Academics, Educators and Physicians

Martyn P. Berry, MA (Oxon), MSc. C.Chem., FRSC (Mid B 1949-57)

From 1962 I taught chemistry at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, being Head of Chemistry from 1966-82 and joint Head of (the very large) Sixth Form, 1976-97. In 1976 I won the Chemical Society Award for Chemical Education. I doubt that I have ever been a very good chemist, but the teaching I received plus the company I kept ensured that I became an enthusiast for chemistry. My time at C.H. not only provided the basis for what seems to me a reasonably useful working life, it also gave me the cast of mind and the stamina to fight consistently for a better deal for teachers and pupils, especially in the sciences in state schools. The unwillingness to sacrifice independence and integrity is probably the best gift C.H. gave me.

You could, if you wish, include the bit in my last e-mail about macrolide antibiotics and being probably the Chem. Soc.'s youngest ever VP. And, at the end, could you add: 'I have written, co-authored and edited many books, mostly chemistry but including a major poetry anthology. Since 'retirement' in 1997 I have co-authored an A-level textbook, played the major part in a joint RSC/National Gallery project published as The Chemistry of Art (on which subject I give many lectures), co-authored the book to accompany the Heliocentris photovoltaic and fuel cell kits (also lots of lectures), and am on the small editorial team for the RSC's major series, Tutorial Chemistry Texts, for first and second year undergraduates. Being married to a fellow Oxford chemist, Jill, for 40 years has been a special blessing, as has four very capable and musically talented children.'

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Christopher Buggé (Ma B 1956-1963)

I was taught chemistry by three masters during my time at C.H. (1956-1963): A.M.L.Potts (Alfred Marmaduke Lionel Potts, what a mouthful!), Pop Bevan (with glass eye wandering this way and that, a cause of much merriment in class, until you realized that it was the good eye that was looking at you and he was not amused), and Bill Kirby. They were all great teachers of chemistry with their own distict styles, but the one that made the most indelible impression on me was the latter.

Kirby or "Uncle" as he would like to be known to small boys, more or less lived every day including Saturdays and Sundays in his queer lab filled with strange smells and the dog of the moment ("Chlorine", an old and quiet canine, then later "Boodle" a nasty little terrier that would be encouraged by Kirby to bite you if you answered the question incorrectly). The lab was outfitted with sectioned tree trunks for stools and there were piles of ancient radio equipment and batteries everywhere; there was always something bubbling away in a corner of the lab, a batch of mead or elderberry wine; a pressure cooker heated bones or horsemeat for the dog (we presumed) and was the source of much of the unsavoury smell on certain days; sometimes the abdomen of a cat or other small animal was on show having been neatly dissected for a biology class.

Kirby redefined the term eccentric and never dressed in anything but army issue brown shirts and pants, only once a year would he wear his purple-sashed robe for the visit of the Lord Mayor. He kept hives of bees in his garden behind his lab and had even enticed one swarm to live up against the pane of a window so you could actually see the bees at work through the glass without the fear of being stung. I remember on one wall he had painted a large crude picture of a cow eating grass under the sun, demonstrating the carbohydrate/carbon dioxide/oxygen biocycle. He gave every boy a nickname within a few days of their arrival in his class, most of them fitting exactly some slight physical or character imperfection of the particular boy. "Kirby's Lab" was an institution within the school, at the same time attracting some boys while repelling others. Either way it was not a place for the faint hearted.

I did not prove to be much of a scholar at CH in the classics or mathematics or languages (the school had an emphasis on these subjects that always left a question in my mind about what it considered important), so I was placed on the Fifth form, and told I would leave at age 17 after I might pass some "O" levels. But to my mind, chemistry was magic, and I was always able to excel at it, I would devour big textbooks on the subject. In chemistry I could grow the biggest crystals of copper sulphate starting with a piece of copper metal and some sulphuric acid, and wonder at the transformation of the materials and the jewel-like beauty of the blue crystals. Chemical equations were easy and made complete sense to me. And on Sunday afternoons when the whole school in those days had to vacate the houses, Kirby's lab was where I headed, to become lost in my own experiments for 3 or 4 hours.

I was always encouraged by him. His response when I had a question about a chemical reaction, "What would happen if…?", would be answered by "God in his misery gave even you some brains, try it out, see for yourself!". I remember building an oxyacetylene torch from bits of tubing and tin cans lying around his lab; and on another occasion making exploding soap bubbles from old batteries and some carbon electrodes and an electrolytic cell that generated the hydrogen and oxygen in exactly the right proportions. This latter apparatus was finally banned when he complained that the loud explosions were upsetting the dog and shortening its life.

If I were asked what was the single most important thing Kirby (and Potts and Bevan) taught me, I would reply: "Hold fast to the Scientific Method of Test, Observe, Deduce; and do not draw conclusions beyond what your observations can tell you." I can well remember his remonstrating with me after I put forward some hypothesis at the conclusion of an experiment, when I had not done a critical control test that would back it up. The idea of learning by discovery worked for me, and gave me confidence in the lab that has lasted all my life: no experiment is a complete failure, since the conclusions that can be drawn help with the planning of the next experiment.

He was also a great one for writing concisely and clearly, without making the sentences ornate with long words or flowery descriptions which sounded pretentious. Now, in my own laboratory in far away Texas there is sometimes a queue of people outside my office wanting me to review or help them write analytical chemistry text for their reports to the FDA.

These lessons served me well when I left CH to earn a living, first as an analytical chemist at ICI in their herbicides division, later as a synthetic radiochemist at Burroughs Wellcome in Beckenham, all the while studying for my Higher National Certificate in chemistry at Woolwich Polytechnic one day and three evenings a week until 1968. Then one rainy day in 1970 I was asked by the department head at BW if I would like to work for the company in North Carolina, and being single and almost penniless, and fed up with the weather, I agreed without hesitation, and packed a big suitcase and said farewell to my parents and friends at Heathrow airport.

The legal department at BW made up all the necessary documents and work visas. When I arrived at Burroughs Wellcome in the Research Triangle near Chapel Hill I worked in Dr. Gertrude Elion's group on the metabolism of anti-cancer drugs and a drug for gout called Allopurinol. I learnt the latest analytical technique of liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the combination of chemistry and instrumentation was right for me. I was fortunate enough to co-author some papers with Dr Elion who won the Nobel Prize many years later. I lived on a 100 acre farm, raised horses and played rugger and the 5-string banjo in my spare time. (Alas, in the 1990s BW merged with Glaxo and the name now has disappeared).

Years passed and I worked for Hoffmann-La Roche in New Jersey, learning drug metabolism and more about the pharmaceutical business all the time, working with the new dermatological drugs Accutane for severe acne and Etretinate for psoriasis. Then finally in 1990 I left Roche and moved to Austin, Texas, where I was invited to start up a new independent pharmaceutical analytical lab with another chemist. We began slowly with a small team of employees, plowing the profits back into buying more equipment. Our little company, CEDRA Corporation, now employs 150 scientists, has a clinic as well as two large lab buildings and specializes in quantitation of drugs in human plasma by liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (known in the trade as LC-MS-MS), and our clients are most of the large drug companies and many of the generic ones too, in the U.S.A and Europe.

I now have the title of VP Director of Scientific Affairs which sounds very high and mighty, but I still prefer work in the lab when there is time. Although I never received any degree higher than HNC, I am fortunate to find myself directing a research group that has half a dozen Ph.Ds and several others with MS degrees, so the chemistry teaching I received at Christ's Hospital has evidently served me well. The words of those great teachers did not fall on barren land.

I wonder what the present philosophy is at the school? Perhaps it was as well that I was not a Greek or Latin scholar. It is my hope that those in authority at CH who decide that what is to be taught and how it is to be taught and who shall teach it, bear in mind that children with less academic acumen can reap great benefit and happiness from learning practical skills like laboratory science and what was taught in the Manual School. Unfortunately, one thing that has become rarer nowadays is the availability of dedicated batchelor career teachers like Kirby and Rae.

I still have in my possession most of my lab notebooks from those days with Kirby's comments written in red ink. Re-reading these notebooks instantly transforms me back 45 years to his laboratory with all its clutter and distinctive odour, when my mind was first being awakened and encouraged to discover what "stuff" was composed of.

Christopher Buggé lives and works in Austin, Texas.

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Sir John Daniel (Mid A 1952-61, Senior Grecian 1960-61)

Gordon Van Praagh's enthusiasm and ability to engage one's curiosity led me to opt for Maths, Physics and Chemistry when we had to choose a specialisation at CH at what now seems the rather early age of 14. Although I was under pressure to choose Modern Languages instead, I never regretted the choice of Science. Under Gordon's influence I chose to study Metallurgy at Oxford and went on to do a doctorate in Nuclear Metallurgy at the University of Paris.

I only practised Metallurgy for a relatively short period in my academic career, which began at the Ecole Polytechnique (Engineering Faculty) of the Université de Montréal. While there - no doubt under Gordon's influence again - I decided that if I was going to be an academic I ought to know something about education and teaching. Before I realised that this was a deviant attitude for a young academic, I had enrolled for a Master's degree in Educational Technology at what is now Concordia University. One requirement of the course was a three-month internship, which I did at the Open University, then in its second year of operation, in the summer of 1972. I was involved in monitoring the Technology Foundation Course that was being offered for the first time, and as a visiting member of a course team for a new course, Solids, Liquids and Gases (which actually turned out to be one of the OU's less engaging courses).

That summer was a conversion on the road to Milton Keynes. The scale of the OU, the dedication of the students and staff, the use of media, and the effectiveness of its massive and complex teaching and learning system all made me want to join the distance education revolution. I was no longer at ease in the old dispensation.

An opportunity arose soon after my return to Montréal with the announcement of the creation of the Télé-université, a Québec version of the Open University. So I left Metallurgy and the Université de Montréal and moved to Quebec City to head the Educational Technology unit of the Télé-université.

After that one thing led to another and I found myself drawn into a third career in university management and leadership, first as vice-president of Athabasca University, Alberta, next as vice-rector of Concordia University, Montreal, (where I had been a student) and then as president of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. I did not teach while I held these appointments but I did find that the excellent general education that CH had given me, combined with the curiosity for the natural and technological worlds inculcated by Gordon, allowed me to enjoy to the full the involvement with all disciplines that is the lot of a university head.

In 1990 I was appointed vice-chancellor of the Open University and enjoyed ten wonderful years in the UK as the OU continued to expand, from 100,000 to 200,000 students, and gained an enviable reputation for the quality teaching. By the time I left in 2001 all parts of the OU Science Faculty had received 'excellent' ratings for the quality of their programmes and the OU ranked 6th out of the hundred UK universities for the overall quality of its teaching. I am sure that the OU's success in teaching science owed much to the tradition of teaching science by discovery. The genius of my colleagues was to achieve this while teaching at a distance. I know this is true because my wife is now studying the OU course Discovering Science with enormous enjoyment. She is at an OU tutorial as I write.

Today, as Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO, I am, in a way, 'Mr Education - The World'. My main task is to coordinate the international campaign to bring education to all. This goal, first espoused in the constitution of UNESCO in 1945, is still elusive. Today 110 million children still never see the inside of a school and as many again do not stay in one long enough to learn anything useful. Then there are the 850 million adult illiterates, mostly women, who are the legacy of inadequate schooling in previous generations.

But in addition to the core challenge of Education for All, UNESCO tries to respond to the preoccupations of all Member States, developing and developed. One of their worries is science education. In many countries children are showing less interest in studying science. Since our world is increasingly based on science and technology this is a problem. The programme through which we are trying to address it echoes the principles that Gordon and his CH predecessors espoused 50 years ago.

Last week I was in Okinawa, Japan for an international conference on IT-based Capacity Building in Science convened by the Science Council of Japan. Once again, these principles were at the centre of the discussions. People talked about the many ways to use information and communication technologies to interest people in science and to help them to learn about it in a way that would give them a lasting attachment to the scientific method.

One of the lessons I have learned in fifty years in education is that change is slow. The Open University was able to introduce distance education to the UK in the early 1970s with a big bang, but it is only today, thirty years later, that distance education is being hailed around the world as a key route to the knowledge society. In a similar way it has taken most of a century for the ideas about science teaching that inspired Christ's Hospital from the early 20th century to become common currency.

One of my most pleasurable moments at the Okinawa meeting was to hear Ms Wei Yu, formerly Vice-Minister of Education for China and now with China's Council for Science and Technology, make a speech about how to teach science to primary children. What she said was exactly what Gordon Van Praagh was saying half a century ago. Since China has hundreds of millions of schoolchildren these ideas will influence a high proportion of the next generation of the world's scientists.

For Sir John Daniel's biodata see: www.unesco.org (Education section – Who's Who)

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Andre McLean, BM BCh PhD FRCPath, UCL Medical School (Col A 1942-1949)

My life was happily started off in a direction by the people who taught me. The list of interesting adults who taught at CH is a long one, and Gordon Van Praagh is one who sticks in the memory. Each child will form a different image of his teachers, and for me VP is the man who exemplified the virtue of thought, and a certain elegance of living and culture.

I remember that I had written an essay on the lowering of the freezing point of a liquid, when something is dissolved in it (like antifreeze), and I had the insight to say that this must be related to the increased entropy (disorder among molecules) when the two substances became mixed. VP was pleased, and said so. He was telling me that my thinking about how the world works is a valuable thing to do, and can earn the respect of ones fellow thinkers. Moreover, he had the faith to let me have a key to the laboratory, where I tried unsuccessfully to make Mustard Gas, and successfully to make styrene, and nearly set fire to the place. He stood back and let me try, I think he knew enough about what I was doing to stop disasters, but I suspect that no 17 year old is allowed to do such things nowadays.

If VP taught that thinking and reading are virtues, then Bill Kirby was the personification of quick intelligence directed to practical problem solving. How can we make the tiny meat ration better? Pressure cook bones for fat, and catch rabbits! How to teach boys to do experiments? Take them to a field, give them seeds and tell them to find out for themselves, and "heaven help you if I catch you reading a book before you have done the experiments you have thought of". Praise was, "look what even the meanest of God's creatures can do", when I had cut a section of a bean to show the channels by which the new leaves take energy from the stores of starch. He was self reliance, do it, organise yourself. His sarcastic praise lives on as an encouragement.

The third among a long list of affectionate memories leading into Science is DS Roberts. His evening "History and current affairs" discussion group, was not only embedded in a conspicuously happy family life, but lead to a view of science as one among the many human activities, which make up society, and then determine much of our private lives. It helped to strengthen my view of medicine as a part of a political structure. Epidemiology helps us to see what is important in terms of numbers in suffering or health, history tells us of the importance of individuals often versus the state.

I have had a modest success in Science and Medicine, in research studies of social causes and effects of Malnutrition in Jamaica, and in understanding why some substances have toxic effects, as the first professor of Toxicology in a British medical school, chairman of the British Toxicology Society, and member of some modestly influential government committees, like the Committee on Safety of Medicines, (which in effect, permits or disallows new drugs) . Sixty years later the encouragement I got at school lives on as good memories. Oddly, the bad bits that I remember, like cold dormitories, some bullying and hitting by my fellows, and some boring classes in which I refused to learn anything, leave me wryly amused. Perhaps that was an unintended lesson to take the rough with the smooth. We were mostly uncompetitive. Perhaps that did not help in later "achievement", to highest levels. Perhaps one was too content with the fact that there was food, to rage against the horrible stew.

The pattern of interest was clearly laid down by the interaction of "me" with the many interesting people who were my teachers, as well as a few with whom there was mutual disappointment, or misunderstanding. Sixty years later their positive words are still with me. I wish for people like these as teachers for my children and grandchildren.

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Professor W. Peter Robinson, MA, DPhil, (Mid A 1943-52), Professor of Psychology, Bristol University

I was already interested in biology before I arrived at Christ's Hospital but this interest was excellently nurtured there. The biology and chemistry teaching were first rate. I wanted to become a plant biochemist but, lacking guidance, I switched to psychology. After doing some experiments off my own bat I found the latter fascinating and have stayed with it. One feature of the kind of teaching I experienced at Christ's Hospital is that you learn to be subservient to evidence and indifferent to opinion!

Subsequently I have met people with qualifications who have never done any investigations at all. All their science has been learned from a book. I have never doubted that Christ's Hospital had got it right. Everything was based on observation and experiment we were trained to 'look' and to ask 'what' and 'why' and to solve problems. We were encouraged to use the Science Library and to think up projects. I remember being told that when we arrived at the university nobody would be organising our studies and that we had better learn at Christ's Hospital how to do this. Later in my career, wherever I have taught, I have always adopted a problem solving approach. I now find it somewhat depressing that the battle still has to be fought. I still have to persuade undergraduates that if they wish to become competent in their chosen subject, developmental psychology, they need to study children: they believe the knowledge is in the journals and books.

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Professor Douglas M. Ruthven, M.A., PhD, ScD, FRSC (Col A 1950-57)

My recollections of Housie in the 1950s are rapidly fading but some of my memories of VP have survived remarkably intact. My first class in chemistry, as distinct from general science, was in September 1952 as a member of the "Upper Fourth." The class was taught by VP and I well remember his introduction to the heuristic method. We oxidized copper by heating the metal in air and then formulated hypotheses to explain the transformation of the shiny metal to a black powder. We reviewed the historical development of ideas on chemical change - the phlogiston theory, the discovery of oxygen by Joseph Priestley, Gay Lussac's experiment, Cannizzaro's hypothesis and the Avogadro Number. I also recall a succinct bit of advice that has served me well over the years: "You don't need to remember all the facts; just make sure you understand the basic principles!"

I remember being taken on two occasions to evening lectures at the Royal Institution followed by dinner at Brown's Hotel. It was all very splendid and probably little changed from the days of Humphrey Davy and Michael Faraday, but I must confess that I have no recollection of the speakers or even the subject of the lectures!

It was VP who first introduced me to the wonders of Gilbert and Sullivan through an invitation to attend his production of the Pirates of Penzance by the Horsham Amateur Operatic Society. This was a welcome change from the dreary diet of ecclesiastical choral music which comprised the "official" musical education at that time. I also remember a camping holiday in Cornwall, ostensibly exploring the mineralogy and the old tin mines but in fact much of the time was spent checking out the Cornish pubs!

I remember that as Science Grecians we were given a great deal of freedom to study whatever topics caught our attention or simply to browse through the journals in the science library. VP was always available for discussion of both scientific and more general topics but he acted as a catalyst and a resource person rather than as a traditional teacher. This approach of encouraging (even forcing) students to learn and think for themselves was, at that time, a novel pedagogical concept. It gave us a true education and a solid foundation on which to build. All of us who were Science Grecians during the "van Praagh era" owe you a great debt of gratitude.

Following two years (1961-63) as a junior engineer with Davey Power Gas Corporation, Douglas Ruthven returned to Cambridge in 1963 as a research student, completing his PhD in chemical engineering in 1966. He then joined the University of New Brunswick (Fredericton, Canada) where he served for 29 years as a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. In 1995 he moved to the University of Maine where he is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering. He has published numerous research papers and three books on adsorption and adsorption separation processes.

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William JL Sladen, MBE, MD, DPhil (Prep A/Pe A 1930-37)

This is really written for Gordon's reading and likely no part of it has a place in his book, except maybe the importance of overcoming an opposition from CH (that at that time put such a priority on classics) to learning about the real things in life such as science and especially about the Natural World we are so dependent on. It has not changed much. Few seem to care about our environmental problems as we slowly go down the drain fouling everything for the sake of the holy $$$!! I could have taken up plastic surgery - but gave up a $$-making chance to teach and fight for environmental causes. Though the struggle continues, my mind is at peace. We hope the younger generations will keep at it. That's why it is so important that Housie encourages the Life Sciences.

Gordon:

Congrats on reaching 94. I will celebrate my 82nd this month so am only 12 years younger and still quite fit carrying buckets of corn for my beloved collection of swans here in Virginia's very beautiful Piedmont. I do remember you (vaguely) as being kind and patient to a pupil who was not particularly interested in the physical side of science but passionately fond of the life sciences. My parents, of course, were responsible for my love for nature. Also my brother Captain H. Fred L. Sladen, also at Housie and 18mo my senior, who lost his life as a prisoner in the hands of the Japanese. Also very much my first biology teacher ?Brown whom I admired tremendously.

Everyone seems to rave about Kirby, but my memories of him were quite the opposite. I cannot recall what was wrong (maybe a bit aggressive and overly demanding in his teaching for a sensitive boy) but I do know that during the spell he taught me I almost lost my interest in biology.

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What I gained most from Housie was the:

1. Natural History Club. Was it in the Prep School also (or only)? I won the botany and bird prizes and should have the butterfly one too but was accused of cheating by catching Cabbage Whites and painting them !!!!! I remember arguing that I should have won two prizes for this sort of skill - maybe this was in the Prep - but it is one of the vivid memories that lingers in my old brain
2. Music from Lang. I sung in choir, played violin in the orchestra - wonderful. The House competitions were terrific.
3. The Farm - why is it defunct? It should be growing food for the school and following the good example set by HRH Prince Charles. Sustainable farming (and growing food locally) is one of the most important environmental needs of our time. Did we not learn the importance of this during the War? Have we forgotten so soon? Why aren't they testing these genetically produced foods - an excellent research topic that combines knowledge of the Natural World and molecular science.
4. The Manual School. I still have the poker, wooden stool and copper match holder I enjoyed making. What little bit of latin I learnt has long gone - but the things I made live on!
5. Being given a free hand with sports. I disliked team work (especially rugby) but was good at running. Later I became captain of the combined English Universities Cross Country Running Team, ran with Sidney Wooderson (at that time the fastest miler) and managed (without any proper training in those days) to do a mile at White City for English Universities in 4:30mins!
6. (Like the Farm) I believe no longer exists - I would love to help in some way to re-establish the Natural History Club and would delight in giving a lecture on our exciting microlight and balloon research at teaching geese, swans and cranes migration routes (see 13. & 14. below)

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My scientific career:

1. I was kicked out of Housie by HLO Flecker because of my once failure to pass Matric (german!) despite my passion (and prizes) in biology. No pleadings changed his mind. I guess it was school policy as other boys were awaiting entrance.
2. Before declaration of War I passed Matric - received a scholarship - started medical studies at Middlesex Hospital (now Univ College), London in 1939. We were evacuated to Bristol (before the bombing of Bristol) - back to London - went thru the blitz - up to Leeds Univ. to finish pre-med - back to London for my clinical studies - in the London Emergency Medical Service I survived the Buzz-Bombs and V2s - celebrated D-Day by clashing bedpans all the way from Oxford St. to Buckingham Palace (we never reached our goal because we were stopped and disarmed by The Guards!) - Qualified MB, BS (Lond.) 1946.
3. Intern at Princess Alice Hospital Hosp., Eastborne - then a wonderful experience with Sir Harold Gillies (the father of Plastic Surgery) at the Rooksdown Jaw and Plastic Unit, Basingstoke, helping in the final stages of reconstruction surgery for the mostly N. African (Montgomery) tank burns.
4. I did my military service as medical officer, biologist and photographer (1947-1955) to the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS - now British Antarctic Survey) spending two winters in Antarctica. First at Hope Bay, second at Signy Is., South Orkneys. Vivian (later Sir) Fuchs was our leader during the my first year. Liaison to the Governor Sir Miles Clifford. Received MBE from George VI and later the Polar Medal (HRH Elizabeth) for services in Antarctica.
5. In addition to medical duties, initiated the first addressed (we had to use "Inform FIDS Colonial Office, London" for political reasons - not the Natural History Museum!) Antarctic Bird Ringing Program (Sladen et.al. 1968). Also collected enough research data while in Antarctica to later earn:
   • a) MD - pathology (1952) London: thesis "Staphylococci in noses and streptococci in throats of isolated and semi-isolated communities in Antarctica" (Sladen 1965). At that time the biggest problem in hospital wards was cross-infection with antibiotic resistant organisms - it still is!
   • b) DPhil - zoology (1955) at Edward Grey Institute for Field Ornithology under David Lack, Dpt. Zoology, Oxford. (Sladen 1953 and 1958)
6. The film I made on the life of the Adelie Penguin shown at the International Ornithological Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1955 was later shown on CBS from the American Museum of Nat.Hist. in NY as a television special. This was also one of the early films on Peter Scott's BBC TV program "Look". The film, illustrating my research, demonstrated for the first time that parents recognize their young and feed their young only in a crowd of many hundred chicks (Sladen, 1953 & 1958). It must have been one of the very first life history films made and preceded by a few years the Tony Soper BBC series (?"Private Lives of Birds"?).
7. During Oxford graduate studies, helped (Sir) Peter Scott in waterfowl research, especially in new methods of capturing and banding geese (Scott et.el 1955).
8. A Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship brought me as Post-Doctoral to the Dept of Psychobiology, Johns Hopkins Hospital (under Dr. Curt Richter) in 1956 where I continued my studies in Comparative Animal Behavior (Ethology) with wonderful contacts (& friends) such as Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen (Nobel Prize winners in Medicine, 1973).
9. From 1957-1985 I was teaching Ecology and Comparative Behavior in Pathobiology Dept. (now Molecular Microbiology and Immunology) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, finishing as tenured professor and advising PhD, MSc, DSc, MPH and DrPH graduates. In 1985 I took early retirement to found the Wildfowl Trust of North America patterned after Peter Scott's Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge, UK and with him as one of our Board members.
10. While at Hopkins I again became deeply involved with Antarctic research and helped start (post International Geophysical Year - IGY) in 1959 the first USA programs in Biology and Medicine (Nat. Academy of Sciences and Nat. Science Fdtn) under the title United States Antarctic Research Program (USARP)
11. At the same time started (a subject - Long-term Biological Population Studies - I have from the start fought vigorously for, sometimes against tremendous odds!) three studies:
    • a) The Adelie Penguin (Ainley et.al. 2002) at Cape Crozier, Ross Island, site of Cherry Gerard's book "The Worst Journey in the World". This still continues after 40 years, now under the leadership of one of my former students Dave Ainley (2002).
    • b) The US Bird Banding Program (Sladen et al 1968).
    • c) Albatrosses by one of my PhD students, a Brit, Lance Tickell at Bird Island South Georgia (Tickell 1968) and now also being continued by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The significance of these programs is important - the Adelie is dependent on packice that is vanishing; the albatrosses (living up to 40 years, evolved for only one egg and an 18 months breeding cycle) are being slaughtered by the modern long-line fishing). As a by-product of Cape Crozier penguin study I was the first to discover (mid-60s) residues of DDT in Adelie Penguins and a Crabeater seal (Sladen et.al.1966). These never leave the packice. My control (negative) was from the blubber collected by Edward Wilson in 1913 (pre-DDT) during his winter journey to collect the Emperor Penguin embryos. This finding (global pollution by DDT) was one of significance in the banning of DDT in USA.
12. I switched from penguins to swans (in close cooperation with Peter Scott - his main subject being the Bewick's (Cygnus columbianus bewickii) and mine the Tundra (Whistling) Swan (C. columbianus columbianus); he identifying his subjects by their facial pattern of yellow, our team by neckbands (Sladen 1973 & 1975). Our funding came largely from a nation-wide study on Bird Hazards to Aircraft; in our instance following the fatal crash in November 1962 in Maryland when migrating swans brought down an Viscount aircraft.
13. My more recent and continuing research has been a completely new concept of teaching migration routes to geese, swans and cranes using ultralight aircraft (Lishman 1996, Sladen et.al. 2002) which is aimed at restoring rare and endangered waterfowl that need learn (non-instinctive) a migration route when they first fly south for the winter with their parents. Our first experiments and shows on national and international TV spawned the Hollywood film "Fly Away Home" about our pilot (a Canadian metal sculptor - Bill Lishman) and myself as a crusty bearded biologist who sat in front of a bulldozer to 'defend' goose territory. The film was nominated for an Oscar for cinematography. We provided the scientific advice and looked after the birds at our 3,000 acre Conference Center (Airlie, Warrenton, VA) during the winter.
14. Our latest version of this is "Ballooning with Branta canadensis - BBC" or the testing of "Passive Migration". Our question - do the birds have to make an effort as in following an Ultralight aircraft or can they learn a route suspended under a gas balloon (or airship) without flapping a wing. (see Dec01 Press Release copied below).

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Awards include (related to scientific research):

• 1949 - Member of British Empire (MBE) - from King George VI.
• 1953 - Polar Medal - from Queen Elizabeth II.
• 1956 - Rockefeller Foundation fellowship.
• 1961 - Antarctic Service Medal (USA).
• 1991 - The Explorers Medal - Explorer's Club, NY.
• 2001 - Member at Large - Garden Club of America.

Place names:

• Mount Sladen - Coronation Island, South Orkneys, Antarctica - 60:41S 45:17W
• Sladen Summit - Victoria Land, Antarctica - 78:07S 162:23E

Some References:

• Ainley,D. 2002. The Adelie Penguin - Bellwether for climate change Columbia Univ. [continuing our 40+ year program at Cape Crozier, Antarctica - dedicated to Sladen - see *** below] Ainley, LeResche and Sladen. 1983. Breeding biology of the Adelie Penguin. Univ California. [results of 50,000 banded Adelie Penguins at Cape Crozier]
• Lishman,W. 1996. Father Goose Crown Publishing, NY. [good summary of the first goose experiments that spawned Columbia Films movie Fly Away Home]
• Scott, P., Boyd & Sladen. 1955. The Wildfowl Trust's second expedition to Central Iceland, 1953. Wildfowl Trust Seventh Annual Report, 1953-54:63-98.
• Sladen, WJL. 1953. The Adelie Penguin. Nature 171:952-955. [first description of individual recognition between parent and young penguins that form creches when young half grown]
• Sladen, WJL. 1958. The Pygoscelid Penguins. I-Methods of study. II-The Adelie Penguin. Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey Scientific Reports, No. 17. HM Stationary Office, London. [my DPhil thesis published - expanding on Nature 1953]
• Sladen, WJL. 1965. Staphylococci in noses and streptococci in throats of Isolated and semi-isolated Antarctic communities. Journal Hygiene, Cambridge 63:105-116. [My MD thesis. Led to later research in the Common Cold]
• Sladen, WJL. 1973. A Continental Study of Whistling Swans using neck collars. Wildfowl 24:8-14. (a new technique for marking geese and swans and start of the first circumpolar protocol to include N.Amer., USSR, W.Europe, Japan, etc]
• Sladen. 1975 (July). Tireless Voyager - The Whistling Swan. Nat. Geographic [a popular summary of our swan research]
• Sladen, Lishman, Ellis, Shire & Rininger. 2002. Teaching Migration Routes to Canada Geese and Trumpeter Swans using Ultralight Aircraft, 1900-2001. Pages 132-137 in Proceedings of Fourth International Swan Symposium, 2001 (Rees, Earnst & Coulson, Eds). Waterbirds 25, Special Edition 1. [research summary of our experiments with geese and Trumpeter Swans]
• Sladen, Menzies & Reichel. 1966. DDT residues in Adelie Penguins and a Crabeater Seal from Antarctica. Nature 210:670-673. [first demonstration of global pollution from DDT that helped lead to banning of DDT in N.America].
• Sladen, Wood & Monaghan. 1968. The USARP Bird Banding Program, 1958-1965. In Antarctic Bird Studies (Austin, Ed). American Geophysical Union, Natl. Acad. Sciences, Antarctic Research Series 2:213-262. [the first extensive circumpolar banding program in Antarctica]
• Tickell,L. 1968. Biology of the Great Albatrosses, Diomedea exulens, Diomedea epomophora. In Antarctic Bird Studies (Austin, Ed). American Geophysical Union, Natl. Academy Sciences, Antarctic Research Series 2:1-55. (60,000 birds banded - first time established an 18 month breeding cycle)

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Two tributes that I am proud of:

• The book by Ainley (2002) is dedicated to me with the following words: "To Bill Sladen who had one foot on the heroic side of Antarctic exploration the other in the modern scientific side. It was his passion and thirst for knowledge that helped to lead us into the modern age on Antarctic ornithology".
• In the preface of the volume for (Sladen et.el 1968, Tickell 1968) editor Oliver Austin writes: "After Wilson's death (Edward A.Wilson, medical officer and beloved 'Uncle Bill' of Captain Scott's expeditions) comparatively little was added to man's knowledge of Antarctic birds until the resurgence of interest in the Antarctic shortly after the end of World War II. There then appeared on the scene a young Englishman, William J.L. Sladen, who, very much in the Wilson tradition, served as medical officer and naturalist on the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey expeditions from 1947 to 1951. Sladen's pioneering studies on the pygoscelid penguins signaled a new era in Antarctic ornithology, in which he has played a major role ever since. With the group of exceptional students he attracted to him at Johns Hopkins University, Sladen has stimulated and encouraged, and supervised most of the researches reported on in this 12th volume of the Research Series and the first volume devoted entirely to Antarctic birds"

Press release for our latest scientific research endeavor (no papers published yet):

Ballooning with Branta Canadensis (BBC) A First for Balloon Pilots and a First for Geese. The Balloon Geese Have Landed

Warrenton, VA - December 27, 2001

Science could gain new understanding of bird migration thanks to ten Canada Geese that took a recent taxi ride beneath a gas balloon. The geese, resident birds, hatched this summer, that have never migrated beyond farm ponds and fields, found themselves suspended in two cages below a helium balloon, viewing Virginia countryside from aloft and drifting with December breezes southeast from a starting point near Sperryville, Virginia. Eight hours later, triggers were released to open the doors to their cages. The birds burst into the air, and flew to a privately owned sanctuary pond below, about 70 miles southeast of their starting point.

This unique journey was part of an ongoing experiment by two non-profit groups, Environmental Studies at Airlie and the Sky Calypso Society, both based near Warrenton, Virginia. Sky Calypso is involved in innovative airship technology and conservation. The purpose of the experiment is to ascertain whether these large waterfowl (unlike warblers and finches that migrate by instinct) can learn migration routes simply by picking up visual, or other cues, as they drift above the countryside. The experiment, dubbed "Ballooning with Branta canadensis" (or BBC), explores a new technique: "passive migration".

Plans for the experiment have been the work of Dr. William Sladen, Director of Environmental Studies at Airlie, who was also a key instigator of Operation Migration with Bill Lishman. Their previous work aimed at teaching geese to migrate behind ultralight aircraft, a venture that eventually led to the Hollywood movie, "Fly Away Home". More recently, the ultralight aircraft technique is being used by Sladen's team in an effort to teach Trumpeter Swans traditional migration routes in the eastern United States, and by other groups with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, to show migration routes to the endangered Whooping Cranes.

On December 22, the large helium balloon, handled by two national champion balloonists, Peter Cuneo and Barbara Fricke, of Albuquerque, NM, ascended by dawn's light from the frozen ground of a polo field near Sperryville, Virginia. Crowds watched as it rose and lifted two cages, each holding five unperturbed if puzzled geese. As the balloon drifted southeastward into the sunrise, a second balloon tracked it closely for approximately two hours until they were out of photographic range. The second one, a hot air balloon supplied and piloted by Reed Basely of Island Balloons, ferried photographers from ABC's 20/20 TV program and a cameraman from the National Geographic Society, both sponsors of the project.

The day passed smoothly with the balloon maintaining average speeds of 8-10 miles per hour at altitudes of 3000-4000 feet. Chase vehicles tracked the journey from below as the balloon drifted south and southeast for the next eight hours. In addition to the two pilots, passengers in the balloon basket included Sky Calypso president Harry "Skip" Darlington IV, and Environmental Studies ultralight pilot, Brooke Pennypacker, in charge of the many details of preparing the geese for the experiment and helping ensure their welfare and safety. As the birds peered out from their specially designed cages, they surveyed the passing countryside. Monitored closely, each detail of their reactions and behaviors were noted. "We weren't sure how they would react to such a unusual experience" reports Pennypacker, "but they were calm and mostly alert the whole time. Occasionally I jiggled the cage if I felt they were not paying enough attention!"

This year's experiment to test if geese could be flown safely below a gas balloon was planned for daylight only so that the birds could be easily monitored, especially during their release. The team had hoped for a migration of at least 150 miles into SE Virginia, but the winds did not permit this. Though the balloon made a varied route, mainly south, southeast or east of approximately 85-95 miles, the distance as the crow flies was about 70 miles from start to finish. Team members view this first phase of the experiment as a success. "We had hoped for a longer migration, so are disappointed that there was not enough wind to carry the balloon farther south," said Darlington. "However, we are delighted that the geese behaved so well, had a good journey, flew out of their cages and safely landed in an ideal pond with other wild geese, owned by conservation-minded people who are glad to have our geese as guests."

The second phase of the experiment, to occur within the next few days, will be to transport ten "control" geese of the same age, in a closed vehicle from Airlie, Virginia, to another location about 30 miles east of the Balloon Geese.

"Our experiment will be a success if in spring the Balloon Geese return to their home near Airlie, Warrenton, VA and the Truck Geese controls stay put where they were transported", said Sladen. "If both stay put it will indicate to us that the birds really have to make an effort to learn a migration route".

The team plans another experiment in fall of 2003, the gas balloon carrying more geese during day and night over a longer distance. The ultimate goal is to use an airship that, like an ultralight aircraft, can cover a pre-selected migration route instead of drifting with the wind. "The advantage of a gas balloon or airship" says Darlington "is that we can better mimic a true migration in which birds travel day and night. An ultralight aircraft can only fly in daylight and when birds are following the winds must be almost calm".

"When Bill Lishman led a gaggle of imprinted geese from Ontario to Environmental Studies at Airlie, Virginia in 1993, it was a first in ornithology and aviation" said Sladen. "The geese again, this time with the help of balloonists, have performed another first in ornithology and aviation. May they survive the winter and tell us what they have learned".

William JL Sladen holds the following positions:

• Director, Environmental Studies at Airlie - Swan Research Program.
• Professor Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
• Affiliate Professor of Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.

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N.A. Boucher, MA, DPhil. (Oxon) (Ma A 1954-62)

I am sure that a knowledge of the scientific method was of great assistance to me. C.H. gave me a very good grasp of scientific thinking: the heuristic method taught me to think for myself. Rigour of thought and cogency of expression are only achieved by thinking, unprompted, from first principles. At C.H. the input into me was enormous. My teachers insisted that we thought for ourselves even at the age of 13.

C. Curr (C.H. 1951-59).

The heuristic approach to learning reinforced my natural way of thinking via practical discipline in the scientific method. By the 1970s I was applying similar methods in the fishing industry, where I developed the potential of early computer spreadsheet techniques towards improving efficiency in R & D modelling. At such a point of innovative opportunity there was no alternative to the heuristic method.

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J Bryan Hooper, (Pe A 1952-60)

My memories of the heuristic method have faded into the past but the curiosity engendered remains with me. I went into a marketing and strategic planning career when I graduated from Imperial College after CH, and now I am consulting in communication skills to help business people improve their ability to create and deliver better communications. Helping a client think through the reasons an audience wants to listen to their presentation obviously requires my understanding the situation. In turn, this taxes my ability to find out what really is relevant and important from both sides of a podium or boardroom table. Clearly, application of the heuristic method is crucial to my business. Now, I am not sure I realized that almost 50 years ago in the classrooms of my old housemaster Pop Beaven, or those of VP or Richard Crosland!

David Parks-Smith, M.A. D.Phil (Oxon) (Prep/Mid B 1949-58)

Ref PB letter about this project received this morning, I had been tipped off about this idea by my contemporary Lance Reynolds, but I am left with little time to think about it and so much has become indistinct. I am therefore not well qualified to offer memoirs, but I am moved to say the following:

It was GVP who inspired me to study chemistry. "Chemistry by Discovery" was a brilliant concept, but more importantly it made the subject fun and it made one work things out. I was similarly grateful to Richard Crosland for his practical approach to physics, but, when it came to university decisions, physics appeared more difficult and chemistry more enticing. It may also be worth mentioning that at that time I was lucky to have a keen chemist as Junior Housemaster (in Middleton B), Denis Hutchings.All were hugely enthusiastic for science, but also GVP's "secret" topic of trying to grow quartz crystals under pressure introduced us to the joys and frustrations of research.

I have to admit that nowadays this practical grounding is applied, for example, to the maintenance and operation of a yacht, but in my view it still counts. I am sad that the chemical industry, where I worked for ICI, is not the same as 40 years ago. Finally, I owe GVP and Richard Crosland a large debt, because they took trouble to set me on the road of enjoyment of classical music. This may be nothing to do with science, but my observation says there is some underlying connection (besides twanging strings in physics). Again it was the verve of GVP which did the trick, whether singing in The Yeoman of the Guard or Trial by Jury, or playing 78 records of Schubert symphonies. in Richard Crosland's case, he expounded the wonders of Mozart operas.

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Donald W Willis, M.A., C.Eng, F.I.E.E., F.B.C.S. (La A 1936-45)

My memories of Dr. Van Praagh are extensive and various. Although I became a science Grecian, I was not taught in a class by VP as he was away at the war during my later years at school. My first contact was as part of a holiday assignment for clearing hedges in the fields near Marlpost Woods in order to enlarge the fields for crops. Meals were prepared in the Scout Hall under the supervision of VP (probably cooking was regarded as a subdivision of chemistry) and since I was rather young my assignment was as a cook. One of the things I learnt from VP was how to make stuffed marrow, a dish I have always enjoyed since that day. Later I remember being taken out by VP picking blackberries somewhere north of Horsham, I think.

I also remember him visiting the school during his period away and giving a lecture in the Science Lecture Theatre. One of the more memorable demonstrations of that lecture was as to how a cloud is formed in a large glass container if the air pressure is reduced by blowing and sucking enthusiastically. A successful demonstration brought extensive applause with cheering.

VP's influence in science came to me, however, through the teaching at Christ's Hospital. My own career took me to King's College Cambridge as a scholar in natural sciences, and after a degree in Part 2 physics I managed to find a way of continuing an agreeable life in Cambridge by joining a laboratory team which was building the first programmable electronic computer. I didn't know what a computer was at that time. Computers were not in the school curriculum when I was at school as they had not yet been invented and I also felt the need to learn something about electronics, which had developed during the war. I got the job because, I believe, it was felt that physicists would be better at dealing with non-linear circuits since they were alleged to be taught an understanding of the basic principles rather than engineers who were thought only likely to understand things linear. New approaches had to be made to develop components and designs for circuits which were far more reliable than had previously been the state of the art. I found myself one of a few people in the country and world working in this field, which has since grown at an unprecedented rate.

After working in Cambridge for a number of years, and with a year out in Sweden, I joined industry to apply these technologies to radar and air traffic control systems and was rapidly promoted to manager of the computer division at the tender age of 28. There were no management courses at that time so techniques of management had to be learnt and developed from first principles just as much as of the technology.

I have always had a scientific approach to understanding things which must, I think, derive from the heuristic teaching at CH. Even today, if I am trying to understand a complex subject such as accountancy or taxation, I start by constructing a computer model as to do so demands the disciplines of understanding in detail what may be somewhat arbitrary procedures. As VP says, it is not so important what you know; the important thing is what you understand!

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