command of the sea

matters

Commandof the seaA naval perspectiveon leadership

Felix turns 60The history ofstudent journalism

Halls of residenceMemories of studentlife in Eastside andSouthside

Plus all the newsfrom the Collegeand alumni groups

Spring | 2010Imperial 35

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Alumni magazine of Imperial College London including the former Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School,Royal Postgraduate Medical School, St Mary’s Hospital Medical School and Wye College

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contents//35

18

coverThe cover imageshows shipssimilar to theones SecondSea Lord AdrianJohns sailed onduring his timein the RoyalNavy.

news2 College

4 Business

5 Engineering

6 Medicine

7 Natural Sciences

8 Arts and sport

9 Felix

features10 A history lessonAs Felix celebrates its 60th anniversary,Imperial Matters looks back over its history

14 Six lessons in leadershipAlumnus Adrian Johns shares hisexperiences of leadership as a Vice Admiral

18 A room of one’s ownAs the new Eastside and Southside halls ofresidences are unveiled, Imperial Matterstakes a look back at their previousincarnations

22 The inconstant sunLearn about the effects of the sun on theEarth’s atmosphere

24 Cells blooming inthe desertProfessor Michael Schneider talks toImperial Matters about his research intocardiac biology

alumni28 Services

30 UK

34 International

38 Catch up

41 Books

44 In memoriam

45 The bigger picture

Imperial Matters is published twice a year by the Office of Alumni and Development and Imperial College Communications. Issue 36 will be published in September 2010. Contributionsare welcome by the copy deadline, Friday 9 July 2010. Address for magazine enquiries Office of Alumni and Development, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, LondonSW7 2AZ +44 (0)20 7594 1971 [email protected] www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/matters

Editor Anna Codrea-Rado Head of Editorial Saskia Daniel Contributors Alasdair Glen, Lucy Goodchild, John-Paul Jones, Zoë Perkins, Danielle Reeves, Abigail Smith, Colin Smith, Dan Wan,and Elliott White Design Jeff Eden Print Prolitho ltd Distribution DHL Global Mail

© Imperial College London, 2010. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any photograph, text or illustration without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. Due care is taken to ensure that the content of ImperialMatters is fully accurate, but the publisher cannot accept liability for omissions and errors. In the interests of providing a free flow of debate, views expressed here are not necessarily those of the editor or Imperial College London.

Spring 2010

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Imperial Matters 1

Welcome

I’m delighted to have this opportunity tosay hello to you as Imperial’s interimRector, a post I took up at the start ofJanuary, following Sir Roy Anderson’sresignation at the end of last year.

Many of you will have heard aboutthis news from the alumni e-bulletin sentout in December. For those who did not,Sir Roy has chosen to step down toreturn his full focus to his research andinternational advisory roles on thespread of infectious diseases, for whichhe is globally renowned. I’m very pleasedto say that he remains a member of theCollege community, and my thanks goto him for all he did for Imperial duringhis time as Rector. More information ison page 2.

So I’m new to the role of Rector, butnot to Imperial itself. I arrived here inJuly 2008 to set up a new Institute forSecurity Science and Technology, andI have known and admired the Collegefor considerably longer. My backgroundis in academia, although I spent themajority of the past decade as ascientific advisor to government.In both of those roles I was aware ofImperial’s reputation as a place that isdynamic and agile to opportunity. I was

delighted, when I arrived, to discoverthat my impressions as an outsiderwere confirmed by my experiences asan insider.

The beauty of this job is that it givesme a chance to get to know aspects ofImperial that would probably haveremained largely beyond my horizonsif I had remained at the Institute. I amcurrently in the middle of a programmeof informal visits to departments, whichare proving to be a great treat and aneye-opening insight into the sheervolume of imaginative research andteaching that is carried out here.Another pleasure is getting to knowImperial's students; a recent tour ofImperial College Union's headquarterseven saw me trying out a pint ofImperial ale, which is certainly not aperk of the job that I had anticipated.

One key section of Imperial'scommunity that I am still in the processof getting to know is our alumni, and Ihope the future will bring opportunitiesto meet as many of you as possible.A recent trip to Singapore to discussfurther collaborations with universitiesin the region gave me a chance to sayhello to our very active alumni

association there, which wasenormously enjoyable and has given mea real taste for further similar events.Your support and interest is greatlyappreciated, and I would welcome anycomments you have for me [email protected].

With warm regards,

Sir KeithO'Nions

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2 Imperial Matters

Boris Johnson (pictured third fromright), the Mayor of London, visitedImperial in January 2010 to officiallyopen the restored Prince’s Gardens,following a £160 million investment bythe College. The mayor toured the newhalls of residence onthe square and met students livingin them.

He said of the College: “This isLondon’s true seat of wisdom and it isunrivalled. I want to seemoreNobel

Prize winners cut their teeth inSouth Kensington.”

Work on the square began in 2002and has included demolishing outdatedstudent accommodation, replacing itwith modern buildings that house over800 students and are designed to fitaesthetically with the local area.

Imperial acquired Prince’s Gardens in1956, and its first four halls, collectivelyknown as Southside, were opened byPrincessMargaret in October 1963.

Boris Johnson praises Imperial as ‘true seat ofwisdom’ when opening restored Prince’s Gardens

Rector of Imperial College London

Redited by John-Paul Jonesnews college

RMore news online at www.imperial.ac.uk/newsR New technique for analysing the chemistry of ancient oceans could reveal facts about e

InDecember 2009 Imperial’s Rector SirRoy Anderson stepped down in order tofocus on his research as theCollege’sChair of InfectiousDisease Epidemiologywithin the Faculty ofMedicine. ThankingSir Roy on behalf of theCollege, LordKerr, Chairman of theCourt andCouncil,said: “During his time as Rector Sir Roy

has led theCollege through a challengingeconomic environment, has highlightedthe economic and social value ofresearch-intensive universities and hasadvanced Imperial’s interests by playing afull part in public debate about the futureof higher education.” Sir Roy, whoseassociationwith theCollege goes back 40years to his days as an undergraduatehere, said: “I am immensely proud of andloyal to Imperial and I shall do all I canfrommynewposition to ensure that ourCollegemaintains its world-leadingposition of today, and is well-prepared tomeet new challenges tomorrow.”

At the beginning of January, Sir KeithO’Nions (pictured above left), previouslyDirector of theCollege’s Institute forSecurity Science andTechnology, tookup the post of Acting Rector.

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Hundreds of 13–19 year oldsdescended on Imperial and itsneighbours in November 2009 to findout more about careers in creativeindustries. Now in its fourth year, theCreative Quarter event saw a rangeof institutions and organisations inSouth Kensington throw open theirdoors to school students.

Imperial’s sciencedemonstrations were designed toshow how creativity is as importantfor scientific research as for themany other fields represented.Silje Andersen, from Outreach,who organised Imperial’scontribution to Creative Quarter,said: “The College wants to getacross to young people thatcreativity is an inherent and vitalpart of science. Major discoveriesand innovations come from usingimagination and finding creativesolutions to problems.”

Imaginativescienceshowcased toyoung peopleat Imperial


Women from Imperial featured in amonth-long photographic exhibition atCityHall this spring. The 100Women, 100Visions exhibition, first shown at Imperiallast year, features female scientists,engineers and doctors from the Collegedemonstrating aspects of their work ina series of portraits taken by award-winning photographer Jackie King.

The exhibition was organised toaddress preconceptions about workingin science, technology and medicine, andencourage more girls to think aboutstudying science subjects at A-level,

university and beyond.One of the organisers, PhD student

Ellin Saunders, said: “Things have reallyopened up for women in many fieldspreviously seen as the preserve of men.We wanted to celebrate that bycapturing a visual record of thecommunity of female scientists,engineers and doctors here at Imperial.The exciting thing about the City Hallexhibition is we can share that storywith the public and hopefully inspireyoung visitors to seriously considerthese areas for their careers.”

Imperial Matters 3

In January 2010 the College was named as one of the best employers for lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Imperial was placed at number 79 inStonewall’s 2010 Workplace Equality Index, a list showcasing the UK’s bestemployers for LGBT people. The College was one of only two universities in the top100 list, which is based on the steps employers are taking to create a workenvironment in which all staff feel secure and valued.Welcoming Imperial’s position in the index, Rector Sir Keith O’Nions said:“Imperial’s great strength lies in the people who work here and we can’t afford tolet talent go to waste due to ignorance or prejudice.”

The news reflects the College’s increased focus over the past year onimproving inclusivity and equality for LGBT staff, which began with therelaunching of its staff advisory group, Imperial 600, in January 2009.

Awards and HonoursImperial leader wins prestigiousRoyal Society award

Professor Tony Kinloch,Head of theDepartment ofMechanicalEngineering, wasawarded the Armourersand Braziers’ CompanyPrize by the Royal

Society in November 2009. The award ispresented to leading researchers forexcellence in materials science andtechnology. Professor Kinloch receivedthe award for his contribution toadhesion science, which focuses onbonding different molecules together.

Beek recognised by Royal Society

Trevor Beek, atechnician in the Spaceand AtmosphericPhysics research group,has been awarded oneof the first Royal SocietyHauksbee Awards forexcellence in supporting

science. As part of its 350th anniversaryin 2010, the Royal Society decided torecognise the unsung heroes of science,technology, engineering and maths fortheir work and commitment in supportingthe UK science base. The awards arenamed after Francis Hauksbee who wasIsaac Newton’s laboratory assistant atthe Royal Society.

Society of Petroleum Engineers

Professor Alain Gringarten, Chair inPetroleum Engineering and Director ofthe Centre for Petroleum Studies in theDepartment of Earth Science andEngineering, was given HonoraryMembership of the Society of PetroleumEngineers at their annual technicalconference and exhibition, held inOctober 2009 in New Orleans, USA.Professor Gringarten was recognised forbeing an inspiration to petroleumengineers and for decades of outstandingservice to the Society.

college news

t early EarthRCars of the future could be powered by their bodywork thanks to new battery technology


City hall exhibition provides peek into livesof women in science at Imperial

Stonewall top 100 ranking for Imperial


The Imperial College Business Schoolclimbed seven places to 32 in the worldin January’s latest GlobalMBA rankingsfrom the Financial Times. The rankingusesmeasures like graduate employment,salaries and alumni recommendations tocalculate a school’s relative performance.The analysis also examines a school’sspecialist expertise, with the full-time

MBA third in the world forentrepreneurship, sixth for economicsand seventh for marketing, making itone of only two MBAs in Europe withthree top-10 subject-specific rankings.This achievement follows a steady risein the rankings for the Business Schoolsince 2002.

In a separate FT listing, the School’sMSc Management programme was asuccessful new entrant in 33rd place.TheMSc Management course is notaimed at experienced professionals liketheMBA and typically attracts a youngercohort. Its subject-specific ranking foundthe course to be first in the world forstudents interested in entrepreneurshipand in the top-10 for strategy.

4 Imperial Matters

The School has been busy exploiting theoutcomes of its world class research inrecent months. In December 2009 ithosted the first Innovation Summit inLondon. Academics, policy makers andbusiness leaders met to discuss a rangeof issues related to the successfulcommercial exploitation of knowledge.Dr Graham Spittle, chairman of theTechnology Strategy Board, a UK government-sponsored organisation thatpromotes technology-led innovation, gave the keynote speech.

“There is no steady option,” Dr Spittle said, on the urgent need to successfullyexploit the UK’s research efforts, “we either slide backward or move forward incomparison with other countries.”

Encouraging more interaction, he suggested that the “sacred cows of businessand academia must be slaughtered and the risk of failure accepted more readily”.He added: “Only by collaborating today, will we find out what works and what fails,and be able to move forward in the face of a recession and global competition.”

Also spreading the School’s findings is a second series of Best Practice inInnovation, Entrepreneurship and Design Encounters. Started in February, the fivefree, monthly discussions are aimed at experienced entrepreneurs who havepreviously taken a company through the start-up process. The series will helpprepare managers for the next phase of growth by sharing ideas and experienceswith other entrepreneurs, and academics and policy-makers interested in thefield. The sessions are designed to be attended as stand-alone discussions or asan entire programme. Topics include: internationalisation strategies, open sourcebusiness models, competition policy and intellectual property, public sectorinnovation and selling to large hi-tech firms. For more information please visitwww.imperial.ac.uk/entrepreneurship.

Research in practice

A new four-week advancedmanagement programme has beendeveloped by the Business Schooland LUISS Business School, partof LUISS Guido Carli University, aprivate Italian university in Rome.Aimed at entrepreneurs and seniormanagers in family businesses,the programme is sponsored byConfindustria, an Italianemployers’ organisation.

Beginning at the end of 2010,the programme has been designedto be flexible, allowing delegatesto attend four one-week teachingblocks over five months, which willbe hosted in Italy and London.The programme will include thecore business disciplines:accounting, finance, marketingand operations management.Modules drawing on the School’sexpertise in acquisition finance,entrepreneurship and innovationwill also be provided. This mini-MBA is available to all Imperialalumni, for more informationvisit www.imperial.ac.uk/business-school.

New two-cityprogramme forItalian managersto begin this year

Redited byElliottWhitenews business

RMore news online at www.imperial.ac.uk/newsR Joint PhDswith universities in Singapore and Hong Kong launched


Business School rises in the rankings


Imperial Matters 5

Students from the Faculty of Engineeringwho are planning arecord-breaking journey across the Americas this yearshowcased their electric ‘supercar’ in theCollege’s foyer inNovember 2009. Undergraduates and postgraduates from theFaculty of Engineering are transforming one of theworld’sfastest petrol powered racing cars, which is called the RadicalSR8, into a high performance electric vehicle.

The Racing Green Endurance team is aiming to be the first inthe world to drive an electric vehicle the full length of the PanAmerican Highway – from the southern tip of South America tothe Arctic tundra in northern Alaska.

The Pan American Highway is 26,000 kilometres long andthe team hopes to race across it in May 2010.

When the electric conversion is complete, the SR8 shouldhave a top speed of 190 kilometres per hour and acceleratefrom zero to 100 kilometres per hour in seven seconds.

Team leader, Alexander Schey, an undergraduate from theDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, said: “We want todispel the negative public perception of electric vehicles asslow unattractive cars with a limited range by demonstratingthat electric cars can be ‘sexy’ and have outstandingperformance capabilities.”

Redited byColin Smith engineering news

RMore news online at www.imperial.ac.uk/newsR Blood clotting findingmay lead to new treatment

Early relatives of spiders wererevealed in three-dimensional models

in research published in the journalBiology Letters in August 2009.

Mr Russell Garwood, PhD student from the Departmentof Earth Science and Engineering, created detailed three-dimensional computer models of two fossilised specimensof ancient creatures called Cryptomartus hindi andEophrynus prestvicii, which roamed the Earth during theCarboniferous period 359–299 million years ago.

Mr Garwood said: “Our models almost bring theseancient creatures back to life and it’s really exciting to beable to look at them in such detail. Our study helps build apicture of what was happening during this period early inthe history of life on land.”

Scary ancientspiders revealed inthree-dimensionalmodels

Students planrecord-breakingzero emission‘supercar’ journeyalongworld’slongest road

Mars was warm enough to sustain lakes three billion years agoduring theHesperian Epoch, a period that was previouslythought to be too cold and arid to sustain water on the surface,suggested Imperial research published this January in thejournalGeology.

Dr NicholasWarner, Department of Earth Science andEngineering, said: “Most of the research on Mars has focusedon its early history and the recent past. Scientists had largelyoverlooked theHesperian Epoch as it was thought thatMarswas then a frozenwasteland. Excitingly, our study now showsthat this middle period in Mars’ history was muchmoredynamic thanwe previously thought.”

Mars images revealevidence of ancient lakes

Dr Molly Stevens and her team in the Department ofMaterials and the Institute of Biomedical Engineeringmoved one step closer to understanding how to growreplacement bones with stem cell technology in July 2009.

Dr Stevens, whose study was published in the journalNature Materials, compared the ‘bone-like’ material grownfrom three different, commonly used, clinically relevant celltypes and discovered that the materials that were grownfrom mouse skull and bone marrow stem cells successfullymimicked many of the hallmarks of real bone.

Dr Stevens said: “It brings us one step closer todeveloping materials that will have the highest chanceof success when implanted into patients.”

Scientistsedge closer toimplantablebone material

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6 Imperial Matters

Children who are mixed-handed, or ambidextrous, are morelikely to have mental health, language and scholasticproblems in childhood than right or left-handed children,according to a study published in January 2010 in thejournal Pediatrics.

The researchers behind the study suggest that theirfindings may help teachers and health professionals toidentify children who are particularly at risk of developingcertain problems.

Dr Alina Rodriguez, School of Public Health, said: “Ourstudy is interesting because it suggests that some childrenwho are mixed-handed experience greater difficulties inschool than their left and right-handed friends. We thinkthat there are differences in the brain that might explainthese difficulties, but there needs to be more research.”

Mixed-handed children more likelyto have mental health, languageand scholastic problems

A gene that regulates the rhythm of the heart was revealed inresearch published in January 2010 inNature Genetics. Theauthors of the study say their discovery helps them tounderstand how the body’s heartbeat is controlled and couldultimately help scientists designmore targeted drugs toprevent and treat certain heart problems.

Dr John Chambers, School of Public Health, said: “Geneticvariation is like the two sides of a coin. One side is associatedwith increased risk, the other with decreased risk.We haveidentified a gene that influences heart rhythm, and people withdifferent variants of the gene will have increased or decreasedrisks of developing heart rhythm problems.”

Heart rhythm generevealed in new research

news medicine

New UK research, published in January 2010 in PLoS ONE,did not reproduce previous findings that suggested chronicfatigue syndrome may be linked to a recently discoveredvirus. The authors of the study say this means that anti-retroviral drugs may not be an effective treatment for peoplewith the illness.

An estimated three in 1,000 people have chronic fatiguesyndrome (CFS) or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME),experiencing severe physical and mental fatigue that is notalleviated by rest; together with other symptoms such asmuscle pain, headache, joint pain and depression.

In the new study, researchers found no evidence thatpatients with CFS had the XMRV virus, after analysing tissuesamples from 186 patients with CFS using sensitivemolecular testing techniques.

Professor Myra McClure, Department of Medicine, said:“We are confident that our results show there is no linkbetween XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome, at least in theUK. Our recommendation to people with chronic fatiguesyndrome would be not to change their treatment regime,because our results suggest that anti-retrovirals would notbe an effective treatment for the condition.”

New virus is not linked tochronic fatigue syndrome

Redited by LucyGoodchild

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RMore news online at www.imperial.ac.uk/newsRFirst results fromone of the new Large Hadron Collider experiments at CERN

Midwife toads, or Alytes toads, that live in themountains arehighly likely to die from a serious fungal infection calledchytridiomycosis, whereas their infected relatives in thelowlands are not, according to research published in January2010 in Ecology Letters.

Dr Matthew Fisher, Department of Infectious DiseaseEpidemiology, said: “We identified infectedmidwife toadsacross the Iberian Peninsula, but the infectionwasmuchmorelikely to be fatal in toads that live at high altitudes, such as inmountain ranges. These areas are often tourist hotspots, and ifpeople are walking along footpaths and visiting different lakes,they may be spreading the infection unwittingly.”

Living the high life is riskybusiness for toads

JAIM

EBOSCH


Imperial Matters 7

Having your packed lunch stolen by aninquisitive baboon isn’t something thathappens every day while studying for abiology degree. But, as 20 third-yearbiology and ecology students discoveredon the College’s first tropical biologyfield course, strange things can happenwhen the rainforest is your classroom.Staying in Uganda at a MakerereUniversity field station, the group learntabout life as a tropical biologistincluding ringing birds, identifyingplants and insects and trapping mothsby moonlight. Student TomBarber said:“One of themostmemorablemoments

of the trip forme was walking along atrack through the jungle, and seeing agroup of chimpanzees emerge from thetrees and walk right across the path infront of us.” The course is now heldevery summer holiday.

natural sciences newsRedited byDanielle Reeves

RMorenewsonline atwww.imperial.ac.uk/newsRResearchers gain detailed insight into failing heart cells using newnano-technique

Predicting the effects of climate change on differentregions of Africa is extremely difficult, according toProfessor Sir Gordon Conway of the GranthamInstitute for Climate Change, and communities andcountries should prepare for the unexpected.Writing in a discussion paper published by the

Institute, Sir Gordon explained that the complexity of Africa’s climate – such as thecycle of hot air and rain in the tropics, monsoons and the El Niño/La Niñaphenomena – makes it hard to forecast what will happen when and where.“Essentially it means having to prepare for the unknown,” he said. “The key ishelping people develop more resilient lifestyles and livelihoods, so that unknownand unpredictable shocks and extreme weather events are not so damaging.”

Stopping male mosquitoes from sealingtheir sperm inside females with a‘mating plug’ could prevent them fromreproducing, and offer a new way tocombat malaria, according to a team ofImperial researchers led by Dr FlaminiaCatteruccia of the Department of LifeSciences. The team has shown for thefirst time that the mating plug,transferred to the female by the maleafter mating, ensures that sperm iscorrectly stored in the female’s spermstorage organ, from where she fertiliseseggs over the course of her lifetime."Removing or interfering with themating plug renders copulationineffective," said Dr Catteruccia."This could be one more weapon inthe arsenal against malaria."

Malaria researchersmeddle in mosquitosex lives

Climate change: expect theunexpected in Africa

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A new agreement with pharmaceuticalcompany GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will seethe Department of Chemistry providing anew qualification for activities in theworkplace. The partnership will giveGSK’s chemists the opportunity to workfor a Certificate of Advanced Study inIndustrial Pharmaceutical Chemistry,awarded by the College to recognise andaccredit workplace achievements inboth scientific knowledge and practicalapplications. Professor Tom Welton,Head of Chemistry, said: “This is thefirst time that the College has partnered

with industry in this way to provide anImperial-awarded qualification for on-the-job learning, but when we thoughtabout it we realised it’s exactly the sortof thing we should be doing. Imperial isall about contributing to the worldbeyond our doors, and chemistry inparticular underpins a whole host ofimportant applications. Both theresearch we do here and the highlyeducated graduates we produce arevery valuable to companies like GSK,so offering tailored, industry-focusededucation is an obvious next step.”

On-the-job trainingfor industrialchemists

Biology students get upto monkey business


In his exhibition at theCollege, Mark Edwards,world renownedphotographer andfounder of the Hard Rainproject, explored issuesdefining the twenty-firstcentury, including climatechange, poverty, habitat and human rights.

The exhibition took the audience on a journey that explored the state of ourplanet, using powerful images from around the world that illustrated every line ofBob Dylan’s song “A hard rain’s a-gonna fall”.

The Hard Rain exhibition was on display on the Queen’s Lawn on the SouthKensington Campus. It was organised by Facilities Management and aimed toraise awareness amongst staff and students of their responsibilities to reducewaste and carbon consumption, and to support Imperial’s commitment tobecoming more sustainable.


The Royal Parks Foundation halfmarathon and Right to Play

Photographicexhibitionabout climatechange heldat Imperial

8 Imperial Matters

news arts and sport Redited byLeenaBarrett

Imperial fencingclub brings homemedals galore!The weekend of 5–6 December 2009 saw19 Imperial College London studentstravel to Nottingham for the BUCSindividual fencing championships.The competition was the biggest andtoughest so far with as many, if notmore, entrants than at most nationalopen tournaments. Despite the amountof entries and the level of competition,our students brought home their bestresults yet!

With a maximumof six entries perinstitution per weapon, we had studentsfighting for places to compete before theclub even left London which is always agood start.

Imperial finished the weekend andcame home with four medals. Ourfencers are definitely the ones to watchand we wish them the best of luck forthe rest of the season. Well done to allwho competed last weekend, excellentresults all round!

DrDilbinderGill, Senior Scientist,Department ofMedicine, ran the RoyalParks Foundation halfmarathon for Rightto Play on Sunday 11October 2009,starting and finishing inHyde Park.

Dilbinder said of the event: “Therewas a time when I could run 14 to 15miles on a Sunday with a couple ofshorter runs during the week, inaddition to the daily 20-mile bicyclecommute to work. Somehow life got inthe way and I didn’t run for almost ayear. To get myself started I signed upfor the Royal Parks half marathon anddecided to collect money for Right toPlay so everyone I knew would knowthat I would be running, which meant nomore sloping off instead of training.Right to Play is a really good idea, usingsport and play as a tool for development

of disadvantaged children and youth.”Dilbinder finished the race in two

hours, 13 minutes and 43 seconds. Notbad for a born again runner!

RMore news online at www.imperial.ac.uk/newsRCardiovascular researchers create award-winning images of the heart


Imperial Matters 9

Note fromthe EditorOne of many things I’ve wondered as Istarted my job as Editor, is whetherevery editor has had the same privilegeof such a loyal readership. The 60th

anniversary dinner allowed me to find out by talking topast editors and it turns out I’m extremely lucky to beone of the editors to have the majority of students atthe College reading the newspaper every single week.I’d like to think I’ve built on the solid foundations laiddown by the past editors, and that Felix, as a studentnewspaper, is yet to reach its peak this year.Unfortunately we lost our crown as The Guardian’s StudentNewspaper of the Year, though we were shortlisted again.I guess it’s my job to gloriously snatch it back next year,and hopefully Felix’s readers will appreciate everything in-between as we strive to do just that.

RDan Wan, Felix Editor-in-Chief 2009–10

The first week of December 2009 saw Felix celebrate 60 yearssince its inception in 1949. Thousands of students have puttheir name to the publication over this time, and the currentteam only saw it fitting to hold a special night to say thank you.

The invitation was open to anyone who had edited orcontributed to Felix, and we were lucky enough to be gracedby 14 past editors and their partners. A special mention mustgo to David Cooper (Physics 1967, PhD Chemical Engineeringand Chemical Technology 1970), who was Editor of Felix backin the heady days of 1967–68. After giving them a tour of thecurrent office and the Union, a four-course dinner wasfollowed by guest speakers Pallab Ghosh (Physics 1983, Editor1983–84) and Simon Singh (Physics 1987).

The issue that week was adorned by a celebratory pull-offwrap, which reprinted articles from the very first issue datingback to 1949. The team are extremely proud of the issue, andso they should be. I’m entirely honoured to be Editor-in-Chieffor its 60th year, and I‘d like to believe we did our proudhistory justice with the special issue.

Felix news

On 7 September 2009, Ciarán Healy, SimonGood and BenedictNicholson, captained by Gilead Amit, with reserve EdwardBrightman, officially pressed the buzzers for the first timeduring their first appearance on the 39th series of UniversityChallenge. They were accompanied by the Felix cat, which satabove Imperial’s points counter.

In the first show, the team accumulated 175 points to theUniversity of Southampton’s 135. In round two, the teamdefeated St Hugh’s College, Oxford, with an outstanding 280points to the opponents’ 80.

Each teammust win two quarter final clashes beforeproceeding to the semi-finals. Against University of Edinburgh,Imperial produced an impressive 240 points to their 110,however the boys were unfortunately not so lucky againstCambridge.We are eagerly anticipating the boys’ nextmove,and wish them good luck for the next round!

Felixhas beendocumenting the goings-on atCollege since 1949and if, during your time at Imperial, youwerementioned in thenewspaper, you’ll be able to search your nameor the event youwere involved in by turning to our newonlineFelix archive. Tocoincidewith our 60th anniversary, after a long hard slog startingin late 2008by JovanNedic (Aeronautics 2008, Editor 2008–09),every single issue has been scanned and remastered. So to Jovan,thank you. To all of you, please enjoy. It’s a trulywonderful toolthat you canwhile away hours on.www.felixonline.co.uk

New Guilds President announcedFollowing the departure of Kirsty Patterson, former City andGuilds College Union President, the CGCUheld elections toappoint a new President andGuildsheetEditor.Guildsheet is themonthly studentnewspaper of the Faculty of Engineering.

The results of the electionwereannounced on Monday 8 February andDan Lundy is to be the new President andRichard Bennett theGuildsheet Editor.

Lundy commented on his victory, stating that he is “very gladto be appointed President” and is “looking forward toworkingwith the rest of the committee to provide some great socialevents and represent the Faculty on studentwelfare issues”.

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Celebrating Felix’s 60th anniversary


Imperial’s University Challenge team inwith a chance of a place in the semi-finals


Cover of the first editionof Felix printed in 1949

Ahistorylesson

10 Imperial Matters

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As Felix celebrates its60th anniversary,Imperial Matters looksback over its history.

RbyAnnaCodrea-Rado


Imperial Matters 11

On 9 December 1949 a new studentpublication, Felix, appeared on newsstands around the campus. The firsteditorial explained its raison d’être: “Theneed has been felt for some time for afrequently published journal tocomment upon the affairs of the Collegewhilst they are still topical.” That firstedition was compiled by founding EditorEdwardHughes (MechanicalEngineering 1950) and his team 60 yearsago this past December and has been astaple feature of College life ever since.That first issue was charged at threepence and sold out within an hour ofhitting the newsstands.

Continuing the work of hispredecessors, the fourth editor of Felixwas StephenWearne (DIC CivilEngineering 1952). During Stephen’s twoeditorships, 1951–52 and 1952–53, thepaper would be prepared for black andwhite photographic copying by a smallprinting house in South Kensington. Theeditorial teamwould type and draw thematerial and then paste it onto largecards for each page. Now retired,Wearnecontinues to tutor at the University ofManchester in industrial projectmanagement programmes for BP. By thetime Nick Walker (MechanicalEngineering 1965) became editor in 1964,the printing process had already changeddrastically, but was the nonetheless acomplex affair. The printer – a former-RAF WWII Polish fighter pilot – workedfrom a basement behind the Post

Office’s Fulham sorting office. The copyhad to be ready by Sunday night: printingproofs would return by the followingWednesday, and the editorial teamwould have the corrected copy back tothe printer by Thursdaymorning for aprint run on Thursday evening. Owing tothe long timescales of the printingprocess, the editorial team decided toadd a one page ‘Late News’ section to thepaper so that they could incorporateanything that really was still news havinghappened since the Sunday copydeadline. The team produced this newsection using, what was at the time, astate-of-the-art copying facility –Gestetner wax paper. This involvedhaving copy typed onto the paper andthen run through Felix’s own hand-operated printing press. Despite themess involved, the page was alwaysproduced on the Thursday night to a22.30 deadline, just in time for the teamtomake it to theUnion Bar before lastorders. It was not uncommon,apparently, for the beer tomigrate backupstairs as production continuedthrough the night.

During Nick’s spell as Editor – aswith many other Felix editors – he

become embroiled in a dispute over thecontent of one of his articles. In late1964 there was pressure from a tradeunion, called the Association ofScientific Workers (AScW), for alllaboratory technicians to join theassociation. The AScW were not in theleast bit amused with Nick’s 2 December1964 front page, in which he “selectivelyquoted” their rule book and essentiallyaccused them of being members of theCommunist Party. After threateninglegal action, Nick had to concede andprint a formal apology in Felix.

Among Felix’s original purposes, itintended to “bring to the attention of itsmembers the activities of clubs andsocieties of which people at presentknow little, and knowing little, tend tocare even less.” This continued to bethe case until the 1960s when Felixgradually started to become a vehiclefor student journalists to hone theirskills as reporters, commentators andreviewers. Increasing reports onsporting events and reviews of film andpop concerts began to populate thepages. This increasing emphasis on thearts was cemented when ColinHarrison (Electrical Engineering

Ahistory lesson

“The need has been felt for some time for a frequentlypublished journal to comment upon the affairs of the

College whilst they are still topical”

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R31 October 1952S.H.Wearne

R3 October 1960J. Carter

R 19 February 1964N.J.Walker

R 10 December 1970A.J. Sims

Timeline of past editions of Felix


12 Imperial Matters

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1968, PhD 1972) joined the Felix team in1965 as a photographer and then wenton to become Editor in 1966. He wasdelighted by Felix’s possession of a35mm SLR camera; unlimited access tothe darkroom in Beit and the chargeaccount at Wallace Heaton (a premierLondon photographic retailer until itwas bought by Dixons in 1972). Not onlywere the journalists of this time keen toreport on concerts, but they weretreated to some celebrated acts: in 1967Felix reported and photographed JimiHendrix‘s performance at the Union’sCarnival event.

As the 1960s faded into the 1970s,printing processes continued to improvebut other technologies lagged behind.MalcolmWilliamson (Physics 1970,Editor 1969–70), recalls fighting aconstant battle to source photographs foreach edition.Owning one camerawas adefinite starting point for building astrong image library, but it stillmeant thatfar fromall the reporters had access to it.Not tomention that online libraries ofstock images hadnot come into existenceyet, so itwas not uncommon for the samephotographof a rugby line out torepeatedly appearwithin the sports page.

The late 1980s saw the infancy ofdesktop publishing (DTP). JudithHackney (Physics 1989, Editor 1987–88)and her team employed a typesetter whowould take the handwritten words andtype them into the computer, whichwould then produce typeset ‘galleys’ of

the text. This was then cut up and pastedand onto A3 sheets of paper. Once a pairof pages was ready, the second paidemployee – the printer – would producea printing plate using a variety ofchemicals and a Ryobi press in the backof the Felix office to produce about 2,000copies. Very late on a Thursday evening,the teamwould hand-collate the paper toproduce the final Felix and the Editorwould have the joy of delivering thecopies to each department’s receptionarea the nextmorning before thestudents and staff arrived. This wasreportedly achieved using a ‘borrowed’shopping trolley.

By the time Alex Feakes (Physics1996) became Editor in 1996, the DTPrevolution was well underway, but stillwith some old practices. High poweredcomputers with the then latest DTPsoftware were used to create artwork anddesigned pages. These were then stuckonto pasteboards to be turned into steelplates for use on the two offset lithoprinting machines in the back office.Hand drawn artwork and photographs, ifnot scanned in, would be ‘bromided’(photographed through a dot-screen)and then manually pasted.

Once the printed sheets were dry,they were collated and stapled. A verytemperamental machine was used forthis, which required a lot of cleaning andpolishing in order for it to work. At thatstage in time Felix also ran a print-shopbusiness, which turned over about

£50,000 a year. So by printing andphotocopying for others, they were ableto afford to employ a full-time printerand assistant.

In recent years, Felix has receivedcritical acclaim for its journalistictalents, doing exceptionally well atTheGuardian’s Student Media Awards. Twicethe paper has won Newspaper of theYear, in 2006 and 2008. Two Imperialstudents have also won Journalist of theYear: Rupert Neate (Biological Sciences2005, Editor 2005–06) and TomRoberts(MSci Physics 2009, Editor 2007–08).

Today Felix adamantly emphasisesits right to comment freely on allaspects of College life; vehementlyexercising this against any attempts tobe editorial censored. Writing in theeditorial for the 60th anniversaryspecial edition of Felix, current editorDan Wan commented: “The cat hasgrown claws too sharp and has becometoo fearsome to be editorially caged byany institution.” Usually the institutionin question is the Union. Reading overthe first Felix editorial, it would appearthat the newspaper’s first editor alsohad the same desire to “unreservedlycomment on the College”. Edward

Ahistory lesson

R9 December 1971D. Sugden

R4 June 1976P. Ekpenyong

R 1 February 1980C. Palmer

R3 October 1983P. Ghosh

Timeline of past editions of Felix


Hughes claimed that “any profits madeby the paper are to be devoted to SportsDay, since it appears that the Union isnow so impecunious that it may beunable to subsidise coaches and teas onthat important occasion”. It wouldseem that run-ins between theUnion and Felix have been a regularhistorical occurrence.

As part of the celebration of Felix’s60th anniversary, the logo has beenredesigned to replicate the original 1949logo. Current Felix layout editor, CarlosKaringal, scanned in archived issuesfrom 1949 to adapt the original logo intoa cleaner, modernised version (Shownon the opposite page). Alongside subtlemodifications to the left eye, arm andpaws, the cat is now silhouetted and setagainst a black ring. In years gone by, thecat has adorned the pages of Felix in avariety of incarnations; from sabre-toothed tabby cats to more predatorypumas and tigers. The outgoing versionembodied a distinctive ‘knight’,featuring a humanised cat holding ashield, sword and cape in full colour. Itwas incorporated into an official crestthat was heavily used in editions in ofFelix throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In1999 Editor Dave Roberts (Physics 1999,MSc Humanities 2001) made thedecision to replace the knight with asilhouette of a leaping cat; featurelessand barely recognisable as Felix. Thefollowing year, all feline connotationswere removed wholesale from the

paper’s artwork. Instead, a pair ofscowling human eyes stared at thereader from the masthead. The cat madeits return upon the arrival of WillDugdale (MSci Physics 2001) as editorin 2002, albeit in the novel sabre-toothed form. As Dugdale’s tenure aseditor came to an end, David Edwards(MSci Maths 2004, Editor 2004–05)resurrected the knight from the darkdepths of the 1990s. Five years on andthe knight has since been incorporatedinto the Felixmasthead in two forms: thefirst with full crest and motto ‘Keep theCat Free’; and the second as a circled,lone silhouette (which was used up tolast year).

Very few former editors ofFelixactually ended up pursuing a career in themedia, although notably, PallabGhosh(Physics 1983, Editor 1983–84), is now theBBC’s ScienceCorrespondent and JudithHackney alsoworks for the BBC, headingup a teamof 180 broadcast engineers, ITanalysts and technicians, who areresponsible for keeping the BBCon air.Paul Ekpenyong (Mathematics 1975,Editor 1975–76), like some other pasteditors, went into themarketing sector ofa scientific industry; becoming the SalesandMarketingDirector ofMiniflex. The

majority of former editors, however, havegone onto to pursue successful careers inareas of study directly related to theirdegrees. Having said that, although anenvironmental physicist by trade, DavidCooper (Physics 1967, PhDChemicalEngineering andChemical Technology1970, Editor 1967–68) edits a newsletterfor his local branch of theCampaign forReal Ale and feels that hewas able to dothis because of his editorial experiencefromFelix. Despite the fact thatmost ofthe past Felix editors have gone intounrelated professions, themajority ofthem agree the lessons and skills theylearnt during their tenure have beeninvaluable to their careers and lifemoregenerally.Many past editors havecommented on the importance oflearning proof-reading andwritten skillsas a result of their editorship. Thedisciplines ofmeeting deadlines andeffectivemanagement are readilytransferable to all walks of life and aplethora of career paths.

The last 60 years of Felix have beentruly colourful, and hopefully the next60 will continue in this trend and bringnews, reviews and general views toImperial students.

“It was not uncommon for the beer to migrate backupstairs as production continued through the night.”

Imperial Matters 13

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Ahistory lesson

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R30 October 1987J. Hackney

R 12 November 1993R. Land

R26 January 2007A. Sykes

R25 January 2010D.Wan


Six lessons inleadershipAlumnus Vice Admiral Sir Adrian Johns (Physics 1972, MSc 1973)shares his experiences of captaincy and command in the Royal Navy.

RbyZoë Perkins

14 Imperial Matters

PETE

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Vice Admiral Sir Adrian Johns knewfrom a very early age that he would bejoining the Royal Navy; as a boy growingup in Cornwall, the occasional trip toPlymouth across the River Tamar’sRoyal Albert Bridge with its view, as faras the eye could see, of frigates,destroyers, cruisers, battleships andaircraft carriers sparked his youngimagination. It was a snapshot that hasstayed with Adrian, now retired from theNavy, ever since, but this early passionto join the Navy did little to convince hisschool careers master of the wisdom ofthis career choice however. So it wasdown to him that Adrian came toImperial at all; they had agreed that heshould get a degree first just in case hechanged his mind about the Navy orwanted a career change later in life andneeded something to fall back on.

Adrian had signed up for what hedescribes as, a “gentlemanly” degree inphysics, but the Navy was still callinghim and not long after completing hisdegree he gave in to his boyhood dream.This was the beginning of a long andillustrious career; after his initialpostings he trained as a helicopter pilotbefore becoming a flying instructor. Herapidly climbed the ranks fromCommander to Captain, holdingcommand of HMS Campbeltown andHMS Ocean among other ships; thenRear Admiral during which time heserved as Assistant Chief of the NavalStaff and Rear Admiral Fleet Air Arm;then finally he was promoted to ViceAdmiral and appointed Second Sea Lordand Commander in Chief of NavalHome Command.

Some 40 years on, Sir Adrian’spassion and excitement for theNavy isstill clear for all to see. He describes theorganisation with which he spent hisentire career: “Looking back at one’sown institution is quite an illuminatingthing. But looking back at theNavy, it isquite an extraordinary organisation. Itoperates on the sea, under the sea, in theair and on the land. It has its own healthservice, makes its own maps and surveysthe water that it operates in around theworld. It employs everyone fromnavigators to nurses, seamen tosurgeons, pilots, engineers, andlogisticians; all encapsulated in about

35,000 people, which would only halffill Manchester United’s stadium atOld Trafford.”

Another thing thatmakes theNavy anextraordinary organisation is its abilitytomobilise these people from differentbackgrounds andwith differentspecialisms to pull together as one team.Sir Adrian cites common adversity assomething vital to bringing a teamtogether and, in theNavy’s case, thisadversity is the sea: “You are all coopedupinside this tin can formonths andmonthson endwith scores of people towhomyouare not related andwho youprobablywouldn’t have chosen as your shipmates,had you had the choice in the first place.When the captain says we’re going tostarboard, everyone goes to starboard.Making the ship operate, and operatesafely, relies on this unique understandingand awareness of what you’re all doingtogether. But sailors also have to doeverything autonomously aswell, so everysailor is a trained first aider, every sailor isa fire fighter, every sailor depends on theothers. But if we are to operate a finelytuned greyhoundof the oceans, a high-performancewarship, leadership is vital.”

Who better, then, to share hisexperiences of leadership than ViceAdmiral Sir Adrian Johns; he considersleadership to have six pillars: delegation,subordinate development, loneliness,adaptability, humour and heritage.

Delegation“Delegation is all about trusting peopleto get on with the job that you give them,but it’s farmore than just givingsomeone a job, telling them to crack onand not to bother you until it’s allfinished. Delegators have a hugeresponsibility in terms of judging thecapability and competence of the peoplethat we’re giving the jobs to, making surethat the right resources are there, thatthe risks are understood. There’s also agreat trick in knowing whether, how andwhen to intervene when things are notgoing terribly well.

“In Nelson’s day, long-rangecommunication was a bit of an issue.At the battle of Trafalgar there were 60ships like HMS Victory, which wasmyflagship as Second Sea Lord, withsomething like 5,500 great guns fightingit out in a relatively small area of sea andso it was utter confusion and chaos. NowNelson knew that, and he knew that hisplan for Trafalgar needed to becommunicated to his people in advanceof the battle because there was no waythat he would be able to getmessagesaround the fleet once it was underway.So he called all his captains across toVictory and explained his plan to them inconsiderable detail. Hemade sure thatevery single one of them was entirelysure about what he wanted to achieve.When one young frigate captainquestioned what they might do if it allwent wrong, he came out with thiswonderful phrase: ‘In the confusion ofbattle, no captain can do wrong if he layshis ship alongside that of the enemy.’ Sothis crystal clarity of his intent andpurpose is the lesson I took from that.

“How often I thought thatmy intentand purpose was quite clear to everybodyelse but it wasn’t. I think there’s a greatlesson to be learnt from that, in terms ofgetting yourmessage across andmaking it absolutely clear.

“You are all cooped up inside this tincan for months andmonths on end

with scores of people to whomyou are not related and who youprobably wouldn’t have chosen

as your shipmates.”

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Imperial Matters 15

Six lessons in leadership


16 Imperial Matters

“There’s always the danger ofmisinterpretation,which I’ve donenearlyto enormous cost in theGulf.Wewerethere onHMSOcean andwewere quite alongway up to the north of theGulf. Thecommander of the task force cameontothe satellite phone and it turned out to bea bad line. I thought he said that they’dlikeme to push further upnorth towardsthe port inUmmQasrwith a view todoing a reconnaissance to seewhetherwecould getmy ship alongside the port. Sowe started tomove upnorth and suddenlyfoundourselves amongst awhole bunchofminesweepers and I realised that therewas somethingwrongwith this picture.Whatwouldminesweepers be doing?They’d be sweeping formineswouldn’tthey! Sowe turned around and I got backon the phone to find that thewholeconversation had beenprefixed by ‘We’rethinking about’. From thatmoment onweagreed verbalmessageswould be repeatedinwritingwith a small tactical signal forthe avoidance of any doubtwhatsoever.

“Part of delegation is taking risk, andthere is risk, but alsohugebenefit, inallowingother people tomakemistakes.Not repeatedly, but tomakemistakes andto learn fromthem.When I tookcommandofmy first frigate, Iwent tohavelunchwith the thenFlotillaCommanderwhowas a very senior admiral,who saidsomething that Iwill never forget: “You’regoing tomake amistake in command,more thanone. If youprove tobe recklessornegligent, or you just haven’t thought itthrough, I’ll stop your career. But if you’vemade amistake andyou’ve given it rationalthought, you’ve calculated the risk and it’sa reasonable thing tohavedone, then Iwillback you to thehilt.”

Subordinate development“Bringing youngsters on is not alwayseasy because often the path of leastresistance is very often to do thingsyourself. This is particularly the casewith things like ship handling when totalresponsibility lies with the commandingofficer. TakeHMS Nottinghamwhich hita very large rock off the coast ofAustralia; the commanding officer

wasn’t there at the time, but was courtmarshalled nonetheless.

“Letting go, and letting someone elsehave a go, took 10 years off my life. Thediscipline of standing at the back of thebridge withmy hands clenched behindmy back, hoping that I didn’t have tointervene was far, far harder than gettingup there and doing it myself, but I hopethat it paid off because there was a realduty and responsibility to trainmysuccessors.

“We think it’s so important in thearmed forces that there is a box on ourpersonal reports called subordinatedevelopment, and every officer isjudged and marked on his or her abilityto bring on young people and train themin succession.”

Loneliness“The first aspect of loneliness is that it issomething that one really feels in timesof crisis, when the sky is falling in aroundyou. I think suddenly you feel like you’rethe only one there, like you’re the onlyone that can make the decision.

“I first experienced this in the firstship that I commanded at sea. The shipwas coming out of a refit programme andwe were in northern Scotland to take the

ship out for, what was called in thosedays, full forcing rate trials on theboilers. It was a steam ship, which datesus a bit, but there were two boilers andtwo engines. It meant that one side wascompletely shut down and you had torun the other side up to themaximum.We were talking about 850°F and 550pounds per square inch steam pressure.Why do I remember those things?They’re absolutely imprinted on mymemory.We had proved the starboardside and the following morning we had toprove the port side. Theweather wasgetting worse, the forecast was reallygrim, and I thought we had just aboutenough time to do this. Had it not beenfor a major boiler explosionwe wouldhave done, but it meant the ship wasabsolutely dead in the water.

“Thewind at this stage was about 40knots and I will never forget standing onthe bridge with almost no options left atall. I looked around and of course,metaphorically speaking, there was noone there. There is a happy ending to thestory but it was one of thosemoments inmy early career where I could see us allending up on the beach together.

“The second aspect of loneliness intheNavy is that the captainmesses alone.So inHMSOcean,my sea cabinwasabout 120 feet up in the air, thewardroomwasway down on six deck, down below. Ioften sat up there in the evenings


“The discipline of standing at the back of the bridge with my handsclenched behind my back, hoping that I didn’t have to intervene wasfar, far harder than getting up there and doing it myself.”


Imperial Matters 17

wonderingwhat the officers were doing.It was a peculiar situation, which is both acurse and a privilege; it was part of theloneliness of leadership that wasenforced uponme, but I needed to dothat anyway. You need to step back fromthe hurly-burly and everything that’sgoing on to take stock, to look at thingsobjectively and to think.”

Adaptability“In a sense, command at sea is tactical,so adapting between that and themorestrategic leadership of running a majorchange programme in a largeorganisation is quite an interesting trick,and it takes very different qualities.

“Oneof the challenges that I personallyfaced relates to the Fleet Air Arm, theaviation arm of theNavy, which Iperceived to be rather disparate anddisaggregated in its effect and its focus.Togive you thebackground, theNavy firsttook to the air in 1909. Itwas in thedaysbefore fixed-wing aviation, sowe’re talkingairships. At the time theNavywas adeeplyconservative, Victorian organisationwithsenior admirals whowere very set in theirways to the extent that the admiraltywroteto the Wright brothers saying that theycould seenopossible use for aircraft at sea.Indeed one particular admiral wrote justbefore the FirstWorldWar came along:‘When thewar comes I think theNavywillneed aircraft but probablynomore thantwo.’ How wrong he was! By the end ofthe war the newly formed Royal NavalAir Service owned something like 3,000aeroplanes, had 67,000 people and 160air stations and was the greatest air forcein the world at the time.

“The coming together of the RoyalFlying Corps and the Royal Naval AirService in 1918, and the subsequenthanding back of the Fleet Arm Arm to theNavy have left a frisson of tensionbetween the Royal Air Force and theNavy, about flying and who flies what.After the war, the Fleet Air Arm was avery unified body, but nowadays it isspread between the three services andwhat this means is that people need adifferent sort of leadership. I perceivedthat people were beginning to lose theirfocus about who they were and why theywere doing what they we doing.

“So I set out to write a vision, called

The Future Fleet Air Arm, which formedthe basis for lots of events, media andinternal communications. It was all veryimportant because it began to get peoplethinking about who they were and whythey were doing what they were doing,and why it was slightly different from theway other people did things.

“That example typifies what we call‘jointery’ in the armed forces, meaningthe three services working together.We’ve always done it when it comes tothe front line, but nowadays we aremorejoint in terms of our peacetimeorganisation, administration and the waypeople are split up. So that requires aparticular aspect of leadership to ensurethat we keep people focused.”

Humour“Humour is one of the things that I setgreat store by. A little bit of humour at atime of crisis often just lifts themoodand gets you focused on something else.

“I remember when I was a juniorlieutenant, we visitedMalta on anaircraft carrier. We had about 2,500people on board and of course shoreleave was given. Inevitably the next day,the commander would have a long tail ofwhat we called defaulters outside hiscabin waiting to be weighed off, i.e. tried.Most of them were simply adrift – latefor work thatmorning.

“The first chap came in and thecommander said: ‘Right, off caps.What’syour story?’ towhich he got the response:‘Not guilty, sir, I was coming home in agary.’ A garywas a little horse-drawn cabthey used to have inMalta. ‘The horsedied, sir, so I had towalk the rest of theway and that’s why Iwas adrift.’ Thecommander gave him five days’ numbernines, whichwas stoppage of leave, extrawork and drill. So this one left and thenext one came in andwhen asked for hisexcuse, he said: ‘Well, I was going along,sir, inmy gary, and the gary horse died.’He also got five days’ number nines. Ofcourse this storywas going down the linethat you only got five days’ number ninesif your gary horse had died. Eventuallytherewas a young stoker at the end of the

line who had heard all of this, when hewent in and the commander said: ‘Isuppose your gary horse died?’ Heresponded: “No sir, no sir.My gary horsewas finewe just couldn’t get past the pileof dead gary horses.” Case dismissed.

Heritage“I have come to realise that heritage is amuch more important issue thanperhaps I gave it credit formany yearsago, but it’s not aboutmuseums andrelics, it’s about people.

“I had gotten to knowHenryAllingham–whodied in July 2009 aged113, at the time theworld’s oldestman –quitewell in recent years.He had joinedtheRoyalNaval Air Service in 1915 andwasquite astonishing to talk to as someonewhowas there right at the inception ofone’s own service. I unashamedlywheeledHenry round to all sorts of places to talkto young people, andhe had exactly thesame effect on themas he had onme, theywere inspired by the fact that therewassomeonewhohadbeen there literallydecades ago, right at the start.

“When I qualified as a pilot, the wiseold admiral who gave memy wings said:‘When you get to the front line, youwillfeel fear, but remember this. Never fearthe enemy, never fear the danger, onlyever fear letting down those who havegone before you.’ Henry Allinghambrought that back tome; the sense of notjust doing a job in the here and now, youbelong to something that’s got a fantasticfoundation, and you feel responsible itsfuture. It’s hugely important for anyorganisation or institution.”

Sir Adrian Johns spoke about histhoughts on leadership at theAlumni Reunion 2009. You can seethe full lecture online atwww.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/adrianjohns. This year’sreunion will be taking place onSaturday 25 September 2010, formore information visitwww.imperial.ac.uk/ alumni/reunion2010.


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“My sea cabin was about 120 feet up in the air. I often sat upthere in the evenings wondering what the officers were doing.

It was part of the loneliness of leadership.”


Aroomofone’sownAsthe new Eastside and Southside hallsof residences are unveiled, ImperialMatters takes a look back at theirprevious incarnations.

RbyAlasdair Glen

18 Imperial Matters


Halls of residence make up a centralpart of the university experience formany students. Often the first port ofcall for arriving students, halls providemore than just accommodation fortheir residents. The centre of socialcircles, the starting point for long-termfriendships and relationships, and afocal point of both socialising andstudy, the halls in which a student isplaced can have far reaching impact ontheir life both during and after theirtime at university.

Many students taking their places inhalls at Imperial have been able to enjoythe leafy setting of Prince’s Gardens astheir immediate surroundings. Althoughnow replaced by newer buildings, theprevious halls on the site are still lookedback on fondly by their formerresidents, who relished the chance tolive in such an incredible area ofLondon. Of course, Prince’s Gardens isnow entirely changed from the localethat many of our alumni remember and,in October 2009, after a lengthy periodof redevelopment, the new halls ofresidence were opened to students.

The new state-of-the-artaccommodation buildings, Southsideand Eastside, offer the currentgeneration of students some of the bestfacilities possible. Southside is a directreplacement for the old hall of the samename, while Eastside comprises thenew Linstead, Gabor and WilkinsonHalls. Sitting alongside the College’shigh-tech sports centre, Ethos, thehalls have been designed and builtunder consultation with the localcommunity and with extensivefeedback from students.

The new halls are already provinghugely popular with the residents, andwere described by the KnightsbridgeAssociation – which represents localinterest on planning applications in thearea – as “a great enhancement to thearea”. You can read more about theopening of the new halls on page 2. Inlight of the early success of the newhalls, Imperial Matters felt this was theideal time to get back in touch withsome of the previous residents there, toask them about their memories of theold halls and the community of whichthey were a part.

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Martin Roden (Physics 1964) recalls the Prince’s Gardens halls as a sociable andenjoyable place to stay: “I spent my first year (1961–62) at Imperial in Beit Halland then had the final term of my second year in the Southside building whenthat opened, and was back in Beit for my third year. Obviously the facilities atSouthside were fantastic compared to Beit and the bedsit in Notting Hill that Ioccupied for the first two terms of my second year.“There was not a great deal of social activity at Beit. I knew my immediateneighbours well and there were occasional parties, but little else. Southside wasmuch better. I guess this was partly because it was new and we were the firstoccupants, but also the communal kitchen helped you to meet people. It had its ownbar downstairs and a gang of us used to meet up at about 21.30 each night and havea few pints to end the evening. We certainly spent a lot of time in each other’s roomsand the higher storeys had such great views across South Kensington.”

Peter Walton (Chemistry 1961, PhD 1967) has his own memories of the lively sociallife in the halls, despite their sometimes less than endearing architecture: “Isocialised with my classmates living in the halls, generally in the bar and then in

someone’s room after the bar closed. Iused the bar and the cafeteria every day –the food was OK and the beer was poor (Iam from “up north”) but I drank itanyway. The architectural style of theplace was cold and spartan – bareconcrete everywhere – but it didn’t botherme. The common areas were spaciousand functional, and I attended lots ofparties in the bar during my time there.

“Among the most enjoyable occasionsI remember were late night political andphilosophical discussions. During thosediscussions I learned a lot from myclassmates about topics I was notfamiliar with, and I used to go home andtry the ideas out on my father in our localpub. He was generally not impressed.”

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Linstead Hall, March 1967

Linstead Kitchen


20 Imperial Matters

ChrisNorman (Chemical Engineering1968) shares thememory of Southside inparticular as a placewithmore than itsfair share of practical jokers: “Theproximity of somany often bored post-adolescents did, naturally, lead to a lot of‘youthful high spirits’. It was easy to getinto your neighbour’s roomby climbingfromonewindow to another; thewindows generally being open due to therooms being overheated. It was notunusual to come in late at night to findyour room completely stripped bare – notjust your personal things but the bed, thechairs, the desk, the lot. I think somebodytried to get awashbasin out once, but theplumbing problems defeated them. Avariation on this was to undo somescrews on the inside of the door so asto jam the lock before exiting via thewindow, which meant a night sleepingin the bath.

“I certainly remember the first nightI spent in Southside. I turned upsometime in the afternoon on theSunday before term started (October1964) and the place was like a graveyard.I thought I had found the reason for thispinned to a notice board, namely a notesigned by no less a person than theRector himself advising all residentsthat, on account of the threat of legalaction from Southside’s well-heeledneighbours in the adjoining mews, anystudent making excessive noise wouldbe subject to the most draconianpossible disciplinary action.

“Anyway, having reconciledmyself tothe fact thatmy stay at Southside waslikely to be a quiet one, I went out tomeet an old friend, whowas at King’sCollege London, for a drink in centralLondon. I got back to a still eerily silenthall at about 22.30. Not long after thatthe pubs shut and, what sounded like afew hundred radios, were simultaneouslyswitched on and the staircases seemed tohad been invaded by herds of stampedingwildebeest whose vocal chords had beengeneticallymodified to sound likedementedwolves.

“Those not running up and down thestairs were hanging precariously out ofthe large sliding windows shoutinggreetings to their neighbours. The placefinally fell (almost) silent at about 02.00.So much for the Rector’s warning and thethreat of litigation (which, as far as Iknow, was never implemented). In anycase, themayhem on subsequent nightsnever quite reached the dizzy heights ofthe first night’s tsunami.”

While therewere doubtlessmanyhigh-spirited occasions at the halls,formerwardenPaulMinton(Aeronautics 1952) points out thatgenerally Imperial studentswereexemplary neighbours: “Linsteadparties werewell-known andwell-attended. The only effortmade tocurtail the noisewas towire lock thetop ventilationwindows shut tokeep noise from the neighbours.Still, inmy four years aswardenwedid not have a single complaint.Over the 16 years I spent in hallsmyrespect for the residents grew and Ido not regret aminute ofmy, andmyfamily’s, time in residence.”

That’s not to say there are nobad memories of the old halls,which were of course occupiedduring some very trying times: “Myworst memory is certainly the‘winter of discontent’ when we hadpower cuts during the day. Whenthe supply resumed I had to leavethe Department of CivilEngineering for Linstead Hall,climb nine floors, go out onto thebalcony and into the plant room,raise a heavy lead covered trap door,walk across the roof and open thelift motor room. I was then able topress the lift motor reset button. Allthis effort was because no onethought of running a simple cabledown to a reset button at theporter’s desk! Owing to the fact thishappened a number of times aweek, the novelty soon wore off.”

Aroomofone’s own

Keith Arundale (Physics 1974, MSc1975) also has fond recollections of therecreational side of life in halls: “Therewas a halls bar on the first floor, inwhich we all had to take turns serving asit was run by the people staying in thehalls. Some of the overseas studentsdidn’t really have any experience ofweights and measures, so would just fillglasses to the brim with Scotch!

“The dining facilities were OK, although at one point there were cockroaches andsuchlike! Linstead was very sociable though, and completely different from Beit Hall,where I also stayed; although in Beit my room looked out over the quad, so the filmsociety would project out of my window, on to the wall opposite and everyonewalking into the quad could see!”

“There were lots of stories of pranks; before I got there, several students had takenapart the warden’s car and put it back together on the first floor landing one night!”RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Southside

Southside

A room in Linstead Hall


Imperial Matters 21

Aroomofone’s own

One former resident,who has a unique viewof the differencesbetween the old andnew halls at Prince’sGardens is ProfessorStephen Richardson(Chemical Engineering1969, PhD 1975), asthe Principal of theFaculty of Engineering,Deputy Rector of theCollege and a formerFalmouth and LinsteadHalls resident: “InFalmouth Hall, therewas one kitchen for over 100 students, and it only had twocookers; also there were washing machines but no driers,and so you always had wet washing hanging in your room.

“There were tumble driers in Linstead Hall, and Iremember once that I actually had to save a girl, who’ddecided to use one as a hair dryer, from seriously hurtingherself; she had her head in the drum, and was holding theon button of the industrial, gas fired tumble dryer! The drumhad large paddles on the inside and spun very fast, so I hadto sneak up to the power switch and turn it off, as shoutinga warning might have made her jump and do some veryserious damage to herself.

“I’ve been to see the new rooms in the halls, which are, ofcourse, lovely. The old ones with the concrete staircases werepretty abysmal when it came to providing social atmosphere,and I imagine that the new rooms are a lot less lonely for thepeople living there. At one point I thought we might never getrid of the old Southside, and it was a very courageousdecision by the College to replace it; it’s one of the bestdecisions that has been made during my time here.”

The residents of the newhalls are by nowwell settledinto life in their new surroundings, and seem to beimpressedwith the newhalls.Alan Soltani, a first yearPhysics undergraduate, said: “My first impressions ofEastsidewere of an arty and grand looking building due tothe design of the blinds in the common roomand thebalconies,” said Alan.

“The building also had a welcoming feel with the bigglass doors and the sense of space created by the glassexterior looking into the ground floor.My favourite part ofthe halls is the shared common room – the table tennis andtable football tables supply a much needed atmosphere offriendly competition and it’s where I’ve made lots ofmyclosest friends!

“Now I live here, I take it for granted but it really is oneof the nicest halls at Imperial, and I would go as far as to saythe country. Friends ofmine from other universities, whohave visited, reluctantly admit this too!”

While these new residences may not on first inspectionresemble the buildings they replace, one thing they definitelyhave in common is the influence on the future lives of theirresidents, as shown by PaulMellor (Electrical and ElectronicEngineering 1970): “I first kissed my eventual wife at a danceon the ground floor of Linstead Hall. That was a momentousoccasion, and 40 years later we remember it well, and I guessmust be my best memory from my time there!”

“Over the 16 years I spent in halls myrespect for the residents grew and I do not

regret a minute of my time there.”


Hallway in Linstead Hall

m


22 Imperial Matters

As an atmospheric physicist JoannaHaigh (MSc Physics1977), Head of the Department of Physics, models theeffects of the sun on the Earth’s atmosphere.

RInterviewed by Zoë Perkins

Theinconstantsun

Could you start by explainingwhat atmospheric physics is?It is the study of physical processes inthe atmosphere; understanding theclimate and the weather, and thephysical reasons why it is as it is andhow it might change in the future.The nice thing about atmospheric

physics is it incorporates a lot ofdifferent things. So for people who aremoremathematically inclined it caninclude things like fluid dynamics or, ifyou’re interested in thermodynamics,you can look at heat andwater vapour inthe atmosphere and that side of things.Alternatively, if you’re interested inbuilding instruments, you can fly sensorson balloons andmeasure thecomposition of the atmosphere or, onthe statistics side of things, there’s lotsof data analysis. So I’m alwaysencouraging people to do atmosphericphysics because it’s a great subject withlots of applications.

So how does your own researchfit into these areas?Myownparticular researchbackground isin radiative transfer andby that Imean thetransport of electromagnetic radiation

through the atmosphere; both theSun’sradiation coming in andgetting absorbedand scattered in the air, and the transfer ofheat radiation emittedby theEarth’ssurface.From a purely physics perspective

there’s an awful lot of things about theatmosphere that we don’t understand,and of course, it’s very classical physicsin the sense that it’s looking at fluiddynamics and thermodynamics appliedto the natural environment.Whatmotivates us really is to try and explainwhat we see in the environment, whataffects it andwhatmight change it in thefuture, both in terms of local weather butalso climate, by which Imean largerareas and larger timescales.My background has ledme to an

interest in how solar radiation isabsorbed in the atmosphere, so recentlyI’ve been looking at how changes in theSunmight affect the climate.

What’s the background to researchinto solar variability?Therewere quite dedicated campaigns ofmeasurements of solar radiation goingback to the 1930s but they really weren’table to extract any signal in the data that

seemed to be consistentwithwhat youcould see in terms of solar activity likesun spot numbers and othermeasures ofsolar activity. Indeed, if you have aradiometer that’smeasuring the strengthof the radiation sitting on the ground itwill show all sorts of variability but thosewill almost certainly be due to the effectsof the atmosphere above and not to theSun itself. So historically the amount ofelectromagnetic radiation coming fromthe Sunwas always referred to as thesolar constant because it was believedthat it didn’t change and, if that were thecase, then how could it affect the climate?As a result it wasn’t considered a

serious subject as far asmeteorologistswere concerned.However, since the late 1970swe’ve

had satellitesmeasuring solar radiationfromoutside the Earth’s atmosphere andthey’ve been able to show that there arechanges in the Sun’s energy output andtotal solar irradiance varies by only abouta tenth of a per cent over the 11-year solarcycle. This equates to about onewatt persquaremetre in energy flux, which isquite small, but it’s indicative that thereis some solar variability in sloar energyreaching Earth after all.


Imperial Matters 23

The inconstant sun

So research into solar variabilityhas come about as a result of theadvent of satellites?Yes, essentially, although it wasn’tuntil themid-1990s, when satellitemeasurements becamemore advanced,thatmeteorologists started to seriouslyconsider it as a research area. By thisstage themeasurements were not just ofthe total energy coming out of the Sunbut also of its spectral composition, soyou could see the components in theultraviolet, visible and the infrared.Thesemeasurements showed that

although the total energy output is onlychanging by about a tenth of a per cent,the variation in some parts of thespectrum ismuch greater. Ultravioletlight, at about 200-300 nanometres,which is of interest because of its effecton the ozone layer and skin cancer, variesby a few per cent from solarmax to solarmin. Although a few per cent doesn’tsound verymuch, it’s a lotmore than atenth of a per cent.

What effect does this radiation have?If we concentrate on ultraviolet; it’sabsorbed in the stratosphere where itproduces ozone and causes heating.There are satellitemeasurements of theatmospheric temperature showing thestratosphere is hotter when the Sun ismore active, so the question then arisesas to whether that can actually have anyeffect on the atmosphere below. Theresearch that we’ve done suggests itcan, not just from a radiativeperspective, but also through the waythat the thermodynamic structure – theheat structure of the atmosphere –influences the lower atmosphere bychanging the winds.There are deep convective clouds in

the tropics, which is where the air isrising. That rising air, on average, movestowards the poles and, having lost its

moisture, sinks down again at about 30degrees or so latitude where the desertsare, so it’s dry, and that air then returnsto the equator near the surface. Thataverage circulation is called a Hadleycell and that’s part of the generalclimatology of the atmosphere.Whathappens when the Sun is more active isthat those cells expand latitudinally andso the downward branch is slightlyfurther towards the pole. All the weatherpatterns that are then outside of theHadley cell all shift off toward the pole abit more, including the jet streams andthe storm tracks. So it’s a change in thelarge scale circulation but it’s mosteasily observable in mid-latitudes and inthe stratosphere.

What effect does that have on theweather?Through computer modelling, we foundthat these changes in the circulation ofthe lower atmosphere had the largestimpact at mid-latitudes, around 40–50

degrees, pretty much where the UK is.We found that the tropical circulationsexpanded and themid-latitude stormtracks moved towards the poles.So although the global picture wasn’t

terribly different if you happen to livewhere a storm track is, and if it wasgoing past you in one direction or theother every half solar cycle, youmightfind an 11-year cycle in your met data.But of course that was only from amodel, so it remained to be seenwhether this was happening in thereal world.Subsequently we’ve looked at

atmospheric temperature data and wesee a very similar pattern. In fact, themodel appears to be underestimatingthe effects that we can see in the realatmosphere, although you do have tobear inmind that it’s a small signal in a

very noisy data set, but other scientistshave come up with similar findings soit’s very persuasive.

What’s the latest?Well I actually submitted a paper thismorning [17 February 2010], whichhasn’t been accepted yet of course, butI’ll give you the background. Since 2004there’s been a new satellite calledSORCE and for the first time it’s beenable tomeasure solar irradiationspectrally resolved right the way acrossfrom X-rays to a fewmicrons in theinfrared. Solar irradiation has beendecreasing by less than a tenth of a percent because it’s been the decliningphase of the solar cycle, but the satelliteis showing that the changes inultraviolet light are much larger thanpreviously thought.Compensating for this, the changes in

visible and infrared radiation are theopposite; there’s less radiation in thosewavelengthswhen the Sun ismore active.

Now, I’m not a solar physicist and I don’tclaim to fully understand, but the expertssay that it’s entirely plausible that thevariations in the profile of solarphotospheremean that this sortof spectrum is plausible and they don’tthink it’s due to anything wrongwith theinstrument, although of courseeverybody is checking likemad. So whatwe’ve been doing, andwhat I submittedtoday, was a paper on how that variationin solar spectrumwould affect theatmosphere.The changes in stratospheric ozone

aremuch larger in some places, andmuch smaller in other places, thanwe’vepreviously thought so they should bedetectable in satellite data. It will ofcourse, take a fewmonths for the paperto be reviewed, so watch this space. m

“Since the late 1970s we’ve had satellites measuringsolar radiation from outside the Earth’s atmosphereand they’ve been able to show that there arechanges in the Sun’s energy output. It’s indicativethat there is some solar variability after all.”

MARKGARLICK


24 Imperial Matters

Cellsbloomingin thedesertProfessorMichael Schneider from theNational Heart andLung Institute talks to ImperialMatters about his researchinto cardiac biology.

RbyAnnaCodrea-Rado

24 Imperial Matters


In January 2009 ProfessorMichael Schneider was appointedHead of theNational Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) atImperial College London. His research is primarily focusedwithin the Division of Cardiovascular Science at theNHLI,where he researches the problem of cardiacmuscle cell number.TheNHLI hosts a discipline-spanning BritishHeart FoundationCentre of Research Excellence and it is associatedwith severalworld class NHS trusts at the forefront of the diagnosis,prevention and treatment of heart disease.I met Professor Schneider in a part of the South Kensington

Campus, as I discovered on themorning ofmy interview, thatmy security card is not authorised to access because it housessome of theNHLI’s laboratories. Professor Schneider’s lightand airy office is tucked at the back of the laboratories and facesover theQueen’s Tower. Professor Schneider welcomedme intohis office, exuding excitement andwas evidently keen to sharehis research findings withme.

Outstanding researchProfessor Schneider joined Imperial in 2007 after being“successfully wooed” away from the United States. He cites themotivation for themove as being related to the specificopportunity here to grow cardiovascular science on a largescale. Professor Schneider was also attracted by the fact that anumber of his colleagues, whom he had known for a long timeand who specialise in similar areas of the clinical science ofheart failure, already worked at Imperial. Professor Schneidersaw themove to Imperial as an opportunity to buildtranslational programmes, namely bench-to-bedside studies,across a large number of hospitals and cardiovascularpopulations. Professor Schneider has always admiredImperial’s entrepreneurial culture, and what he describes as a“can-domentality”.In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise review of UK

universities, Imperial was ranked the highest in terms of volumeof four-star-rated research in the cardiovascular unit ofassessment. Professor Schneider notes that such recognitionhas a vastly positive impact on theNHLI’s ability to securefunding and develop its research.Within the first year ofProfessor Schneider’s arrival, Imperial was awarded £9millionby the BritishHeart Foundation and established as one of fourCentres of Research Excellence. Professor Schneidermodestlyclaims that this was not achieved solely on the basis of hisresearch alone, but rather was dependent on the communitywithin cardiovascularmedicine, as well as the externalpartnerships held by the Institute.

Imperial Matters 25

Cells blooming in thedesert

Professor Schneider has always admiredImperial’s entrepreneurial culture, and what

he describes as a “can-do mentality”.

R


The Hollywood filmindustry analogyIn order to clarify the research processfor those from a non-medicalbackground, Professor Schneider likesto use the analogy of theHollywoodfilm industry: “InHollywood there arecreative people such as writers anddirectors, and there are producers whosejob it is to raise andmanage themoney.But in science andmedicine you have todo both!” Professor Schneider goes onto explain that the kernel of a good grantapplication is, in the first instance, theaddressing of an unmet need. Such aneed can be a highly prevalent diseasethat is amajor cause of death anddisability; it is this category into whichheart and lung diseases fall. By the sametoken, a rare exotic disease that does notaffectmany people, but is nonethelessdevastating for those affected, is equallyan unmet need. Following from this is agap in the existing information. This isdue to either a lack of understanding thefundamental mechanisms and processesunderpinning the disease, or a gap inunderstanding the processesunderpinning the normal biology.Professor Schneider then explains thatonemust have a competitive advantagein being able to solve the problem.“Sometimes thatmeans simply having areally good idea others haven’t had; butmore typically the unique selling point isthe combination of a good idea andspecialist tools and skills with which totest the idea”.Professor Schneider’s work studies

the inability ofmammals to repairdamaged heartmuscle. In some species,like salamanders and zebra fish, there is aremarkable ability to regeneratedamaged structures including the limb ofthe salamander and the fin of the zebrafish. Those species also show clinicalevidence of an ability to regenerate heartmuscle. In humans, as well as in themicestudies in the laboratory, that capacityfor regeneration does not exist to aclinically significant degree.Consequently, what Professor Schneiderstudies in his laboratory boils down tothe problem of heartmuscle cell number.Thismeans either finding the exactgenetic pathways that respond to stressand cause heartmuscle cells to die, or

alternatively finding ways tomake newheartmuscle bloom in the desertthrough stem cell technologies.This stem cell research involves using

embryonic stem cells that can turn intoheartmuscle.What Professor Schneiderand his team study is specifically how toadjust andmanipulate those cells inorder for them to turn into heartmuscleselectively, and to generatemore heartmuscle cells. He points out that it isimperative to accurately understand andexecute this process, as one does notwant to create the “wrong kinds of cellsin themiddle of a damaged heart, such asbone or liver”.

Combating controversyHuman embryonic stem cell researchattracts a certain a degree ofcontroversy. Professor Schneideroutlined his stance on the issue,commenting that “human embryonicstem cells are typically made from thespare embryos that result as theinevitable consequence of in vitrofertilisation programs; any IVF programgenerates tens of thousands of spareembryos every year. If those embryosare not going to bemaintained in liquidnitrogen in perpetuity when they reachthe end of five years (the typical lengthof time an embryo is stored in the UK)they would be destroyed. However, if asmall number of them are used tomakeresearch tools for the laboratory, orpotentially life-saving treatments forpatients, it is better than simplydiscarding them. I think it is helpful to

view embryonic stem cell research in thecontext of what is very widely acceptedfor assisted reproduction in IVF clinics.”Aside from the ethical issues

surrounding the use of embryonic stemcells, there are a number of scientificissues which also affect their successfulusage. Themost significant being that,in order for them to be clinically viable,scientists would need to have a bank ofembryonic stem cells much larger than ablood bank, containing every type oftissue that a patient might need toovercome immunological rejection.The alternative to this physical spacerequirement would be to give thepatient immunosuppressive drugs; thesame as those administered during aheart transplant. The difference beingthat, when these drugs are used for atransplant, the outcome is the return tovirtually normal of the heart’s pumpfunction; therefore, the risks ofimmunosuppression are offset by themassive clinical benefit. ProfessorSchneider observes that, in hisexperience, even the firmest proponentsof stem cell technologies would struggleto suggest that cell grafting in heartdisease justifies systematicimmunosuppression.Instead, induced pluripotent cells –

the second type of cell ProfessorSchneider works with and onewhich hasreceived a lot of international attentionin recent years –make cells thatfunctionally resemble embryonic stemcells, starting with cells from a patient’sown skin biopsy.

26 Imperial Matters


A female axolotl salamanderHeart muscles cells


Pleasant surprisesThe third type of cell that ProfessorSchneider studies is the one hislaboratory is best known for – stem cellsthey discovered unexpectedlywhichreside in the adult heartmuscle itself.The discoverywas unexpected becauseadult heartmuscle has so little ability toregenerate itself. In experimental studies,however, Professor Schneider’s teamhave found that they are able to purifycells from the heart. They are then able topool those cells from a large number of

animals in order to getmillions of cellsthat can be injected into an animal thathas had an experimental heart attack.The results of these experiments haveshown that heartmuscle has effectivelyregenerated. From these findings,Professor Schneider’s teamhave beenable to find the equivalent cell in humanheartmuscle and are currently workingon the best way to purify, grow andstimulate the human heart derived cellswhich they thinkwill be an improvedplatform for heart repair.In order for Professor Schneider’s

team to continue progressing with theirfindings, their laboratorymust be keptequippedwith the latestinstrumentation. During the summer arobotic facility was installed in thelaboratory that provides a way for theteam to test tens of thousands ofconditions in tissue culture to see theoptimumway to activate them tobecome heartmuscle. The robot can testhormone-like proteins called growthfactors which are known to promoteembryonic stem cell differentiation, butthey do not knowwhat combination isbest for heartmuscle creation. The robotis able to test chemical libraries ofthousands of small molecules. In similar

facilities in theUS, chemical catalystshave been found that drive several of thestems from being undifferentiated intocreating new heartmuscle. Themainbenefit of the facility is its ability to workthrough vast numbers of tissue cultureconditions in complex combinations tofind the ones thatmake the cells growand optimally function.The future continues to look

promising for Professor Schneider’slaboratory; building work began on a60,000 square foot cardiovascularresearch centre at the HammersmithCampus in the summer. The new centrewill bring together cardiovascularresearchers currently spread across anumber of Imperial campuses, whichwill greatly benefit their research andthe NHLI trainees. It will also place theteam next to theMRCClinical SciencesCentre, with which they collaborateclosely in a number of areas, includingstem cell projects.Professor Schneider’s ultimate goal

is not simply fundamental discoveriesin cardiac biology but, moreimportantly, their conversion intoworkable therapies that will one daysave the lives of thousands of patientswith heart conditions.

Imperial Matters 27


Stem cells

“One does not want to create the wrong kindsof cells in the middle of a damaged heart,

such as bone or liver.”

m

PROFESSORMIODRAGSTOJKOVIC


Our online professional networking service enables you to search for, and contact,fellow Imperial College London alumni who have volunteered to provide professionaladvice based on their personal experience.Whether you’re a recent graduate lookingfor your first job, or amore experienced alumnus looking tomove to a neworganisation or even a completely new career, this service gives you access to awealth of experience and knowledge.You can search for fellow alumni by job title, organisation name, industry and

country. Once you’ve identified individuals, who you think will be able to provide theadvice you are looking for, youwill be able to contact them through the website, afterwhich they will receive an email containing your contact details and can respond toyou directly. If youwould like to offer advice to fellow alumni, pleasemake sure youupdate your account preferences.

www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/professionalnetworking

28 Imperial Matters

As well as a professional networking directory, we are also able to offer anindividual directory which allows you to search for former classmates and oldfriends with whom you have lost touch. You can search for alumni by name,education details and country of residence. Make sure the details in youraccount preferences are correct, so that your former classmates can get back intouch with you too. It’s especially important that your email address is up-to-date as you will receive a notification if someone tries to get in touch.www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/alumnidirectory

Expand your professional network

The Imperial alumni network is basedon connections. These connections canrange from the personal to theprofessional. The Alumni Relationsteam is here to support theseconnections and to nurture theirexpansion. We are able to help alumniconnect with others in a variety ofways, and the following pages aim toreflect this.Our international networks are

especially useful if you are relocatingabroad, or if you travel overseas onbusiness; you can never underestimatethe importance of a friendly face. Withever more groups and networksstarting across the globe, you arebound to find one for you. You canread more about the latest groups inIndia on page 35.We can also help you get back in

touch with old classmates through ouralumni directory; and don’t forget tomake sure that your own contactdetails are up-to-date so that otherscan get back in touch with you. Turn topage 38 to read the catch up entries offellow alumni.The annual Alumni Reunion is a

great starting point for connecting withother alumni, so make a note in yourdiaries of this year’s date which is 25September 2010. The ChemicalEngineering class of 1960 demonstratethat reuniting with old friends can alsosimply mean meeting up in the OldUnion Bar for a drink. Turn to page 32to read more.In whatever shape or form you wish

to participate in the Imperial alumnicommunity, we are here to help youstay connected.From the beginning of March Alumni

Relations Manager, Emma Jones, wenton maternity leave and Louise Birrell iscovering her position. Mark Atkinsonhas also joined the team as AlumniRelations Officer. As ever, the team arehere to assist alumni in whatever waythey can.

Alumni Relations team

Connectwithothers


Imperial Matters 29

Whether you are interested in reconnecting with friends, orwish to organise a class reunion or event, the AlumniRelations team is here to help. We know that the thought ofplanning and organising a reunion can seem a daunting task,but with our help it’s simple! Before you get started, youmight be interested to know that annual Alumni Reunion isgoing to be held on Saturday 25 September 2010, and allalumni are invited. It’s a great opportunity to get your formerclassmates together and, if you would like to organise a classreunion in conjunction with the Alumni Reunion, we would bedelighted to help.So what canwe do to help? In the first instance, the Alumni

Relations team can provide youwith advice about planningyour reunion.We can offer information about suitable venuesand catering, or we can put you in touchwith the relevantcontacts at Imperial who can help you organise College venues,catering and accommodation.Wewill let you know if theproposed date of your reunion clashes with any importantCollege dates or if there are other alumni events, such as theAlumni Reunion, with which your reunioncould combine.We have a database of 140,000 alumni,

which we can search on your behalf to findout howmany people in your target groupwe have contact details for. Due to theconstraints of the Data Protection Act, weare unable to give out contact details fromour database; however, we can provide youwith the names of alumni for whomwehold up-to-date information.

We can also send emails and letters to fellow classmates onyour behalf.We recommend that we send an initial email to thegroup to gauge the level of interest for the reunion and to getsome idea of what preferences there are for location and eventtype.Wewould encourage that responses bemade to youdirectly. It generally takes aminimumof three weeks for us toproduce the requested data and sendmailings, so please bearthis inmindwhen planning your event.Wewill do what we can to promote your reunion in our

communications; this could include a spot in themonthlyalumni e-bulletin, a listing on our online event calendar orinformation in Imperial Matters. Wewould also be happy tofeature an online event summary and photographs of yourreunion once it has taken place.If youwould like information about organising a reunion,

please contact the Alumni Relations team [email protected] or by calling +44(0)200 7954 6130.More information about the Alumni Reunion can be found atwww.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/reunion2010.

services alumni

Plan your own event

R Your alumni magazine

Alumni are always encouraged to contribute to Imperial Matters; this is, afterall, your magazine. Get in touch with us if you would like to share your newsor memories with the wider Imperial alumni community. You can also contactus if there is something in particular that you would like to see featured in thepublication – this can be anything from an alumnus of note, to a topical issue orpiece of research happening at the College. Email us at [email protected].


Alumni at the 2009 Reunion


30 Imperial Matters

alumni uk

In early 2009 a groupof alumni from theDepartment of EarthSciences andEngineering set up a scholarship fund inmemory of Professor JohnArcher, inorder to support students studyingpetroleumengineeringwho run intofinancial hardship. It is named inmemoryof JohnArcher, whowas a formerProfessor of PetroleumEngineering in theDepartment before becoming aDean, ProRector andDeputyRector of theCollege.The scholarship has been established

by a groupof Professor Archer’s graduatestudents and associates. They considerthis is a fitting tribute to Professor Archer,who, during his tenure at the Imperial,would go out of hisway to support PhDstudents in his department,whowere indanger of dropping out due to lack offinance. Their aim is to continue, as hewould have done, to help studentsovercome such financial challenges.The first John S. Archer Scholarship

was awarded to Yok Pongthunya, whosaid: “It is my honour to be the firstrecipient of the John Archer Scholarship.The contribution tomy academicprogress could not have come at a bettertime, for which I will be forever grateful.”

On a frosty December evening over 60alumni and their guests gatheredtogether out of the cold and into thebeautifully transformed Senior CommonRoom, to begin the season’s festivities atour alumniWinterWonderland. Guestswere welcomedwith a complimentaryglass ofmulled wine, or a festive cocktail.As the guests sipped on their seasonalswills, the Imperial College ChamberChoir entertained everyonewith theirselection of Christmas carols.Guests were treated to amini

Christmas dinner served in a bowl;consisting of cranberry stuffed turkey(or the vegetarian option of nut roast),served on a bed of Brussels sprouts, roastpotatoes and parsnips. Needless to say,

these cheerful canapés were swiftlysnapped up by all!Shortly after this, the choir invited

guests to join in the singing with them,starting them off with the carol, “Oncein Royal David’s City”. This havingwarmed up everyone’s voices, gueststhen worked their way through fourmore carols: “God Rest youMerryGentlemen”, “O Little Town ofBethlehem”, “Hark the Herald AngelsSing”; finishing with a rapturousrendition of “O Come All Ye Faithful”.After the singalong, alumni, guests

and the choir tucked into well-deservedmince pies and the evening’s festivitiesdrew to a close. Alumnimade their wayhome full of festive cheer.

On 21 November 2009 the Royal Schoolof Mines Association (RSMA) held its125th Annual Dinner at the Polish Clubin South Kensington, which wasattended by a record number of 130guests. It was a very special occasion,with many people travelling from abroadto be there. The RSMA was honoured tohave Mr David Weston, a member of theAnglo-American Executive Committee,as its guest speaker.The first Annual Dinner was held in

1873; 22 years after the establishment ofthe Royal School of Mines in 1851. From

that time until1913 the dinnerswere organisedby an informalcommittee ofold studentsand the Chair. At the 41st Annual Dinner,however, the then Honorary Secretary T.A.Rickard suggested “that it was about timethat we did something more than dinetogether.” So the Old Student’sAssociation (later to be called the RSMA)was inaugurated to “foster comradeship,to advance the interests, and to express

the opinion of the old students of theRoyal School of Mines.”Those mathematicians among you

might have expected the 125th AnnualDinner to have been held in 1997, butas the dinners were suspended duringthe World Wars, the 125th AnnualDinner was held a few years after the125th anniversary of the association.

Alumni indulge at the Winter Wonderland The John S.ArcherScholarship

The RSMA celebrates its 125thAnnual Dinner



Alumni Regional DrinksOver three evenings, and across threelocations, 100 alumni got together tomark the launch of a new regional drinksprogramme for Imperial College Londonalumni inOctober 2009. Birminghamhosted the inaugural event on Thursday23October, which saw around 30 alumnicome along to the Living Room inRegencyWharf to enjoy a drink on theCollege andmingle with fellow graduatesliving in theWestMidlands.“I had a very pleasant evening with

fellow graduates from all ages andfaculties of the College,” alumnus PeterWright (Mechanical Engineering 1979)commented. “The fact that I knew noneof them beforemade no difference at all.It was a great event.”The regional alumni road show then

moved south east toOxfordwhere over45 alumnimet at theOxford Retreaton the edge of the river onWednesday28October. Graduates from 2008werebrought together with those from 1956

and inevitably conversation turned tothe changes at the College over the years;as well as the variety of careers Imperialalumni had chosen to follow. By the endof the evening it was agreed by all, thatthe event shouldmark the first ofmanyinOxford. Our week of regional eventsculminated on Thursday 29Octoberwhen 25 alumni came along for a finalImperial get-together in the Living Roomon Bristol’s harbour side. Althoughmeeting for the first time, several alumniwho attended chose tomake a night of it

and go out for dinner together, where itwas generally agreed that a Bristol andsouth west alumni group should beestablished in the near future.As always the ever-popular business

card draw brought each evening to aclose. Congratulations go to JamesAndrew (Mechanical Engineering 1965),Dzan BonWong (Mathematics andComputing 2005) and BayanMazidian(Physics 2009) who each won a bottleof champagne in Birmingham, Oxfordand Bristol respectively.We would like to thank all alumni

who attended our first regional eventsin Birmingham, Oxford and Bristol.The response has been very positive,and due to their success, we hope tohold further regional events throughout2010. If you would be interested inlearning more about future events, orwish to suggest cities which we shouldconsider for future regional drinksevenings, please contact the AlumniRelations team on +44 (0)20 7594 6130or at [email protected].

Imperial Matters 31

uk alumni

We’re pleased to bring you the greatnews that the City andGuilds CollegeAssociation’s series of LondonWalks,which were discontinued in December2007, have now been revived.A new series of four walks with a

qualified London guide has beenorganised by Dr John Backhurst(Chemical Engineering andChemicalTechnology 1962). The first walk tookplace on Saturday 21 November 2009,

when a party of 18, comprising City andGuilds and Royal School ofMines alumniand their guests, were treated to afascinating walking tour of the Londonbridges fromBlackfriars Bridge toLondon Bridge, with historical detailfrom the guideMalcolmDick. The eventfinishedwith a sociable drink and a bitein a local hostelry. The next event isscheduled for 10 April 2010. Formoreinformation seewww.cgca.org.uk.

Boanerges is takenfor a test driveIn August 2009, with support from theOld Centralians’ Trust, CollegemascotBoanerges was taken to the Isle ofWight for a week’s visit, during whichBo’ toured the island andwasexhibited at the Isle ofWight SteamShow. The aimwas to test Bo’sreliability after repairs, and to revivethe tradition ofmaking tours.

Walking tours revived

Bo’ leaving the ferry onarrival at Fishbourne



32 Imperial Matters

The day’s events began in earnest withthen Rector Sir Roy Anderson’s welcomeaddress giving an update on happeningsat the College before he went on tointroduce the keynote speaker, SirAdrian Johns, alumnus and formerSecond Sea Lord andCommander inChief of the Royal Navy’s Naval HomeCommand. Sir Adrian commented:“Imperial gaveme a huge amount, so itwas the very least I could do to comeback and speak at the reunion.” Inkeeping with the reunion’s theme ofworking together, he discussedleadership in the context of hisexperiences in theNavy. The audience’sappreciation for his enthralling lecture

was demonstrated by the rapturousapplause, about which Sir Roycommented: “The applause says it all. SirAdrian’s comments are pertinent to somanywalks of life and there were somevery important lessons indeed.”As well as lectures, alumni had the

opportunity to take part in tours of boththe South Kensington and StMary’scampuses. In addition to these tours,groups of 15 were taken up the 324 stepsof the Queen’s Tower, many recallingascents from their student days andsome climbing for the first time. Once atthe top, the general consensus was thatthe views were well worth the climb.Judy Beard, Director of

Development, commented: “Fourmonths intomy role as DevelopmentDirector, the reunion was a perfectopportunity for me tomeet and greetImperial alumni from six decades and 18countries. Fascinating they were too.With glorious weather and a rousingopener from Sir Adrian Johns, the daywas set fair. Judging by the feedback,alumni thought so too.”You can readmore about Sir Adrian

Johns on page 14, and domake a note inyour diaries that the next AlumniReunion is planned for 25 September2010. Formore information, pleasevisitwww.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/reunion2010.

Alumni Reunion 2009

alumni uk

Fifty year reunion for the Chemical Engineeringclass of 1960 To mark 50 years since their

graduation, the ChemicalEngineers of 1960 met in theOld Union Bar to celebratethis milestone. Thosepictured, from left to right:Jim Friend, Alan Nethercott,Malcolm Cross, Tony Davis,Alan Cleugh, Richard Lee,Paul Gallagher, David Martin,Michael Heath, Barry Danielsand Don Latimer. If your classhas reunited recently, we’dlike to hear from you. Emailus [email protected].


Imperial Matters 33

During the Annual Fund autumntelethon student callers contactedImperial alumni to keep theminformed about life on campus and thework of the Annual Fund, as well as toask them to consider supporting thefund through a charitable donation.The telethon is a bi-annual

fundraising appeal, which employscurrent Imperial students as callers tocontact alumni across the world. Inorder to reach the wide range ofCollege alumni living in NorthAmerica, the student callers geared upfor several all-night sessions, callingfrom the ICT helpdesk at the SouthKensington Campus throughout thenight to reach alumni in the USA andCanada during their daytime. Atypical overnight shift ran frommidnight to 04.00.Imperial has strong connectionwith

itsNorthAmerican alumni; there arenumerous alumni associationswhichoperate across the continent and strongsupport for theAnnual Fund. In orderto cater for this support, alumni in theUSA are invited to direct charitabledonations to the Imperial CollegeFoundation, a non-profit corporationthat exists to support the pursuit ofexcellence at theCollege. TheFoundation provides away for alumniin theUSA to give tax deductible gifts totheCollege. These gifts support key

College projects, including studentscholarships through the StudentOpportunities Fund.“The overnight calling sessions are

a great part of working at the telethon,”said student caller James Price,currently in the second year of hismedical degree. “It’s really interestingto contact alumni in theUSA andCanada, as their experiences can be sodifferent to those in theUK; comparingtheway that different alumni havechosen to continue their careers afterleaving Imperial has givenme a realinsight intowhat Imightwant to doafter I leave theCollege. There’s abrilliant atmosphere amongst thecallers during these sessions aswell.Being up together at this time of themorningworking together and havingfun reallymakes it feel likewe’re doingsomething special!”The telethon ran overnight calling

sessions on 12November and 19November 2009. In addition to theUSA andCanada, alumni in SouthAfrica, Europe and theUKwerecontacted. The telethon is possiblebecause of the kind support of ICT,which provides equipment and spacefor the campaign.Formore information about the

Annual Fund, please visitwww.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/annualfund.

Awards and HonoursTheNewYear Honours recogniseoutstanding achievement andservice across the whole UKcommunity. In the 2010 list, fiveImperial College London alumniwere recognised:

Dr SusanE. Ion(Metallurgy andMineralsScience 1976,PhD 1979),VisitingProfessor atImperial CollegeLondon andChair of the UKFusion Advisory Board, receiveda DBE for her services to scienceand engineering.

ProfessorDonal D.C.Bradley (Physics1983), Lee-LucasProfessor ofExperimentalPhysics andDeputy Principalof the Faculty ofNatural

Sciences, Imperial College London,was appointed a CBE for servicesto science.

Miss Rosalyn E. Richardson(Physics 1971), Lately DeputyDirector of Health Informatics,NottinghamUniversity HospitalsNHSTrust, was honouredwith anMBE for services to theNHS.

DrAnthonyDunne(Physics 1990, PhD 1993) wasawarded anOBE for services to theMinistry of Defence.

DrAlison F. Campbell(PhDChemistry 1988),ManagingDirector of King’s College LondonBusiness Ltd, received anOBE forher services to knowledge transfer.

uk alumni

Student callersstay up all night


34 Imperial Matters

New President for Imperial College AlumniAssociation of Singapore

alumni international

The current executive committeeof the ICAAS is comprised of:

President:Tan Hang Cheong

Vice President:Oh Lock Soon(MSc Civil Engineering 1993)

Honorary Secretary:Yap Tiong Peng (Bioengineering2008)

Honorary Treasurer:Kuan Tek Seang (MEng Aeronautics1996, PhD MechanicalEngineering 2003)

Members:Ling Ming Koon (MechanicalEngineering 2000) and Chen Hung(MSc Civil Engineering 1967)

Youth Wing Chairman:Lee Yew Wei (Electrical andElectronic Engineering 2005)

Co-opted members:Tang Wey Lin (MEng MechanicalEngineering 2005), Raymond Kwok(Mathematics 1974) and BernardLee (MSc ManagementScience 2003)

Honorary Auditors:Alex Fung (MSc ManagementScience 1981) and Anthony Ong(MBA 2002)

The Imperial College Alumni Associationof Singapore has become the first alumnigroup to launch a new website under theCollege’s official domain name atwww.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/singapore.The new website will run alongside theassociation’s already well-establishedstand-alone website at www.icaas.orgbut has some new features and gives theassociation a greater presence on themain alumni website.One exciting new feature is an

online directory which enables visitors,who have registered for and logged into the new website, to search for other

Imperial alumni who are living orworking in Singapore. Those alumni wehave an email address for can becontacted through the website, and wehope that those of you living inSingapore will make the most of thisnew networking opportunity. You’ll alsofind details of forthcoming events, thelatest news from the association andmuch more online.Over the next few months more

alumni groups will be launching theirown websites under the College’sdomain name and we’ll bring you newsof these as they happen.

Singapore launch new alumni website

The Imperial College AlumniAssociation of Singapore (ICAAS)elected a new executive committee atthe group’s 32nd Annual GeneralMeeting on 9October 2009. TanHangCheong (Computing andControl 1978)was elected as President, about which hecommented: “It is an honour to beelected President of the alumniassociation ofmy almamater. I thankmyfellow alumni for this privilege to serve.”MrTan’s predecessor, Dr LeeHing-

Yan (Computing andControl 1981,MScManagement Science 1982), is steppingdown from the position after four years.Dr Lee is currently theDeputyDirector ofthe SingaporeNational GridOffice. Heobtained his undergraduate degree fromImperial’s Department of Computing,and later anMSc inManagement Science.

Emma Jones, Alumni RelationsManager at Imperial College London,expressed the College’s gratitude forDr LeeHing-Yan’s dedication to theassociation: “Wewould like to take thisopportunity to thank Dr LeeHing-Yanfor his hard work, support andenthusiasm for Imperial College Londonduring his tenure as President andbefore. ICAASwould not be the successit is today without his contribution.”As the new President, Tan Hang

Cheong plans to build upon hispredecessor’s successes in order toforge a “closer bond amongst Imperial’scommunity in Singapore.” Thanking hispredecessor, TanHangCheong said: “Theassociation thanksDrLeeHing-Yan for hisservice and looks forward tohis continuedinvolvement in the association.”


Torrential rain broke briefly on 23 January 2010 to allow 33stalwarts of the Imperial College Alumni Association ofNorthern California to gather and reminisce. Hosts AngelaHey and her husband opened their home near Palo Alto fora pot luck dinner of English dishes. Needless to say Britishbrews and Californian wines flowed freely, althoughconsumption was down!After dinner Richard Jenkins (Mechanical Engineering

2000) described his 10-year odyssey to break the windpowered land speed record at 126.2 mph, on 26 March2009. It was not only a story of outstanding engineering,but one of skill, dedication, vision, goal setting,pragmatism and optimism. All those present were able todraw inspiration from what Richard was saying.Fabian Schmidt and the outgoing board were thanked for

their work in 2009, and Howard Wise and Jenny Wang wereelected as President and Secretary respectively for 2010.

The Imperial College Alumni Association of Hong Kong heldtheir Christmas party on 11 December 2009 at Aria, a cosyrestaurant and bar. More than 50 alumni joined the party,some with their families and friends.Dr Shen (MScMathematics 1979), Chairpersonof the

association,welcomed alumni and special guests for the evening:JudyBeard,Director ofDevelopment, andEmma Jones, AlumniRelationsManager, from Imperial College London.Alumni chatted while enjoying great food, drinks and

music. Some group games were played by alumni with a luckydraw towards the end of the party – the highlight of the night!The first prize, an iPod, went to Raymond Chan, and thesecond prize, a bottle of vintage wine, went toMr K.C. Liu.All in all, it was a fabulous occasion for a blessed friendshipthrough amerry Christmas gathering!

Festive frolics inHong Kong

World record holder atImperial College AlumniAssociation of NorthernCalifornia dinner

Imperial Matters 35

Delhi, Kolkata andMumbai are hometo three brand new alumni chapters aspart of the expanding Imperial CollegeAlumni Association of India. FromMadurai in the south and Amritsar inthe north toHyderabad in the west andJorhat in the east, Imperial alumni canbe found in every corner of the world’slargest democracy, and these three newchapters, launched in February 2010,aim to bring together the 750-strongImperial alumni community. As three

of the four largest cities in India, it’snot surprising that these cities are alsohome to a combined total of 327Imperial College London alumni. Ifyouwould likemore information aboutthe three new chapters or themainassociation, please visitwww.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/india.We look forward to bringing you

more news from each of the three newchapters as they grow and flourish.

international alumni


Three new chapters launched in India


36 Imperial Matters

alumni international

Ambassador visit to Beijing

A team of runners from the Imperial College Alumni Association of Hong Kong(ICAAHK) got together on a cool Sunday morning in late November to join UNICEF’shalf marathon in aid of the rebuilding programme in Sichuan Province, China,following the earthquake on 8 May 2009. The ICHAAK runners were among severalthousand who donned their running shoes for the marathon at the Hong KongDisneyland Resort and Sunny Bay. The runners rose before dawn bubbling withenthusiasm and excitement, and ran the 21 kilometre half marathon route with theearthquake-stricken children of Sichuan Province at the forefront of their minds.

ICAAHK runfor Sichuan

Professor Nigel Brandon (PhDMineralResources Engineering 1985), ExecutiveDirector of the Energy Futures Lab andShell Chair in Sustainable Developmentin Energy at Imperial College London,joined alumni in Beijing on Saturday 24October 2009 to share the latestdevelopments in renewable energy.During his talk entitled Engineeringour Energy Future, Professor Brandonspoke of the latest technologicaladvancement of hydrogen fuel cellswhich resulted in a flurry of questionsfrom the 40-strong audience.Organised byZhuohui Luo (MBA

2001), SecretaryGeneral of ImperialCollegeAlumniAssociation ofChina,

Beijing, on behalf of the association andtheWesternReturned ScholarsAssociation (WRSA), the event broughttogether alumni fromanumber ofUKuniversities.However, Imperial alumniwere treated to an exclusive sessionwithProfessor Brandon,whoupdated themon themost recent developments at theCollege. To roundoff the day, the ICAAChosted a sumptuous dinner for ProfessorBrandon and the lecture attendees at theManDeLou restaurant.If you would like to become

involved in future alumni activities inChina, please contact the AlumniRelations team at [email protected].



GermanyThe Imperial College Club ofGermany (ICCG) recently celebratedits 10-year anniversary at an eventin Strasbourg in September 2009.There are 1,412 alumni in Germanyand the ICCG has over 50 members.

United StatesThere are 3,003 alumni acrossthe United States. There arecurrently three groups inoperation: Imperial College AlumniAssociation of Northern California,Imperial College Exiles NorthAmerica East (ICENAE) and ImperialCollege Alumni Network in ChicagoIf you would like to be involved

in any of these groups, please visitwww.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/international for more information.

Top 10 countries withImperial alumni residents

1. Greece 3,0362. United States 3,0033. Hong Kong 1,8964. France 1,8005. Singapore 1,7526. Malaysia 1,7077. Germany 1,4128. Australia 1,3879. Canada 1,31810. China 1,012

Imperial Matters 37

You can find more information aboutall of the Imperial alumni groups atwww.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/groupsandnetworks. If you would like tojoin a group near you, or areinterested in starting one, don’thesitate to get in touch with theAlumni Relations team on [email protected] +44 (0)20 1954 6131.

international alumni

The Imperial alumni network spans the globeImperial College London alumni can be found in every corner of the world andthe information below illustrates just how truly international our network is.

AustraliaThe 1,387 alumni in Australia canjoin the following groups:Imperial College Alumni Associationof New South Wales, ImperialCollege Alumni Association ofVictoria (IC in VIC) and ImperialCollege Alumni Association ofWestern Australia. Contact detailsfor all these groups can be obtainedthrough the Alumni Relations team.

SingaporeThe Imperial College AlumniAssociation of Singapore (ICAAS) is agroup for those alumni who reside orwork in Singapore. There are currently1,752 alumni in Singapore, making itone of the largest concentrations ofImperial alumni abroad.

ColombiaMichael Colijn (EnvironmentalTechnology 1997) has been busyrallying the Imperial troops in a bidto start an alumni group in Colombia.A dinner was held at Andres Carnesdes DC restaurant in El Retiro. If youwould like to get involved with thegroup, contact Michael directly [email protected].

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David Rowe and Richard Barry bulb planting in Stamford, Lincolnshire

1940s

Edgar MossChemical Engineering and AppliedChemistry 1945I am living at Fordingbridge in theNewForest (a delightful spot) and take part alot in the community here, beingChairman of the Fordingbridge Society,as well as of our Community Forum.Mypresent battle is with theCouncil to getplanning permission for an air-type heatpump towarmmy bungalow. I had a solarpanel fitted some eight years ago for thehotwater and that, by this time, has justabout paid for itself. Of course it’s thetechnology that keepsme interested ineverything like this, not the initial cost!I wonder howmany of my old

friends of those past days are still aliveand kicking?

Manfred KostenMining 1949In 1986 I took up a post at theGreaterLondonCouncil to train and supportLondonBorough staff, ILEA teachers andothers. I co-authoredManaging DataProtection aswell as the quarterlyDataProtectionNews, and specialised in lettersto the press, explaining, defending andpraising the legislation. But 50 years afterImperial, I concluded that even amostsatisfying job had to end.

David Rowe and Richard BarryCivil Engineering 1959 and Mining 1958David Rowe (see picture below) andRichard Barry put their elite education togood use.

Michael NewBotany 1954Michael New, who was awarded an OBEin 1999 for his services to aquaculture indeveloping countries, has been awardedtheWorld Aquaculture SocietyExemplary Service GoldMedal.

This honour, which was conferred at theWorld Aquaculture 2009meeting inVeracruz, Mexico on 26 September2009, has been awarded only 10 times inthe 40-year history of the society.

1960sDavid BrannanPhD Mathematics 1967After Imperial, I held academic posts intheUSA,Glasgow and London; ending upat theOpenUniversity. I retired in 2007.

1950s

38 Imperial Matters

catchup

Spotlight onProfessor K.K. PhuaProfessor Phua (Physics 1967) was been elected as aFellow of the American Physical Society in December2009. Professor Phua is a theoretical high-energyphysicist and he work interest is in the field ofphenomenology in high energy collisions. He is theFounding President of the South East Asia TheoreticalPhysics Association. Together with the Nobel LaureateProfessor C.N. Yang and other senior physicists, he is oneof the founding council members of the Association ofAsia-Pacific Physical Society. Professor Phua has also beenawarded the President’s Award by the Institute of PhysicsSingapore Council for his outstanding contributions tophysics research and education in Singapore.


Imperial Matters 39

Roger FranceMSc Civil Engineering 1965Sincemy timeat Imperial I have lecturedinLondonandOxford, settingup the firstcollaborative taughtMaster’s coursebetween the twouniversities in 1990. Iestablished theConservationCourseDirectorsForum, andhave just beenelected asMaster of theWorshipfulCompanyofCharteredArchitects. I alwaysgive anextra cheerwhen I catch sight ofBo’ in theLordMayor’s Showeachyear.

1970s

Norman BalfourPhysics 1970I set upBalfourDesign in 1975 andamcommitted to applying technology in thebusiness process. I joined a small telecomscompany andhelped it grow from£2million capitalisation to £600million asDirector ofDataRelations. I am looking torepeat thiswith anemerginghigh techstart up.Myoffspring aremaking goodprogress. Abigail gainedherBSc andMScinPsychology fromLancaster.David readMechanical Engineering at Imperial andKing’sCollegeLondon.Catriona readFrench andLinguistics atHertfordCollege,Oxford.AndStephanie, studyingatBirkenheadHighSchool, is promising toshowher siblingshow it shouldbedone!

1980s

Karen HardyBotany and Plant Technology 1980Having supportedme onmy epic walk inthe summer of 2009 fromLand’s End toJohnO’Groats, the lovelyMike proposedandwemarried in September.

Ruben FairElectrical Engineering 1985I worked with GEC-Alsthom LargeMachines Ltd, Rugby from 1988 to 1994.I left to work for Oxford InstrumentsSuperconductivity (NanoScience). I amnowworking for Converteam in Rugby,building our first superconductinghydroelectric power generator. I ammarried with two children and living inBrackley, Northamptonshire.

Lester AndersonMSc Geology 1988

I am currently studying for a PhD at theBritish Antarctic Survey working on thestructural interpretation of gravity andmagnetic data from east Antarctica,including numerical andmechanicalmodelling of data. I have beenresearchingmy family genealogy andfound some new cousins I never knewabout, and also relatives inNew Zealand!Now I have lots of extended family links.

Simon DayMineral Resources Engineering 1989Twenty-five years on from starting at theRoyal School ofMines, I amworking intheUK quarrying industry. I would bekeen to contact any 1985-89 vintageMiners with a view tomeeting up in theNewYear; and any former RSM footballteammembers.

catchup alumni

Spotlight onMichael DixonTheDarwin Centre at London’sNatural HistoryMuseumhas openedafter being overseen throughout itsdevelopment byMuseumDirector andImperial alumnusMichael Dixon(Botany and Plant Technology 1977).Speaking toThe Times, Dr Dixon

commented: “We are asmuch animportant scientific-research instituteas a place of public education andentertainment. Our vision is toadvance knowledge about the naturalworld to inspire better care of theplanet. It is aboutmaking a difference–making people who visit here feeldifferently about our planet andnatural resources.”Dr Dixon has been the Director of

theNatural HistoryMuseum for overfour years, joining themuseum fromthe Zoological Society of London(ZSL), where he worked as DirectorGeneral.While at the ZSL, hespearheaded the society’s involvement

in amajor new £80million aquariumat SilvertownQuays in LondonDocklands, and created plans for theredevelopment of London andWhipsnade Zoos. Dr Dixon studiedZoology at Imperial, before embarkingon postgraduate work at theUniversity of York.

WPAPOOL


1990s

Jason OwenComputing 1992Still in London andworking for Deloittein central government. Is it really 20years since we all started at Imperial?

Shiu NgMSc Civil Engineering 1993AftermyMSc in Structural SteelDesign in1993, I returned tomy employer, Arup,andworked there for another seven yearsbefore embarking onmyown consultancybusiness.Mybusiness specialises in steeldesign and fabrication.Duringmy time at

Imperial, I was a resident in BeitHall andhoped to remain in contactwith the someof the residents there.

2000s

Echo ChongMBA 2005I have worked as an InvestmentAccountant at theWellcome TrustfollowingmyMBA. The experience hasbeengreat and Ihaveenjoyed theexposureto the large and complex portfolio thatWellcome has. It has been hardwork; butI am going to spend threeweeks inCalifornia in September and can’t wait.

Suhaib FahmyMEng Electrical and ElectronicEngineering 2003, PhD 2006After completingmyMEng and PhD atImperial, I moved to Ireland, where Iwas a Postdoctoral Research Fellow atTrinity College Dublin for two years,working on adaptive systems withXilinx Inc.I’m now about to join Nanyang

Technological University in Singaporeas Assistant Professor in the School ofComputer Engineering.

Spotlight onKirstyMooreKirstyMoore, who obtained aMaster’sin Aeronautical Engineering fromImperial College London in 1999, isthe first female pilot to join Britain’srenowned Red Arrows aerobaticdisplay team.Flight LieutenantMoorewill

performwith theRoyal Air Forcedisplay teamuntil 2012 after becomingthe first female fast-jet pilot to advanceenough in her flying career to qualify.Moore said of the appointment: “It’s anawesome job. To be told I had beenselectedwas one of the best days ofmylife. It was incredible.”The RedArrows jets are a firm

fixture at national events such as theQueen’s birthday; and at air shows athome and abroad, performing heart-stopping loops and turns in tightformation. Since their creation in 1965,they have given over 4,200 displays in53 countries.Professor StephenRichardson,

DeputyRector andPrincipal of theFaculty of Engineering, said ofthe achievement: “It isalwaysmost pleasing tohear stories of howImperial graduates have

gone on to achieve great things in theirchosen careers.”Moore, whowas picked from up to 40applicants, credited her father RobbieStewart, a retired RAF navigator, forinspiring her to join up after studyingfor herMSc at Imperial.“Hopefully in a small way, mybeing a Red Arrows pilot mightinspire some girls to think thatthis is something they could bepart of and that they should gofor it,” she added.

40 Imperial Matters

alumni catchup

Spotlight onMrTanKee YongMr Tan Kee Yong (Mathematics1980) was appointed the newCabinet Secretary and Secretary tothe PrimeMinister of Singapore inDecember 2009. Mr Tangraduated from Imperial CollegeLondon in 1980 with a degree inMathematics on an OverseasMerit Scholarship. In 1996Mr Tanwas awarded the PublicAdministration Silver Medal bythe President of Singapore for hiscontributions to public services.He has served in various

capacities in the Singaporeangovernment – he was the DeputySecretary at the Ministry ofEducation, Chief Executive of theSingapore Land Authority andDeputy Secretary at the Ministryof Defence.

RMake sure you keep us updatedwith your life post-Imperial; wewould love to hear from you. Visitwww.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/catchupto view more updates from otheralumni or to submit your ownupdate. Alternatively you can emailus [email protected] orwrite to us at Imperial Matters,Imperial College London, Level 2Faculty Building, South KensingtonCampus, London SW7 2AZ.

CHRISTOPHERFURLONG


Footprints in the AshStanley Salmons(Physics 1961)On the mountain slopes south of Pompeii, agroup of Roman citizens flee the doomed city,leaving their footprints in a layer of volcanic ash.Two thousand years later the footprints arerediscovered, and a joint Anglo-Italian dig is setup. Eminent Oxford archaeologist Professor JulianLockhart unearths an exciting find, but then hevanishes mysteriously. English detectives NickRoberts and Lucia Fabri go out to assist the Italianpolice with the investigation, unaware of thesinister forces – both human and natural – that liein wait for them. Their subsequent race for survivalsweeps them up in an eerie re-enactment ofhistorical events.Fitting his narrative to a carefully researched

historical and geological background, StanleySalmons has woven an exciting and original debutcrime thriller that evokes the authenticatmospheres of southern Italy and of Pompeii inRoman times.UKA Press; isbn 978-1905796175

Imperial Matters 41

books alumni

booksbooksTheir Cancer,Your JourneyAnne Orchard(Computing 1986)Statistics show that one in three of uswill be affected by cancer at some point.The diagnosis of a loved one with canceris a growing commonality that nobodywants to have to deal with. Yet it is notjust the sufferer who is affected by thedisease. As anyone who has cared for acancer sufferer can tell you, it is adaunting and emotional journey, and thecarer’s own emotional needs can beoverlooked. Many simply want to ask,how do I cope?Renowned author Anne Orchard

aims to answer this complex question inher book Their Cancer, Your Journey.Anne writes from poignant personalexperience to show carers how to dealwith this momentous challenge. Bothher mother and mother-in-law werediagnosed with cancer and herexperience of caring for them led to thewriting of this book.“There was some practical support

available to us as a family, but theprocess on the whole was verytraumatic,” said Anne. “Emotionally,we felt like we just coped as best aswe could.”Rainbow Heart Publishing; isbn 978-0955979705


42 Imperial Matters

The design of prestressed ConcreteBridges: concepts and principlesby Robert BenaimThe Design of Prestressed Concrete Bridges:concepts and principles draws on theexperience of Robert Benaim (CivilEngineering 1960) who founded and ranhis own structural and civil engineeringpractice for 20 years. The book addressesthe design of bridges and the choices theengineer has tomake in the conceptualstage of bridge design.Taylor and Francis; isbn 978-0415235990

A Journey with Timeby Robert Jaggs-FowlerA Journey with Time is Robert Jaggs-Fowler’s (Charing Cross andWestminsterMedical School 1985) first collection ofpoems, the subjectmatter drawing on hislove of nature, travel, books andmusic, aswell as exploring themore intenseemotions of love and loss. At timesamusing, often poignant, A Journey withTime reveals the inner workings of asensitive human being who is in touchwithfarmore than just life’s daily toil.Lulu.com; isbn 978-1409228448

morebooksbyalumniR


R Recently published Imperialalumni and their books are alsolisted on the alumni website atwww.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/books.

North of Little HillJim Platt(Mining Geology 1960)The language spoken among the pupils of the PortIsaacCounty Primary School inNorthCornwall inthe late 1940s incorporated a dialect as full, rich androunded as clotted cream. The accent of deliverywasslow, open and rolling, not unlike the steady swell ofthemighty Atlantic washing against the rugged slatecoastline of Port Isaac Bay. Its characteristics owed atribute to the enduring traditions of an isolatedcoastal community; yet for all that, its staturewasvibrantwith the additive benefits of the naturalevolution that comes from steady usage.Under pressure from the social, mobility and

media revolutions of later years, rural backwaterslike Port Isaac have tended to lose theiruniqueness, one clear result being the demise oflocal dialect, which slipped away piecemeal in thegrip of time, its departure barely noticed until itwas complete. This book records that Port Isaacdialect of latter days, focused on its wonderful veinof wit, humour and expression, now long gone, butever worthy in memory.Creighton Books, isbn 978-9080780859

Just numbers?Richard Meadows (Physics 1959)

Numbers enterour lives in everyway. They havepowerfulsignificance indescribing ourworld and arethought topossessmysticaland evenmagicalproperties bymany.

The book considers the earlydevelopment of numbers, the specialnumbers of pi and phi (the goldennumber) and the consequences ofFibonacci’s famous series. It looks at theconstants of gravity, the velocity of lightand Avogadro’s number. Thecontributionsmade bymany famousphilosophers are traced: Galileo, Kepter,Newton, Einstein, Hoyle andMartinRees. Chapters on applications totelecommunications, electromagneticwaves and Einstein’s revolutionarycontribution including E=mc2 areincluded together with a survey of oursolar system and potential hazards wemaymeet. It concludes with just sixnumbers, numbers which can bethought of as defining not only ourworld but the whole universe: itsformation and future.Authors Online; isbn 978-0755211463

alumni books


Just like other students –reception of the 1956Hungarian refugeestudents in Great BritainMagda Czigány (FIC 2002)Based on extensivearchival research andin-depth interviewswith former refugeestudents, Magda

Czigány has painted a detailed pictureof how and why Hungarian studentscame to Britain after the failure ofthe 1956 revolution. She chroniclestheir studies and achievements andtheir attempts to adapt to Britishsociety. Czigány recalls theextraordinary welcome extended tothese students by British highereducational institutions as well as themagnanimous response by the people ofBritain to the appeal to raise funds to coverthe cost of their education.Magda Czigány was herself a Hungarian

refugee student. She obtained a degree then apostgraduate diploma in librarianship from theUniversity of London. She worked in the libraryof University College London, and taughtHistory of Art there and at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley. In 1986 she wasappointed Director of Information Systems andLibrary Services at Imperial. On her retirementin 2000, the College conferred a Fellowship onher in recognition of her achievements. Shehas published books and papers in bothEnglish and Hungarian.Cambridge Scholars Publishing; isbn 978-1443805506

Imperial Matters 43

books alumni

Shakespeare in a Nutshellby Timothy RobeyTimothy Robey (Chemistry 1958) presentsa new perspective on Shakespeare’s plays inthese lively, conventional verse forms,whilst remaining faithful to the spirit of hiswriting. A few liberties have been taken, butthese, and the subtleties in the verse, willbe readily enjoyed by readers who know theplays well. Almost all Shakespeare’s playsare featured. A verse quiz and a taxingcrossword test the reader’s knowledge.Authors Online; isbn 978-0755211784

Oils and Fats HandbookVolume4: Fish Oilsby Barry RossellOils and Fats Handbook Volume 4: FishOils isthe fourth in a series of handbooks edited byDr Barry Rossell (Chemistry 1960), anexpert in the field of oils and fats, who hasbeen amember of the InternationalStandardsOrganisation, andCodexAlimentarius Fats andOils Committees.The book is a very useful source ofinformation for all thoseworking in thefood industrywith any involvement in theuse of, or research into, fish oils.Wiley-Blackwell; isbn 978-1905224630

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

R If you would like to submitdetails of a book for a future issueof Imperial Matters, please [email protected] write to Imperial Matters,Office of Alumni and Development,Imperial College London,Level 2 Faculty Building,South Kensington Campus,London SW7 2AZ.

Please include a short synopsisand a cover image (preferably inhigh resolution jpeg format).

The Cry of the Eagle: Thelife and times of anaerospace engineerParvez Kumar (Aeronautics 1968)

These memoirsof a restlessaerospaceengineer covera life and careerin sevendifferentcountries; fromParvez Kumar’searly days in

Lahore, to his time in Nanking, China,and his boyhood adventures at theLawrence School Sanawar in India.Interlaced with stories of Parvez’s

40-year aeronautics and space career,including one about how theInternational Space Station programmewas initiated, are the personal stories,from breathing life again into anabandoned 200-year-old farmhouse inthe south of France and designing andbuilding a house for his family inOttawa; to facing challenges andtragedies with fortitude.The book includes photographs,

including some artistic images of hiswife, which give us a very personalglimpse into the life andmind of thisrather impatient artist and engineer whorose from humble beginnings as arefugee from the India/PakistanPartition to being considered by some asone of Canada’s Space Pioneers.Trafford Publishing; isbn 978-1425139780


44 Imperial Matters

1930sDr Louis Collins (CharingCrossMedical School 1937)Mr E.R. Dinnis (WyeCollege 1939)Dr Reginald E. Goddard (Chemistry 1939, PhD 1941)Dr AllanM.Greenhow (Chemistry 1939, PhD 1942)* Mr Ian A.Macdonald (Mechanical Engineering and

Motive Power 1937)* Emeritus Professor RonaldG.Mason (Physics 1938,

MSc 1939)Professor Emeritus Dennis F. Orchard (CivilEngineering and Surveying 1935, PhD 1937)

Dr Arthur C.D. Parsons (WestminsterMedical School 1937)* MajorGeneral Denis A.K. Redman (Electrical

Engineering 1930)MrsM. K. Tipler (WyeCollege 1933)* MrGerald R. Underwood (Chemistry 1939, DIC

Chemical Engineering 1941)Dr Jack K.H.Wilde (Biology 1936)

1940sMrL. Allen (WyeCollege 1949)Dr Bernard Atkinson (Chemistry 1944, PhD 1951)MrHoward A.S. Bristow (Chemistry 1948, DIC 1950)MrGeorge Brombley (Electrical Engineering 1944)Dr Jehoiada J. Brown, FRCP, FRSE (StMary’s HospitalMedical School 1949)

Dr Clement Chave-Cox (WestminsterMedical School1949)

Mr EdwardH. Cole (Mechanical Engineering andMotivePower 1944)

Dr Anthony C. Davis (Chemistry 1947, PhD 1949)Mr John E. Davis (Physics 1943)Dr John S. Dryden (PhDElectrical Engineering 1949)MrGeoffrey A. Emery (Electrical Engineering 1943)* Mr Sidney T. Flannery (Electrical Engineering 1940)MrDavidN. Gifford (Metallurgy 1947)MrHowardW.J. Henn (Chemistry 1947)Dr George D. Lumb (WestminsterMedical School 1943)Mrs E.Moore (WyeCollege 1944)Mr Richard Pare (Chemistry 1942)Mr John K. Picknett (DICCivil Engineering, DIC 1947)MrDennis H. Phillips (Wye College 1940)Dr Victor A. Phillips (Metallurgy 1944)Mr Alan P. Roberts (Physics 1942)MrMatthewD.L. Rome (Mechanical Engineering andMotive Power 1944)

Dr Gerald G. Rose (Chemistry 1941, PhD 1943)Dr David V. Salkeld (Charing CrossMedical School 1946)Mr JohnD. Shapland (Chemical Engineering and AppliedChemistry 1947)

Mr Brian R. Sheppard (Mining 1946)Mr BrianG. Smith (Civil Engineering 1947)Dr Peter Smith (Chemistry 1944, PhD 1951)Mr Roderick J. Tolley (Metallurgy 1948)Mr Bernard A.Ward (Mathematics 1947, DIC 1948)Mr Charles I.Watson (Civil Engineering andSurveying 1941)

* Professor Olgierd C. Zienkiewicz (Civil Engineering andSurveying 1943, PhD 1945)

1950sProfessor Donald Barltrop (Charing CrossMedical School1956)

Mr Roger E. Barnes (Mining 1950)Professor Anthony R. Barringer (Mining 1951, PhD 1954)DrMichael J.P. Berkley (StMary’s HospitalMedicalSchool 1957)

Professor Emeritus John A. Bevan (WestminsterMedicalSchool 1953)

Dr Alan R. Broadbent (WestminsterMedical School 1956)* Dr Thomas D. Brogan (StMary’s HospitalMedical School

1959)Dr Anton Brown (Mining 1953, MSc 1955)* MrMalcolmD.C. Campbell (Chemistry 1954)Mr James A.S. Chapman (Civil Engineering 1957)Mr Christopher J. Charles (Mechanical Engineering 1959)* Dr Terence K. Clarke, OBE (WestminsterMedical School

1957)*MrDonaldG.Cole (Chemistry 1959)MrR. JohnCollins (Civil Engineering 1952)DrRobertG.Cope (Metallurgy 1953, PhD 1955)DrBrianP.Dillon (StMary’sHospitalMedical School 1957)MrGeorgeM.Emsley (Mechanical Engineering 1954)DrR. R.W. Folley (WyeCollege 1953)Mr AlanG. Fricker (Chemistry 1959,MScMining andMineral Technology 1969)

Dr Alan S. Gardiner, FRCA (Charing CrossMedicalSchool 1951)

Dr Clive Hackett (Botany and Plant Technology 1959,PhD 1962)

Professor Emeritus Arthur S. Hall (Civil Engineering 1953)Mr RichardH. Hirst (Wye College 1953)Captain JohnM.L. Hughes (Mechanical Engineering 1959)Mr JulianM. Jacobs (Chemistry 1958,MSc 1959)Dr David C.O. James, FRCPath (WestminsterMedicalSchool 1954)

Mr Roy A. Jeffreys (MSc Physics 1952)Mr Aravinda V. Joshi (DICCivil Engineering 1954)* DrMontague P. Joyston-Bechal (WestminsterMedical

School 1954)* DrAhmedK.E.D.L.Moussa (PhDCivil Engineering 1956)DrPeter E. Liley (Physics 1950,DICChemicalEngineering 1955)

* DrVictor J.E.D. Lobo (StMary’sHospitalMedicalSchool 1959)

DrDennisC. Lowe (Chemistry 1950, PhD 1953)MrPaul B.Mathews (Mechanical Engineering 1959)* MrEric J.Millett (Chemistry 1951)MrTadeuszMoskwa (Mining 1950)Professor JohnV.Oldfield (Electrical Engineering 1954,DIC 1956)

DrRichardO.Ormerod (WestminsterMedical School 1954)MrHarry G. Raffe (Chemical Engineering 1957)DrHelen Rapson (PhDBotany 1951)Mr Cyril A. Rees (Chemical Engineering and AppliedChemistry 1950)

DrRaymondRoutledge (CharingCrossMedical School 1953)Dr David T. Thompson (Chemistry 1955, PhD 1958)DrWilliam B. Thomson, FRCP (StMary’s HospitalMedical School 1951)

Dr R.W.G.Ware (WestminsterMedical School 1952)Dr Trevor C.Wells (Metallurgy 1956)Mr Robert B.Wilson (Physics 1958,MSc 1959)

1960sDrMichael L. Ayres, FRCS (WestminsterMedical School1963)

DrHironmoy Banerjee (PhDElectrical Engineering 1962)Mr P.M. Bowles (WyeCollege 1969)MrAlfredCampion (DICCivil Engineering 1960)Mr Philip J. Edwards (Civil Engineering 1969)* Professor Emeritus AnthonyG. Evans, FREng, FRS

(Metallurgy 1964, PhD 1967, Fellow of Imperial 2007)MrAlexander E. Ferguson-Nicol (DICElectricalEngineering 1969)

MrDouglas K. Fisk (Electrical Engineering 1961)Dr ChristopherM.G. Francis (Mining 1961, DICCivilEngineering 1967)

Mr John S.P. Haut (Mechanical Engineering 1969)Mr Sultan Kassum (Electrical Engineering 1963, DICComputing and Automation 1968)

Mr Ian S. Lunn (Geology 1961, DIC 1962)* Dr Robin J.R.Miller (Physics 1961, MSc 1964)* Dr Patrick A.J. Ramage (Charing CrossMedical School

1962)Dr Barry C. Ross (Chemistry 1969, PhD 1972)Dr ThomasH. Spreadbury (WestminsterMedical School1961)

Dr Goza Tay (PhD Physics 1969)

1970sMr IanM. Davenport (Civil Engineering 1979)* Mr DavidW.Hinks (Wye College 1971)Mr TatW. Lai (Mathematics 1977)Dr Andre Picard (PhDCivil Engineering 1971)MrDaniel V. Stone (Metallurgy 1974)Dr Tony R. Vallance (Charing Cross andWestminsterMedical School 1972)

1980sMrAlfonsoM. Barra Alcantara (Electrical Engineering1986)

Mr Robert N. Anderson (MScGeology 1989)Mr Carl S. Bainton (Mineral Resources Engineering 1982)* Dr Kevin J. Beurle (PhD Physics 1983)Dr Simon A.W.S. Biggart (Charing Cross andWestminsterMedical School 1989)Mr Richard A. Bowen (MSc Environmental Technology1984)

Dr Greig Cowan (Geology 1984)MrWilliam S. Dester (MSc Civil Engineering 1989)Dr Steven P. Dunstan (Geology 1986, PhD 1989)Dr Patricia H. Lucas (PhDEnvironmental Technology1986)

Mr Jonathan C.M. Phillips (Wye College 1984)MrNeil O.S. Virgo (WyeCollege 1984)MrGeoffrey K.Whittaker (Mechanical Engineering 1988)Mr Stephen B.Wrenn (WyeCollege 1984)

1990sMrMartinN.Currie (MScCivil Engineering 1990)MrPhilip Ibeke (Management School 1999)DrHarald Slinde (PhDMaterials 1993)

2000sMrGautamBalaram (MScMechanical Engineering 2008)DrKreshnahamR.Conhye (PrimaryCare andPopulationHealth Sciences 2000)

MrAnthonyL. Rose (MBA2002)Miss Alexa Scott (MScNationalHeart andLung Institute2005)

* MrMatthew J. Smith (MSci Physics 2008)

Members of StaffDrEmmanuelleCaron (Senior Lecturer, Life Sciences)DrGeoffrey P. Kirkwood (Centre for Environmental Policy)Emeritus Professor S.N.Wickramasinghe (StMary’sHospitalMedical School)

ProfessorHarry Elliott, CBE, FRS (Physics)ProfessorKenHeron, FREng (Visiting Professor,Mathematics)

inmemoriamIt is with regret that we announce the death of the following alumni ofImperial College London, the constituentmedical schools andWyeCollege. Alumni are listed according to their year of graduation.Whenan alumnus has obtainedmore than one degree from theCollege theyare listed according to the graduation year of their first degree.

Where indicatedby an *, obituaries are available online atwww.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/obituaries. Printed copies of obituariesare also available on request [email protected] to ImperialMatters,Office ofAlumni andDevelopment, ImperialCollegeLondon, SouthKensingtonCampus, LondonSW72AZ.


Imperial Matters 45

Wireless sensors, worn behind the ear, that can be used for accuratephysical activity monitoring — one of the innovations developed byProfessor Guang-Zhong Yang (Director of the Institute of BiomedicalEngineering) and his team.

The bigger picture


Event calendarCGCA London Walk – ‘Clerkenwell’Saturday 10 April 2010; Farringdon, London

[email protected]; +44 (0)1892 822925

GOLD Drinks and networking eventTuesday 27 April 2010; Corney and Barrow, Lime Steet, London

www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/golddrinks; +44 (0)20 7594 6130

Behind the Scenes at the Grantham Institute ofClimate ChangeThursday 28 April 2010; South Kensington Campus, London

Visit the Grantham Institute with Professor Sir Brian HoskinsCBE, FRS, Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change

www.friendsofimperial.org; +44 (0)20 7594 6130

The Hunt for the Higgs Boson and the UnknownThursday 8 June 2010; South Kensington Campus, London

A Friends of Imperial Lecture delivered by Professor JordanNash, Head of High Energy Physics, Imperial College London

www.friendsofimperial.org; +44 (0)20 7594 6130

Legacy LunchThursday 10 June 2010; 170 Queen’s Gate, London

By invitation only

www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/legacylunch; +44 (0)20 7594 6132

Student Union Summer BallSaturday 19 June 2010; South Kensington Campus, London

www.imperialcollegeunion.org.uk; +44 (0)20 7594 8060

Imperial 1000 members eventWednesday 23 June 2010; 170 Queen’s Gate, London

To thank current members for their donations to the CollegeBy invitation only

www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/imperial1000event;+44 (0)20 7594 6132

Royal School of Mines AssociationThursday 24 June, South Kensington Campus, London

For members of the RSMA; AGM and Final Year BBQ

www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/rsma; +44 (0)20 7594 8606

Henley Regatta Alumni ReceptionSaturday 3 July 2010; Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

www.imperialboatclub.co.uk; +44 (0)20 8788 3563

Engineering Geology Centenary ReunionSaturday 9 July 2010; South Kensington Campus, London

[email protected]; +44 (0)20 7594 8606

Alumni Reunion 2010Saturday 25 September; South Kensington Campus, London

www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/reunion2010;+44 (0)20 7594 6130

www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/eventcalendar


command of the sea

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