King's College London (KQC) newsletter

Ken Groves, Director of KCL ResearchEnterprisesArticle continues over page

Organisation and prior to this Head ofMarketing at British Steel and General Man·ager Marketing in Stewarts and Lloyds.

He has played an active part in manynational and international organisations.He is immediate past Chairman of theMarket Development Committee of theInternational Iron and Steel Institute andha worked in the committee and the ng­ineering Council of the Brili h StandardsInstitution. He ha served on the Product­ion and Marketing ommittee of the CBIand has been Section Chairman of theSociety of British Gas lndu trie . He habeen actively work ing with the European

ommission, particularly in relation to thefunding of applied research in the Europ­ean Steel Industry.

As announced by the Principal at the startof ession, King' College has appointedMr K W Grove to spearhead the promot­ion of its research potential to industry,Government and the Research Foundat­ions. He will take up his appointment asDirector of the newly launched KCL RES­EARCH E TERPRISES on ovember 3this year.

Ken Groves brings to this task wide exper­ience of the m(\jor functions in industry. Agraduate of the Universities of London and

xeter, he ha spent his career in steel andengineering. His latter appointments havebeen Deputy Chairman and Chief Execut­ive of the EuroRoute Fixed hannel Linkproject. He was Director of the Construct­ional Steel Research and Development

NEW APPOINTMENT LAUNCHES FRESH APPROACH TORESEARCH AND INDUSTRY

One of the 500 birds measured and ringed during the Rio Mazan expedition to Ecuador. For a report by David Barnes of the Biol­ogy Department, and another picture, turn to centre pages.

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Ken Groves will be concerned to achieve agreater orientation in the College towardsmeeting industry's needs, not only throughspon ored research but in encouragingconsultancie and close relation hipbetween staff and industrial spon ors. Hesee con iderable potential for theexpan ion of joint activitie to the mutualbenefit of King' College and indu try.Close relations will also be fostered withGovernment Departments, the Re earchCouncils and other agencies concerned withthe application of research material andservices.

'Universities, says Mr Groves, 'have todispel the rather remote image which omeindustries accredit to them. They have tostress their national usefulness. It will bepart of my job to see that the bridges ofcommunication are strengthened.'

Mr Groves is based on the Kensingtoncampus and can be contacted on extension394

SCHOOLS A D COLLEGESLIAISO OFFICE

The Principal's ad hoc group on liaison withschools last session came to the conclusionthat King's College already does a lot ofwork in promoting contacts. Much of thiswork stems from individuals, departmentsand other groupings within the variouscampuses. We are also aware that virtuallyevery University in Britain, and our colle­giate partners in London, now devote timeand energy to this 'promotional' exercise.

It is no longer enough to rely on the factsbeing widely known - that King's is one ofthe largest multi-faculty colleges in London,tha t we have a fine record of past achieve­ments and that we have a confidentapproach to our future plam. We need topress these facts home on every occasiongiven to us - and if they are not given thenwe may need to create them.

There are internal and external implicationsof this. Internally we need to support eachother by providing those of our colleagueswho visit schools, careers conventions, etc.with adequate information on the wholecollege set up so that they arc well-armedambas adors. To do thi wc plan to hold aseries of lunch-time liaison seminars, atwhich those who are concerned in this act­ivity can share some of their experiencesand ideas. The fir t of the e will be onWednesday 19th ovcmber on the StrandCam pus - see back page reply slip forreturn to Peter Lawrence. Other meetings<HC planned for Kensington and Chelseasites later.

Ex ternally we need lo build 1I p more con­tacts through local authorities, schools,colleges of further education, etc. Wealready have an embryo list of the type of

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activity at which the ollege i repre entedand this activity i expected to continue.There are, however, interesting gap in ourcoverage and here we need more fact toupport the apparent mi conceptions. I

London really be oming an unattractiveplace for study? Are there some subjectswhich are perceived as pecial' to King's- and therefore pre umably others whichare le s special? It i of cour e a rathersubjective exercise and has a lot to do withhow others ee u and maybe omethingaI 0 to do with how we ee ourselves!

This term's liaison eminar will be followedby smaller group meetings centred oncampuses and departmental section ; inthe Lent Tenn we would aim to 'target'particular sections of our catchment or'market' so that the annual despatch ofprospectuses and 'promotional' literaturecan be more effective. One way of doingthis may be the preparation of a implefact sheet/newsletter which will find itway on to chool and careers notice boards.

It is important, however, that we can makea good and peedy response to enquiriesfrom out ideo To help with this I want toestablish a directory of speaker /topics assoon a pos ible 0 that the initial list builtup by John Muir last tenn can be complet­ed. Reminders about this will be going to allDepartments very oon. We also need aprogramme of ollege activities which arede igned for prospective students; somedepartments organise 'open day' or sixthform conference: details could go toenquirers more speedily if there is a registerof events. There are no dou bt maIlY thingsbeing done; others we could do; and pos­sibly some we could do better.

Peter LawreneeSchools and Colleges Liaison Officer

C.R. Peter Lawrence, Senior Lecturer inGeography on the Strand Campus andSub-Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Music,is the College's Liaison Officer for activitiesinvolving Schools and Colleges (FurtherEducation establishments, etc.)

Most if not all students who e first lang­uage i not English need help with theirEngli h. Thi may seem a truism but un­fortunately the implication are not alwaysreali ed until too late. Even the mostnuent have problems in usage in preciseand accurate expression and in le sermatters such as pelling.

A number of these students will have hadtheir weaknes in English identified beforecoming to eollege by the screening pro­cedure operated by the Admissions Office,a procedure that is becoming more effect-ive each year. everthele s, for one reasonor another, some student will not havebeen so identified, and other procedures,including the vigilant help of department,will need to be employed.

The normal screening require all overseaspostgraduates to take a Briti h ouncilELTS test in their own country or inBritain, and normally accepts non-nativespeaker only if they have a score of 6.5out of 9 in that test, although a 7 is con­sidered desirable for linguistically moreexacting courses such as Law, Philosophyand Education. If students have a markof 5, they are recommended to enrol for athree month Pre- es ional Course whichtakes place in King' between June andSeptember each year; students with a 5.5are recommended for a two month course,and those with a 6 a month only. Thosebelow 5 are not normally admitted to the

ollege or the Pre-sessional Course. Stud­ents are strongly recommended to take thecourse; current college policy does notinsist on them taking 11.

Undergraduates generally pose less of aproblem than postgraduates: the usualdepartmental requirement of an 0 level inEnglish language u ually as ures a rea on­able grammatical level but it may concealweaknesses in usage/speaking and pronun­ciation. Some undergraduate can certain­ly benefit from an English course, eitherbefore or during their academic studies.

fhe Pr -sessional Course is administered byMrs. Jennifer Jack on in the AdmissionsOffice and taught by a group of part-timeteachers, two of whom have been workinglong-term for the college. Considerableattention is given to recruiting teachers whoare well-qualified and experienced in teach­ing language and study skills to universitystudents.

Judging by numerical increase and customesatisfaction in end-of-course surveys, thecourses have been very successful in recentyears. Set up fir t nine years ago, thecourses were reorganised in 19 3 around astronger core of academic English and stud

J9 6 i the 75th Anniver ary Year of theBiochemical Society. To mark 75 year ofbiochemistry in Britain a number of cele­brations have been taking place, includinga Mobile xhibition.

in any way. whether it be drawing on theirkill and time for re earch. or ontributinghort our e , is invited to contact Tonyacne (Strand x-5 or Chel ea 36_6)ho an give further detail of the 3 '

organi atlon and member hip.

At this year's summer meeting of theSociety, held in Cambridge, J had a chanceto ee the Mobile Exhibition, '75 Year ofBiochemistry in Britain', which celebratesome of the per onalities and events that

have distinguished Briti h biochemistry.

Tony arnes

ideotape extracts of interview withobel Prize winners were a main feature of

the exhibition, including the recordedvoices of Fred Sanger and Max Perutl.Fred Sanger received his first obel Prize(for chemistry) in 195 for determiningthe amino acid re idue sequence of insulin,a protein hormone. This work was of greatsignificance to biochemi try becau c it Ishowed that a protein ha a preciselydefined amino acid residue sequence. FredSanger receivcd his second obel Prilc in1980 for his contrihutions to the rapiddetermination of base sequences in nudeicacids. Max Peru tz and lohn Kendrewreceived their obel prize in 1962 for workon the structure of globular proteins.Kendrew worked on myoglohin and Perutzon hacmoglobin (both are re piratory pig­ments). The technique of -ray cry tallo­graphy was very important in this work

THE 75TH A NERSARY YE ROF THE BIOCHEMICAL SOCIETY

Fmall if }oU wi h 10 gain ome impre ionof their acti itie , \'i it the exhibition thatwill be mounted in the Great Hall duringthe morning 0 Wedne day 12th, ovember.

t 11.30 am Libb} Purve will b.: g1 109 ahort addre to the gathering.

75 years ago, on the 11th March J911 thefir t meeting of what wa to become theBio hemical So iety, took place in London.At thi initial meeting the group wa namedthe Biochemical Club. It aim were topromotc discu sion between chemi t andbiologi ts, and to help with the investigat­ion of mutual problems. The club wa agreat ucces and acquired its own Journalin 1912. t it first AGM in 1913 itbecame the Biochemical Society, with OrFrederick Gowland Hopkins, FRS a it.first Chairman. GowJand Hopkins waslater to be knighted and to receive a

obel Prize for his work.

Special courses have been provided atKing's College, such a a much appreciatedserie by our physical geographers on'Interpreting Unfamiliar Landscapes'.Birkbeck Col1ege has al 0 been very activein arranging special cour e .

Peter ttridgeDirector of StudiesEnglish Language Teaching Programme

3A in London i now approaching amember hip of nearly 1000. It mainactivity is pursued through' elf-directingstudy groups', of which there arc over 50in su bject ranging from architecture tocomputing stUdies, and from p ychologyto ocial hi tory. Language tudie. are aparticularly strong feature, with five groupspur uing differentlevcls of French, a.ndothers tudying German, Modern Greek,Modern Hebrew, Italian and Spanish.

Se eral colleague from King's werea ociated with the early development ofthe U3A in London. At the time of itthird Annual General Meeting, which willbe held in The Great Hall, Strand Campusduring the afternoon of Wedne day 12th

ovember, a few details of It progresmay be of intere t.

If any mem ber of the college wishes toreceive further details of the U3A, write totheir office at Langton lose, Wren StreetLondon WCIX OHD (8334747). Anycolleague or retired member of the ollegewho would be interested in participating

The late t tep forward i the formation ofre earch groups within 3 . There i awealth of experience and talent among themember hip and also great enthu ia m toparticipate in serious research. One groupis already involved with a Birkheck-basedstudy.

Two contrasting idc to 3 ' activitiesare the development of a programme forhou ebound elderly people in London anda rapidly growing chedule of Study-Vi its(60 3 mem ber hortly depart for thePeople' Republic of hina).

For more detail of the e cour e , plea econta t Mr lennifer lack on, istantRegistrar (AdmlS IOns)

For those student who have serious weak­ne se in a n urn ber of areas, a well as thosewho need to fre hen up theu English beforetarting at King' , the Pre- e ional Course

1 clearly the mo t e fe tive our e to take,offering an inten ive. ful1-time learningpro e 0 er one or more month, and pro­iding a more olid lingui tic ba . for

academi tudy.

A weekly lecture i given to the tudent bya member of the academic taff on a ubJectof cultural interest: Briti h government,ocial tructure, religion, education, the

family, mu ic, food and drink, ocial cu ­toms etc., but the occa ion is al 0 used topracti e li tening, questioning and note­taking techniques. In the latter two stagesof the cour e, students write a long essay ona subject of general interest and on anaspect of their academic field, requiringreading, use of libraries, compilation ofsource material, tutorials and oral present­atIOn to the group. Vi it to place of inter­est in and outside of London are alsoarranged. Student are a e sed monthlyand the test at the end of the cour e is u eda the ba i for as es ment of the tudent'sability to cope with an academic cour e.Students who are till weak are recommend­ed to take the in- e sional cour e duringthe year; occa ionally very weak tudentsare ad vi ed to take a further inten ivecour e at a language chool, but this i adrastic step which may po tpone the startof their academic cour e.

ills. The Pre- e ional cour e tarted withtwo cla e of eight tudent each la tingone month. In 19 6 there were 9 la e,two of hi h ran or three month. In the

me period, the In- e ional la e havegro n from one to fi e, a mode t in rea ewhen et against the large num bers of over­ea tudent In the college and their known

language need .

During the year, for those students whoneed further language support, an In-es ional our e i run also under the wing

of the Admissions Office. This year classesare being held on the Strand and Kensing­ton sites, hut if demand is sufficient theycan be set up elsewhere in the college.Because of the demands of academiccourses, students can spend only a maxim­um of four hours a week on their English,and teaching has to be concentrated onthe skills requiring most urgent attention.

The pre- e ional differs from the In- e ion­al Cour e in being open to tudent mtend­ing to tudy at other Uni er ity college andat Polytechnic. 1.0 t of the e tudent goto other London ollege uch a LSE,

niver ity and Imperial College, but a fewgo to colleges out ide London. The cour eaim to develop peaking, li tening, readingand writing ability for academic tudy,covering tudy kills uch as deliveringhort paper, a king and an wering

questions, coping with seminars and tutor­ials; reading and collating information atpeed ii tening to lectures and making

effective note; writing reports, e ays andhort di sertation . Time i al 0 given to

grammatical correct ne s, pronunciationand ocial language for everyday situationThe first month of the three-month cour eact as a foundation tage revi ing theba ic for student who are generally weakerthan the re t.

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enabling the three-dimensional structure ofthe protein molecule to be determined fromfrom the position of the individual atoms.

KI G'S COLLEGE A D

The work of ir Han Krebs one of thegreat pioneers of biochemistry is also cover-ed in the exhibition. Hi obe! prize in1953 was for his di covery, ome yearearlier, of the citric acid cycle. This cycleis the final common pathway for the oxida­tion of fuel molecules such as glucose andfatty acid from food. Oxidation of these

leads to the generation of ATP, an energy­rich molecule, used to drive many vitalprocesses of the body. Other famous bio­chemists whose work is mentioned in theexhibition includes Sir Ernst Chain, NobelPrize winner in 1943 for the discovery ofpenicillin and its curative effect in infect­ious bacterial diseases. Finally, becomingmore up-to-date, Cesar"Milstein receivedthe Nobel Prize in 1984 for the discoveryof the principles and methodology of theproduction of monoclonal antibodies.MonoclonaJ antibodies are derived from asingle cell line and may be made to behighly specific in their binding ability toparticular antigeruc molecules.

This exhibition needs to be seen to be fullyappreciated and I can recommend a visitduring the Society's meeting at UniversityCollege on 17th-19th Decem ber 1986.

In Decem ber the first stage of the new Bio­chemistry gallery at the Science Museumentitled 'Cells, Molecules and Life', is to beopened as part of the 75th Anniversarycelebrations. Future plans for the galleryinclude two further sections to be called'From Vital Force to Molecular Identifica­tion' and 'The Life of Cells and Organisms'.The gallery will include many electronmicrographs, graphics schemes and draw­ings, together with objects such as spacefilling models of enzymes and ribbonmodels of DNA and R A. 'Cells, Moleculesand Life' aims to introduce the cell as thebasic structural and functional unit of life.It will illustrate the main classes of macro­molecules (fats, proteins and carbohydrates)and their molecular building blocks.Emphasis will also be placed on the ideaof life as a dynamic chemical process.

A ttendance at this year's Seminar for Industry was possibly the best yet. Well over 100people listened to the day's lecture presentations and enjoyed the variety presented inthe fine exhibition of current college research in this important and topical area. The daywas sponsored by Cadbury Schweppes plc.

More information on the BiochemicalSociety and its Anniversary activities isavailable from the Research and Informa­tion Officer at the Society's offices (7Warwick Court, High Holborn, LondonWCIR 5DP). Membership forms for thesociety are also available from this address;student mem ber ship costs £5 and enablesyou to attend all Society meetings free ofcharge.

Helen Wiseman

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KING'S CHALLE GE THEEXPERTS

On September 17th and 18th, 1986, Dr.R. H. Bassett and Dr. K. Yeo of the Depart­ment of Civil Engineering played host to70 academics and practising engineers whoattended their 'Reinforced Earth PredictionSymposium'. The symposium was the cul­mination of two years of monitoring andresearch supported by a £39,000 grantfrom the SERC and equipment fundingfrom etlon Ltd. The opportunity arose

from Dr. Bassett's advisory capacity withHertfordshire County Council and hisinvolvement in the design of a by passembankment built across 3-4m of peat andsoft clay at Stanstead-Abbots.

As a result of the public consultation pro­cess for country planning, Hertfordshirehad, with public support, adopted the routcausing the least environmental damage.This however involved crossing some I~mof flood marsh. The cost of a viaductdesign was astronomic (L 1OM) and alterna­tive embankment designs were sought. Re-

Ph;>to courtesy of NeviIJe Miles, Imperial College.

TTHESTRY

od -Hilll' I', ..ll'in. Withomplll. I (, raphi

A major exhibit was mounted by thebioelectricity group from the departments

K G S COLLEGEBIOTEC OLOGYSCIE CE FOR DEXHIBITIO

The biote hnolog~ re ear h of the collegewa well repre ented at the exhibitionmounted ill October at Imperial College.The eXhibition, which wa part of theevent to celebrate 150 year of the found­ation of the niversity, was opened by theChancellor and was vi ited by ,000 hoolchildren and several thousand other visitorincluding amba sadors, and representativesfrom industry and commerce. Dr. BrianBainbridge from the microbiology depart­ment wa co-ordinator for the biotechnology section which included 19 poster from16 groups in 7 different colleges. The pro­duction of the e displays was a major featof organisation but the final result demon­strated clearly the breadth of research inthe univer ity and particularly the varietyof re earch at King's. There was a verypositive response from the many groupswho vi ited the exhibition.

s a postscript for other , the organisersthoroughly recommend the use of themain entran e hall for registration, thecouncil room for exhibitions and intermi­ssions and 2C a a very elegant and easilyu ed lecture theatre. This first floor suitepresent a very favourable and attractiveenvironment but for one feature the seat­ing in 2C (ancient wooden and sometimesbroken seats): for the sake of the imagepresented to the out ide world, as well asfor financial return, the college shouldseriously consider modernising the seatingin 2C. Also, redecorating and po ibly ad­Justing the layou t of 6 to give a usefulconference suite for vacation letting.

The sympo ium ~a accompanied by asmall, though greatly appre iated, exhib­ition mounted in the ouncil Room andwa fueled by lunches and a con eren edinner for which the College catering dep­artment ex elled them elves. The organi ­er ha e ub equently received a number ofcomplementary letter from conferencedelegates and from the pre enter of pred-i tion, together with reque ts for a pub­lished proceeding.

volvement encouraged by SERC appears inthis ca e to have been very ucce ful.

The eleven prediction papers were thuspresented in increasing order of complexity.Both the audience and the organi ers wereamazed by the variety of analyticalmethods adopted for this new and quitecomplex problem. Answer. varied widelyand a league table of answers was drawnup. To the organisers' con ternation broadagreement was reached on onc point - manyanswers indicating a design teetering onpotential failure. An enthu iastic andpenetrating informal debate followed thesepre entations, Prof. Duncan of VirginiaPolytechnic being a major contributor,highlighting one of the crucial factorswhich explained some of the differencesin predicted data. Having held delegates insuspense for IY2 days, Dc. Bassett finallypresented the data actually observed andmade comparisons with the predictions. Avery animated, informal debate followed,the clo e being delayed by over an hour.The new style of University/Industrial in- Princess Anne with Dr Bainbridge

On Septem ber 17th the symposium wasopened by Mc. Hardy, the County Engineerof Hertfordshire and a mem ber of theSERC engineering advisory panel, followedby a detailed presentation of the engineer­ing phiwsophy of the scheme and thefundamental design parameter set out bythe Hertford hire engineering team.

The re pon e was international, predictionbeing ubmitted by several eminent compu­ting group from a far apart as MainlandChina, Singapore, Italy, the USA andCanada, together with both numerical andempirical prediction from British Univer­sities and several empirical approaches byconsulting engineer.

search on reinforced earth embankmentshad been carried out at King's and with ouradvice Hertford hire produced a po ibledesign at an affordable urn of £ 1.5~1.

The de ign utilismg a pia tic (Ten ar rein­forcing me h a at the lowe t limit oftability and it wa consldered prudent to

constru t a length of trial em bankmentpnor to the main contract. ith the co­operation of the Hertford hire Engineerand with ottingham niver ity, togetherwith funding from SERC and etlon thisembankment and the reinforcement wacompletely instrumented and monitoredfor a period of I months. With the dataa world wide challenge was mounted bythe King s group through the variou Geo­technical magazines and conference heldin 1984-85. They asked University groupsand Consulting engineer to predict thebehaviour of the em bankment using theirown analytical techniques and computerprograms. Some 30 groups took up thechallenge and were provided with all thebasic data and a series of pecific question.Eleven groups finally submitted their olu­tions and papers indicating their as ump­tions and calculations together with an ­wers to some or all of the specific ques­tions.

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of biochemistry, chemistry and micro­biology. The exhibit included a workingdemonstration of a biosensor which can beused to detect glucose in the blood of dia­bet~cs. Also displayed was a Rotary plater,designed by Dr. G Agnos of the micro­biology depprtment. This is an instrumentdesigned to count microbes in milk waterand many other products. It is of r'evol­utionary design and the equipment is to bemarketed by Denley Instruments Ltd. ofBillinghurst, Sussex.

Plant biotechnology from the biologydepartment was represented by posters ofgenetic work on fungal insecticides by Dr.J Heale and of immobilisation techniquesfor blue green algae in photobioreactDrs byPror. D. Hall. Models of DNA and proteinfrom the Biophysics Department formed acentre piece to the biotechnology sectionof the exhibition.

ASSAULT INSURANCE

The University of London has recentlyrevised the benefits offered under theAssault Insurance Scheme for all employeesof the University and its constituent instit­utions against the risks of total disablementor death arising from assault in the courseof, or as a consequence of, their employ­ment.

The compensation offered under the newscheme offers the following compensationwith effect from l5thJuly 1986:-

(i) in the event of

(a) death within 12 calendar monthsfrom the date of the assault; or

(b) permanent total disablement fromcontinuing in the employment foll­owed with the institution at the date0f -the assault;

the equivalent of five years' gross re­numeration at the rate being receivedfrom the institution at the date of theassa ult, or £ 18,500, whichever is grea ter.

(ii) if, after the expiry of 52 weeks' consec­utive disablement, the insured person isstill totally disabled from engaging in orgiving attention to the employment fol­lowed with the institution but medicalevidence is such that it cannot be saidsuch disablement is permanent, total andabsolute, payments will be made for assuch total disablement continues for aperiod not exeeding ten years. Such pay­ments shall be at an annual rate of 10%of the benefit provided under (i) above,and will be by half-yearly instalments inarrears commencing eighteen monthsafter commencement of disablement.

The scheme is not applicable to employ­ees who have reached the age of 65. For

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the purposes of the policy, the term'Assault' includes explosion, and attackby animals.

Under the terms of the policy the Univer­sity is required to give written notice to the'Insurance Company as soon as possibleafter the happening of any incident givingor likely to give rise to a claim.

Any incident should be reported immediat­ely to the Personnel Officer, Ext. 2125.

YANKEE DOODLE REGGIE

During a recent fraternal visit to the Harlemcampus of the City College New York,S tephen Harrow (Assistant Secretary) tooka pre-lunch stroll in the quiet streetssurrounding the campus. Turning a corner,he walked straight into a familiar but un­expected figure - short of a paw, but other­wise unmistakeable - taking his leonine easeoutside a front door.

It wasn't Reggie of course. The duties ofthe King of King's do not normally permithim to leave the College (except underextra - KCL duress), much less the country.But the beast was clearly a close relative.Harrow and the transatlantic Reggie ex­changed civilities, chatted of the weather(sticky) and the Dow J ones (likewise) andparted on good terms, promising to rem­ember one another to mutual acquaintanceson and off campus. Harrow returned toCity College for lunch with the faculty anddiscussions on academic planning; the lionresumed his interrupted nap.

Another Close Encounter of the FurredKind?

From June 25 to Augu t 12, 1986, DrChandler of the Department of Civil Eng­ineering undertook an international studytour in the field of earthquake engineeringsupported by travel grants from theFellowship of Engineering, Royal Society,British Council, the University's CentralResearch Fund and internal sources. Thevisits began with a one week stay atMcMaster University in Ontario, Canadafollowed by three weeks at various leadingresearch centres in California, visitingBerkeley (University of California), LosAngeles (University of Southern California)and concluded with a similar period visitingseveral industrial and academic institutionsin Japan.

The purpose of the study visits was to est­ablish collaborative links with leading over­seas research groups in earthquake engineer­ing, and in particular to gather informationon experimental simulation facilities(known as shaking tables) used to studythe behaviour of buildings and other struc­tures subjected to earthquake groundmotions. The information obtained willassist preparations for a SERC - funded re­search programme at King's College led byDr Chandler, together with Dr Bassett ofthe same Department, to investigate thetorsional (or twisting) response of tallasymmetric buildings to earthquakes, whichwas an important factor in the catastrophicfailure of many buildings in the Chileanand Mexican earthquakes of 1985. Theaward of this research grant (58k over thenex t 3 years) is part of the SERC's special

provision for a o-ordinated K re earchprogramme intended to improve the eXl t­ing earthqua e-re c"tant de Jgrl regulationlor ci\·il engineering tru tu re . in actual orpotential Cl mi Il} a tive region ot theworld. Sen iti ·e buildlOg 111 the K u hu. nuckar power tation are al 0 ubJectto the code .

•1an} 0 the world' large t itie lIe in. el micall} a tive area where building codeneed to be ,-,on tantl updatcd to 111 ludethe latc t rc. earch in earthquake engineeringThe Department of CIvil ngineering atKing' aim to make a ignificant practi al(.ontribution to our knowledge in thiunportant aspect of tructural design.

KI GS COLLEGE LO DOSASK TCHEWA U IVERSITYU OERGR DATE UTRITIOSTUOE T EXCH GEPROGRAMME

Following the succe s of this e changeprogramme la t eason two more tudentsfrom the ollege of Home Economic,

niversity of Saskatchewan, Tracy Olsonand Lori He ~e are now tudying utritionon the Kensington ampu, having exchang­ed place with econd years: J ay neWolliner and Janet Tree.

Sarah Powcll and Sarah Passmore who re­turned from Canada in September report­ed enthusiastically that the exchange pro­gramme had been very worthwhile academ­icaLly, and was al 0 a chance of a lifetime

educational experience. They hope that itwill continue for the benefit of futurestudents.

The financial upport for the programmefor this ses ion came from the Dcan' Fund(Sa katchewan niver ity), The SugarBureau Efamol Lld and Farma Food A/S

openhagen.

Rcceptions to wel ome the new studentwere held in Sa katoon in September andin Ken ington in October. Or Pat Judd ofour Food and utrutional Science Depart­ment repre ented King's ollege in Saska­toon and the Dean of the College of Economic , Profe sor Eva Lee came to Ken ing­ton. Professor Lee supported Or Leed 'call for the programme to be placed on amore secure foundation by the raising offund ufficient for cost to be met fromintere t alone.

WI ERS OF THEBIOTECH OLOGY INVESTME TGAME 1986

Thi game i run by Barclay's Bank plc forteam of inve tors tudying for the B cdegree in BIOtechnology. Each team isallocated a nominal £ 10,000 sum to inve tin companies having a significant commer-cial intere t in biotechnology. II tran - Iaction are handled by the Stock xchangeBranch of Barclay Bank plc, who keep arecord of the progress of the teams and actas referee. The winning team this year,(left to right) Layth Alsaffar, MohammedIqbal, Rajvee Shah and Atul Gandecha arebeing pre ented with the shield by Mr D.A.Killick, Manager of Barclay' High Tech­nology Team. (Professor S J Pirt Head ofMicrobiology and Or Dance, Biochemistrin thc background). The team convertedthe nominal £10,000 into£1 ,950 in threemonths with 13 transactions.

-~..~~." 0,",.....

(from left) Laurie Waiters (Saskatchewan, studied at King's 1985-86), Jayne Wolliner(King's College), Trac)' Olson (Saskatchewan), Lori Hesje (Saskatchewan) and JanetTree (King's College) photographed in Saskatoon in September this year.

Practical experience in industry is an impor­tant feature of thc Biotechnology degreecoursc. Mohammed Iqbal and RaJvee Shaharc currently doing a year andwich coursewith the Food Research Institute and CibaGeigy Pharmaceuticals respectively. AtulGandecha worked for Ciba Geigy duringth summer vacation and Layth Al affer foTransworld Mining and Mineral.

o

Christmas: The ollege will close at 4.00pmon Tuc day, 23 Decem ber 19 6 and willrc-open on Monday 5 January 19 7.

Easter: T he College will close on the eve­ning of Wednesday 15 April19117 and willre-open on Wedne day 22 April 19 7.

Other Bank Holidays:Monday 4 May 1987Monday 25 May 1987Monday 31 August 1987

7

ITAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED IN ECUADOR!In the summer of 1985 I was invited to join the Rio Mazan Expedition to cuador, South America. The expedition had been reque tedby the main conservation organisation in Ecuador, Fundacion atura, to as ist them in what wa effectively a revolution. ot apolitical revolution but a cultural one.

In 1976 a montane forest of seven hundred hectare, twenty kilometre from cuadors third largest town, Cuenca, came under threatof logging in order to provide timber for the American furniture indu try. Fortunately the staff of Fundacion atura realised theeffects such deforestation would have on the environment. ot only would countle s numbers of animal and plants be destroyed, butthe ensuing erosio:1 would silt up and despoil the river Mazan, WhJtll flc\\- through the fore t valley and upplie Cuenca with a third ofits fresh water. This information was put to the people and after an exten ive publicity campaign and a town wide referendum theforest was bought by and for the people of Cuenca, at a co t of 33,000 S dollars.

Then came the task of getting the forest operational as a nature reserve. British scientists had spent two years studying the area and inAugust of this year a team of thirty five people left England in search of an even wetter climate.

On arrival in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, we soon found that things were extremely different than in England. Petrol in Ecuadorcosts about fifteen pence a gallon but cars have a two hundred percent import tax burden and so most cars, and all taxis, are very old.We soon found out what this meant when we hired a taxi to take us to a hotel. All of its windows were broken and it directionalmovement eemed to have little relationship to the position of the steering wheel. Fortunately we arrived unscathed and our firstpriority, after booking in, was to find a shower to remove the grime of twenty three hours of travel.

With the new found vigour that accompanied cleanliness, we decided to see a much of Quito as possible. Quito i the econd largestcity in Ecuador and contain many new buildings but for visitors the place to go is the old town with its marble churches, streetrestaurants and musicians. It wa here that I began to see my first recogni able plants, they being the rea on for my inclusion in theexpedition. Huge date palm filled the plaza and humming birds darted between the flowering Hibiscus trees.

The following day we made our way to the bus terminal to continue our journey to Cuenca. We caught what wa affectionately knownas a 'microbus'. There were seats for thirty people and four more squeezed into the gangway. Fortunately all luggage was tied to theroof, however one man had to it for the twelve hour journey with two chickens under each arm which screeched and fluttered cont­inuously.

The bus leaves Quito on the Pan American Highway and travels south along the Valley of the Volcanoes' passing such famous peaks asChimborazo and Cotopaxi. At first the road gave a false sense of security with its smooth tarmac surface, however this soon deteriorat­ed into a dirt track which gradually degenerated even further until the bus had to weave its way around enormous boulders and cavern­ous potholes, as well as avoiding the many 'l11icrobuses' that break down high up in the desolate Andes. We later heard that one 'micro­bus'disappear over the edge of the mountain road every month, even our bus broke down a mile from the terminal in Cuenca.

We then hired another taxi, in even worse condition than the one in Quito, to the base of the track that led to Mazan and began tonotice the lack of oxygen due to the altitude. We each carried a back pack weighing about fifty pounds as well as our hand luggage andfell into a routine of walking twenty pace and then collapsing. After an agonisi~ two hours of this we finally reached the main campat Mazan, a cluster of tents grouped together 11000 feet up in the montane forest. A house had been built by the local council,ETAPA, for a warden which was handed to the expedition as a field centre. This soon became fulJ of plant specimens, beetles, frogs,spiders and the general confused pile of equipment that an expedition seems to accumulate.

The expedition team was divided into eight group defined by individual re earch interests; Bird-ers, Bat-ers, Plant-ers, Frog-ers/lnsects/Reptiles, Fore t-er , Survey-ers, Ethrobotanists and Mammal-ers. Each group had a permanent section leader and a small team of fieldassistants who could move from section to section and therefore gain experience in more than one field. For my first few days on campI joined the Frog.ers and so could be found early in the morning or late at night, creeping around in the gras and boggy areas trying tolocate frogs by their peeps, pings and whistles. When we caught a frog it would be photographed and it call noted and recorded. 1 wassurprised at the ease of identifying the frogs, over long distances, by their calls alone. In my few days with the Frog-ers we identifiedsix different species including an 'Arrow Poison Frog'.

For the remainder of the expedition I joined the Plant-crs and began the long process of specimen plant collection, describing andpressing. Wherever possible three specimens of each species were collected, one example to remain in Ecuador and the other two tobe brought back to the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, for identification. ollecting specimens was not always as easy as we had firstexpected. It was expedition policy to collect only epiphytic orchid specimens that had naturally fallen rather than di lodge plants, evenso we soon built up a large living collection. With other plants however, speCImens were gathered from where they grew and as mostplant life was epiphytic, we soon found our elves climbing trees, scrambling up rock faces and even forming human pyramids to reacha desired specimen.

After a days hunting in the forest the groups would get together over supper in the house and talk of the days discoveries. These wouldusually be confined to new plant species, animal sightings or newly found river crossings. One evening however, we were told of a newand rather surprising find. High up in the valley someone had found an old broken down bus. How it had got there was a mystery andserved to remind us that you take nothing for granted in Ecuador. The next day we all went to see this bus and had our first expeditionphotograph taken, a group of mad Britons 11000ft up in a derelict bus!

While at Malan we were constantly reminded of the destruction of the rainforest around us. Smoke would drift up the valley almo tevery day as unprotected forest below us was cleared to make way for grazing land or to form fields for crops. At one point thePlant-ers travelled to another forest, some forty kilometres from Mazan, to gather data for a comparative study of a forest at similaraltitude. We found it to be quite different from Mazan, containing many more primitive plants and stayed for over six hours collectingspecimens. Unfortunately we were accompanied the whole'time by the roar of chainsaws and the thud of axes a the forest was cleared.

8

However, there were success stories. Two new species of orchid were found last year and are yet to be named. This years specimenwill be examined on the expedition's return in ovember. In the region of five hundred birds were caught, measured and ringedincluding some Red Data Book specie. Four different species of bat were identified and some new methods of bat-catching u ed forthe first time in South America. Also, shortly before I left, a large cave had been discovered in which many bats were roosting. Thegreatest success of all was the knowledge that Mazan was afe. I de cribed the expedition as fulfilling a cultural revolution. I n the pastforty year over half of the tropi aI rainforest that covers our planet has been destroyed. It works out at 250 hectares per minute,every minute of every day. The e forests have always been seen as a permanent geographical feature, an endless reservoir of tim berowned by no one and to be exploited at will by all. Yet the people of Ecuador have managed to totally re-think their attitude to theforest and now the first conservation projects are started. Mazan may only be three minutes worth of timber but it i now one of themany treasures of Ecuador along with its climate and people.

As this is their first conservation project the Ecuadorians have no experience in forest care, and 0 the last task of the expedition willbe to devise a management plan for Mazan. This hopefully will generate more interest in forest reserve around the country andperhaps even the American continent. At the moment I regard my elf as a very fortunate person because I have been able to see thebeauty and wonder of the tropical rainforest. I only hope that my generations to come will be so lucky.

Sadly all things come to an end and my five weeks in Ecuador were up. I packed my tent, souvenirs and memories and began the longtrek back to the road that led to uenca. Some friends took me for a goodbye meal and on the way back from the restaurant I awone of the many memorable sights. There on the pavement was a six inch Tarantula spider gently plodding its way through the night.

As you can appreciate such a journey involved an enormous amount of hard work to organise and cost a great deal of money. I wouldlike to take this opportunity of thanking all those people who helped me to gel to South America by raising or donating money, inparticular The Kings College Department of Biology and W.H. Smith & Sons for their generous sponsorship5. Everyone else will haveto go unmentioned but not forgotten.

Another expedition will take place in 1987 to gather more data from the area and I would be more than happy to return, 50 if you seea technician begging for money, smile sweetly, put your hand in your pocket and watch this space .

David BarnesDepartment of Biology

9

LECTURES, MEETINGS AND SEMINARS

MO D Y TH DECEMBER at 1 .OOhin the Old Refectory

Led by the Queen Elizabeth Choir

The concert will include carol foraudience participation.

Conducted b. Dr. Brian Bainbridge

The Queen Elizabeth Choir I based on theorigIrull Queen Elizabeth College ChOIr. Itmeet at I .OOh on ~ondays during termtune 10 the Old Refectory, KensingtonCampu . It is open to all staff and student5who enjoy singing. ext term we are plan­ning a performance of Haydn's 'MarIaThere a' Ma .

The ChOir welcomes new members, bothstaff and student.

The mock arbitration in progress

Study Skills Sheets are available fromStudent Services at any time.

The seminars aim to pre ent a practical,realistic approach to studying and therewill be opportunities for questions anddiscussion.All are welcome.

Thursday 20 ovemberThe First Rosenheim LectureHORMO L REGULATlO OF EGGPROTEI GENE EXPRESSIOOr J R Tala, FRS, ationallnstitute forMedical Research5.30pm, The ew Theatre, Strand campus

P BLIC LECTURES

Thur day 27 ovemberAn Inaugural Lecture in the Departmentof PhilosophyTHE LIMITS OF I TELLlGIBlLITY: APo t-Verificationist Proposal

Thur day 6 ovemberPublic Lecture in the Faculty of Life

Science - Genetics Special Interest GroupHYPERVARIABLE 0 A A 0 GE ETlCFI GERPRI TSOr A Jeffreys, University of Leicester5.30pm, The ew Theatre, Strand campus

Tuesday II ovemberA Public Lecture in the Faculty of LifeSciences - Developmental Biology Spec­ial Interest GroupDROSOPHILA DEVELOPME T: THELIFE HISTORY OF A GE EOr Peter Lawrence, FRS, MRC Laboratoryof Molecular Biology, Cambridge5.00pm, Room 2808, Strand campus

Wednesday 19 ovemberA Public Lecture in the Faculty of ll-feLife Sciences - euroscience SpecialIntere t GroupPHARMACOLOGICAL PROTECTlOOF THE BRAI : The ExcitotoxinTheory of eurodegenerative DiseaseOr L Liver en, FRS, Merck Sharp andDohme Re earch Laboratorie5.30pm, The ew Theatre, Strand campus

RSSTUDY SKILLS SE I

In order to help tudent improve theirtudy skills, two identical eminars will be

held on Wednesday 12th ovember inRoom 6C Strand ampus, and onWednesday 19th ovember in the CouncilRoom, Ground Floor, Main Building,Kensington ampu. They will run from2.00pm - S.OOpm.

The seminars, arranged by the StudentCounselling Service, will contain four ses­sions. At 2.00pm Or Peter Butterworth,Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry, Ken­sington campus, will be talking about opt­imising note-taking in lectures, obtainingmaterial from text book, and how toapproach revision for examinations. At2.40pm Or. Ann Knock, Head of ReaderServi es, and a panel of Library staff willtalk about how to utilize the expertise ofthe staff and explain to students whatthey should be getting from their library.

Tea will follow and at 3.40pm Ray Hol­land, Senior Lecturer in Socio-Psycholog­ical Studies, Management Group, Kensing­ton campus, will present some ideas onmind-body interactions, self-awarenessand useful techniques for coping withanxiety. Finally at 4.20pm Bob Farrer,Lecturer in the Department of Anatomy,Strand campus, will describe how psych­ological theories of learning ClUl be appliedto study and revision.

Around eventy profe sional engineer fromthe civil engineering industry from a farafield as the Shetland I land, the I le ofMan, and Guernsey - attended this one­week cour e during September organized bythe Civil Engineering Department. Themain lecturer and director of the cour e waswas John Uff Q.C., now a Visiting Profes­sor in the department where ome years agoago he graduated in civil engineering withthe su bsequent award of a doctorate insoil mechanics. Assistance with the lectur­ing and tutorial work wa given by a num­ber of practitioner in thi pecialized fieldof law, of whom two were al 0 civil engin­eering graduates from King' .

Over the first four days the participantwere confronted with problem~ typical ofthose giving rise to contractual dispute inthe construction indu try. Then on thefinal day a mock arbitration was tagedwhich centred around an imaginary civilengineering project that had run into diffi­culties and which incorporated i ue di­cu ed earlier in the week. The advocatwere drawn from the course participantand they presented the variou argumentsbefore a practising Arbitrator while theother observed the proceeding. At theconclu ion, the Arbitrator delivered hisverdict with an explanation.

The course was a great success with partic­ipants giving enthusiastic praise to itsinnovative nature and the quality of instru­ction. Clearly there is a need within thecon truction industry for this kind ofcourse and the Civil Engineering Depart­ment plans to repeat it next Scptem ber.

10

Christopher Peacocke, Professor of Philos­ophyS.30pm, The New Theatre, Strand campus

Tuesday 2 DecemberA Public Lecture in the Faculty of LawsTHE SELECTIO A D TRAl I G OFJUDGESThe Lord Gifford, QCS.30pm, The New Theatre, Strand campus

KING'S EPIC SEMINAR

Thursday 4 DecemberVIRGIL: Anima aturaliter Christiana?Carlotta DionisottiS.OOpm, Room to be announced

THE KEATS LECTURES

Friday 7 NovemberTHE A ATOMY OF HALLUCINATIOBrian Inglis

Monday 17 NovemberFU DAME TAL PARTICLES A DASTROPHYSICSDr Christine Sutton, ew Scientist

Monday 24 ovemberSTELLAR OSCILLATIO S AND ASEARCH FOR SOLAR SYSTEMSProfessor J Ring, Imperial College

Monday 1 DecemberCELLULAR LOGIC A D IMAGEPRo.CESSI GProfessor M J B Duff, University CollegeLondon

Monday 8 DecemberWHAT IS IJ'OPHYSICS?Dr M E J Holwill, King's College London

2.00pm - 3.00pm, Room 2c, Strand campus

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ANDPHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SEMINARS

INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED MUSICALSTUDIES COLLOQUIA

Wednesday 12 ovemberA ALYZI G VARIATIO S: The FinalMovement of Beethoven's String Quartetin E Flat Op. 74Dr icholas Marston, King s College Londo

Wednesday 10 DecemberLUTOSLAWSKI: A ew AppraisalProfessor Steven Stucky Cornell Uni ver­sity

S.OOpm, Room 301, Faculty of Music,Strand campus

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCECOLLOQUIA

Thursday 13 NovemberSOME COMPUTATIO AL ASPECTS OFDISCOURSE REPRESENTATIONLesley Stirling, Linguistics, Edinburgh

Thursday 20 NovemberANALOGY A D AUTOMATIC INFER­E CEStephen Owen, Artificial Intelligence,Edinburgh

Wednesday 27 NovemberPLA S FOR A ROBUST SEMA TIC

G? PARSERArthur Cater, Computer Science, Univer­sity College Dublin

Wednesday 12 NovemberDOES CO SCIOUSNESS DO A YTHIProfessor J Watkins, London School ofEconomics

Wednesday 5 NovemberCA WE AVOID THE CO CEPT OFTRUTH IN SCIENTIFIC METHODOLO­Gy?Professor V Sadovsky, University ofMoscow

Friday 14 NovemberHOLISTIC ASPECTS OF MINDDr Patrick Pietroni

Friday 28 NovemberCOMPUTERS THAT TALKDr Alan Garnham

Friday 2 I NovemberPOETRY A D ALCOHOLGermaine Greer

1.10pm - 2.10pm, Large Anatomy Theatre,Strand campus

POSTGRADUATE SEMINAR IN MOD­ERN GREEK LANGUAGE AND LITER­ATURE

Monday 17 NovemberTHE MADNESS OF GENRE: Genericanalysis and Byzantine Literary TextsMargaret Mullett, Queen's University ofBelfast

Monday 24 NovemberTHE ORAMATA KAI THAMATA OFMAKRlYANNIS: A ReconnaisanceHal Lidderdale, Translator, Makriyannis'Memoirs

Monday 1 DecemberSTRUCTURAL OPPOSITIO S IN THEGROTTAFERRATA DIGENES AKRITESCatia Galatariotou, Selwyn College, Cam­bridge

Wednesday 19 NovemberCO VENTION IN MEASUREMENTTHEORYProfessor B Ellis, La Trobe University,Australia

Wednesday 26 NovemberMETHOD, META-METHOD A DVALUATION IN SCIENCEDr R Nola, University of Auckland,New Zealand

Wednesday 3 DecemberTHE POLE AT REST DOES OTEXPLAI ROTATIOProfessor H R Post, King's College London

Wednesday 10 DecemberSOME USES OF SUBJECTIVE PROB­ABILITYProfessor F Lad; State University of ewYork at Albany

All the seminars take place in Room 1B06at 2.ISpm

Wednesday 4 DecemberSOCIOCULTURAL SYSTEMS ANDDISTRIBUTED AlJim Doran, Computer Science, Essex

3.1Spm, Room lOB, Strand campus

KING'S COLLEGE SEMINAR ONRELIGION AND LITERATURE

Thursday 13 NovemberLITERARY A D SPIRITUAL FORM INA(GERMA )TWELFTH-CE TURYSO G OF SO GS COMME TARYProfessor Roy Wisbey, Head of Departmentof German

o knowledge of the original language willbe assumed.

S.30pm, The Dean's Office

LIBRARY LUNCHTIME SEMINARS

S.OOpm, The Burrows library, Strandcampus

THE MAXWELL SOCIETY

Monday 10 NovemberA ITMATTER - FROM DIRAC TOW&ZProfessor P Kalmus, Queen Mary College

NEW MUSIC AT KING'S

Tuesday 25 NovemberThe Music will perform Messaien 'TroisPetites Liturgies' for Choir and Orchestraand a new chamber ordchestra work bypostgraduate student Don Hart

S.30pm, The Great Hall, Strand campus

Wednesday 26 NovemberLIBRARY RESOURCES WlTHI THELONDO AREA

Wednesday 3 DecemberPROBLEM SOLVING SESSION

1.00pm - 2.00pm, Room 2B23, Strandcampus

11

FRE CH DEPARTME TAL LECTURES

Thursday 6 ovemberTHE GREAT WAR. D AFTER. Bar­bu se, DuhameL Romain Rolland,fr ane aDavie

Thursda 13 ovemberIOLE, 'CE, ORDER A, 'D RELlGIO.·:

Baudelaue and Jo eph de Maistre revisitedMr Bernard Howells

Thursday 20 ovemberRE 'E GI~RD: Violence and CIvilisation~r John Taylor

Thur day 27 ovemberTo be announced

Thur day 4 DecemberFEMI 1ST DISCOURSE A D IOLE CEMs Susan Sellers

12.00pm, Room IB27, Strand campus

MEDIEVAL GERMAN STUDY GROUP

Thursday 2 DecemberGATTU GSREFLEXIO I MORU G­E S LIED MF 145, I' (The an;i usPoem)Professor Klaus Speckenbach (Munster)

6.00pm, GOS, Strand campus

SEMINAR I HUMANITIES COMPUTING

Tuesday 18 NovemberSTYLISTIC I DICES INDEPI::, DI::,NTOF TEXT LENGTHDr Michael Weitlman, Univerity CollegeLondon

6.00pm, GOS, Strand campus

Friday 12 Decembero E-DA Y COFERENCE 0 1 H MA ­ITIES OMPUTI GSeveral papers will be devoted to mattersof current intnest while other will be

Iconcerned with specific project.. Adequatelime will be left for discussion.

Further tletail arc availa hIe from ProfessorRoy Wisbey, Department of German.

U IVERSlTY OF LO DO LIB­RARY EXHlBlTIO S

DIVERSE RICHES

An exhibition of books, manuscripts andarchives will be on tlisplay until 13 Dec­ember, as part of the University' 150thAnniversary Celebrations. The exhibition

I 12

is open between 9.30am and ~ .00pm, inthe Senate Hou e Library.

A PHOTOGRAPfDC CELEBRATlO

An exhibition of photograph is beingheld at the Barbi<:.an Centre Library Foyer.The exhibition is an a ompaniment tothe book The University of London, 1 36­19 6: an illustrated histOry by 'egleHarte,and can be visited between 9.30amand 5.30pm on Monday to Friday (7.30pmon Tue day) and 9.30am and 12.30pm onSaturtlay .

BRITISH ASSOCIATlO CO FE­RE CE

A one-day conference entitled UCLEARWI TER is being held by the BritishAssociation for the Advancement ofScience on Tuesday 2 December 1986.Further details are available from theA ociation (tel. 01-7346010).

STAFF NEWS

OBITUARIES

c.c. HE TSCHEL

Christopher Carl Hent. che!, who died aged87 on July 21 t, was a distinguished zoo­logist and member of the Univer ity ofLondon. Born in Chal1l;ery Lane, London,the son of Carl ('Harris' of J erome K.]erome's Three Men in a Boa!') and BerthaHentschel, Jerome wa hi godfather. Hissister lrene (Mrs. Ivor Brown) was well­known for her theatrical connections. Hewas educated at St. Paul's School as aClassical Scholar and at King's College, andthen did research on gregarine Protozoa togain his M.Sc. He was appointed Demon­strator in Biology at Sl. Bartholomew'.Medical St:hool before moving to ChelseaPolytechnic in 1931, as Lecturer in Loo­logy, and where he was to spend the restof his worklllg 1Ife. He published, in 1932with W.R. Ivimey Cook, the highly ucces­ful 'Biology for Medical Students', whichran to many editions. A fine ledurer, hebuilt up the teat.hing of /oology at Chelseaand became Head of the Department ofBotany and Zoology in 1953. After thepolytechnic had become a College ofAdvanced Technology he was appointedVice-Principal, and, upon the sudden deathof icholas Lighfoot, PI incipal in 1962until his retirement in 1965, during thecrucial period of the college's transition tofull University statU. Always a<.:tive in theUniversity, he was aPPolllted as -.ReoognisedTcachet of the University to the Board ofStudic in Zoology in 1933 and made itsecretary in 1934, remaining so until he

was elected chairman in 1952 and serving

until 195 . He was a member (or Chair­man) 0 every Board of Examiner in Zoo­log}- and BIOlogy between 1936 and be­cOffilDg Pein Ipal of Chel ea in 1962. Healso wa a member of Senate 1956-64 and1966- O. a ell a erving a Convo atlOnS ience Senator and on other bodie u ha the Central Re earch Fund CommIttee,the Military Education Committee. et . AFello.... of the LlDnean Society of Londonfrom 1923, he wa four time elected toCoun J1 and wa I e-Pre Ident Il1 1943-44and 1952-53. 'CCH', as he was generallyknown, wa a bachelor, robu t and forth­right but readily breaking into the heart-ie t laughter. Throughout hIS long areerhe supported many young biologists ­there are still members of staff at the Chel­sea Campus and old graduates of theDepartment of Botany and Zoology whopeak gratefully of 'being given their chance

by CCH.

A Head of Department he was alwayavailable and approachable, willing to li t­en and giving practical advice. A man ofintegrity, his confidence always to be trust­ed, he wa a loyal colleague and memberof the college. In retirement at Folkstoneand latterly at Durham, he continued tocorec 'pond with old colleagues and how asu tained lively interest in aspect of zoo­logical resear<:.h, retaining the affectIOn andesteem of all who knew hun.

Thomas J. Mortimer

DEATH OF MIKE PURSER

It IS with great sadness we report the suddedeath of Mike Purser. Mike was about tostart his thirtl and final year of post-grad­uate research having obtained a first classhonours degree in Geography at King's.His re earch work was well advanced andcompletion was very near.

At the age of 24, his untimely death whilerunning for Herne Hill Harriers has stunnedthe Department. He was a driving forcewithin both the at.ademic and social lives ofthe post-graduates and his commitment toteaching under-graduate within the depart­ment was very much a source of enjoymentto Mike.

The dedication to whIch Mike pursued hISresearch and athletic interests, always withgood humour and wit, will indeed be agreat loss to the department and the collegeand for those who knew him personally.

We would like to relay our deepestsympathies to his family and friend and tosay his friendship remain ever present within the Geography Department particularlywith those who had the pleasure of Mike'scorn panionship.

A memorial service in the college is heingarrangetl.

Department of Geography

The new telephone numbers are as follows:Tel: extension

Professor John Bux1nn 2588Head of Department

the Main Building and on the 5th floor ofthe Strand Building. The first year lab­oratory is in 14D, overlooking the river,and the second and third year laboratoryis in 7D, directly over the main entrancehall. The office of the DepartmentalSecretary is 2D.

APPOINTME T TO U NERSITYJOINT PLA ING COMMITTEE

Professor orma Rinsler, Dean of theFaculty of Arts, has been appointed as amember of the University of LondonJoint Planning Committee, for the 86/87session in the first instance.

SAFETY OFFICER

Dr R.C. Slade has been appointed CollegeSafety Officer and Radiation ProtectionAdviser with effect from I October.

Sue eslen,Departmental Secretary

2588/2469

Campus. However, we still have a very fewmembers of staff elsewhere. Or. J ill Salewill be spending part of her time on theStrand (ext 2372), and part at Kensingtonfor most or all of thi academic year. Twomem bers of staff will still be at the formerPlant Sciences Laboratory at Half MoonLane (733-5666) until mid November:Professor J W Bradbeer (ext. 25 or 26),and Professor David Hall (ext. 28). Afterthat, they will be joining us in the quiet,leafy environment of Kensington. So, ifyou want to contact us biologists, phoneus in Kensington - or, better still, comeand see us in our new, enlarged and imp­roved accommodation!

WHERE IS BIOLOGY?

I hope that, by now, everyone knows thatthe Biology Department has transferrednearly all its activities to the Kensington

ANNUAL STAFF REVIEW FORMANUAL & RELATED STAFF/ANDFOR TECHNICAL AND RELATEDSTAFF

Applications and recommendations are tobe returned to the Personnel Office: by24th November 1986 in the case of manualand related staff and by December :2 fortechnical and related staff.

The Dean ended by contrasting the imageof students in the 1960s as violent law­breakers with their image today as yuppiesin the making. He suggested that fresherstake two specific social or politicalconcerns and really make them their ownin an informed and committed way.

Barry Cox

NEWS ROUND-UP

Arguing that the moral criticism ofreligious ideas is the most important formof criticism, the Dean suggested that theidea of God revealed in this quotation wasinadequate. Wc are not to think of somegreat plan inexorably working its wayout. Rather, God had taken a real risk increation (with appalling costs). Thefuture was genuinely open and dependedon the choices we make. God does notcome to us as the great boss figureordering us about, but as a friend. 'Thusthe Lord used to speak to Mose face toface as a man speaks to his friend' (Exod­us 33,11). Humbly, almost shyly, ourdivine/human friend and brother invitesus to share in his great work of creatIOn;his work of making every human lifenourish.

The Chapel was full for the traditionalservice on the first day of term. The Deantook as his text a description of King'sthat had just appeared in Time Out whichcommented, 'Merger problems are stillworking their way through the system,but as King's was founded as a religiousCollege, everyone knows that God is ontheir side.'

NEWS FROM THE DEAN'SOFFICE

GOD IS ON OUR SIDE?

The Dean's Sermon at the start of session

280928342833285 I25912694246925912844283228442809269428422841259124692843283128332831

Bell, MichaelBird, MalcolmBolton, DavidBoud, MichaelBridgeman, ColinCroft, SimonFairbourn, AlanFaulks, eilFlorentin, JohnFurber, DavidHall, AndrewHenderson, John (part time)Holdsworth, Brian (part time)Hutchinson, AlanLee, PeterRollason, JeffRose, Vera (part time)Stokes, NahedSealey, PeterTill, DavidVaidya, De

The papers for these two Annual Reviewswill be circulated to Departments: thosefor manual and related staff at the end ofOctober 1986 and those for technical andrelated staff during the week beginningNovember 3 1986. Heads of Departmentswill receive copies of the procedure fordisplay/circulation in the department. Copiesof blank job description forms will beavailable in the department or from thePersonnel Office, room 215, NorfolkBuilding (ext. 2288).

EQUIPMENT GRANT TO PROF­ESSOR BAKER

He can be contacted on ext. 2654, Room26A Main Building, Strand campus, orext. 234, Ground Floor, Atkins Building,Kensington campus.

Professor Arnold Whittall will be ActingHead of the Department of Music for thissession while Professor Brian Trowell is onsabbatical leave.

HEAD OF MUSIC

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTING

APPOINTMENT OF PROFESSORSTOTT TO GOVERNME TREVIEW

The Wellcome Trust has awarded a specialequipment grant of £73,590 to ProfessorP.F. Baker of the Physiology Departmentfor the development of optical methodsfor localizing ionic changes within singlecells. This grant has been awarded underthe Wellcome Trust's Major EquipmentScheme.

Peter Stott, ash Professor of Civil Engin­eering has been appointed by the Secretaryof State for Transport 'to review the safetyrecord of automatic open level crossings,to consider the lessons gained from theexperience so far and to make recommend­ations'. This unusual appointment followsa serious accident on one of these crossings(which have warning lights but no barriers)at Lockington in July. It was later decidednot to approve further crossings of thistype until there had been such a review. Tohelp Professor Stott with his six monthstask (after which a report will be published)he will have an office and a small staff inthe Department of Transport building inWestminster.

The move of the Department of Comput­ing to the Strand site has now taken place.The offices are located on 'D' corridor in

13

SPECIAL UNIVERSITY SERVICE

E D OF TERM EUCHARIST

The Dean pictured with one of the Icons in the Col/ege Chapel. This particular Icon willfeature on this year's College Christmas Card which will be on sale in mid-November

CLEARPE CEMAKl G IN THEAGE

D E T CAROL SERVICES

The Dean has been appointed Chairmanof a new hurch of England workingparty on 'Peacemaking in the uclear

ge'. Thi i the successor to the groupthat produced The Church and the Bomb.

The haplain will be the Preacher at theend of term euchari t on WednesdayDecember 10th at noon.

special service to celebrate the l50thanniversary of the University of Londonwill be held at St Paul's Cathedral onWednesday December 3rd at 6pm. TheChancellor, Prince s Anne, will be presentand the Preacher will be the Revd Profess­or Owen Chad wick OM.

n informal Chri tma Carol Servi edesigned for mem ber of staff \ ithyoung children will be held on TuesdayDecember 9th at 5.30pm.

Ticket or the e popular ervi e will bea t1able from the Porter' Lodge on theStrand ite from :-'10nday . 'ovember I .Please note that one date i different thiyear due to the pedal niver ity ofLondon Service. The dates are De ember2nd, 4th & - th. PI k up your ti ketsearly to a oid di appointment.

SPECIAL THEOLOGY LECTURE

Also in celebration of the lSOth anniver­sary of the niver ity, a Special FacultyLecture in Theology will be given atKing' on Tuc day ovember 11th at5.30pm in the Great Hall on the Strand.

The peaker will be The Very RevdSydney I:.van and the title will be 'TheFaculty of Theology: Origins and Devel­opment'.

MINORITY RIGHTS

The Dean would like to start a branch inKing's of the Minority Rights Group. Ifany member of taff is willing to beinvolved in this venture please contactthe Dean. The Minority Rights Group isa highly re. pected organisation doingvaluable work concentrating primarily onminority groups rather than individualcases.

KE SI GTO CAMPUS HOSTSJAPA ESE SCIE TISTS

The College recently acted as hosts tovisitor from the Institute of Physical and

hemical Re earch (RIKE ) in Tokyo.The extended vi it follows the igning of aformal agreement earlier this year forcollaboration between King's and RIKE ,and is part of a continuing exchange chemesponsored by the Briti h Council and theJapan Society for the Promotion of Science.Or. John Stirling (Biochemistry) also madea reciprocal visit to Japan during August.Areas of research activity covered by theagreement include bio-fuel cells, biosensorsand solar energy devices.

The visit was organised and supported bythe Bioelectrochemistry and BiosensorsGroup (ajoint activity of the Chemistry,Biochemistry and Microbiology depart­ments), who also provided facilities forcollaborative 'Surface-Modified Electrodes'

(Pror. R. Tamamushi), 'Membrane Permea­bility Studies' (Or. K. Tanaka), 'Immuno­assay' (Or. P. ugent) and Enzyme Elec­trodes' (Or. G. Delaney).

The fir t patent arising from collaborativework of the two groups, on algal fuel cells,wa recently filed in Japan.

TELEPHO E PRIVATE CIRCUITS- STRA DIKE SINGTO

On the afternoon of Thursday 16th Oct­ober 1986, the last remaining work wasundertaken by British Telecom to providetwo direct private circuit routes betweentne Strand and Kensington Campu es.These routes will permit extension usersat each of the two campuses to call oneanother without operator assistance.

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From the Strand dial "5" followed by thethree digits of the extension number atKen ington. If the circuit are bu yanengaged tone will be heard after the initialaccess digit "5".

From Ken ington also dial "5" followed bythe four digit of the extension number atthe Strand. Busy routes will again be in­dicated by an engaged tone after the initialacce s digit "5".

Should difficulty be encountered in estab­lishing the call or should the distant exten­sion number not be known, the distant op­erator may be called by diallin~ the accescode "5" followed by the single digit "0".

Each circuit will carry only one call at atime and u er are reque ted to keep con­ver ation as brief a possible so that othersdo not experience long delays before ob­taining access to t he circuits.

A DIN ER FOR ADVE T­CHELSEA CAMPUS

We are arranging another Chelsea Dinner onFriday, ovem ber 2 th, 19 6 in theHamilton Room on the Chel ea CampuKing's Road) and member of taff are

cordially invited to come and bring guests.The Chel ea Dinner are very popular andpace is limited so if you would like to join

u please send for particulars and a book­ing lip to: Mr. K. Harper, King' CollegeLondon (KQC), Room 2.305,552 King'sRoad, London, SW 100 A. There will bedrinks beforehand, a three-course menuwith wine, and coffee with a liqueur, portor brandy to follow. The inclusive price is£ 13.50 and dre is informal (lounge suitspreferred) .

John MuirAssistant Principal

DARTMOOR, STAMPS A DKI G'S

For ome time now a cheme ha been run­ning in Dartmoor Prison to collect and ellused tamp with all proceed going to theRoyal Lifeboat In tirution. All tamps arewelcomed - even the mo t mundane.

Several thousand pounds are rai ed eachyear by the cheme, a well as providingome intere t for those in the prison itself.

If you want to send stamps then I would bpleased to forward them or you can writedirect to:

Stamps, Senior Officer Blake, HMP Dart­moor, Princetown, Telverton, Devon PL206RH

David GreenDept. of Geography

THE 1986 COMMEMORAno ORATIO

LATIN AMERICA,

DEMOCRACY AND EUROPE

to be delivered by

Dr Raphael Caldera

Former President of Venezuala

MONDAY DECEMBER 1ST

COMME T is produced by the King's College London (KQC) Information Office onthe Strand campus.

Great Hall

Strand campus

S.OOpm

Admission by ticket available free from the Principal's Office

NEXT EDITIO : Copy date Friday Nov­em ber 21 for pu blication in the week ofDecember 8

LIAISO LU CH-TIME SEMINAR

Wedne day 19 ovember 1986

12.45 - 1.45pm in the Committee Room, Strand campu

Sandwiches and coffee available

Please return the slip to Peter Lawrence, Room 223 Strand campus, by noon on 17 ovemberso that we have an idea of numbers

I plan to attend the Uaison lunch-time seminar on 19 ovember

NAME DEPARTMENT _

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