority executive Tweet Coleman is of Imperial researchers and New Scientist journalists interviewed for the Imperial podcast at the launch of the to victory in the College’s first Big Science Pub Quiz. Unsuspecting Rector, Sir Keith O’Nions, falls Energy Futures Lab’s Green Aviation research network. prey to students throwing custard pies on the Queen’s Lawn to mark the start of RAG week. n, green a green n, koh museum, s c ien e ing a p o re, S , , He alth P u bl i c , ( , ck e tt Lu e K at ) tt en bo r o ug h Planetary scientist Dr Leah-Nani Alconcel (r) discusses her A vi d research with visitors at the Kohn Award lecture reception, a
Professor Winston Wong (Physics 1971, MSc 1972, PhD prior to taking the Aurora Explorer exhibit to the 2011 Shadow Minister for innovation and science (D s: Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology 1976) Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. Chi Onwurah MP (Electrical Engineering joined over 70 other guests at the Taipei alumni reception. 1987) (r) visits the Imperial College Incubator. Photo
30 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 obituaries | The little black box
Whenever we hear of a plane crash, the report inevitably turns at some point to the recovery and analysis of the aircraft’s ‘black boxes’, known formally as the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder.
Born in 1925 on Groote Eylandt, Australia, Dr David Warren was one of four children to parents Hubert Warren and Ellie Potter. His father, an Anglican mission- ary, died in an unsolved plane crash when David was nine years old. After studying chemistry at the University of Sydney, David taught at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria and then later at Sydney, and in 1948 he was appointed the Scientific Officer at Woomera Rocket Range. His research into rocket fuel brought him to Imperial in 1949, where he took a PhD in chemical engineering. In 1952 he returned to Melbourne to work at the Dr David Ronald De Mey Warren (PhD Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry Aeronautical Research Laboratories (ARL) as principal 1950) 1925–2010 research scientist. A year later he was invited to join the technical committee investigating two fatal De Havil- the lack of support, David outlined his idea in a 1954 paper and by 1956 he had land Comet jetliner crashes; the accidents remained created a prototype, named the ARL Flight Memory Unit, which allowed the unsolved and led David to begin developing his idea for storage of up to four hours of voice and flight-instrument data. an in-flight recording device. “I had seen, at a trade fair, a It was not until 1958, when the Secretary of the UK Air Registration Board gadget which fascinated me,” he later explained. “It was visited ARL that Warren’s ideas were finally taken seriously. Sir Robert Hard- the world’s first miniature recorder to put in your pocket. ingham brought David back to London and after a resounding response to I put the two ideas together. If a businessman had been demonstrations of the prototype, a company was contracted to make the devices, using one of these in the plane and we could find it in the which have always been coloured red. wreckage and we played it back, we’d say, ‘We know what In 1963, following two fatal aviation disasters, Australia became the first caused this’.” country to make flight recorders a mandatory legal requirement. Despite never His idea was not well received initially. Pilots receiving financial reward for his invention, in recent years Warren’s contribution rejected the concept, fearing that black boxes might be to aviation safety was officially recognised. In the 2002 Australia Day honours used to spy on crew. The Royal Australian Air Force did list, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia and in 2008 Qantas named not think the device was required and that “the recorder one of its Airbus A380 aircrafts after him. David is survived by his wife, Ruth, would yield more expletives than explanations”. Despite four children, eight grandchildren, one great-grandchild and a sister.
Proteomics pioneer Dr Judit Nagy was born in enzyme plays in the activation of Molecular Microbiology and Budapest in 1963 and studied a drug used in the treatment of Infection and, in 2006, she moved chemistry at the Eötvös Loránd tuberculosis. Her interest in the her laboratory into the Institute of University in Hungary and went molecular basis of disease and Biomedical Engineering, where on to study for a Master’s in therapy inspired much of her the additional resources allowed Ken z ie Mc neutron-activation analysis. subsequent research. In 2000, her work to flourish. In 1993 Judit embarked on Judit established her independent Judit died in a car accident a doctorate at Imperial, where research activities as the manager on 18 October 2010. She is Dr Judit Nagy (PhD Biochemistry ns: D o nn a i o ns: r at she remained for the rest of her of the proteomics facility in the survived by her husband and t us 1997) 1963–2010 career, studying the role that an newly established Centre for four children. Ill
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 31 In memoriam
We regret to announce the deaths of the following alumni, staff and students of Imperial College London, the constituent medical schools and Wye College.
Alumni are listed by decade of graduation. Where an alumnus has obtained more than one degree from the College they are listed under the decade in which they obtained their first degree. An asterisk (*) indicates that an obituary for this alumnus is available online at at www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/obituaries. A dagger (†) indicates that the alumnus was also a member of staff. Printed copies of obituaries are also available on request from [email protected]
1930s • Mr Geoffrey A. Church (Mechanical • Mr George Mann (Physics 1942) Engineering and Motive Power 1942) • Mr Ross W. Meadows (Electrical • Mr Alan Baker (Mechanical Engineering • Mr Eric R. Cox (Electrical Engineering Engineering 1940) and Motive Power 1937) 1949) • Dr Alan C. Meigh (Civil Engineering and • Dr Leslie A. Bashford (Chemistry 1935, • Mrs Pamela Crayton (Botany 1949) Surveying 1949, MSc Civil Engineering PhD 1937) • Professor Michael C. De Malherbe (PhD 1950) • Emeritus Professor Hans A. Buchdahl Mechanical Engineering and Motive • Mr Thomas D. Meyler (Electrical (Physics 1939) Power 1945) Engineering 1947) • Mr Dinaker P. Dani (Mechanical • Mr Gordon S. Dear (Electrical Engineering • Mr Henry P.A. Moser (Mechanical Engineering and Motive Power 1939)* 1943) Engineering and Motive Power 1941) • Dr Arthur L. Down (Chemistry 1937, PhD • Mrs P.J. Dewey (Wye College 1945) • Mr Frederick H. Needham (Civil Geology 1939) • Dr John R. Drabble (Mathematics and Engineering and Surveying 1948) • Professor Emeritus Sir Hugh Ford Mechanics 1943, PhD 1949)* • Mr John A. Neill (Civil Engineering and (Mechanical Engineering and Motive • Professor George E.P.H. Du Boulay Surveying 1946, DIC 1947) Power 1936, PhD 1939)†* (Charing Cross Hospital Medical School • Professor Donald W. Pashley (Physics • Dr Paul Freeman (Biology 1937, Botany 1945) 1947, PhD 1950) 1938)* • Dr Anthony W. Edridge (Westminster • Sir Norman J. Payne CBE (Civil • Dr Raymond I. Garrod (Physics 1938, Hospital Medical School 1944) Engineering and Surveying 1948) PhD 1939) • Dr Frank Ellis (Mechanical Engineering • Dr Peter F. Philip (Charing Cross Hospital • Mr Wilfred L. Hewlett (Chemistry 1933)* and Motive Power 1949, PhD Mechanical Medical School 1945) • Mr Abraham A. Jacobs (Chemistry 1939) Engineering 1961)†* • Mr Basil N. Robbins (Chemical • Mr Ronald D. Kitchener (Electrical • Professor John A. Elvidge (Chemistry Technology 1943)* Engineering 1939, MSc 1940) 1943, PhD 1947)* • Mrs Joyce A. Russell (Chemistry 1948, • Mr George R. Owen (Electrical • Dr Ernest W. Emery (Physics 1947) PhD Botany 1950) Engineering 1939) • Dr David L. Evans (Westminster Hospital • Professor Roy G. Shorter (Westminster • Mr Wilfred C. Pafford (Electrical Medical School 1942) Hospital Medical School 1948) Engineering 1930, DIC 1931)* • Mr Heinz L. Feuchtwanger (Chemistry • Mr Clifton J. Stanford (Electrical • Mr Eric L. Ripley (Physics 1939) 1946) Engineering 1944) • Professor Jack Rutter (Botany 1938)†* • Mr Morley H. Freeman OBE (Meteorology 1944) • Mr Edmund O. Skelton (Mining 1934) • David Gibson (Mining 1948) 1950s • Mr Vincent E.W. Stewart (Civil Engineering and Surveying 1934) • Dr John M. Groocock (Chemistry 1949, • Dr Hilary J. Andrews (Charing Cross PhD 1952) Hospital Medical School 1955) • Mr Roger P. Stokes (Mechanical Engineering and Motive Power 1937) • Professor Jack Halling (Mechanical • Mr R.H. Bennison (Wye College 1954) Engineering and Motive Power 1948, PhD • Mr Rex W. Bird (Civil Engineering 1954) Mechanical Engineering 1952) • Mr Leslie L. Edwards (Mathematics and 1940s • Mr Denys S. Hopper (Physics 1943) Mechanics 1953) • Mr Barclay G. Humphrys (Civil • Dr Timothy M. Aluko (Civil Engineering • Mr Richard C.J. Edwards (Mining 1952)* Engineering and Surveying 1942)* and Surveying 1948)* • Mrs Brynhild J. Felton (Physics 1952) • Professor George Jackson (Aeronautics • Mr James A.C. Andrews (Civil Engineering 1947) • Mr Roger Fisher (Mechanical Engineering and Surveying 1947)* 1952, MSc Civil Engineering 1954)* • Dr Anthony H. James (St Mary’s Hospital • Professor Edward M. Backett (Charing Medical School 1944) • Mr Ian J. Flint (Mechanical Engineering Cross and Westminster Medical School 1958) 1944) • Dr Clive R. Jolly (Charing Cross Hospital Medical School 1948) • Mr Bryan O. Frost (Chemical Engineering • Mr John A. Bennett-Powell (Mechanical and Applied Chemistry 1954) Engineering and Motive Power 1940) • Mr James E.B. Kiddell (Mechanical Engineering and Motive Power 1943) • Air Vice-Marshal Philip M.S. Hedgeland • Mr William Berwick-Sayers (Electrical (Electrical Engineering 1951) Engineering 1949) • Professor Peter T. Landsberg (PhD Mathematics and Mechanics 1949) • Dr Brian Higgs (Westminster Hospital • Dr Charles A. Biscoe (St Mary’s Hospital Medical School 1959) Medical School 1949)* • Dr Max M.M. Lipsicas (Electrical Engineering 1948, Physics 1950) • Dr W.D. Hopkins (Westminster Hospital • Dr Wilfred S. Brown (Charing Cross Medical School 1950) Hospital Medical School 1948)* • Dr John R. Jay (PhD Mining 1959)
32 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 in memoriam |
• Dr Dennis Kelsall (PhD Physics • Mr Steven C.B. Bullock (Wye College • Mr Andrew C. Grochowski (Physics 1958)* 1960) 1971) 1990s • Dr Lindon C. Laming (PhD • Dr Anthony F. Collings (PhD • Mr Arie Hepp (Botany and Plant • Mr Neil A. Burroughs (Physics 1993) Mechanical Engineering 1952)† Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology 1973) • Mr Dominic Clay (Geology 1997) Technology 1966)* • Mr William G.D. Larrett (Physics • Dr Shorland W. Hosking (Charing • Dr Joachim Eggeling (Chemistry 1953) • Dr Peter G. Cutler (Westminster Cross Hospital Medical School 1995, PhD 1999) Hospital Medical School 1967)* 1978) • Professor Manfred Lehmann • Mr Mark A. Gialanze (Physics 1990) (Mathematics and Mechanics 1953, • Mrs Katrina Dalton (Wye College • Professor Joseph A.C. Humphrey • Mr Simon H. Lloyd (MSc Electrical PhD Mathematics 1956) †* 1969) (Mechanical Engineering 1974, PhD and Electronic Engineering 1992) • Mr Peter A. May (Mathematics and • Mr Peter L. Dowell (Electrical 1977) • Mr Medhat Mansi (Mechanical Mechanics 1953) Engineering 1961) • Mr Hicuunga K.E. Kambaila (Mining Engineering 1995) • Professor Colin R. McChesney • Mr Keith A. Duke (Mechanical and Mineral Technology 1971) • Mr Neil D. McColl (Management (Mechanical Engineering 1956) Engineering 1967) • Mr Paul O. Langguth (Chemistry School 1992) • Dr Robert M. Moffitt (St Mary’s • Professor David J. Faulkner 1978) • Dr Alexander C.N. Nzuruba Hospital Medical School 1956) (Chemistry 1962, PhD 1965) • Dr John P. Lee (Westminster Hospital (Environmental Technology 1996)* • Mr Brian E. Nelson (Aeronautics • Mr David F. Ferguson (Aeronautics Medical School 1971)* • Dr Henryk J. Salacinski (MSc 1959)* 1965)* • Mr Philip Marriott (Mineral Chemistry 1990) • Mr Henry M. Pailsey (Physics 1954) • Mr Arthur D. Fotheringham (Physics Resources Engineering 1979) • Ms Cressida C.A. Spachis (Civil 1962) • Mr Roger D.A. Phillips (Electrical • Mr Michael W. Preuveneers Engineering 1998) (Chemistry 1958)* • Mr Muhammad S. Gabru (Civil Engineering 1972)* • Mr Raju Retnasami (Electrical Engineering 1963) • Dr Patri J. Pugliese (History of Engineering 1958) • Dr Philippa K. Griffiths (Charing Science, Technology 1977) 2000s • Mr Nicholas Robb (Metallurgy 1950) Cross Hospital Medical School • Mr Martin F.G. Smeaton (Physics 1969) 1976) • Miss Amy F. Austin (Biology 2001) • Dr John Russell (PhD Botany 1951) • Mr Andrew C. Guest (Metallurgy • Eur Ing Julia M. Tranmer (Chemical • Mr Jonathan R. Fernando • Dr Geoffrey H. Ryder (Charing Cross 1968, MSc Mechanical Engineering Engineering and Chemical (Mathematics 2003) Hospital Medical School 1955) 1969) Technology 1976, 1980) • Mr Amer M. Hussein (Mathematics • Mr Colin F. Smith (Mining 1958)* • Mr Ajmal I. Hussain (Civil • Mr Stephen J. Williams (Chemistry 2002) • Mr David A. Smith (Civil Engineering Engineering 1964) 1973) • Ms Katrina Jacks (Chemical and Surveying 1950) • Professor William I. Jenkins • Mr Richard W. Wood (Mechanical Engineering and Chemical • Mr Vernon J.N. Snellock (Mechanical (Chemistry 1963, PhD 1966) Engineering 1975) Technology 2009) Engineering 1956) • Mr Alan L. Jones (Electrical • Mr Paul Le Begue de Germiny (MSc • Professor Kenneth A. Stacey (PhD Engineering 1968) Business School 2006) Chemistry 1951) • Mr Norman L. Kent (Physics 1961) 1980s • Lieutenant Neal Turkington (MSc Civil and Environmental Engineering • Dr William I. Stanton (Geology 1951, • Dr Linden J. Morris (Civil Engineering • Mr Shane E. Ahmet (Physics 1987)* PhD 1953) 2007) 1960, 1964) • Dr Graham J. Belham (Westminster • Dr John R. Stubbles (PhD Metallurgy • Mrs Joan F.C. Reeves (Physics 1965, Hospital Medical School 1980) 1957) MSc Electrical Engineering 1968) • Mr Sundeep B. Chauhan (Chemical Students • Dr Robert B. Turtle (Chemical • Dr Peter C. Shervington (St Mary’s Engineering and Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry Hospital Medical School 1961) Technology 1986, Management • Mr Anthony Soh (Mechanical 1952) School 2000) Engineering) • Mr Donald C. Thomson (Chemical • Mr John Tze-Tsun Wang (Chemistry Engineering and Chemical • Mr Christopher K. Chew (MSc Social 1956) Technology 1961) and Economic Studies 1984) Staff • Mr Robin Waugh (Physics 1958) • Professor David L. Trimm (DIC • Mr Peter S. Graham (Mechanical • Mr Richard F. Whidborne (Civil Chemical Engineering and Chemical Engineering 1981) • Mr Brian Doble Technology 1962)* Engineering 1950) • Mr Richard L. Hughes (Civil • Mr Aiden Donnelly • Dr Yilmaz Turan (Geology 1961) Engineering 1987, MSc 1988) • Mr R.J. Wilkins (Electrical • The Lord Flowers Engineering 1950) • Mr Peter F. Vermeylen (Electrical • Dr Ashok Kumar (Aeronautics 1985) • Mr John F. Greenwood • Dr E.R. Wilson (Westminster Engineering 1960) • Mr Raphael Salasini (MSc • Mr Simon P. Hill Hospital Medical School 1951) Computing 1988) • Mrs Karen Jones • Mr Bernard C.J. Smith (Physics 1970s • Professor John Nelder 1960s 1980) • Mr James A. Botterill (Aeronautics • Ms Rosemary M. Thomson • Professor Jaroslav Stark • Dr Baderuddin Afghan (PhD 1972) (Biochemistry 1987) • Emeritus Professor Michael Way Chemistry 1966) • Dr David N. Clark (PhD Geology • Mr Janusz A.J. Trzebski (Wye College • Dr Bryon Wilson • Dr Henry W.E. Briscoe (St Mary’s 1975)* 1984) Hospital Medical School 1961) • Mr Michael J. Gibson (Physics 1977) • Mr Anthony H.S. Wickham (Civil To enquire about leaving a legacy • Dr Michael L. Brown (PhD Chemical Engineering 1983) • Dr Herbert Gomes (MSc to Imperial in your will, please Engineering and Chemical Mathematics 1976) Technology 1969)* contact Rosalind Griffin on • Mr Michael D. Grantham (Civil +44 (0)20 7594 6159 or email • Dr Paul A. Bryant (PhD Physics Engineering 1970) 1964) [email protected]
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 33 /noticeboard
Alumni Groups Earth Science and Engineering 1964 Regional Wednesday 31 August 2011, South Kensington Campus, London. Contact: Julian Bennett at Kazakhstan [email protected] Newly established alumni group is recruiting new members. Contact: [email protected] Electrical Engineering 1981 Saturday 17 September 2011, South Kensington Malaysia Campus, London. Contact: Alan Higginson at Recruiting new members! Next event: Networking [email protected] Gala on Friday 29 July. Join online at www.icaam.org.my/register-now discounts Sport Complimentary room hire on campus football The College is offering complimentary room hire ICUFC Veterans Football Club for all Imperial alumni events taking place before Former ICUFC players, or those otherwise inter- 31 December 2011 (based on minimum numbers ested in playing, are most welcome to join this of 20 guests and a minimum catering spend of new group. Contact: [email protected] £20 per person). www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/ Stay connected conferencefacilities Fencing There are over 55 alumni groups Imperial Alumni Fencing Club Continuing Professional Development in countries around the world A new group has launched for former Imperial Alumni are entitled to a 10 per cent discount and 12 discipline and heritage fencers, and those who have taken up the on the cost of all courses offered by theS chool groups based in the UK. Find out sport after graduating, interested in socials, of Professional Development. Please quote if there is a group near you. club sessions and matches. your alumni membership number at time of Contact: [email protected] booking to take advantage of this discount. • www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/ www.imperial.ac.uk/cpd groups reunions For help contacting your Lost alumni classmates and guidance on Class reunions the organisation of your event, The College always seeks the most up-to-date contact: Louise Birrell on Aeronautics 1971 contact details for alumni but we have lost touch +44 (0)20 7594 6130 or at Saturday 16 July 2011, South Kensington Campus, with those named below who other alumni want [email protected] London. Contact: Tim Smith at timsmith11@ to reach. If you can help please contact waitrose.com [email protected]
Chemical Engineering 1961 • Dr Barry W. Hyndham (PhD Electrical Engineer- Saturday 16 September 2011, South Kensington ing 1970) Campus, London. Contact: Chris Marchant at • Siong P. Ng (Mechanical Engineering 1972) Questions? [email protected] • Neil Ramsbottom (Mechanical Engineering 1961) Alumni membership is free. Chemistry 1961 • Richard T. Sunderland (Electrical Engineering Contact the Alumni Office for Friday 23 to Sunday 25 September 2011, South 1968) help with issues concerning Kensington Campus, London. Contact: Stephen • Rosalyn J. Symes (MSc Geology 1977) membership or services. Robinson at [email protected] • John P. Tunstall (Botany 1951)
Email: [email protected] computing 1986 (undergraduate) Phone: +44 (0)20 7594 6138 Date to be confirmed, London. Contact:S tephen Post: Alumni Office, Zatland at [email protected] Imperial College London, Level 2 Faculty Building, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
• www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni
34 | IMPERIAL | spring/Summer 2011 calendar events + meetings + occasions 30 June > 25 July > come and visit On the Road Open Day New York alumni meet-up Join Sir Keith O’Nions, Rector Prospective students and of Imperial, and fellow alumni parents visit campus and find for his talk at the British Consulate out what it’s really like to be about Where science is going. a student at Imperial. www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/ www.imperial.ac.uk/visit newyork South Kensington Campus, London New York, USA
< 11 august < 12 august On the Road On the Road Singapore alumni meet-up Hong Kong alumni meet-up Rector Sir Keith O’Nions will host Come and meet Sir Keith O’Nions an alumni drinks reception one and fellow alumni in Hong Kong year on from the launch of the Lee and hear his talk about Where Kong Chian School of Medicine. science is going. www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/ www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/ singapore hongkong Singapore Hong Kong
20 September > 23 September > On the Road after hours Geneva alumni meet-up Science Uncovered The Rector of Imperial, Sir Keith Visit Imperial researchers at O’Nions, will address alumni our neighbouring Natural History in Geneva, home to the world’s Museum’s after-hours event – part largest particle accelerator. of this year’s Europe-wide festival www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/ of science and research. Catch live geneva demonstrations, chat to scientists at the bar or take a tour. Geneva, Switzerland Natural History Museum, London
< 19 October < 22 November graduation SchrÖdinger lecture Commemoration Day What is life? Over 2,000 undergraduates Sir Paul Nurse, President of celebrate their achievements and the Royal Society, gives the mark the beginning of an amazing 2011 lecture, inspired by Erwin journey as an Imperial alumnus. Schrödinger’s book What is life? www.imperial.ac.uk/graduation www.imperial.ac.uk/events/ Royal Albert Hall, London schrodinger2011 South Kensington Campus, London
november/december > 12 may 2012 > On the Road reunion India alumni meet-up Imperial Day Sir Keith O’Nions, Imperial’s Rector, will be hosting events The Imperial alumni reunion takes in Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi a fresh approach with tours, talks during his Indian tour. and demonstrations throughout the day (see back cover). www.imperial.ac.uk/events www.imperial.ac.uk/imperialday Mumbai, Kolkata and New Delhi South Kensington Campus, London
For more details on Imperial College events, visit: Sign up and receive the e-Bulletin every fortnight by emailing: www.imperial.ac.uk/events [email protected]
spring/Summer 2011 | IMPERIAL | 35 Imperial Day coming up + + + 12 may 2012 • London
Reunite with former classmates and experience the best of the Imperial College London today. The Alumni Office is busy planning a new approach to the annual reunion which will take place next year on Saturday 12 May 2012 at the South Kensington Campus as part of the two-day Imperial Festival. All alumni will receive details in due course but for now please mark the date in your diary. We hope to see you there. www.imperial.ac.uk/imperialday
Connecting alumni to extend the Imperial network around the world