Review of Session 2011-12

The Royal Society of Edinburgh
Review 2013
THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH REVIEW OF THE SESSION 2011-2012
PUBLISHED BY THE RSE SCOTLAND FOUNDATION ISSN 1476-4342
The Royal Society of Edinburgh 22-26 George Street Edinburgh, EH2 2PQ
Telephone : 0131 240 5000 Fax : 0131 240 5024 email : rse@royalsoced.org.uk Scottish Charity No SC000470
Printed in Great Britain by Henry Ling Limited, Dorchester, DT1 1HD
THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH REVIEW OF THE SESSION 2011-2012
PUBLISHED BY THE RSE SCOTLAND FOUNDATION ISSN 1476-4342
The Royal Society of Edinburgh 22-26 George Street Edinburgh, EH2 2PQ
Telephone : 0131 240 5000 Fax : 0131 240 5024 email : rse@royalsoced.org.uk Scottish Charity No SC000470
Printed in Great Britain by Henry Ling Limited, Dorchester, DT1 1HD
CONTENTS
ACTIVITIES SESSION 2011-2012 Proceedings of the Ordinary Meetings .............................. 3 Proceedings of the Statutory General Meeting ................. 5 Prize Lectures .................................................................. 41 Lectures ........................................................................... 51 Conferences, Workshops, Symposia, Seminars and Discussion Forums ......................................................... 133 Publications ................................................................... 151 Policy Advice .................................................................. 153 Events for Young People ............................................... 157 Research and Enterprise Awards ................................... 159 Medals, Prizes and Prize Lectureships ............................. 165 Grants Committee ........................................................ 167 International Programme .............................................. 169 Fellows Social Events .................................................... 175 Grants, Sponsorship and Donations .............................. 177 Schedule of Investments ................................................ 179 Friends of the Society .................................................... 183 Changes in Fellowship during the Session ..................... 185 Staff .............................................................................. 187 OBITUARY NOTICES ............................................................ 189 TRUSTEES REPORT AND ACCOUNTS TO 31 MARCH 2012 .. 341 Trustees Report ............................................................. 341 Auditors Report ........................................................... 361 Accounts ....................................................................... 363
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ORDINARY MEETINGS

Thursday, 1 December 2011 Chairman Sir John Arbuthnott MRIA PRSE Formal Admission to Fellowship Professor James Ironside CBE, Professor of Clinical Neuropathology at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the MRC Network of UK Brain Banks Ballot Sir David Carter and Professor Hector McQueen will act as Scrutineers for the ballot to elect New Fellows in 2012, the outcome of which will be revealed at the Ordinary meeting in March 2012 Lecture Professor Yasir Suleiman CBE FRSE His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Professor of Modern Arabic Studies and Director of Alwaleed Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge. The Arab Spring: Tropes and Discourses Wednesday, 7 March 2012 Chairman Sir John Arbuthnott MRIA PRSE Ballot Sir David Carter and Professor Hector MacQueen acted as Scrutineers for the postal ballot for the election of new RSE Fellows for 2012. They reported that 48% of the Fellowship had returned papers for the ballot, and that the names on the list had been elected by an overwhelming majority.
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Lecture Terry Hill CBE, Chairman, Arup Group Trusts. Infrastructure Costs Too Much, And It Neednt Monday, 11 June 2012 Chairman Sir John Arbuthnott MRIA PRSE Lecture Professor David Cameron FRSE, Clinical Director, Director of Cancer Services, NHS Lothian; Professor of Oncology, University of Edinburgh; Associate Director, NIHR Cancer Research Network. Conducting Clinical Cancer Research in the NHS Benefits Everyone? Ballot Dr Alison Elliot and Professor Gavin Gibson were announced as Scrutineers for the ballot for the election of new RSE Council and Office-Bearers. The outcome will be announced at the Annual Statutory Meeting on 1 October 2012. Laws Change The proposed Laws changes to create a Vice-President (International) were announced, to be voted upon at the ASM. Monday 3 September 2012 The September Ordinary Meeting took place as part of the Research Awards Reception. There was no formal business.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE STATUTORY GENERAL MEETING

Minutes of the Statutory General Meeting held on 1 October 2012, ending the 229th Session
The Annual Statutory Meeting took place in the Societys Wolfson Theatre on Monday 1 October 2012 at 6 pm. Sir John Arbuthnott MRIA, President, took the Chair. Sir John explained that prior to the formal business of the ASM, Professor Mary McAleese would be admitted as an Honorary Fellow of the Society, and that a presentation would be made to Professor Peter Higgs FRS FRSE. A. GENERAL BUSINESS 1. Admission of Professor Mary McAleese to Honorary Fellowship 2. Presentation to Professor Peter Higgs FRS FRSE B. FORMAL BUSINESS RSE FELLOWS ONLY IN ATTENDANCE 1. Minute of the ASM held on Monday, 3 October 2011 2. Matters Arising 3. Report on Activities during Session 2011/12 4. Office Bearers Reports for approval a) General Secretarys Report b) Treasurers Report c) Fellowship Secretarys Report 5. Strategic Framework for discussion 6. Laws Changes for approval 7. Election of Council and other Office-Bearers for Session 2012/13 8. Alternative Voting System for Election of Fellows and Council 9. Any Other Business
Review of the Session 2011-2012
A. GENERAL BUSINESS 1. ADMISSION OF PROFESSOR MARY MCALEESE TO HONORARY FELLOWSHIP The President invited Sir David Edward KCMG QC PC FRSE, International Convener, to read the citation for Professor Mary McAleese: President - It is my very great privilege to present Professor Mary McAleese for admission to Fellowship of The Royal Society of Edinburgh. She is known to us here primarily as a lady who served with immense distinction as President of Ireland for 14 years from 1997 to 2011 and who dazzled us all by her gracious welcome to the Queen on her historic visit to Ireland last year. That was only one outstanding event in a truly remarkable career devoted to peace and reconciliation amongst the people of Ireland, north and south, of all faiths and none. Mary McAleese was born and brought up in the Ardoyne district of Belfast. She and her family experienced at first hand the many ways in which sectarian enmity impinged upon the everyday life of peaceful and peace-loving people. She graduated in law at Queens University Belfast and was, in 1974, one of the very few women to be called to the Bar of Northern Ireland. Very soon after, she was called to Trinity College, Dublin, as Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology. With a break of two years as a journalist and presenter with RTE, she held that Chair for 12 years. She then moved back to Belfast as Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queens University Belfast. There I witnessed at first hand the directness and warmth of her relationship with her students, and I saw it again this morning when she spent almost oneand-a-half hours in a Question & Answer session with students and staff at Old College. As well as Director of the Institute, she served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Queens University for three years until 1997, when she was elected President of Ireland the first person from the Province of Ulster to be elected to that office. Her election to the Presidency did not put an end to her academic career. Whilst President, she completed a Masters course in Canon Law, and earlier this year she completed her Licentiate at the Gregorian University in Rome. She returns there tomorrow to study for a further two years to complete her Doctorate on the canon laws relating to children.
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Proceedings of the Annual Statutory Meeting
Meanwhile, today sees the publication of her new book Quo Vadis?: Collegiality in the Code of Canon Law a study of the problems of governance in the Roman Catholic Church. She confidently expects, and indeed (I suspect) hopes, that this will cause anxious flutterings in the doocots of the Roman Curia. Mary McAleese is an LL.D. of many Universities, including the University of Edinburgh. It is not generally known, even amongst those who hold that degree, that its abbreviation is double-L D because it means Doctor of Both Laws civil law and canon law. So today we welcome amongst us a scholar who will soon have earned that distinction in its fullest sense. President, before inviting you to admit Professor McAleese to Fellowship, I must add a few words about other, and equally important, aspects of her work. In Dublin she was a member of the Council of Social Welfare, the Executive Committee of Focus Point for Homeless Young People, and the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform; and in Belfast, she was a founder member of Belfast Womens Aid and Honorary President of the Northern Ireland Housing Rights Association. One of her earlier books was entitled Love in Chaos: Spiritual Growth and the Search for Peace in Northern Ireland. What could therefore have been more fitting than that, as President of Ireland, she was one of the signatories of the Good Friday, or Belfast, Agreement? President it is our good fortune, from time to time, to meet a person whose public charisma and gaiety of spirit is the outward reflection of a warm, dedicated and intensely human heart. So it is a great honour for all of us to welcome her to our Fellowship. Professor McAleese was then invited by the President to sign the Fellows Roll and was admitted as an Honorary Fellow of the Society. Professor McAleese thanked Sir John for the welcome, kindness and honour she had been bestowed by the Society. She explained that one of the joys for her over the last 14 years has been to see the re-calibration of relationships between Ireland and this island. She felt that neighbours are much better off being good neighbours, and she saw this invitation to her as an act of a good neighbour, and was pleased to see so many old friends in attendance. Professor McAleese explained that she is looking forward to the continuing and fruitful work between the RSE and the Royal Irish
Academy, and pledged to support that however she could, and to play an active role and a happy role as an Honorary Fellow of the RSE. She thanked the Society for the extraordinary work that is done it its name, and the generosity of its members, who give that little bit extra not for themselves but for the cause of their country, and the cause of knowledge. 2. PRESENTATION TO PROFESSOR PETER HIGGS FRS FRSE The President invited Professor Alan Miller, Fellowship Secretary, to read the citation for Professor Peter Higgs: Peter Higgs academic career began with a first class honours degree in Physics at Kings College, University of London, followed by an MSc and PhD. Higgs moved to the University of Edinburgh in 1954 as a postdoctoral student and in 1955 become a Senior Research Fellow. After returning to London in 1956 as an ICI Research Fellow at University College and then Imperial College, he came back to the University of Edinburgh in 1960, when he was appointed a Lecturer in the Tait Institute of Mathematical Physics. In 1974 Peter Higgs academic achievements were recognised when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and in 1980 he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh. In 1983 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. Peter Higgs has received many prizes including the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society (1981), the Rutherford Medal (1984) and the Paul Dirac Medal (1997) of the Institute of Physics, the High Energy and Particle Physics Prize of EPS (1997), the Wolf Prize in Physics (2004), the Oskar Klein Medal of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences (2004) and the J J Sakurai Prize of the American Physical Society (2010). He has received honorary degrees from the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Swansea, and also from Kings College London and University College London. In July 2000, Professor Higgs was awarded one of the very first Royal Society of Edinburgh Royal Medals by Her Majesty The Queen. This top accolade was presented to Professor Higgs for the enormous impact he has had on the world of physics. His work has provided a key to the problem of the origin of the mass of the fundamental particles. He has proposed a mechanism for the generation of these masses in relativistic field theories with a local symmetry, with the consequence of the Higgs
boson. His work has been a crucial step towards a unified theory of the electromagnetic and weak forces, and this single idea has had a huge impact on Mans understanding of Nature at the most fundamental level. The Society, in collaboration with the University of Edinburghs School of Physics and Astronomy, has created an exhibition that celebrates the recent discovery at CERN of a new particle consistent with the Higgs boson. The exhibition, From Maxwell to Higgs, emphasises and celebrates the important role that Peter Higgs has played, whilst also highlighting the historic discoveries and theories that have contributed to current thinking about the particles and forces of Nature and the existence of such a particle. It is in recognition of Professor Peter Higgs outstanding work leading to the recent announcement by CERN of the discovery of a Higgs-like boson that the RSE makes this presentation. The President then presented Professor Higgs with a one-off medal in recognition of his work. Professor Higgs thanked the Society for honouring him in this way, something that he did not anticipate. He thought that after receiving the Royal Medal he had already been sufficiently honoured by the Society, but he was deeply grateful to the RSE for being awarded this unique medal. Before the formal business of the ASM, the President asked any nonFellows who were in attendance for the admission of Professor McAleese and the presentation to Professor Higgs to leave the room. B. FORMAL BUSINESS 1. MINUTES The Minutes of the Annual Statutory Meeting held on Monday 3 October 2011 were taken as read, approved by those Fellows present and signed by the President as a correct record. 2. MATTERS ARISING There were no matters arising. 3. REPORT ON ACTIVITIES FOR SESSION 2011/12 The meeting noted the Report on Activities for Session 2011/12 distributed to Fellows in advance (Appendix I). The President suggested that any discussion of the report should take place after the Office Bearers Reports had been delivered.
4. OFFICE BEARERS REPORTS a) General Secretarys Report Professor Alice Brown gave the following report: We report our performance during our fiscal year, which runs from April to March, in two ways. Firstly, as required by charity law, through our Annual Trustees Report and Accounts. The Report and Accounts for 20112012 was approved by Council in its capacity as the Societys Trustees and is available to any Fellow via our website, or in printed format on request. Secondly, we report through our illustrated Annual Review, which summarises the main activities described in the Trustees Report, highlights the key impacts of these activities, and includes an approved summary of Accounts. You should have received a paper or electronic copy of this illustrated review with your papers for this evening. Unfortunately, the Treasurer is not able to be with us today, but he has provided a Report, which was included with your papers, which provides further information on the Societys financial position. My report this evening is my first as General Secretary and covers activities during the Societys annual Session, which began on 2nd October 2011 and ends today. Your papers included a report of the full and varied programme of activities the Society delivered during the session. These contributed to the public benefit outcomes which were set out in the Societys Strategic Framework for 20072012, namely: Enhancing the capacity of world-class science and culture researchers working in Scotland Increasing Scotlands research and development connections internationally Improving connections between business and academia Enhancing the capacity of school-age children to adopt science as a career Enhancing the publics understanding of science and culture issues Informing and influencing public policy decisions Sustaining and utilising our multi-disciplinary Fellowship and recognising outstanding achievement and excellence Establishing the RSE Young Academy of Scotland
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As a new General Secretary I have been struck and impressed with the diversity of the Societys activities in terms of the multi-disciplinary topics covered; the audiences with whom we engage; and the reach of our activities both locally and internationally. I have been impressed too with the quality of the activities, e.g. the lectures, the outreach work with schools and communities and so on. It is impressive too that this has been possible in spite of the difficult economic circumstances in which we find ourselves and the decrease in our funding from the Scottish Government. However, I am pleased to report that following last years moratorium on making Scottish Government Personal Research Fellowships, we were able to make three new awards this year thanks to financial help from the host universities involved. I do not propose to report in detail on each and every one of the activities outlined in the report and will let them speak for themselves, but I would like to select a few highlights. Let me start with the: Young Academy I am delighted to report on the success in establishing and launching of the RSEs Young Academy of Scotland. It is worth reminding Fellows that Scotland has led the way in the UK in creating a Young Academy. Our call for applications attracted 336 people last year, 68 of whom were appointed. It was a hard choice as the quality of applications was so high; what was also encouraging was that they represented a wide range of backgrounds (academics, entrepreneurs, artists and people from the professions industry as well as the public and voluntary sectors) and 40% of the applications were from women. The YA was formally launched at the end of November last year and since then they have had a number of meetings and gone through the process of appointing four members and a Treasurer to act as a Facilitating Group to oversee the strategic direction and activities of the YA and to liaise with the RSE. The Young Academy is keen to make a distinctive contribution to the future of Scotland. They have already established a number of Working Groups looking at a range of topics, including Scottish Constitutional Reform; Curriculum for Excellence, Health & Wellbeing, Tapping all our Talents; Open Data; and Careers Information for Secondary Pupils. They have liaised with the RSE
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and have attended meetings of the Executive Board and RSE Committees such as the Education Committee. The YA is also making its presence known in the wider Young Academy network They participated in the Global Young Academy meeting in South Africa and have engaged with other European Young Academies. Last but not least, in discussion with the YA, we have set up a RSE Fellows Mentoring Scheme whereby members of the YA will be matched with mentors drawn from the RSE Fellowship. In turn, members of the YA are keen to mentor more junior colleagues. We are now in the second cycle of recruitment and have recently put out a call for new applications. Please encourage any young people who you think should apply young for these purposes is between late 20s and early 40s! You can find more information on the RSE website as well as the Young Academy website. Tapping All our Talents As Fellows are aware, the RSE is very active in informing and influencing public policy debates. To this end, our Policy Advice Unit has published Briefing Papers, Advice Papers and provided written and oral evidence to Scottish Parliamentary Committees. The subjects are wide-ranging and include very topical issues such as the Scottish Governments Spending Review and Draft Budget, as well as Fiscal Sustainability and Demographic Change. A major initiative last year was the study carried out by a Working Group, chaired by Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, into the position of Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). What the research shows us is that 73% of women who graduate in STEM subjects are lost to the sector after graduation; also for those that remain, they are much less likely to hold senior positions in academic life and business and industry. We looked at the various explanations for the high attrition rate of women in this sector. The main focus of the report, however, was to consider the practical actions that need to be taken in order to address this serious loss of talent especially at a time when many companies in Scotland are experiencing shortage of skills in these areas.
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In April of this year, the Society launched the report from the Working Group entitled Tapping all our Talents. Women in STEM: a Strategy for Scotland in which we called for the creation of a coordinated strategy to increase the proportion of women in the workplace qualified in STEM subjects and to increase the number who rise to senior positions in universities, research institutes, government, business and industry. The recommendations made in the Report were not just addressed at the government in Scotland, but included all the stakeholders and partners that could influence change the universities, funding bodies, industry, employers and, of course, learned societies. There is much that we can do to ensure that we nominate more women to the Fellowship and that they in turn can help encourage other women to become involved. In this regard, I think we can take a lead from the Young Academy, which has 40% representation of women. We have not stopped at publishing the report, but with the help of financial support from the Scottish Government, we have been busy disseminating the results of the study at events in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh; also by speaking at different events in the Scottish Parliament, the Department for Business Innovation & Skills and the Research Councils. Finally, let me say something about: Scotland and the UK It is undoubtedly true that the constitutional debate in Scotland and the result of the referendum in 2014 will have a profound impact on all aspects of Scottish life. As an independent organisation with no party-political agenda or position, it is not for the RSE to support one constitutional position over another. However, we do have an important role to play in providing a forum for expert analysis of different constitutional options and to encourage rich and informed debate on all aspects of this hugely important topic. In this connection, earlier this year the RSE worked in partnership with the British Academy and we held two events, in London and in Edinburgh, to examine the position of Scotland and the UK. The London event focused on examining and explaining the different constitutional options and some of the related issues, e.g. consequences for membership of the European Commission; while the Edinburgh event looked at the political and economic
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implications of the different positions Independence, Devolution Max, Status Quo. These were highly successful events which brought new voices to the debate. A Report of the conferences was launched last week, which is available on the RSE website or in hard-copy. In the spirit of the New Enlightenment, we intend to take forward the debate over the next year or so and to examine, in more detail, the questions that arise in relation to fiscal and monetary policy; defence; welfare spending; and so on. We wish to look also at topics such as the future of higher education and research under different constitutional options. I hope you will be interested in attending such events. To conclude, it is evident that during the year the Society has, once again, advanced learning and useful knowledge through a wide range of public benefit activities, which have reached many people and places across Scotland and beyond. This would not have been possible without the willing and voluntary contribution of Fellows, the support of the Societys hard working staff, or the voluntary input of others. On behalf of the Society, I would like to thank all of them for their contributions. Finally, I would like to conclude my report by mentioning the Office Bearers and Trustees who see their terms of office ending today. Namely: Vice-President, Professor Jean Beggs Treasurer, Mr Ewan Brown Council Members, Professor Cairns Craig and Professor Susan Manning Curator, Professor Duncan Macmillan Programme Convener, Professor John Richardson Education Committee Convener, Lord Sutherland of Houndwood On behalf of the Society I would like to thank all of them for the valuable contributions they have made to the Societys work, whilst at the same time fulfilling many other demands on their time. Sir David Edwards term as International Convener also ends today and our sincere thanks go to him also for the significant contribu-
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tion he has made to the Societys international activities and profile. He is not, however, disappearing completely and will continue to contribute to the Societys work as a Trustee, serving on Council for the next year. Finally, Professor Anna Dominiczaks term as a Council Trustee ends today, but not her continuing involvement with the RSE Council as she will be succeeding Professor Jean Beggs as VicePresident Life Sciences. That concludes my report. I will hand over to the Fellowship Secretary now, and after that am happy to take any questions which you may have on any of our activities during the Session. b) Treasurers Report Mr Ewan Brown was not able to attend the meeting, but his report had been circulated with the papers in advance (Appendix II) and the Director of Finance, Kate Ellis, was available to answer any questions. c) Fellowship Secretarys Report Professor Alan Miller gave the following report: Im very pleased to have this opportunity, my first since taking over as Fellowship Secretary, to provide you with some information on the Fellowship. I will update you on the distribution of the current Fellowship; where we are within the current election cycle to elect new Fellows to the Society; and the steps we are taking to ensure that the Fellowship is balanced and broadly representative of the society in which we are based. Looking at the current Fellowship, we have 1550 Fellows in total, including Honorary and Corresponding. The Fellowship is divided by discipline in to four main sectors. Within this we have 14 sectional groups which cover the full range of subjects. This year we elected 40 new Fellows, as has been standard since the 2007 review of our election process, together with four Corresponding Fellows and two Honorary Fellows. And I am delighted that one of our new Honorary Fellows, Mary McAleese, is able to join us today. Over 70% of our Fellows sit within the Life and Physical Sciences; this broadly reflects the situation within Scottish academia as a whole. However there are areas of Business and the Arts that are underrepresented, and we will be continuing to work over the coming year to tackle this.
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In recent years, we have been particularly keen to build up Sector D, which includes those from Social Sciences, Education, Business and the Public Service, and although numbers in this area are increasing, there are still gaps, and the lack of business practitioners is one area in particular that we will be tackling. We have crossed a significant threshold in that now over 10% of the Fellowship is female; an increase from 9.3% last year to 10.3% this year, but more needs to be done to increase the number of nominations of female candidates. This is especially important following the publication of our Women in STEM report, as we want to be seen to be setting an example and acting on our own advice. This year we did see a marked increase in high-quality female candidates, resulting in almost half of these nominations, i.e. 14, being successful. An important message which we try to make every year is that the problem for the gender balance of the Fellowship is not the process once the candidates name is put forward, but it is having reasonable numbers of female candidates being put forward in the first place. We must do everything we can to encourage the nomination of female candidates, and with this in mind we have altered the restrictions on nominations. Normally a Fellow can propose and assess only two new nominations for Fellowship a year, however in an effort to increase the number of female candidates, we have changed this rule so nominations of female candidates are exempt from this restriction. Looking at the age distribution of the Fellowship, we have Fellows aged from 37 to 99, with an average age of around 67. As in previous years, there are very few Fellows in the 3039 age group. Again this year, we were pleased to have so many people able to attend the New Fellows Induction in May, which gave the new Fellows an opportunity to hear about the Society, meet the staff, and sign the Fellows Roll. Turning now to the current, 2012/13 election cycle, we have 177 candidates for consideration, 165 for Fellowship, four for Honorary Fellowship and eight for Corresponding Fellowship. Of the 165 for Fellowship, 81 of these are new candidates, down slightly from 90 last year. The distribution of these nominations is slightly different this year, with the largest numbers falling within Sector B, physical sciences, rather than Sector A, life sciences, as has been the case for the past few years.
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The number of women being considered for nomination has remained more or less steady at 33 this year, compared to 34 last year. This means that around 20% of the candidates for consideration are female, which some might argue is closer to representing the communities that we are drawing from. This is an improvement on former years, when females more typically made up around 12% of candidates, but there is still room for improvement. It is interesting to note that 40% of the Young Academy membership is female, which may bode well for the future. The election process involves five stages, the first of which is the Sectional Committee meetings, which will be completed this week. Following this, the top candidates from each of the Sectional Committees will then move to the next stage to be considered and prioritised by the Sector Groups. The prioritised candidates from the Sector Group meetings then go for consideration by the Fellowship Committee and finally approval by Council. Then in December there is a ballot to the whole Fellowship. The allocation of places for Fellowship is always an important issue for Council and there are various factors taken into account when we draw up these numbers. Every year since the review in 2007 the recommendation has been that we should hold it at 40 new Fellows a year, and this has again been agreed by Council. Group A = 13; Group B = 12; Group C = 5; Group D = 6. This totals 36 with the remaining four giving flexibility to allocate these additional places to the Groups and strong cross-Sectoral candidates that fall between the main disciplines groups. It is hoped this year that, subject to approval at this ASM, we will be able to use an electronic voting system for the election of Fellows. As well as the obvious cost reductions of this method, it is hoped that this will increase the accessibility of the process, and will encourage more Fellows to become actively involved in the ballot process. Further information on this proposal will be provided later in this meeting. I am pleased that we are getting such excellent candidates and such excellent Fellows elected. As already indicated, we wish to be proactive on issues of underrepresented groups in the Fellowship, and at the beginning of this Session I wrote to Principals of all HEIs in Scotland, specialist institutions and research institutes to encourage
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more nominations from those underrepresented groups, namely females, business people and arts practitioners. Although these letters had some effect, we need to do more, and this is a long-term project. As such, the Fellowship Committee has agreed to establish a Nominations Group to look at this issue further. The group will look at what additional steps we can take, to encourage more nominations of outstanding female candidates, and candidates from business and the creative arts from outside of academia. To finish, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Fellows involved in the nomination process, especially those on the various Sectional Committees. Nearly 200 Fellows are actively involved in the process on these Sectional Committees and we are very grateful to them for their dedication and hard work in contributing to this process. d) Questions The President invited questions on the Office Bearers reports. The following were raised: Professor Andy Walker Have we seen an increase in the number of nominations of female candidates now that these have been removed from the restriction of only be allowed to be associated with two nominations? We suspect that this has had an influenced on a few nominations this year, but not many at this stage. However this is likely to be a gradual process, and we hope it will have more of an impact in subsequent years. Professor Andrew Miller It is disappointing that the Scottish Government grant to the Society has been cut. Is there something we can do? Should we be more vocal about our displeasure? And what RSE activities are at risk from this cut? Firstly, we see it as a very positive move by Ministers that responsibility for our funding was moved this year from the Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser (OCSA) to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) as we are much more closely related to the universities, which SFC also funds, than the science centres, which OCSA is responsible for. But the total amount of funding available to us has not increased with this move. Fellows can be assured that were actively working on this, and have been incredibly vocal already over the last six months in order to try to reverse this decision.
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In terms of whats at risk from this cut in our grant, it is our postdoctoral Fellowships. These are high profile and high quality, and although the universities have many fellowships, the association with the RSE is appreciated and highly valued by universities and the individual researchers. With the help of the universities, this year weve been able to award three Fellowships (as opposed to none last year) and are working on a plan for next year. It has been a tough year, but one of the positives is that it has forced us to think about our priorities. It has highlighted that we need to draw to peoples attention the added value of the RSE, not least to the governments own work, and the risks of losing that. We are uniquely placed to draw on the expertise of the Fellowship and provide expert analysis, but we cant do this with no resources. Professor Stuart Monro As a former member of SSAC which, during my time, found a close working relationship with the RSE very beneficial, I would like to know more about the RSEs current relationship with the SSAC? We do have a relationship with the advisory council, not least because many of the SSAC members are Fellows. But I think youre absolutely right and partnerships are crucial, especially during times of financial difficulty, and we need to draw expertise together. In the coming year we will continue to work with not only the SSAC, but also the British Academy, as has already been mentioned, and a wide range of other organisations in Scotland and further afield. Dr John Francis Science and the Parliament has in the past been a great opportunity for prize-givings to young people. Is there an opportunity to also encourage the participation of the Young Academy in this? I agree this is an excellent idea, and will feed this back to the Young Academy. The YA is already giving some thought to what it can give back to Scotland, and especially in terms of schools engagement and providing benefit to young people, so this may fit well. 5. STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK The President presented the Strategic Framework, which had also been circulated with the papers for the meeting, and invited comments or ideas for future years.
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6. LAWS CHANGES The President presented the Laws Change paper, which had been circulated with the papers. The changes were due to the upgrading of the International Convener to Vice-President rank, and to designate the Education Convener as an Office-Bearer of the Society. The Laws changes were approved without any amendments. See Appendix III. 7. ELECTION OF COUNCIL AND OTHER OFFICE-BEARERS FOR THE 230TH SESSION The President explained that all Fellows entitled to vote had been sent a ballot paper for the election of Council and other Office-Bearers. The returned papers had been examined by the scrutineers, Dr Alison Elliot and Professor Gavin Gibson. There were 633 returns - this equates to 41% of the Fellowship. The Scrutineers were content that all those proposed were elected unanimously or by an overwhelming majority. The President noted that since taking up post, he now recognises the great contribution that Office-Bearers make, and took the opportunity to offer his congratulations to those re-elected, as well as those elected as follows: COUNCIL President Sir John Arbuthnott Vice-Presidents Professor Graham Caie Professor Anna Dominiczak Professor Tariq Durrani Mr Ian Ritchie Professor Wilson Sibbett General Secretary Professor Alice Brown Treasurer Mr Gerald Wilson Fellowship Secretary Professor Alan Miller Ordinary Members Professor Alan Alexander Professor Robert Cormack Professor Sir David Edward Professor Sheila Rowan Sir Muir Russell Observer Sir Brian Ivory
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EXECUTIVE BOARD General Secretary Professor Alice Brown Treasurer Mr Gerald Wilson Curator Dr Iain Gordon Brown Vice-President International Professor Tariq Durrani Programme Convener Sir Andrew Cubie Research Awards Convener Professor Steve Beaumont Young Peoples Programme Convener Dr Chris Van Der Kuyl 8. ALTERNATIVE VOTING SYSTEM FOR ELECTION OF FELLOWS AND COUNCIL The President presented the Alternative Voting System paper, which had been circulated with the papers. The proposal to allow electronic ballots for the election of Fellows and Office-Bearers was approved by those Fellows present. 9. ANY OTHER BUSINESS There was no other formal business. The President thanked all those who had attended the meeting and had contributed to the reports and discussions. Education Convener Professor Sally Brown Chairman of the RSE Scotland Foundation Professor Donald Ritchie Observer (RSE Scotland SCIO Chairman) Professor Peter Holmes Chief Executive Dr William Duncan Director of Finance Miss Kate Ellis
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Appendix I Report on Activities for the Annual Session 2011/12 (4 October 2011 1 October 2012) The Fellowship of the RSE continued to deliver a wide-ranging programme of activities, supported by staff of the Society and others. These activities contributed to the public benefit outcomes set out in the Societys Strategic Framework for 20072012. This report records the various activities; how these fit within our public benefit outcomes. It also reports how our activities continued to sustain and utilise our multi-disciplinary Fellowship; how we recognise outstanding achievement and excellence; and the establishment of the RSE Young Academy of Scotland, a significant development during the Session. Enhancing the capacity of world-class science and culture researchers working in Scotland Our Research Awards programme supports some of the most outstanding young scientists and innovators working in Scotland today. It creates conditions that attract those with outstanding potential conducive to becoming research leaders, to establish their career in Scotland and make longterm contributions to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics base and its application in Scotland. It provides scope to place special emphasis on areas of research key to the well-being of Scotland; for example energy, environment and biosciences, and complements similar programmes available on a UK-wide basis from the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, Research Councils and major research charities. It is through partnerships with key bodies such as BP, the Scottish Government and the European Commission that we were able to provide these awards and we offer our sincere thanks to each of these valued partners, for their continuing support. The following awards in science were made during the Session: One CRF Personal Research Fellowship in Biomedical Sciences Ten CRF European Visiting Research Fellowships in Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences Three Scottish Government Personal Research Fellowships One BP Trust Research Fellowship Cormack awards: one Undergraduate Prize, two Postgraduate Prizes and five Vacation Research Scholarships Seven Lessells Travel Scholarships
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The Scottish Government-funded Personal Research Fellowship scheme is the largest fellowship scheme administered by the RSE for postdoctoral researchers and the research fellowships lever benefits for Scottish research since 2003 6.1m of support provided for fellowships has enabled more than 46.8m of further research funding to be obtained by research fellows. Following last years moratorium on making new awards, because of Scottish Government funding reductions, we were pleased this year to be able to make three awards. We are grateful to the host universities for their help in enabling us to do so. In addition, we have continued during the session to support 16 existing Personal Research Fellows. The RSE has been successful in securing funding from the EU Marie-Curie COFUND scheme to internationalise our Scottish Government-funded Research Fellowships, and this funding has supported ten Research Fellows over the past year and enabled them to work in Iceland, the USA and Canada and to make short visits to Germany and Eire. In addition to these science activities, the Scottish Government grant has continued to support our Arts & Humanities programme, through the awarding of the following:
Six Research Workshops Fifteen Small Research Grants Four existing Research Networks and two Major Research Grants were supported in their second year of a two-year and three-year grant respectively. This programme enables individuals to develop links with people and organisations that they would not otherwise have easily been able to work with, and, since its inception in Febuary 2007, seventy-nine individuals have benefited from this scheme. It is clear from early evidence that the objective of improving understanding of human culture, past and present, is being met by this programme, which sets in motion long-term dialogue, both interdisciplinary and interinstitutional, across Scotland and beyond, involving artists, curators, art historians, librarians, archivists, scientists and research students. The Arts and Humanities awards programme was independently reviewed during this Session by a group Chaired by Sir John Enderby CBE FRS. Sir Johns report was presented to Council in October 2011. It was very positive and highlighted the impact these awards have made to the research community and to Scotland. The review played an important part in making the case for continued funding for this scheme and how
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these awards support the Scottish Government National Outcomes. For a number of years now, the Society has partnered with other Scottish universities to support the Scottish Crucible training scheme. This scheme, based on the highly successful Crucible training scheme developed by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, is funded by NESTA and the Scottish Funding Council, with additional support coming from Universities Scotland. This programme enabled 31talented researchers from across Scotland to come together to explore and expand their capacity and problem solving through a series of intensive twoday workshops, and the Society is grateful to the various funders for continuing to support this worthwhile scheme. Increasing Scotlands research and development connections internationally Our International Programme, funded by the Scottish Government since 2003, helps to create and support international collaborations, raises Scotlands reputation as a centre of academic excellence, and promotes the exchange of early-career researchers. Through formal Memoranda of Understanding with 12 overseas sister Academies, as well as informal links with other Academies and organisations, the
Society has developed strong links internationally. Based on the good relationships developed, the Bilateral and Open exchange schemes support researcher exchanges that lead to collaborative projects and frequently allow the researchers to lever further, and often significant, funding from sources here and abroad. A particularly strong part of the programme, which cements relationships and collaborations, are the joint research projects run over two years between the RSE and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), supporting longer-term collaborations and levering further funding. During the Session 29 Bilateral and 20 Open Exchange Scheme grants were awarded, which amounted to 167 person-weeks of researcher support for visits between Scotland and over 23 countries worldwide. Seven new joint projects with the NSFC were awarded for two years from Spring 2012 in the area of Image Processing, and 13 existing joint projects in Information Science, Management Science, Engineering and Public Policy, and Biological Sciences were supported in their first and second years. Funding also continued for the second year of a collaboration between the University of Stirling and the Institute of Automation, The Chinese Academy of Sciences,
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to support a ScotlandChina Higher Education Research Partnership for PhD Studies in the area of Telecommunications and Information Technologies. In partnership with the French Embassy in London, and following the successful events held last year in partnership with the University of Edinburgh and the College de France, a further two workshops and related public lectures were held in the Franco Scottish Science Seminar Series in February and March 2012. The purpose of the Series is to bring together leaders in their fields and earlycareer scientists from Scotland and France, in areas of science where there is excellence in both France and Scotland, to stimulate FrancoScottish collaboration in science. Improving connections between business and academia The RSE administers three Enterprise Fellowship schemes, which are designed to help create sustainable companies with highvalue jobs that make a positive contribution to the economy in the long term. The three schemes, funded separately by Scottish Enterprise (SE), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), encourage the commercialisation of technologybased business ideas from
academic institutions into spinout companies. The Enterprise Fellows selected demonstrate the entrepreneurial spirit needed to create a thriving business from a research idea. The fellowships offer support to develop business skills through intensive business training and mentoring, as well as introductions to potential collaborators, investors and other specialists that are able to help get the business up and running. The RSE/SE Enterprise Fellowships programme, which aims to appoint sixty Fellowships over five years, has appointed 37 over the first four years. The seventh round took place in spring 2011 from which three Fellows were appointed and took up post in October 2011. The eighth round took place in Autumn 2011 - four fellows were appointed and took up post in Spring 2012. This Fellowship scheme has created 66 (80% survival rate) companies which have employed more than 230 people. The 5.5m invested in the programme facilitated in excess of 53.5 million follow-on investment over the past six years 42.4m of that from the private sector During the Session 14 former SE Enterprise Fellows attracted public funding totalling 1.1m and recruited 22 new employees. They also won nine new contracts
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worth 6.2m, launched seven new products and secured private finance of 1.4m. Both of the Research Council schemes operate on a UK -wide basis, with the purpose of supporting the commercialisation of research previously funded by BBSRC and STFC. Following the selection processes for these schemes, two BBSRC Enterprise Fellows took up post in October 2011 and one in Spring 2012. No STFC Enterprise Fellowships were awarded this session. One RSE Entrepreneurs Club dinner took place during the session. This was held at the RSE on 3 April, when three afterdinner speakers spoke on what investors are looking for in new start-up businesses. Fifty-five guests attended the event, including current and former Enterprise Fellows, Fellows of the RSE, mentors to the Enterprise Fellowship programme and Saltire Foundation Fellows. The RSE Business Innovation Forum met four times over the year. Its two main areas of focus were on investigating the financing of business innovation in Scotland, and on examining ways to expand the Societys activities in relation to its Enterprise Fellowship programmes. A group of senior figures in the finance sector were brought together to inform the work of the Forum. A report
on the Forums findings to date will shortly be submitted to the Scottish Government and distributed to other key figures in Government and the private sector. During the Session, John McClelland stepped down as Convener of the Forum. He was succeeded in this role, and as Vice- President, by Ian Ritchie. The RSEs corporate engagement initiative Friends of the Society (Corporate Partners of the Royal Society of Edinburgh) continues to grow since its launch in April 2009. By September 2012, membership stood at 16 organisations, up three from the previous year. The current members are Aberdeen Asset Management, Arup, BP, FES Ltd, The Herald, Institution of Civil Engineers, Lloyds Banking Group, MacRoberts, Optos, Oracle, RBS, SCDI, Shell, Standard Life, Toshiba and The Wood Group. Enhancing the capacity of school-age children to adopt science as a career RSE Fellows and other experts recognise the importance of engaging with school-age children, and as such continue to share their knowledge and understanding of science and culture, with a particular focus on enthusing those already engaged, and reaching those who are more geographically removed from Scottish universities and
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Science Centres, and who therefore have more limited opportunity to participate and meet with experts. Following the highly successful pilot RSE@ project in Arbroath and the year-long, locally-tailored RSE@ Dumfries and Galloway project, this year has seen the development of the next RSE@ project, in Lochaber. The project was launched on 17 September in Fort William with a Question Time-style event with Professor Tom Devine, the winner of the RSE Beltane Senior Prize for Public Engagement, chaired by the Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP. Other core activities which also took place this year were: 16 interactive Start-up Science Masterclasses for S1 and S2 pupils in university venues around Scotland The annual RSE Discussion Forum, featuring a day of learning and debate between S5 and S6 pupils from schools from Arbroath Academy. The discussion focused on enhancements in disability sport. A resource pack was developed after the event and these are available to schools throughout Scotland in hardcopy or via the RSE website, and shortly through GLOW.
A number of school talks have taken place as part of the Orkney Science Festival In addition to core activities, the RSE also supported a number of other activities. The final events for the Twit-Test, a take on the Turing test using the microblogging site Twitter, took place in April. The RSE hosted the national finals of the ESU Schools Debating competition and the RSE/Bright Green Placement Programme National Final. The YP programme underwent a major consultation with several hundred secondary school students across the country. The conclusions from this are helping to form a series of fresh and relevant events for the coming years, with a focus on issues important to students, thereby giving them a voice through the RSE. Enhancing the publics understanding of science and culture issues Once again this year we planned and organised the delivery and promotion of a multidisciplinary programme of events aimed at a wide variety of audiences. We delivered a total of 33 events, comprising 17 Lectures, four Discussion Forums, three Conferences, four Workshops, one Reception, one Networking Event and threeDissemination Events.
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Lectures Communicating Science as Culture The Arab Spring: Tropes and Discourses RSE Christmas Lecture 2011: To the Ends of the Earth: Scotlands Global Diaspora ECRR Peter Wilson lecture: Appliance of Science in the Rural Sector of Scotland. Extreme Light a New Paradigm for Fundamental Physics A Celebration of Women in Astronomy Infrastructure Costs too Much, and it Neednt Experimental and Theoretical approaches to Conscious Processing Extreme Engineering An evening with Tim Flannery Alan Turing: Legacy of a Code Breaker Is Doing Cancer Research Good for the NHS? BBC Reith lecture: The Rule of Law and its Enemies Loves Labours Lost: why Society is Straitjacketing its Professionals and How we Might Release Them The Large Hadron Collider, the Higgs Boson and Other Questions About the Universe (RSE@ Locahber)
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Fragments of a Lost Past or Evidence of a Connected History: the Role of Islamic Art in the Museum Context Location, Location Film Locations in Lochaber (RSE@ Lochaber) Discussion Forums Science as a Public Enterprise: Why and How Should Science be Open? This was a joint Discussion Forum with the Royal Society, London and the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum An Evening with Diarmaid MacCulloch Humanising the Workplace Scottish History in Question: An Evening with Tom Devine (RSE@ Lochaber) Conferences Scotland and the United Kingdom (London) Scotland and the United Kingdom (Edinburgh) Celebrating 100 Years Since the Birth of Alan Turing Workshop Emerging Directions in Image Processing and Understanding. Facing up to Climate Change: the Future of Land Use in Scotland A New Paradigm of Science Driven by Ultrafast Lasers
Systems and Molecular Neuroscience Networking Event / Reception Renewable Energy networking event. Best of Scottish Science reception Dissemination Event Women in STEM dissemination event Aberdeen Women in STEM dissemination event Dundee Women in STEM dissemination event Edinburgh The Society also continued to enhance peoples appreciation and understanding through other modes of communication, and is increasingly doing this electronically. The newly-launched RSE website was updated regularly throughout the Session and provided information for the public and for Fellows. We continued to provide audio and video recordings of RSE events to ensure as many people as possible can access these, as well as the 22 written summary reports of activities in the public events and schools programme that were published on the site after the event. We have been developing an on-line services section of our new website, to allow Fellows to update their details, register for events and sign up to mailing lists, and are
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grateful to those Fellows who have been involved in testing this technology. We hope to have this go live within the next few months. We also continue to use social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin as a means of communicating the RSE to the outside world. Media briefings and press releases were provided for most major events and launches, and there was appreciable media coverage of many of the significant activities in the RSE programme. Four issues of ReSourcE, the RSE newsletter were published and distributed to a mailing list of over 2,000, including the Fellowship, business leaders, journalists, research institutes, schools, MPs, MSPs and interested individuals. The newsletter is now also available on the RSE website and many of the Fellowship and others, chose to view it in that format. Fellows received a monthly ebulletin, which enabled them to keep up to date with and, if appropriate, disseminate information on the RSE and its work. In addition, two public e-bulletins were sent out during the Session to advertise various events and schools activities. One issue of Science Scotland entitled Knowledge Transfer in Engineering and Informatics was published during the year and a
follow-on issue entitled Knowledge Transfer in Software will be published shortly. Science Scotland continues to increase peoples awareness of cuttingedge science and technology activities in Scotland. Through the RSE Scotland Foundation we continued to publish two journals, Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Proceedings A: Mathematics. Copies of the journals were sent to 350 University Libraries, Academies and Institutions world wide, as part of the Societys exchange programme. The journals are highly regarded by academics as publication vehicles for their research, and they both maintained a respectably high impact factor in comparison with similar journals in their fields. Six issues of Proceedings A and two issues of Transactions were published during the session. The digitisation of the RSEs archive journals Transactions (17831979), Transactions:Earth Sciences (19802000) Proceedings (18321940), Proceedings A (19411999) and Proceedings B (19411996) was progressed by Cambridge University Press during the Session. The current status is as follows: Proceedings A volumes 61(1941)current all live
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Proceedings B volumes 61(1941)104 live (abstracts, not full articles); Proceedings volumes 160 not yet live; Transactions: Earth Sciences volume 71(1980) onwards live; Transactions volumes 170 not yet live. The archive is now on public sale, making the RSEs highly regarded journal archive more easily accessible to a world-wide audience. A healthy number of sales have already been achieved. In 2011 the RSEs share of the surplus revenue (50%) was as follows: Proceedings 31,365.70, Transactions 19,201.67. Further sales of the digital archive will be confirmed before the end of 2012. Informing and influencing public policy decisions Key outputs of our Policy Advice unit were: Two briefing papers, on the Scottish Governments Spending Review and Draft Budget and Broadband Infrastructure in Scotland. 12 Advice papers, nine to the Scottish Parliament and/or the Scottish Government, on a range of topics including: alcohol minimum pricing, biodiversity, post-16 education, commercialisation of research,
renewable energy targets, fiscal sustainability, and the referendum on independence. Oral evidence to Scottish Parliamentary Committees was provided on a range of subjects including: Scottish Governments Spending Review and Draft Budget Broadband infrastructure in Scotland Fiscal sustainability and demographic change A Science and the Parliament event was held in partnership with the Royal Society of Chemistry, which attracted 35 exhibitors, and more than 300 delegates, including MSPs. Amongst the keynote speakers, on the topic of Science and the Economy, were: John Swinney MSP, and RSE Fellows Professor Anne Glover, Professor Lesley Yellowlees, Ian Ritchie and Professor Alice Brown. In April the Society launched a Report on: Tapping all our talents. Women in STEM: a Strategy for Scotland. This recommended creating a strategy to increase the proportion of women in the workplace qualified in STEM subjects, and to increase the number who rise to senior positions in universities, research institutes, government, business and industry. The Report was produced by an expert Working Group mainly of Fellows.
The report launch in April included presentations by Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who had chaired the Working Group, by the Permanent Secretary of the Scottish Government Sir Peter Housden and by Professor Muffy Calder, who had recently become Chief Scientific Advisor for Scotland. Subsequently the recommendations of the report were disseminated at public meetings across Scotland and to key policy-making bodies such as the Scottish Government, the Scottish Funding Council, the Department for Business Innovation & Skills and the Research Councils. Our Education Committee members contributed to the development of policy in relation to helping 21st-century education in Scotland, most specifically in relation to improving science, computing and history education in schools. In partnership with the British Computer Society, we undertook a computing science exemplification project, with teaching and learning materials being developed by Mr Jeremy Scott, the Head Teacher of Computing at George Heriots School, Edinburgh. Mr Scott has been seconded on a part-time basis. The project has received financial support from a wide range of supporters, including Education Scotland. The materials exemplify
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computing science concepts in the Curriculum for Excellence and introduce learners to computational thinking. The project has garnered considerable wider interest, and a variety of media enquiries and references including in the Times Education Supplement (Scotland), The Herald and Holyrood News. Mr Scott was invited to present at the AppInventor Summit a conference on mobile app development in education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in July. The project has secured funding to extend Mr Scotts secondment for a further year, with him being employed by the RSE for two days per week. The next phase of the project will focus on exemplifying aspects of the recently published National 4 and 5 qualifications for Computing Science. We also facilitate the recently established Learned Societies Group on Scottish Science Education. This standing group has arisen due to concerns about, and a need to contribute to, the major reforms in the delivery of science education in Scottish schools. Currently, the group comprises representatives from the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics, the Society of Biology, the British Computer Society, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Association of
Science Education and the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre. While the member organisations are individually active in this area, it is likely that more can be achieved by a formal collaborative grouping that identifies, discusses and takes action on common issues. A launch event, attended by more than 80 people, was held at the RSE in May. Sustaining and utilising our multi-disciplinary Fellowship and recognising outstanding achievement and excellence We continued to sustain and utilise our multi-disciplinary Fellowship and to recognise outstanding achievement and excellence. In March 2012, we announced the election of two new Honorary Fellow, four Corresponding Fellows and 40 new Fellows. This followed the scrutiny of 164 candidates through a four-stage committee process, culminating in the postal ballot in December to the entire Fellowship. The addition of new Fellows brought the numbers in the Fellowship up to 1582 - 66 Honorary Fellows; 64 Corresponding Fellows and 1452 Ordinary Fellows. The discipline balance of the Fellowship is broadly represented by four cognate sectors. In the Fellowship (excluding Honorary
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and Corresponding) the current balance of these sectors is 35.8% (Life Sciences Sector A), 36.1% (Physical Engineering and Informatic Sciences Sector B), 14.3% (Humanities and Creative Arts Sector C) and 13.6% (Social Sciences, Education and Public Service Sector D). 10.3% of the Fellowship is female, an increase from 9.3% in 2011. The annual New Fellows Induction Day took place in May and was attended by 41 new Fellows. They were given an introduction to the Society by the President and met Council members and staff, before being formally admitted into the Fellowship. Fellows were once again, in various capacities, pivotal to the Societys delivery of public benefit activities. The many Committees which oversee these activities are comprised overwhelmingly of Fellows of the Society. These Committees cover governance, operational and management matters. Amongst other activities, Fellows freely gave of their time and their expertise in the selection of Research and Enterprise Fellowship awardees; the awarding of International Exchange grants, various medals, grants and prizes; participating in the planning of lectures, conferences and discussion forums; contributing to the Young Peoples
programme; serving on Inquiry Committees and Editorial Boards; and providing evidence and advice to inform responses to policy and decision makers. A major highlight of the Session was the presentation of the RSE Royal Medals, presented by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh at the Society in September 2012. Medals were awarded to: Dr David Milne OBE FREng FRSE, founder and former Chief Executive, Wolfson Microelectronics, for his outstanding contribution to business and commerce in Scotland. Professor Sir Edwin Southern FRS HonFRSE, Founder and CSO, Oxford Gene Technology and Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, for his outstanding contribution to molecular biology which led to the invention of technologies that are still in worldwide use today. His Royal Highness also presented the IEEE/ RSE/ Wolfson/ James Clerk Maxwell Award for 2012 to Professor Gerhard Sessler, Darmstadt University of Technology, for pioneering contributions to electroacoustic transducers, the development of silicon microphone technology, and seminal work on electroactive materials.
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Establishing the RSE Young Academy of Scotland The RSE received 336 applications for membership of the RSE Young Academy and appointed 68 members. Of these, over 40% are female, 80% are from the academic sector and 20% from business and the professions. This first cohort were formally appointed on the day of the launch of the Young Academy at the RSE on 29th November 2011. Speakers at the launch included Shami Chakrabarti and Steve Jones, and the discussion was facilitated by Kenneth Roy. Sir John Arbuthnott presented the new Young Academy members with Certificates to mark their admission into the Academy. The first formal meeting of the Young Academy of Scotland (YAS) was held at the RSE on 14 December. This was followed by a meeting in February 2012, at which Professor Martin Wilmking, chair of the German Die Jnge Akademie, outlined how the German Academy operates. In March 2012, the YAS held an election of its membership to appoint four core members and a Treasurer to act as a Facilitating Group to oversee the strategic direction of the Academy and to liaise with the RSE. This Facilitating Group meets regularly and is responsible for setting the agenda of the four annual plenary meetings of the Young Academy.
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In addition, the Facilitating Group has managed to secure extra financial support from the Scottish universities which will allow the YAS membership to fully participate in its activities. The work of the Young Academy is conducted in a number of working groups. Each sets its own agenda of activities and works towards responding to some of the most interesting and pressing challenges facing Scotland today. Their current activities are focused on the following topics: Scottish Constitutional Reform Curriculum for Excellence Health and Wellbeing Tapping all our Talent Open Data Careers Information for Secondary Pupils Some of these projects are still at the earliest stages, but the Young Academy is committed to making an impact through its developing portfolio of activities. Members produced a response to the Scottish Governments consultation paper Your Scotland, Your Referendum and will continue to investigate the issues surrounding proposed reforms to the Scottish Constitution. The sharing of scientific research also came under scrutiny in a Young Academy response to the Royal Societys Call for Evidence Science as a Public Enterprise. Some members
of the Young Academy are identifying practical ways to capitalise on the recommendations from the recent Tapping all our talents RSE report to widen participation by women and other underrepresented groups in STEM, and members from the various sectors represented in the Young Academy have been coming together to consider proposals under a Health and Wellbeing theme. The Curriculum for Excellence group has decided to focus on interdisciplinarity in secondary teaching, and held a Call for Evidence in early July 2012. The Young Academy of Scotland has also participated in the Global Young Academy meeting in South
Africa, and has engaged with other European Young Academies. In addition, two members of the Facilitating Group are attending the October conference in Amsterdam hosted by the Dutch Jonge Akademie on Shaping the Future of Young Academies. A two-day Annual Business meeting of the Young Academy was held in September in Aberdeen, supported jointly by the University of Aberdeen and Aberdeen City Council. Future YAS events planned are Networking and Influencing Policy in December at the RSE, and a plenary in March at the University of St Andrews.
Appendix II Treasurers Report to the ASM on 1 October 2012 Much has changed since I took over as Treasurer in 2008. The consolidated funds were 11.5 million and the investments totaled 6.1 million. My predecessors review of future prospects included the following: The RSE continues to work to strengthen its financial base... there was success in the Government Spending Review, where the RSE was awarded funding to support the implementation of the recommendations of the review of Research Fellowships carried out by Sir John Enderby. This will have a significant impact
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on income and expenditure over the three years of the Spending Review, with expenditure in this area expected to rise from 700,000 to 2 million. Forward four years and the consolidated funds have more than doubled to 24.1 million with investments increasing to 19.1 million. This has been achieved principally by the very welcome receipt of three major legacies amounting to 3.9 million and the transfer of 6.3 million funds to the RSE from the Caledonian Research Foundation. However, my review of future
prospects has a very much more negative tone: The Scottish Government has cut the RSEs grant for 2012/13 with indicative levels of future grant being further reduced. These substantial cuts greatly reduce the scale of the research fellowships and grant activities that the RSE runs on behalf of the Scottish Government, despite compelling evidence of the value to Scotland of the Science research fellowships and the Arts & Humanities research awards. The RSEs updated Strategic Framework and its future priorities will seek to mitigate the effects of public sector funding uncertainties. We have seen this coming. In my report to the 2011 Annual Statutory Meeting, I bemoaned the fact that the Scottish Government seemed to find it easier to salami-slice everyones budget rather than prioritise for the common good. Although we initially welcomed the transfer of responsibility for our budget from the Office of the Chief Scientist to the Scottish Funding Council and to a more flexible form of annual grant, the decision to apply substantial cuts is very disappointing. There is an anomaly. The Scottish Government acknowledges and values the well-evidenced and substantial medium and long term benefits to Scotland of the research fellowships and awards
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which it funds; but it is presently influenced by the short term expediency of budget savings. We will continue to press for these highly prestigious Scottish awards, which carry the RSE stamp of excellence, to be funded by Government as a priority. The summary consolidated financial results for the year ended 31 March 2012 are set out in the Annual Review. They show a surplus of 1.77 million but after adjusting for major legacy receipts and other one-off items, there was a small underlying operating deficit of 21,000. The RSEs updated Strategic Framework and its future priorities, will seek to mitigate the effects of public sector funding uncertainties. The focus will remain on the successful delivery of the RSEs varied programme of activities with public benefit outcomes. The Council continues to develop partnerships with the corporate sector through the Friends of the Society, and seeks to increase its internal resources, to improve the level of income that the RSE receives from non-governmental sources. The aim of building the Development Fund as an internal resource continues, although this is of necessity a long-term plan. Nevertheless, the RSE is determined to strengthen and enhance its contribution to the wider society of which it is part.
APPENDIX III Laws Changes The previous decision of Council to upgrade the status of the International Convener to VicePresident rank requires various changes to the RSE Laws. This paper sets out below the specific changes involved, which have been approved by Council, and are now presented at the ASM for final approval. The process for any changes to the RSE Laws is defined by the Royal Charter and set out in Law 52. Fellows were previously notified of the intention to create the new role of Vice-President for International and the need for consequential Law changes. No objections to this were received. Indeed, the ballot for the election of Council next Session specifically referred to the new Vice-President International role. The opportunity should also be taken to designate the Education Convener as an Office-Bearer of the Society, and a member of the Executive Board. Since the role was first established, the Convener has been invited to the Executive Board. Presently there is no reference to this important role in the Societys Laws. Introducing this change can be done simply, by replacing the present Law 22, which refers to the now-defunct role of International Convener, with a new Law 22 that refers to the Education Convener. This year, the Education Convener role was included in the ballot for election to Council and Office Bearers. Revised Laws (3a, 9, 12 and 22) are shown overleaf.
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Original 3. THE COUNCIL a) The Society shall be governed by a Council, the members of which are its Trustees or Stewards. This shall consist of the following Office-Bearers, namely, a President, four VicePresidents, a General Secretary, a Treasurer, a Fellowship Secretary and in addition to these Office-Bearers, Ordinary Members of Council. The total number of such OfficeBearers and Ordinary Members of Council shall not exceed thirteen.
Revised 3. THE COUNCIL a) The Society shall be governed by a Council, the members of which are its Trustees or Stewards. This shall consist of the following Office-Bearers, namely, a President, five VicePresidents, a General Secretary, a Treasurer, a Fellowship Secretary and in addition to these Office-Bearers, Ordinary Members of Council. The total number of such OfficeBearers and Ordinary Members of Council shall not exceed fourteen.
9. OTHER OFFICE-BEARERS In addition to the OfficeBearers enumerated in Law 3, there shall be elected in accordance with Law 4, other Office-Bearers who shall not be Trustees of the Society, namely, an International Convener, a Programme Convener, a Research Awards Convener, a Young Peoples Programme Convener and a Curator. Any or all of such Office-Bearers shall be able to attend meetings of Council but not to vote, when there is business at Council relevant to the responsibilities of such Office-Bearers.
9. OTHER OFFICE-BEARERS In addition to the OfficeBearers enumerated in Law 3, there shall be elected in accordance with Law 4, other Office-Bearers who shall not be Trustees of the Society, namely, an Education Convener, a Programme Convener, a Research Awards Convener, a Young Peoples Programme Convener, and a Curator. Any or all of such Office-Bearers shall be able to attend meetings of Council but not to vote, when there is business at Council relevant to the responsibilities of such OfficeBearers.
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Original 12. DUTIES OF THE VICE-PRESIDENTS The duties of the VicePresidents shall be to discharge the duties of the President in his or her absence and to undertake such other duties as the President or Council may from time to time decide. They shall be able to admit Fellows to the Fellowship in accordance with Law 36.
Revised 12. DUTIES OF THE VICE-PRESIDENTS a) As per original Law 12 b) (New) The Council shall designate one of the VicePresidents to be responsible to Council for matters relating to the International activities of the Society. He or she will work in collaboration with the other Office Bearers whose responsibilities contribute to the international programme and standing of the Society.
22. DUTIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENER The International Convener shall be responsible to the Council for matters relating to the international activities of the Society. He or she shall be Convener ex-officio of the International Committee and, with the Programme Convener, shall be responsible for recommending to Council the arrangements for conjoint meetings with overseas Academies and learned Societies.
22. DUTIES OF THE EDUCATION CONVENER The Education Convener shall, ex officio, be Convener of the Education Committee and shall be responsible to Council for matters relating to the work of the Education Committee.
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PRIZE LECTURES
Reflections on Hong Kong and China. ................................................... 42 Communicating Science as Culture ........................................................ 46
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Lord Wilson of Tillyorn KT, GCMG, KStJ President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 3 October 2011 Reflections on Hong Kong and China Presidential Address Sovereignty over the once-British territory of Hong Kong was transferred back to China in 1997. Lord Wilson of Tillyorn, a former Governor of the Colony and President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for the past three years, said he wanted to reflect from a personal perspective on the changes over the ensuing years and the impact they had had on Hong Kong and China. Lord Wilson said it is now 14 years since the transfer of sovereignty, but it was apparent that fundamental changes were in motion long before the actual hand-over. When, over 50 years ago, he first arrived in HK to study at the university there as a young man, it was the old-fashioned way, by liner via Saigon. HK was suffering from an influx of refugees from mainland China. It was a colonial backwater, in stark contrast to what it is now. The New Territories were still very rural and the university was not one of the great learning institutions of the world. The population was just three million, with half under the age of 25. In two years of study, he said he had worked for three to four hours in the mornings, with some 30 Chinese characters
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to learn each day. In the afternoons, he would go into the hills to do his homework while looking out over the Pearl River Delta. HK at that time was a wonderful place to be a student. China was also a very different place. Everything was grey, he said. On the first evening there in 1963 I cycled around Peking at around 9 pm and everything was dead. It was almost an agricultural city that kept agricultural time. The markets were empty and there was very little food. Everything seemed concealed behind walls. Foreigners were not allowed more than 20 kilometres from the centre of Peking. Other cities were out of bounds. When he asked to climb the western hills outside Peking, an area rich with temples, he was told politely but firmly that if he wanted to climb a hill he should try the Coal Hill, near the Forbidden City. It was an artificial mound only 75 metres high! In 1927 it was known in government circles that there were only some 50 years left to run on the lease of HK to Britain. It was in the pending tray, but diplomats had realised, as the deadline got closer, that the hand-over really
Prize and Bequest Lectures
did have to be addressed. However, no-one really knew what would happen. The situation changed in 1976 when Chairman Mao died. The Gang of Four, which took over in China, was disgraced later that year, Deng made a comeback and the complexion of HK affairs began to alter. The then Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Murray Mac Lehose, visited Peking in 1979 and raised with Deng the issue of 1997. Diplomats knew that this issue had to be tackled because sovereignty belonged to China in the long term and the status quo could not remain. UK Government asked for individual land leases in the New Territories to be extended beyond 1997, but the Chinese would not consider it. They said no in no uncertain terms, so negotiations had to begin. Lord Wilson himself had been involved in the summer of 1984, negotiating for two long months in Peking the text of what became the Joint Declaration on the Future of Hong Kong, one of the most remarkable documents in modern diplomatic relations. It set down what would happen for the half century after 1997. HK was to be governed by the Hong Kong people and not directly from the mainland; it would keep its own currency, the HK dollar; education would stay under the control of the HK government, as would aviation.
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The legal system would remain independent and based on English common law. Remarkably, all this was laid down in the Declaration 13 years before it was due to come into effect. Lord Wilson served as the penultimate Governor of Hong Kong. He explained that although many people at that time were very doubtful about trusting the Chinese, they had, in fact, a good record of sticking to international agreements. My own belief was that they would stick to the Declaration and to all intents and purposes they have, he added. So what did transpire? HK was hit badly by the Asian financial crisis in late 1997, but that was not a consequence of the handover. The actual transfer was remarkably smooth, despite continuous rows in the years immediately before it, between the HK government and the Chinese. What the UK was trying to achieve, continuity of administration, happened. Senior positions, such as Chief Secretary and Financial Secretary, were taken over by Hong Kong Chinese, while a number of the more junior administrative positions remained in the hands of expatriates. There were few visible changes either. When India gained independence, street names were changed and statues removed; that didnt happen in Hong Kong. The Prince of Wales Barracks was taken over by the Peoples Liberation Army
and the signage removed a few years later, but the shadowy outlines of the original letters can still be seen. One of the major fears was that the PLA would march in and take over, but they have stayed in their barracks as planned. According to Lord Wilson, it has all added up to a remarkably successful transition. The education system has also developed in an extraordinary way. HK University now ranks as the best in China, above Peking and Shanghai. It is now in the top world rankings, showing how important education is to the HK Chinese. The economy is also doing extremely well because of China. The dynamism of the Chinese economy has spilled over and HK has flourished as a result. The population is now seven million. It has the busiest cargo airport in the world and the second busiest passenger airport. It is a major financial centre, the worlds 11th largest trading centre and ranked as one of the best places to do business. What about the changes in mainland China? Over the last 30 years, economic growth has averaged 10% a year and it has now overtaken Japan as the worlds second largest economy. It has 160 cities with populations of more than one million people and 115 dollar billionaires, second
only to the US. It is no longer enveloped in gloomy poverty. It has also encouraged huge numbers of students to go abroad, including 95,000 to the UK. Domestically, the number of university students has expanded exponentially, with a great emphasis on engineering. It started out on this path with very large areas of poverty in the Chinese interior; 200 million migrant workers have moved in to the cities to make new lives. However, there are huge problems building up. Chinas one-child policy means 30 per cent of the population are now over 60. One of the greatest changes has been in the freedom to travel. Between 1949 and 1973, just 280,000 Chinese were allowed to leave the country. In 2010, the figure was 57.4 million and this year it is expected to be 66 million. What this symbolises is the strength of Chinese development and the extension of Chinese power abroad. There is massive investment in Africa, Australia, and South America, from where China is seeking raw materials to fuel its continuing growth. It is Brazils biggest trading partner. Some countries are now worried about the possibility of Chinese domination, but the essential motivation of what China is now doing is to have access to the raw
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materials it needs to maintain its own growth. Chinese eyes are currently on the Malacca Straits, because of oil and the needs to develop ports to get oil into China. There is now a Chinese naval presence off Somalia, the first time it has had this outside its own neighbouring waters since the Ming Dynasty. Territorial issues have developed in the South China Sea and India, in particular, is concerned about growing Chinese military power. There is economic power too on a global front. The US economy is propped up by 17 trillion dollars of bond debt held by China. This raises the issue of how to react to China as an emerging world power. It is already being brought into significant global issues that often it doesnt want to be involved in. What we need to do, Lord Wilson argued, is to encourage China to be involved on issues such as the threat from North Korea and the global financial crisis, perhaps through the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The main world institutions were designed before the era of
Chinese growth and we cannot expect that they will find it easy or desirable to join the western club. What the West should do is prepare to adjust to allow China to participate with engagement on all levels, government, educational and personal. Scotland may be a tiny player in all this, but what the country does is still important, Lord Wilson said. What is encouraging is the number of Scottish schoolchildren now being exposed to the Chinese language. From this will hopefully flow personal and intellectual engagement. In all this, the future of HK must not be forgotten. Two bad statistics have emerged, which reveal the trends. The former colony now has two mobile phones per head of population, so the cacophony is unbelievable. Secondly, property prices are astronomical, with prices per square foot more than twice those commanded in central London. Despite this, Lord Wilson concluded, it remains a place of enormous opportunity and a wonderful place to visit or in which to work.
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Beltane Prize Lecture Communicating Science as Culture Professor Aubrey Manning OBE FRSE, Emeritus Professor of Natural History, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh 7 November 2011 Delivering the first Beltane Prize Lecture for Public Engagement, renowned zoologist, author and broadcaster Aubrey Manning spoke of the beauty and elegance of science, and said that it was very much part of culture like a poem, or a piece of music. Whats more, he said, science and scientists gain from engaging with the public and society benefits too. At the birth of the Scottish Parliament, when policy makers were debating a national cultural strategy, all sorts of things were mentioned. Performing and the visual arts, design, film, architecture and broadcasting were on the list, but there was one striking omission science. I went through their glossy booklet and there wasnt a single occurrence of science, he said. I thought that was pretty dreadful. Science is a part of culture, he said, and should be regarded as such. The work of scientists can be truly creative and involve the emotions as well as the intellect. Scientists themselves have a responsibility to engage with the public and to express what it feels like to do science, as a process, not just showing what has been discovered. In this way they can promote a better general understanding of what science is and means. Not that the public isnt interested in science. His own field animal behaviour is an attractive subject from the nursery to the University of the Third Age. But while its beautiful and often fun, it can mislead. People may often think they understand and empathise with animal behaviour and to an extent they may but there are risks in making judgments on superficial appearance, when in reality the situation is more complex. It means that animal behaviour can illustrate well the scientific approach to the natural world... Public engagement can be enjoyable for scientists, and the public require more joined-up science than they are given credit for, he said. Its now seen as a good thing for scientists to communicate what they are doing, but this wasnt always the case. One of the pioneers in public engagement was Magnus
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Pyke, who became such a celebrity that in the 1970s, if people were asked to name scientists they knew, then Newton, Einstein and Magnus Pyke were the top three! Frequently on television, he had a distinguished scientific background, yet was attacked by fellow scientists for apparently demeaning his subject and dumbing it down. He was a very nice man, with a love of science and explaining it, said Professor Manning. It was the likes of Pyke and David Bellamy who made science popular by bringing out the beauty of the subject and of the natural world. Professor Manning described his good fortune to be picked up by the BBC to present Earth Story, the 1998 series which was essentially a voyage of discovery to find out what our planet is actually like. It was a wonderful experience, he said, being out in the field with earth scientists and seeing the world through their eyes. He talked in particular of the formation of particular mud pool rock patterns in Southern Africa as giving clues to where life might have started. Science was exploring a kind of beauty equivalent to a poem or a piece of music. Its important to promote the creative side of science, but the impression exists that scientists are different kinds of people. He quoted Jacob Bronowski, who
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said: I grew up to be indifferent to the distinction between literature and science, which in my terms were simply two languages for experience which I learned together. The division persists, and is encouraged in schools, where still children essentially choose between art and science at the age of 12 or 13. This perpetuates the idea of the nerdy scientists as opposed to the freespirited students of the arts. Part of the problem is that the media and science work in different ways. While scientists work with the idea of probability with theories based on evidence and with shades of grey the media wants to know the answers; and it wants those answers to be black and white, with no room for uncertainty. The idea of probability is difficult for the media. Professor Manning believes, however, that engagement with science helps people to become better judges and to recognise the difference between opinion based on evidence, and belief. Opinions may elide into belief, he said, which can make it very difficult for a scientist whose work flies in the face of convention, or what has previously been thought to be a scientific truth. He cited the case of former Edinburgh University biochemist Peter Mitchell, whose chemiosmotic hypothesis (relating to energy
transfer in cells) won him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. The hypothesis was at first considered to be heretical, but gradually grew to be accepted by most British scientists. There remained one group working in Kings College London which still dissented. Mitchell and his colleague, Jennifer Moyle, had invited the lead KCL dissenter to their laboratory in Cornwall and, working together, thought they had convinced her but when she returned to London she continued to ignore the theory. But there, scientists arent the most rational people, Mitchell had concluded. The idea of the scientist as the cool, collected creature without human feelings couldnt be further from the truth, with jealousies and competition a common part of the game. As Francis Crick said, when commenting on a 1987 BBC film Life Story, The film gets over the obvious fact that scientific research is performed by human beings, with no trace of the stereotyped emotionless scientist. Indeed, when DNA pioneer Crick and his colleague Watson heard that their US rival Linus Pauling had taken a route they were sure was wrong, they celebrated. Incidentally, when Crick and Watson showed their model of the double helix to X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin, her reaction was that it had to be right as it was so beautiful.
Professor Manning believes along with Magnus Pyke that all science can be communicated so that the public has some understanding of whats happening, however much they might be standing at the edge. He freely admits that when it comes to mathematics he is no expert, but that doesnt prevent his being fascinated with the subject. Mathematics is a beautiful landscape viewing it from the edge, it looks beautiful to me, he said, adding that he loves reading about it and the extraordinary human beings involved. He concluded by telling a little of the story of Fermats Last Theorem perhaps more accurately called Fermats Conjecture and the struggle of Andrew Wiles to find a proof. He described Wiles eureka moment when, sitting at his desk he recalls a sudden incredible revelation. It was so indescribably beautiful; it was so simple and elegant. The struggles and the journey of the mathematician show that you dont have to banish emotion to do science and that it can be a beautiful and elegant process. The scientist has a similar function to the artist: he or she shows us the world and our place in it in a way that we havent seen before. At the bottom of most of our problems is that we dont see ourselves properly in the world around us, he said. And it
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doesnt take an expert to understand. Again quoting Bronowski, he added; To me, being an intellectual doesnt mean knowing about intellectual issues; it
means taking pleasure in them. Communicating that pleasure is an essential part of engaging with the public.
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LECTURES
The Arab Spring: Tropes and Discourses ............................................... 52 To the Ends of the Earth: Scotlands Global Diaspora ............................ 58 The Appliance of Science in the Rural Sector of Scotland Science connecting land and people ..................................................... 61 A Celebration of Women in Astronomy ................................................ 65 Infrastructure Costs Too Much, And It Neednt ..................................... 69 Extreme Engineering ............................................................................. 74 An Evening with Tim Flannery: .............................................................. 85 An Evening with Diarmaid MacCulloch ................................................. 96 Alan Turing: Legacy of a Code Breaker .................................................. 98 Conducting Clinical Cancer Research in the NHS Benefits Everyone? .. 102 The Rule of Law and its Enemies: Civil and Uncivil Society ................... 106 Loves Labours Lost: Why Society is Straitjacketing its Professionals and How We Might Release Them ...................................................... 111 Scottish History in Question: An Evening with Professor Tom Devine .. 115 The Large Hadron Collider, the Higgs Boson and Other Questions about the Universe ............................................................................. 121 Fragments of a Lost Past or Evidence of a Connected History: The Role and Concepts of Islamic Art in the Museum Context .......................... 124 Location, Location, Location: Lochaber (and Scotland) in Cinema ........ 128
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Professor Yasir Suleiman His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Professor of Modern Arabic Studies and Director of Alwaleed Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge 1 December 2011 The Arab Spring: Tropes and Discourses It may seem strange to invoke the name of the illustrious economist John Maynard Keynes at the beginning of a lecture on the Arab Spring but, as Professor Suleiman made clear, he was going to be less than complimentary about economic explanations of the ongoing phenomenon. Keynes, at least, was smart enough to recognise the limits of predictive modelling, and another economist, John Kay, has recently reinforced this point, noting that most predictive models deal with uncertainty by extrapolating from the past. As a result, they reveal nothing so much as the limits of the imagination of the person who constructs them. Perhaps this, Suleiman suggested, is why scholars, policy makers and intelligence analysts have failed to predict the Arab Spring. But did the Spring emerge out of the void? No, it did not, Suleiman argued, contending that preSpring there were strikes in Tunisia and Egypt and small-scale protests against the Mubarak regime by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, demanding an end to dynastic rule and to state corruption in the areas of politics,
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the economy and the justice system. In Jordan, teachers had mounted campaigns to form a professional association. Yet when it happened, no-one could have predicted the speed and intensity with which the first wave of Arab Spring uprisings unfolded and spread. And, Suleiman suggested, it was complacency that allowed western intelligence agencies to fail to see it coming. They believed Arab peoples lacked agency or the stamina to bring about fundamental change, that they were just letting off steam and would soon be put in their place by brutal regimes. The Arab youth, in particular, were considered a lost generation, more interested in internet communications and gadgets than in real politics. Above all, there was a feeling that a love of autocracy, rather than democracy, was an Arab character trait. In spite of this, the Arab Spring has taken root and continues to act as a catalyst for real change. But, Suleiman asked, what are some of the most important features of the emerging political terrain in the Arab Middle East?
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Among them is what he calls a fearless attack on fear. During recent months, he has attended many talks on the Arab Spring and he has been consistently struck by how the words freedom, dignity and justice are never invoked. Yet trade and economy are not the first things mentioned by Egyptians, Tunisians and other Arabs when talking about the Arab Spring. Freedom, justice and dignity are the front-line concepts, which show that the Spring is an attack on fear, a call for freedom, political participation and free speech. This even shows up in the names of political parties in Egypt, especially those of an Islamist orientation. The Muslim Brotherhood have established a new party called the Freedom and Justice Party, because they know the resonance the words have in Egyptian society. One of the centrist parties is Al Ghad (Tomorrow), which in Arabic means the hope of a bright new day. This refers to a rosy economic future, but this is unlikely to gain precedence over freedom, dignity and justice in terms of popular priority. Although the names of these parties whether of Islamist, pannationalist or liberal leanings suggest that values are important marketing tools, they are not just slogans, Suleiman contended. They are effective political market53
ing tools because they resonate with the Egyptian public and the ways in which it seeks to imagine and define the wider public good. Public good has never been absent from Arab societies, even under authoritarian rule. A visitor from Scotland would never have had to wait long before hearing the claim fi aman hon (there is safety here). This roughly translates as although we do not have what you have in the West, our streets are safe to walk in at night. Interestingly, Suleiman said, this was the first claim thrown back in the faces of the new regime in Egypt by a lone man carrying a double-sided placard in TalAt Harb Square, close to Tahrir Square in central Cairo in November. Addressed to the Chief of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, it read Where is the security and safety of Egyptian streets, Minister of Interior? It went on to mention other valueladen words such as freedom and justice and referred to Egyptians as people of the Nile whose blood is not cheap. It is this type of sentiment that was at the heart of publicity materials for the Egyptian parliamentary elections that began in November. Income levels, standard of living, unemployment and other economic factors were not in the front line of the lexicon in local narrations of the Arab
Spring. The words used refer to human universal values, so materialist explanations that invoke economic factors do not do justice to what is actually happening. The second side of the placard talked about freedom and its high price. Interestingly, Suleiman argued, this is not seen as a gift to be bestowed by external liberators but as something to be achieved internally through a process of self mastery. Freedom is a moral achievement, won by overcoming the forces that keep people bound. Only then can it be valued. So why, Suleiman asked, do many academic explanations of the Arab Spring avoid value-laden concepts in favour of economic analysis? Is it that the standards of evaluation and validation applied in academic discourse militate against the use of soft categories of analysis concepts of dignity, freedom and justice in explaining social political phenomena of this type? But ignoring these native narratives is similar to the complacency shown by the CIA, MI6 and Mossad in ignoring the views of ordinary people prior to the Arab Spring. The approach to academic analysis must now be reexamined to take account of this. Suleiman insisted that the Arab Spring was not just an assertion of universal moral values but also a courageous act in an authoritarian climate and an affirmation of
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individual and collective agency or moral authority. Agency here was nothing if not an attack on the political modality of fear. This attack has struck fear into the heart of a political elite which had thought that agency rested with them and them alone. Traditionally in Arab states, fear operated from the top down. Now a new situation is emerging in which fear is operating from the bottom up. If sustained, it could bring a transformation of individuals from subjects to citizens and the birth of a genuine emancipation movement. That Arab blood has been shed suggests that the fight against tyranny is not driven by economics but by the basic desire for dignity, freedom and justice, Suleiman argued. The uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have gone beyond removing the head of state, drilling down to deeper levels of political order, suggesting an awareness of the power of agency and the readiness to exercise it. The Arabs have a saying: Dont put your head above the parapet because it will be cut off. That Arabs are now repeatedly ignoring this shows that the yearning to be a citizen is not a passing phase. What has now also become clear, Suleiman said, is that seemingly impregnable Arab regimes and rulers are in fact brittle and vulnerable to peaceful mass action, which has proved to be more effective than
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violence in challenging the brutality of the established orders. But what do Arab citizens want in place of the regimes they are toppling? Do they still want charismatic leaders? Opinion polls in Egypt suggest that for the post of President the people still want a strong and experienced leader but one who has respect for the people, can take on vested interests, weed out corruption, stand up to the military, dismantle the coercive element of the security apparatus of the state, and also fight Egypts corner on the regional and international stage. Polls suggest that the urbane Amr Moussa, former general secretary of the Arab League and Mubaraks Foreign Minister, is currently ahead of his main rival, who has Islamist credentials. This chimes with the broad message of the Arab Spring in that it shows that neither charismatic leadership nor organised parties or trades unions are essential in this new vision of political leadership. This is a step change away from the postcolonial worlds in which Nasser-like strongmen were considered essential in nationalist struggles. And as Arab states move away from charismatic leaderships, Suleiman insisted, issues-based politics will become more prominent. Previously, there has been a
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tendency to think of Middle East politics solely in terms of statebased ideologies, such as pan-Arab nationalism or panIslamism. Now issues such as political freedoms, constitutional reforms, social justice, equality before the law and public accountability have in the ascendancy. It is this character that has given the Arab Spring its appeal and resilience, Suleiman said. But this is not to argue that Arabism as a political idea is dead. Rather, Suleiman said, the affirmations of dignity and justice have given it new life, creating a new form of cross-state Arab solidarity. The Arab League would not have acted in the manner it did towards Libya and Syria if it had not been for this solidarity. So, Suleiman argued, Arabism is no longer just a shared history, language and culture, but also a shared aspiration for future democracy and justice. More evidence is available in the cadence of slogans reverberating currently through Arab cities, demanding the fall of regimes. In addition, from the Atlantic coast to the Arabian Gulf, Arabicspeaking audiences have been glued to their TV sets, watching and debating the same stories, attesting to the existence of a shared Arab public sphere and diaspora. This shows that it is important not to conceptualise
the Arab Spring in Islamic terms but, first and foremost, as an Arab-inflected Spring. It is not an Islamic Spring but a genuinely indigenous movement, Suleiman claimed. In spite of all kinds of regime-generated conspiracy theories, the Spring was home-grown and embedded in an Arab solidarity with the potential to modulate and challenge the trenchant narratives of Islamism. The trick now will be transform this Spring from a seemingly freak but welcome weather condition into an enduring aspect of the Middle East climate. In this respect, the biggest dangers are cynicism and impatience, leading to nostalgia for previous regimes, a view which Suleiman said, he had heard expressed as recently as November in Cairo. Looking forward, the role of the West is also an important factor, Suleiman suggested. It is well known that that the Arab Middle East is strategically important to global powers because of its economic interests. As a result, Western powers have traditionally favoured stability over democracy. However, the successful functioning of economies is not just about economics but also about trust. By such political trading in the past, Western powers have from the Arab side run up a deficit of confidence that they now need to eliminate. To do this, they need to
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unlearn all the thinking that they have previously applied to foreign policy in relation the Arab world. From now on, actions have to speak louder than words, a reversal of the previous position. The NATO interventions in Libya have been, in Suleimans opinion, beneficial in addressing this confidence benefit. Normally, such actions would have been greeted by mass demonstrations and popular condemnation in the Arab world. That this did not happen suggests that, on this occasion, the West has done the right thing. On the other hand, Russia and China have lost credibility with their pro-Gaddhafi stance and their support for Bashar Al Assad in Syria. A further expression of the Wests readiness to tackle the deficit further would be in dealing with the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Another way would be to support the democratic order in the Middle East when and if it emerges and a key issue will be how to engage with democratically-elected Islamists. As Suleiman suggested, the Islamists are treated as the Wests biggest bugbears when it comes to framing new policies towards the emerging political order. But, wherever they surface, Suleiman said, democratically-elected Islamists must be considered an expression of free political will. Any other stance would be
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counter-productive, as coercively excluding Islamists would only give them more legitimacy and the opportunity to recruit disaffected segments of the population. That is a luxury they should not be given, Suleiman warned. In essence, however, the West does not know as yet how much support Islamist parties of different types could command or what types of Islamism might prevail. What the world has to deal with at present is uncertainty, excitement, volatility and hope, Suleiman concluded. Scholars need to take the Spring seriously as a locus of human aspirations and Western governments have to
work hard to address the continuing confidence deficit. In addition, the West needs to think differently about how it thinks about the Middle East and to recognise that when it acts in accordance with its declared values of freedom and democracy, as it did in Libya, it gains respect. Having said that, at this historic moment, the Arab Middle East also has a responsibility to protect and nurture its hard-won freedoms. Not because it matters to the West but because, as the man with the placard said, the price of freedom is known only to those who know the value of their own blood.
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Professor Tom Devine OBE FBA FRSE University of Edinburgh 12 December 2011 To the Ends of the Earth: Scotlands Global Diaspora RSE Christmas Lecture 2011 at the Glasgow Science Centre Treating history as an intriguing detective story, Professor Tom Devine sought to solve the conundrum of mass emigration from Scotland revealing some amazing facts and puncturing some myths along the way... History can sometimes be a fascinating puzzle, said Devine at the start of his lecture, and the scale of emigration from Scotland, from medieval times until the new millennium, is not as easy to explain as many people may believe. From 1815 to 1939, a total of 2.3 million people left Scotland (and the UK) for ever. Another 600,000 moved south to England. Considering that Scotlands population during the period varied between three and 4.5 million, reaching just over five million today, this was a significant proportion, helping to establish Scotland as the emigrant capital of Europe. And after the Second World War, the pattern continued, with another 800,000 departing. So why did this exodus happen on such a huge scale? According to Devine, there are no obvious
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answers. To solve the puzzle is to go on a journey with many false trails and deadends, but his research has come up with a number of theories which may bring us close to the truth. Even today, the pattern of comings and goings presents a conundrum, with the population gradually starting to climb over the last seven years, with recent incomers including approximately 400,000 people from England and 7080,000 Poles. Until the current decade, Scotland has been losing people since the 13th Century, Devine explained. And what is so distinctive about emigration from Scotland is that it has always been on a large scale and has taken place over a long period of time. From the 1850s till the 1930s, Scotland was third in Europes emigrant league table, after Ireland and Norway, yet conditions in Scotland were totally different. Part of the conundrum, said Devine, is that as Scots left, others arrived including Poles, Italians, Lithuanians and Jews. In the early 20th Century, 220,000 people from Ireland settled in Scotland,
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decanting their traditional enmities and sectarian tensions. One reason for this traffic in the opposite direction is that Scotland at one time was the secondrichest society in the world, after England. Scotland also experienced rapid urbanisation as the Industrial Revolution gathered momentum. Before then, ten per cent lived in cities and towns, and by the 1870s, this had soared to 65 per cent. Wages in Scotland were higher than in Ireland and most other countries in Europe, where people left not just for jobs but simply to survive. For example, famine in Ireland led to one million deaths and 1.25 million emigrants during the 1840s and 1850s. One major factor which makes Scotland different is that unlike other countries, where emigration tended to come from particular zones, in Scotland there was no such pattern emigrants left from all over the country. The story of mass emigration has attracted its fair share of myths. To illustrate this, Devine discussed a survey carried out in 1998 which revealed that 67 per cent of fourth-year school students in Scotland believed that the chief reason for emigration was the Highland Clearances images of which still haunt Scotland today. But this is a myth, he explained. Although famine and destitution contributed to many
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people leaving the Highlands in the first half of the 19th Century, including a third of the population of the Hebrides between 1841 and 1861, and although much of this emigration was landlord-induced, this is only part of the national picture. From the 1860s until 1939, he revealed, emigration from the Lowlands compared to the Highlands was 17 times greater. Emigration was overwhelmingly Lowland, he said. It was not from the archaic fringe, not from the most primitive areas but from the most modern areas, and from the towns and cities, not just the depressed areas. Devine then presented four hypotheses to explain the scale of mass emigration from Scotland, starting with the concept of a culture of mobility. Most parts of Scotland sent people to England and also throughout the Empire, but since the 13th Century, Scots had moved to countries all over Europe, including Lithuania and Poland, the Netherlands and northern France. From the 18th Century onwards, more people crossed the Atlantic, to settle in North America and the Caribbean, as well as in Australasia, South Africa and the Far East, but what makes the Scots distinctive is that emigration has always been part of the culture. Because Scots had been on the move for many generations, this
reduced the fear factor and the risk factor of venturing to foreign lands. The second theory concerned the fact that large numbers of people in Scotland have always moved around from town to town and county to county. Because Scots were so systematically mobile at home, it was natural for them to be mobile abroad on an epic scale enabled by technologies such as the steamship, railways and the telegraph. For many Scottish emigrants, because of these advances in communications, the world became a truly global village. For example, Devine said, skilled workers were able to compare wages in the US with the wages back home, as easily as in the past they had checked pay in other locations in Scotland. Most of them bought return tickets but never returned. The third explanation was that the Scottish economy has always been fickle dependent on key industries such as coal mining and shipbuilding which were vulnerable to the ebb and flow of the global economy. At one time, one in five of the worlds commercial vessels and warships were built on the Clyde but now the yards (outside the Science Centre) are silent. In periods of short-term and long-term depression, Devine
said, emigration would clearly increase. For example, during the 1920s, 360,000 people left Scotland out of a total population of only four million. The poet Edwin Muir described this soon after, saying that the country had been emptied of intellect and talent as well as of many of its most enterprising people. Some effect must take place, he had added. Devines fourth theory focused on the idea that most emigration was opportunity-led, with people simply seeking advancement. The Scots were relatively literate and aware of opportunities abroad, but even though the country was richer than most, Scotland was a very uneven society and many emigrants believed they had to leave to get on and improve their standard of living. In the US, for example, skilled workers earned three to four times as much, and Scotland produced more semi-skilled, highly-skilled and professional workers than most other emigrant countries. At one time, Scotland was at the cutting edge of technology in industry and agriculture, and with so many raw materials and so much virign territory in foreign lands, Scots were in high demand and also highly successful.
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Professor Iain Gordon FRSE CEO and Director of the James Hutton Institute 13 February 2012 The Appliance of Science in the Rural Sector of Scotland Science Connecting Land and People ECRR Peter Wilson Lecture Professor Gordon recently returned from Australia to become CEO of the newly-formed James Hutton Institute. His lecture, which was chaired by RSE President Sir John Arbuthnott, addressed the contribution the Institute can make to the future of agriculture and society at home and overseas. It also looked at the importance of close co-operation between scientists and the wider community, in order to provide the best possible future in a world faced by climate change and rapid population growth. Professor Gordon began by paying tribute to Peter Wilson as a dedicated agricultural researcher with a tremendous ability to bring others together in pursuit of common goals. At the same time he was someone who was keen to see science applied for the good of the world, recognising that agriculture does not sit in isolation, but exists in a context of changing needs, huge demands and high expectations. This year saw the worlds population reach seven billion. Current predictions suggest this will rise to 910 billion between 2030 and 2050. The consequent 50% increase in demand for food would require an additional 120m ha of land in developing countries for crop production alone. This was aside from the pressures generated by a massive surge in the need for energy and fresh water. Professor Gordon said: This is all happening at the same time as we are trying to reduce the damage to our natural capital, through soil erosion, biodiversity loss and climate change. Climate change, he added, is leading to extremes in terms of flooding, fire and drought. The James Hutton Institute was formed in April 2011 by a merger between Aberdeens Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and Dundees Scottish Crop Research Institute. It brings together skills and expertise from a range of backgrounds to foster research into new products, ideas and innovation for the rural sector. It was named after Scottish Enlightenment polymath and Founding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, James Hutton (1726 97), who is regarded as the father of modern geology and who was the first to regard the Earth as a
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dynamic system. He also had a farm in the Borders where he used his skills and observation to improve animal and crop production. In addition to the main sites in Aberdeen and Dundee, the Institute also has research stations, and runs projects, across the UK and worldwide. With 450 scientists, 150 support staff and 120 PhD students, it is among the biggest organisations of its type in Europe. It spans five main areas of science: - Cell and molecular; - Environmental and biochemical; - Ecological; - Social, economic and geographical; and - Information and computational. According to Professor Gordon, one of the defining features is that: we dont do research in isolation, we do it with the people who are going to use it on the ground we deliver our knowledge and innovation to stimulate economic growth and support peoples livelihoods and wellbeing. The institutes core areas of activity are around: - Food security; - Water security; - Energy security; and - Safeguarding natural capital.
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These are of immense importance to the future prosperity and survival of the human species. Soils and biodiversity are rapidly being lost; new energy crops are required as fossil fuels run out, better water management is essential to cut demand and pollution; and innovative ways are needed to control pests and crop disease. The emphasis is on practical science and, increasingly, on knowledge exchange rather than simply knowledge transfer. This means the scientists working with others in order to achieve the most beneficial results. An example of what can be achieved is in the success the SCRI has had in developing new crop varieties. An economic impact study calculated that its cereals, brassicas, soft fruit and other products generate 225m a year for the UK economy with every 1 of public investment yielding 17. Marketed through the Institutes commercial subsidiary, Mylnefield Research Services, the Lady Balfour potatoes are the UKs top organic variety, while its Glen Lyon raspberries are the industry standard in Spain, with Glen Ample holding the same position in the UK. The James Hutton Institutes crop species help farmers address serious challenges, such as how to produce highly marketable crops with less water and fertiliser, and generate less
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waste without creating phosphorous and nitrogen imbalances. The Institute is also dedicated to developing sustainable farming practices and ones that meet consumer demands for healthier and safer foods. It is helping develop agricultural systems based on an ecosystem approach. This sees crops as part of the wider environment rather than as a separate issue. One aspect of this is to take an integrated approach to pest control. This replaces pesticides with a combination of biological and chemical methods to achieve sustainable production. The Centre for Sustainable Cropping at Balruddery, near Dundee, is of especial value. It is the focus of a 24-year experiment allowing the farm-scale development of sustainable cropping systems to enhance biodiversity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve soil quality while maintaining productivity. It covers everything from pest and weed forecasting to crop and productivity monitoring. At an even larger scale, the Institute is involved in detailed assessment of Scotlands arable farms. This involves monitoring 50 farms, and 100 fields organic, integrated and conventional. One area of research is the level of carbon in the soil. Results from the monitored land show that half
contains less than 3% carbon in the soil, and a third exhibits conditions that restrict the growth of roots. The professor said: many of the agricultural practices that have happened in the past are now limiting the amount of crops that can be produced on these farms. One project where the Institute hopes to work closely with farmers is in the development of the Land Capability Assessment (LCA), which shows the potential uses of land across Scotland. This should soon appear on the internet, offering farmers a ready reckoner for planning their activities. Of even more immediate value is an iPhone application that will allow farmers to get an instant assessment of the carbon content of their soil. The Institute is working with estate owners in upland areas to help them in a variety of ways, such as effective deer management. Tackling issues such as this, as well as grazing and grouse management, is vital in enabling landowners to develop land use strategies which reconcile competing interests; for example between neighbours or between public and private use. Whole communities and catchment areas are now benefiting from the Institutes research into coping with flood risk. It is making data freely available,
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which is of great value to help mitigate the effects of higher rainfall and the increase in extreme weather events that will result from climate change. It is working in the Dee catchment area to identify potential flood hotspots. One of the outcomes has been a successful campaign to raise awareness of good septic tank management, to reduce the level of bacteriological infections such as E. coli which get washed into the groundwater. Professor Gordon said the Institute is dedicated to getting the public involved in dialogue by creating forums to express views about the future of agriculture and land use. One way it does this is with a virtual landscape theatre where images can be projected on to a screen to show the impact of changes for example the presence of wind turbines. Of huge potential importance are the development of new centres of expertise, which make use of the knowledge held by the Institute, the other main research providers and the countrys universities. These are supported by government and deliver objective, integrated and authoritative advice to policy makers, and industry, on water, climate change and animal disease outbreaks.
Science has to play a major part in providing the information required by society to make a difference to the life we lead, said Professor Gordon. Looking to the future, the professor said it is important for the Institute to build closer links with universities at home and worldwide. It also needs to improve its knowledge- exchange processes and strengthen its ties to the consultant network, especially in the agricultural sector. The Institute will be doing more to harness the power of social media and the internet to communicate with the wider public and demonstrate the value of its research. There is also a need to work more closely with stakeholders, such as businesses, to develop products in collaboration with them. Absolutely vital for the future is the ability to work in a transdisciplinary way in an applied context. The Institute is able to do this because of the excellence of the training it provides to its 120 PhD students. These, said Professor Gordon, are the lifeblood for the future of the research community in Scotland and internationally, as they are future scientists that are fit for purpose for the 21st Century.
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Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell DBE FRS FRSE Visiting Professor of Astrophysics, University of Oxford 20 February 2012 A Celebration of Women in Astronomy Part of the Edinburgh Lecture Series: Extraordinary Feats, Extraordinary People This years series of Edinburgh Lectures is on the theme of extraordinary feats and extraordinary people. The first was delivered by Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the astronomer who discovered radio pulsars. In a lively and provocative talk, she celebrated the extraordinary achievements of women in astronomy from the 18th Century to the present day. She also discussed the current position of women in astronomy, and science more generally, reflecting on how existing imbalances could be rectified. There is a rich history of women who, despite many setbacks and difficulties, have made their mark in the field of astronomy. Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell opened her talk by describing four such women, from an 18thCentury German denied an education, to a 20th Century astronomer and poet. But although life may have improved for the woman wishing to make a career in astronomy or in science, technology and engineering generally, Dame Jocelyn made it clear that equality is years away. Caroline Herschel was born in Germany in 1750. Being neither rich nor beautiful, her lot in life was to be housekeeper to one of her brothers. She was denied the chance to learn to read and write, and was only allowed to learn dressmaking provided she made clothes solely for her brother. Fortunately another brother, William, who had moved to England, asked if she could be housekeeper for him (this was agreed, provided William paid for a maid to take her place). William Herschel was a musician who then turned to astronomy and, from a telescope in his back garden in Bath, discovered Uranus always working with the assistance of his sister. George III offered him the position of Astronomer to the Court, so the Herschels moved to Slough, where William built a large telescope. Because it takes time for eyes to adapt to darkness and light is needed to take notes William would observe while his sister would note what he saw. Her nights therefore involved sitting out of doors in all weather once she complained the ink was frozen and, over breakfast, teaching herself
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geometry and calculus, managing the household all the while. Although she reflected any praise back to William, it was clear that she knew her stuff, and could give expert demonstrations to visitors, including royal parties. In what little spare time she had, she made use of the telescope to hunt comets of which she found eight, a remarkable number; she certainly knew the night sky. She pretended it was all William, but it was clear she knew what was what, said Dame Jocelyn. Caroline Herschel was awarded the Royal Astronomical Society Medal at the age of 78, the Irish equivalent aged 87, then the King of Prussia Gold Medal when she was 96 years old. She was written back into history, said Dame Jocelyn. It was just as well she lived a long time. Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin was born in the UK in 1900. Her father was an Oxford don who, as was customary at the time, had had to give up his fellowship on marriage. Cecilia Payne had an aunt who was keen on botany, and she herself became interested in the subject. It was acceptable for women to do nature study, and botany was jumped up nature study, said Dame Jocelyn. Cecilia Payne was a talented musician her teacher (Gustav Holst) thought she should take it up professionally. She, however, fought for a
science education and went up to Newnham College, Cambridge, in 1919 to study botany. Chance attendance at a lecture by Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, the astronomer who had led an expedition to observe a solar eclipse and thus provide confirmation for Einsteins theory of relativity, was to change her world. She was so impressed by what she heard that she did not sleep for three nights and had something very like a nervous breakdown. She fought to change from biology to read physics, getting to know Eddington well. It was he who advised her to go to the US, so she went to Harvard to study for her PhD. Here she discovered something very unusual so unexpected that she did not actually believe what she was seeing: looking at the spectrum of the sun she saw it was nearly all hydrogen. Although she presented her work she said it must be wrong and she was not believed. A number of years later, however, the director of the institute published the same results without acknowledging Caroline Payne Gaposchkins work. Vera Rubin, born in 1928 and still living, is known for establishing the presence of dark matter in galaxies. This is important because it has helped explain why galaxies like our own do not as would be expected fly apart, but instead stay bound together. The solution
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is dark matter, the source of the additional gravity needed to keep the galaxy intact. Likewise, clusters of galaxies stay together, bound, like the galaxies themselves, in a halo or ball of dark matter. Vera Rubin hadnt had it easy she had applied to Princeton to study astronomy, only to be told that as they didnt admit women, she wouldnt even be sent a brochure but she persevered and built a remarkable career. Her calculations of the speed at which galaxies travel showed that they must contain much, much more mass that could be accounted for by stars. She was not believed I think a man would have been believed, said Dame Jocelyn, but now is recognised for her achievements. Rebecca Elson, who was born in 1960, but died from cancer in 1999, studied the evolution of stars; she was also a poet, and wrote poetry about astronomy. She spoke of the isolation she experienced as a female astronomer, saying it felt like accidentally walking into the mens bathroom. Dame Jocelyn read a poem which Rebecca Elson wrote about dark matter, called Let There Always Be Light (searching for dark matter) which described looking for signs of unseen things:
To weigh us down. To stop the universe From rushing on and on Into its own beyond Till it exhausts itself and lies down cold, Its last star going out. Now, however, we know there isnt enough dark matter to prevent perpetual expansion the outlook for the universe is bleak, said Dame Jocelyn. Turning to the issue of women in astronomy today, Dame Jocelyn demonstrated that there is definite gender imbalance. Examining membership of the umbrella organisation, the International Astronomical Union, she said that an average 15% of members are women. This ranges from 37% in Argentina, to 6% in Japan. The UK and US have below average female representation, at 12%. Italy (25%), France (24%) and Spain (18%) are far ahead of Sweden (13%), the Netherlands (12%) and Germany (10%). The low numbers of women could be because membership is for tenured astronomers, so larger numbers of younger women arent counted, said Dame Jocelyn. In addition, women may be overlooked because members have to be nominated by their countrys astronomical society which tends to involve the white male establishment, she said. The reasons must be cultural
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its nothing to do with womens brains, she added. The situation with astronomy is similar to that in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) more generally. Although the numbers are growing, there is still a great imbalance, and any improvement is happening slowly. There are, she said, more women in STEM subjects at undergraduate and postgraduate level, but this falls away the higher you go up the career ladder. There are issues to be addressed such as worklife balance and the demands of combining a career with family life. But there are also more subtle issues around workplace climate. Women are like canaries, Dame Jocelyn said they are more sensitive to the friendliness (or otherwise) in a department. The disparity could be because there are too few women entering science and too many leaving, or because those who stay dont get promoted as quickly as their male colleagues. Or most likely because of all of the above. A number of initiatives have been introduced to encourage women to study scientific subjects and to take up careers in science, but success has been limited at best. Why, indeed, asked Dame Jocelyn, should women do all the changing? Why should it be assumed that the male norm is normal?
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Shouldnt science move towards women as well as women move towards science? Long term, the climate of science must change we must move to fix the system, rather than fix the women. What we call science has been named and developed and interpreted by men, mostly white men; no wonder people from different backgrounds find aspects of it odd. In the US, programmes encouraging a better gender balance have changed focus and are now offering grants for institutional change. There are also positive developments in the UK, such as the Athena SWAN charter and awards, which essentially recognise universities and departments for being women-friendly. Dame Jocelyn herself is working on a report for the RSE on how these issues can be addressed in STEM. Much good work is going on locally, she said, but a proper strategy is needed to bring about change. Watch this space in the near future. Until this Nirvana arrives, however, she recommends that women save up and recount their stories, and that management should be improved women benefit from good management and suffer from poor management to a greater extent than men. And, she concluded, it should be remembered that well-behaved women rarely make history.
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Terry Hill CBE Chairman, Arup Group Trusts 7 March 2012 Infrastructure Costs Too Much, And It Neednt
The lecture began with Terry Hill spelling out his abiding philosophies. For civil engineers, he explained, the greatest gift they could wish for society is having the ability to change peoples lives. But ranking alongside that is bringing in projects on time and on budget, which is not the rarity sometimes supposed. What he wanted to talk about, however, was why it costs more to build infrastructure in the UK than it does in other comparable countries. Why is it as he had told government ministers the High Speed 2 (HS2) project in England would cost 55% more in this country than it would have done in any other country in Western Europe? As a result, ministers in the last Labour government had set up Infrastructure UK and the work had carried on under the present Coalition administration, which gets it just as much. This had given rise to the National Infrastructure Plan (NIP) 2011, agreed by the industry and the Treasury, aimed at improving the planning of infrastructure in the UK. Its contents, said Hill, were stunning, containing as it did
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250bn of projects over the next five years double the amount in the previous five years involving transport, energy, waste, water and telecommunications projects. The NIP says that what is needed in the UK is a revolution in transformational infrastructure investment of the kind that helped bring the 2012 Olympics to London by making sure that HS1 runs to the main venues in London. The NIP addresses several key themes, Hill said, that acknowledge problems in improving the UKs infrastructure. One is obsolescence. As the UK was one of the first countries to have an Industrial Revolution, the infrastructure built then and still in use is knackered and crying out for renewal. Yet because of todays global nature of infrastructure investment, the UK has to make sure that the right investment environment is available, or face the prospect of that investment going elsewhere. Demand is also a key consideration, but there is no doubt that, despite the recession, demand is holding up in this country. The demand for rail, for example, is at
its highest since the end of WW2. Then there is inter-dependency of infrastructure projects, which has not always been fully thought through. One example of good practice in this area is a recent picture of an electricity sub-station surrounded by flood water, which is only being kept at bay by strongly-built dykes. Without those dykes, the power to the whole of the West Country could have been knocked out. It shows that infrastructure projects have to mesh. Given the complexity of infrastructure systems, Hill asked, how is it possible to attract both public and private sector funds into investing in it? The big pension funds see it as a risky investment area but, Hill argued, actually, in the long term, it isnt. Even though there may be risks in the early years of a project which is what pension funds get nervous about there are ways of making it more palatable. The UK started building projects using the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and, in general, this has worked well, with many success stories. There are other financing models too, such as the Scottish Futures Trust. But how should the UK continue to get private sector funding into projects such as the new Forth Road Bridge or the 30bn HS2? The financial figures reveal that spending on infrastructure in the UK dropped away at the turn of the 20th Century, but if the plans
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to spend 250bn in the next five years are to be realised then the UK has to get private sector financing back, Hill insisted. The first step is to have a plan a vision worth investing in. Hill said he has spent much of his working life getting ministers interested in infrastructure, but politicians often do not think beyond the electoral short term. They ask what is in it for them in sanctioning the spending of huge sums of money on projects that wont come to fruition while they are in office. To help overcome this, a firm grip of costs is necessary. Data from Europe show that UK projects are around 15% more expensive to build than in France, Spain or Germany, whether they are tunnels, roads, railways or wind farms. But why, Hill asked? Some reasons were obvious. Britain is a densely-crowded island with an ageing infrastructure which is sweated more, so replacement projects tend to be more expensive. There is also evidence that more money is put into upfront capital costs, as opposed to whole-of-life costs. But capital costs are higher in the UK than in most other Western European countries. The UK planning system is also too slow and too long; Heathrow Terminal Five was seven years in the planning process but is it seven years better for it, Hill asked?
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But there are also other factors at play in driving up costs. The industry could not properly plan ahead without a proper investment pipeline of projects. CrossRail in London was only fully funded three months before it started, which was hardly ideal, Hill said. Then there is poor governance, a lack of knowledge by clients of what they want to get out of a project, poor incentives to keep costs low, and poor information about the extent and condition of assets. There are also cases of costly over-specification, Hill argued. The Jubilee Line in London looks stunning but it cost twice as much as the Madrid Metro, so choices have to be made. Additionally, procurement procedures in the UK are overly conservative and risk- averse and there are supply chain difficulties. In Germany, for example, only one company is usually working on a project, which is very different to the UK where 80% of the work is contracted out. There is also the stop-start nature of investment in the UK, demonstrating a lack of public sector planning.The water industry, governed by Ofwat, works in five-year funding cycles, leading to three-year investment years with two dead years in between. The UK lost its rolling stock industry because there was a seven-year hiatus in which there were no orders. And many large projects are now managed on a
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set budget, rather than lowest cost. If the budget contains contingencies, then this tends to be viewed as available budget. If a contractor knows that the budget is, for example, 100m, but there is 50m for contingencies, then the project will be built for 150m. That happens time and time again, Hill said. The stringent way in which environmental and safety regulations are applied in the UK is also partly to blame. It is fantastic, Hill said, that the UK has the safest industry in Europe, but could the same outcomes be delivered more efficiently and at less cost? Hill said he believes they could and outlined five main areas for improvements. The first is to create that highly-visible project pipeline have a plan and stick to it which would reduce the costs of finance. That had been done through the NIP. Second is delivering good governance, which means, on any project, being clear who the clients are, where the money is coming from and who is going to deliver it. At all levels, people with experience in delivering multibillion-pound projects are needed. Thirdly, greater discipline is needed in the public sector in the commissioning of projects and programmes, particularly during a recession. There has to be a
national database of costs and a reduction of the overlapping standards, which drive costs up. An investigation has found that the UK rail network has seven sets of overlapping standards and the tendency, when there are two dealing with the same subject, is to choose the most expensive, just to be safe, which has the effect of unnecessarily driving up costs. When London Underground management investigated, it found it had 2,900 standards relating to infrastructure projects. They have now been reduced to 400 without compromising areas such as durability and safety. Another challenge is to ensure that projects are designed before they are built. Hill recalled a Permanent Secretary to the Treasury who responded with incredulity when he learned that construction sometimes started before the design was finalised. Yet the industry is now capable of building quickly. What is needed is a permanent system of design and plan long, followed by build fast. The fourth area of improvement identified by Hill is in developing smarter ways of using competition to lower costs. The commissioning of the new Olympic Stadium is a good example, he said, even though Arup had lost out. Arup realised fairly early in the process that the client wanted the team that built the Emirates Stadium for
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Arsenal FC without fuss, on time and on budget. The decision had been made by an intelligent and knowledgeable client, which chose the team that it knew could deliver the project. There is a tendency in the UK to commission the company that has simply put in the lowest cost bid, without looking at the bigger picture, and that is where things could go badly wrong. There is a lesson to be learned from French civil servants, who prefer to work with companies with whom they have a long-term relationship and who they know are competent to deliver. Government has a part to play here, Hill suggested, as one problem is the commercial capabilities of public sector procurement officials. The government is now looking at developing a cadre of top-level people with this kind of experience who can move from one big project to the next. If costs are to be reduced, the public sector has to be as good as it can be in commissioning projects, Hill said. Finally, he suggested, if the first four challenges could successfully be tackled then the fifth would fall into place. That would involve an industry that is more confident in the way forward and able to respond by investing in efficiency, training and innovation. Overall costs would be lowered again.
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So where does the industry stand at the moment? Many improvements are already being made. A construction pipeline has been published, an industry standards group has been established and project banks have been set up to overcome the problem of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) not being paid. In addition, an Industry Charter has been created so the industry can work together, a public procurement toolkit has been developed and benchmarking data have been made available. The mantra continues to be On time and on budget, but now the aim is to deliver even more infrastructure for the same money. You cant beat that, can you, Hill concluded. Vote of Thanks The vote of thanks was given by Gareth Pender, Professor of Environmental Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, who described Terry Hill as a man at the top of his profession. Terry has identified the problem and prescribed actions to make a difference in future, the very essence of civil engineering.
Terry is an excellent communicator who has clearly delivered a complex message peppered with useful facts such as the 250bn to be spent in the next five years. He also mentions that construction in the UK is more expensive than in benchmark European nations and that the industry has 250,000 companies, an average of seven staff each. That is staggering. The essence of Terrys talk is about how a pipeline of projects encouraged investment, how there is limited experience in this country in the governance, commissioning and delivery of projects and how we need to develop a more competitive industry. Part of that pipeline is the National Telford Institute, which sponsored this lecture, and which is an initiative in universities to work together on research into the supply and delivery of infrastructure. Professor Pender added that he was due to meet a group of young people considering taking university courses in the construction industry and it would be reassuring for them to hear the commitment outlined in the National Infrastructure Plan for 250bn of spending, as they might be playing their part in delivering it.
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Ivor S Tiefenbrun MBE Founder and Chairman of Linn Products Ltd 22 March 2012 Extreme Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering / Royal Society of Edinburgh Joint Lecture 2012 Thank you very much for the introduction and for the invitation and opportunity to deliver The Royal Society of Edinburgh and The Royal Academy of Engineering Annual Joint Lecture. I love music. Forty-three years ago when I got married I purchased the very best hi-fi system available but I found it uninvolving. Even changing all the individual components in the system didnt yield any fundamental improvement. I started to explore why it was so unsatisfactory and discovered that the turntable was being influenced adversely by the changes in sound pressure from the loudspeakers. I established this fact by simply putting the turntable outside my living room and listening with the signal leads to my system passing underneath the door. It sounded much better and much more musically accurate and involving than when the turntable was located in the same room. This experiment only took a few moments to set up, followed by a quick listen. At that time I was working for my late fathers engineering company, so I set out to use that wonderful resource to make a turntable that
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wasnt influenced adversely by the loudspeakers. One thing led to another and, with the assistance of my father, who designed a very quiet-running central bearing, and my very supportive skilled colleagues, I succeeded in making an LP record playing turntable that was immune to acoustic feedback from the loudspeakers. It was also precision engineered to very high standards to enable more music information to be extracted from the record groove. In a hi- fi system the music playing source product comes first and no amplifier or loudspeaker can improve on its input signal quality. My turntable could improve the sound of any system and my company Linn Products was founded to make this revolutionary product. My turntable excited and thrilled those who listened to it but news about its revelatory performance also aroused great scepticism among those who thought they understood all there was to know about hi-fi. Claims that a turntable could improve the sound of a system were initially dismissed by some hi-fi experts as being unbelievable. Some hi-fi retailers
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would not even listen to my turntable to determine if there was any truth to my claims, even although it would only have taken them a few minutes to discover for themselves. Conventional wisdom was that the loudspeakers were the most important components in a hi-fi system because that is where the sound comes from. I was told that the turntable just goes round and round. I replied that loudspeakers only go in and out! Experts can be wrong. The fact that I knew very little about hi-fi had led me to examine all the relevant issues with an open mind and so I embarked on a learning journey which led to the development of transformational products. The turntable I made, which I eventually named the Linn Sondek LP12, looked the same as most other turntables but almost every component had a different purpose. I had optimised the suspension for acoustic isolation instead of shock resistance. Similarly, every other component in the product also had an alternative focus. In combination they operated to allow more of the precious musical information in the groove of an LP to be recovered and then converted into the delicate electrical signal that could be amplified to drive the loudspeakers. The integrity of the recording process meant that the smallest information it captured in
a record groove is smaller than the wavelength of light, and the smallest electrical signals generated comprised only a handful of electrons. However, the recordplayback process had great scope for loss and I was aware that it was impossible to ensure a perfect result. So I designed my turntable in a modular way, doing the best I could at the time, but also so that all the key elements could be developed and that improved parts were then retro-fittable. Our existing as well as new customers could benefit as our knowledge and capability improved. A modular, upgradeable and expandable system architecture fostered sustainable long-term relationships with our customers, but above all it encouraged and facilitated learning and so enabled Linn to give our products the longest possible competitive model life. Customers built our business so we look after them. We still make the Linn Sondek LP12 turntable, and although every part has been improved we can still service and support past customers using current parts. Not only does this reduce the need to stock obsolete spares, but after a service, repair or an upgrade the performance of the customers system can be improved. I also devised a single-stage manufacturing process to replace the conventional production line
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so that instead one responsible person performed an entire intelligible task from start to finish. To conceive and test this concept took only 30 minutes, and to engineer this radical operational reform and change to the single-stage build methodology we still deploy at Linn took only a few weeks. If one person can assemble a complete product then another can service it, and so again we benefited from the fact that in life one good thing often leads to other good things. Our strategy of selling by comparative demonstration meant that we had to outperform our competition. To achieve this we needed to use our people at the highest possible level. So we gave them responsibility and used open standard interfaces that exposed us to competition. All this incentivised us to keep on learning and maintain an enthusiastic interest in our work. I soon found that we needed better loudspeakers to demonstrate our turntable. I wanted to make a Linn loudspeaker that could more accurately reproduce very low frequencies but when I expressed this intention I was told it was impossible, for two reasons. First, I knew nothing about loudspeakers and so could not possibly achieve something so ambitious; and second, something so obviously desirable, if it were possible, would have already
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been done. But the second notion if it had been true would have meant that nothing better could ever be achieved. And as for knowing nothing about loudspeakers, that was almost true but I knew that in two years time either I would know more or less everything about loudspeakers and would have failed, or I would have succeeded but still not know enough about loudspeakers. In the event, I came up with a novel concept which enabled us to achieve our objective surprisingly quickly. In fact it took less than a week to conceive a workable idea and prove it had potential with a prototype. So the impossible didnt take very long. Just trying to do something that had not been done before appeared to make it almost certain that a way could be found. In fact all I had to do really was think differently. Most good ideas are obvious in retrospect, while in prospect they seemed counterintuitive or impossible. Just examining the alternatives to perceived wisdom is one way of acquiring new understanding and achieving unprecedented success. There are an infinite number of undiscovered useful possibilities in our universe and our short engineering journey has only exposed a tiny number. Today our company applies the same principles that we applied to analogue sound components to
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get more information from a digital data stream, and we have improved every component in the audio reproduction chain with original performance-led designs that sell very successfully around the world. An innovative idea occurs in the mind of a single individual, but interaction with others and with problems and challenges and the things that surround us never fails to stimulate or improve new ideas. In fact, all imaginative thought requires interaction, within ourselves, with others and with our surroundings. A new idea, like a new product, starts off like a new baby, having a separate and distinct identity, and even if its body, personality and character are still unformed it can exhibit great potential. For these reasons fairly rudimentary and even crude experiments, prototypes and products can be revolutionary in their impact, yet not too difficult to develop, deliver or sell using existing resources. So the barrier to entry is less than normally imagined, and can be minimal. Indeed, no matter how complex or advanced a new technology is or becomes, new start-ups can and do appear and new innovations, including even the most radical, always emerge, as ever, from the inspired individual mind of a single curious and motivated human being.
In pursuit of integration and flexibility we work together in a learning company, with a flat egalitarian organisational structure using a team approach to achieve more by working together than we could as isolated individuals. Our goal is always to maximise individual understanding and achievement. For Linn to be successful at what we care about most, which is giving people pleasure from pitchaccurate sound reproduction, almost everything we make is generated in-house. We devise or control every aspect of our design and manufacturing processes. We manufacture all our key components, from machined metal parts to electronic circuit boards, and we write or control every line of code in our software. We deal with mechanical, electrical, acoustic, recording and industrial engineering, analogue and digital electronics, embedded and user interface software, production and test engineering, ergonomics, product styling, and a whole wide variety of other related disciplines. We write our own product test software and even all our own website and business systems software in-house. We do all this ourselves to ensure that a Linn sound system is a transformational purchase that will change and improve our customers lives. Our products are Clyde-built to last,
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and are also designed to evolve and develop. Engineering is about making things to a standard. It is about shaping our world and behaviour, not just objects. As imaginative tool-wielding animals we have evolved, from vulnerable creatures that would break nuts or bones with a piece of rock to feed or to defend ourselves, to the creators of all kinds of tools, ideas and things that were not dreamt of only a generation or so ago. Yet despite such amazing progress we still cannot imagine what life could be like for our childrens generation let alone further ahead in the future. Even with all our progress at Linn there is still a vast gap, although it has narrowed considerably, between real natural performed live music and how accurately it can be recorded and reproduced. All this is despite the fact that in our Linn DS digital streaming sources, which have replaced CD players, the clock generator devices have timing variations called jitter in the region of only seven picoseconds. A picosecond is a million millionth of a second, and by comparison light can travel only two millimetres in seven picoseconds. These devices also have some sensitivity to acoustic pressure, so we have to shield the components and avoid exposing them to sound and vibration to avoid any degradation in their
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jitter performance. You would imagine after so much time, effort and passion with this kind of extreme engineering that we must be delivering perfection, but that is far from the case. Not only are we working to ever-higher standards and making bigger improvements than ever, with every sign that this rate of progress is accelerating rather than slowing down, but any difference we do make, no matter how small, can be clearly detected by a discerning listener, such are the amazing powers that all hearing human beings possess and share. I want you to participate in a short demonstration. I am going to ask you in a moment to do something for me. I am going to ask you to touch your neighbour, but I want you to preferably touch someone you didnt come here with, so please if possible pick someone sitting close beside you that you do not know. Please do so now. As you all just experienced and demonstrated, we are hesitant to touch someone we do not know. In the situation that I have created what people do is that they normally touch the back of the strangers hand. They quickly make contact and then they hold that position. We do this because we become conscious of something we dont usually consider and that is that touch can be a communication that might give
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rise to embarrassment or confusion. For that reason we make contact quickly and then hold the position. We realise that in the brief instant of the transition period as we actually make the contact, a touch has the capacity to express and transmit our feelings. In fact, the briefest touch can communicate a diverse range of feelings and emotions. Music is a universal language of human feeling and emotion. It is sung, written and performed by people for people. Music is the song of our species. It is in our DNA. We all respond to music in the same fundamental way. Human beings all around the world, irrespective of culture, can experience the same kind of elemental emotion and feeling from a piece of music. No one confuses a happy tune with a sad one. We all share a musical vocabulary covering the universal and basic human emotions of excitement, love, hate, fear, lust, passion, anger, remorse, anguish and so on. These feelings can be communicated by short phrases contained within music that we call micro rhythms. They are of very short duration, typically between five and 15 microseconds. A sound frequency we can hear reflects its rate of change of pressure. If, instead of being exposed as a listener to the frequency waveform that we hear, we are exposed to the corresponding pressure
wave form that we can feel directly, for example by physically applying pressure on to, say, our forearm, we also respond in the same identical way to the same emotional vocabulary communicated by the same micro rhythms. We all experience the same emotions when they are communicated by the same shape of signal because the language of feeling and emotion that we call music transcends all boundaries of race, culture, age, intelligence, education and so on; indeed it extends across the barriers of time so that when we listen to music by Mozart or Beethoven being played we can experience the emotions that the composer intended us to feel and that the performing musicians are able to communicate. Our ears are directly coupled to our brains. When we are transported by the pure sound of natural live instruments playing music, without the distorting influence of a PA system with its microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers and so on, the mechanism that transports us is the fact that it is perfectly easy to simultaneously reproduce every sound we hear as it happens and so we can transfer that sound to our own brain without any conscious effort. Indeed people with sufficient skill can actually experience the sound of a piece of music by simply reading the score and consciously generating the
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sound of the music in their own head. The generated electrical signal in their brain can be detected. The sound they generate corresponds to the sound that we would all recognise as being the sound of the live music performed from the same score. We are all familiar with the concept of perceived colour being a combination of different frequencies of different amplitudes. By mixing separate colours in different quantities we change the net result. We know white is a combination of all the colours of the rainbow stimulating our eyes in the correct proportion. If we change the frequency (in other words the colour) or the amount of any these components (in other words the amplitude of any one of the frequency components), we will change what we see. The same scenario applies to sound. A note in music is not like laser light, a single frequency with a single amplitude. Like most of the colours we see, music is made up from many different frequency components comprising the fundamental generated by the instrument and its various harmonics, each with its own amplitude. Together they combine to produce a net resultant sound effect which we perceive as the pitch of the particular sound or note or chord in question, and of course we often listen to many musical instruments playing at the
same time. These beautifully engineered and highly evolved devices have been designed, crafted and developed to give us as rich and complex a tone as possible and to amplify the level sufficiently to travel long distances or fill large spaces. If, when we reproduce music, any of the frequencies generated are shifted or if any of their amplitudes are altered inconsistently, then the net resultant pitch will also change. So if a hi-fi system has the ability to change the value of any frequency or its amplitude in a non-linear way it will then differentially change the pitch of every sound being reproduced and that is why we have to go to such extreme lengths to engineer pitch-accurate equipment that can begin to do justice to the unique communicative power of music. Changing the pitch of the notes even ever so slightly means you are changing or even destroying the tune and its meaning. Such is the sensitivity, resolution and power of human hearing, of our ear/ brain combination, that we can detect the smallest differences by listening actively. Active listening is a deliberate, conscious, mental process where we try to mimic every sound we hear. If you are concentrating and listening attentively to me speaking, then you are repeating every word I say simultaneously but silently in your head. Listening is
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defined as silent repetition. All of us have an expectation of what music is. All of us have an internal music reference. All of us can spot a mistake or a wrong note. This internal reference makes our hearing unlike our vision or taste or other senses because it is fast, accurate, consistent and universal. If, when we try to follow reproduced music, we find we cannot easily do so, it is usually because before we can locate one element of the sound something else has occurred, and no subsequent tone or note is certain or correct enough for us to speedily locate and mimic. The smallest inconsistencies and pitch errors matter greatly to us because they disrupt our ability to continuously follow and so respond to music. Extreme engineering precision is required to do justice to the challenge of reproducing recorded music convincingly. With better, more pitch-accurate reproduced sound that more closely resembles real live music we can readily locate and follow more of the notes, instruments and elements of the music more of the time in the same natural way that we do with live music. We can do this because it more closely matches and conforms to the internal music reference we all have embedded in our DNA. The earliest known example of a precursor to human beings and indeed to all the vertebrates, is a
small two-inch long wormlike creature, whose fossilised remains were discovered in the Burgess Shale in Western Canada over 100 years ago. The circumstances pertaining in the Cambrian period starting around 550 million years ago facilitated an amazing explosion of life, in a vast array of diverse forms, and some of these soft-tissue creatures were fossilised and preserved. The conditions existing at that time that gave rise to this particular worm had also led to a great many other varieties of new life forms, in all kinds of strange and unfamiliar shapes and arrangements. All the unfamiliar forms then perished over time in a process of mass extinction. This evolutionary process has eliminated developments of almost all the varieties of life that were included in the examples we have of all those frozen in time in the Burgess Shale. That wormlike creature, an example of the predecessor of the vertebrates, that was found there and which survived the process of mass extinction we call natural selection, went on to develop into all the vertebrates that remain on our planet today. Consider what senses our earliest known ancestor might have possessed. It had no eyes so it could not see. It had no hands or fingers it could use to touch. It had no nose so could not smell and without a tongue it
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could not taste. It had no ears so could not hear, but we are compelled to believe the one sense it must have had was pressure sensitivity. Without pressure sensitivity it is not possible to maintain a position against gravity, current, or wind, in water or on land or in the air. Without pressure sensitivity we cannot balance or move, we cannot feed, seize prey or move away from our effluent; we cannot avoid a predator, swim, shoal with our brethren or mate and reproduce. So pressure sensitivity is a most fundamental sense. That wormlike creature still exists. Our ancestor lives on inside every one of us as our spinal column and the primitive limbic core of our brain. Just like a tadpole develops arms and legs to become a frog, our wormlike ancestor which emerged in the Cambrian period did the same.. In that sense we have all evolved from pond life and are creatures of the sea. As our senses and capabilities evolved we began to communicate by singing to each other in the same way that whales, dolphins, chimpanzees and birds sing to communicate. Our spoken natural languages have evolved from song, and as they grow apart they diverge to separate us into language groups. Two thousand five hundred years ago probably less than a thousand people spoke Latin. Today a billion speak
some derivative language, but a Romanian cannot understand an Argentinean. But, because music is the song of our species, the underlying language of music is a constant and remains universal. Music would be just a stream of noise except for the fact that we can package it into meaningful elements like notes, which according to their perceived pitch occupy a position in a scale of frequencies we recognise and order across our hearing range. Tiny micro rhythms allow us to locate, discriminate and respond to each element. Spoken languages have evolved from music, and like music they are also just a stream of noise. If you listen to an unfamiliar foreign language being spoken it certainly sounds like a stream of noise. To learn to understand otherwise, we have to laboriously memorise several hundred common words like mummy, daddy, cat, dog, etc, and learn their meaning. What we are really learning, however, is how to recognise and identify the leading edge waveforms of each word. If I say, would you like a glass of beer?, you probably recognise and can anticipate each word before I have pronounced it fully by recognising its characteristic leading edge waveform and anticipating what might follow. Once we can separate the sound of a foreign language into the meaningful packages we call
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words, we can then compare them with our own internal reference, our own individual language dictionary, to see if we recognise them or not, and then enquire about and learn the meaning of those words that are unfamiliar. When a skilled pianist or violinist or flautist plays music, the feelings and emotions they seek to express can be communicated in every touch of each key, in every breath they take, in the leading edge waveforms of the sounds made by every string or bow they pluck, and in every micro rhythm they express within the music. This is all communicated through the air for us to receive, and we then experience and feel the same emotions as those that were expressed. Difficult as that may be to believe, what it makes clear is that music is touching at a distance. Considering this capability confirms the understanding that we are fundamentally pressure-sensitive creatures. Pressure sensitivity shaped our evolution, formed our identity and determined our capacity to survive. Pressure sensitivity gave us the power to move and informed us whether we were swimming up or down and indeed created the possibility for that choice. The power to choose in turn compels us to think and to learn, and thinking and learning and action lead to knowledge, understanding,
communication and cooperation. Music is consistent with a threedimensional navigation system and it goes perfectly with movement whether it is swimming, running, cycling or dancing. And this internal and external motion is the imperative for feeling, creativity, imagination and love. Each and every one of us exists because a single tadpole-like sperm from our fathers ejaculate survived the swim through the saline solutions of our mothers birth canal to fertilise an egg, which then developed into a foetus floating and swimming in the salty water ocean of our mothers womb. The first sense we develop is our sense of hearing by 14 weeks, and the first sounds that we hear are the sounds of our mothers heart beating, then the outside world and the rushing of blood, and eventually identifying our own heartbeat and creating our own sense of identity. All of us are creatures of the sea. All of us are shaped, formed and born as pressure-sensitive creatures. All of us have experienced the entire evolutionary journey of our species. Pressure sensitivity is embodied into each and every individual cell in our body which all vibrate and respond to changes in pressure. We are all pressuresensitive organisms responding to the complex pressures and rhythms of life and the universe.
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Pressure is applied force, action causes reaction, and the capability to apply force through a distance gives us the energy to perform work, to act and cause action and make things happen. Being pressure-sensitive, interactive and applying forces by singing and dancing, or pushing and pulling is at the heart of our nature and our evolution, and is the source of our tool- wielding ability and our capacity to think and shape our existence and shape our world. The forces applied and that we are learning to apply range from the smallest to the largest. Pressure sensitivity, from the individual cellular level to across our complete body, and the development of our ability to respond to and shape our world makes all productive life engineering. Every field of human endeavour allows infinite scope to understand more, explore further, push forward beyond established limits, find opportunity to improve, and
to originate and innovate in every set of circumstances and so to shape, improve and indeed to engineer every aspect of our lives for the better. By engineering improved individual and group productivity we create and increase wealth for ourselves and our species. So I would ask you to reflect upon the fact that if there were any single discipline, practice or activity without which we could not imagine sustaining our rich life, it would undoubtedly be engineering. Nothing has greater importance or is more fundamental to what we are and our future. To discover the art of engineering is to live and shape your life to the full with intelligent productive actions and to shape and touch the lives of others.
The Royal Academy of Engineering/The Royal Society of Edinburgh Joint Lecture 2012 ISBN No 1-903496-85-3
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Tim Flannery Mammalogist. Palaeontologist, Environmentalist and Global Warming Activist 4 April 2012 An Evening with Tim Flannery: Tim Flannery in conversation with Scott Donaldson Part of the Oxygen series run by The Royal Commonwealth Society in partnership with Creative Scotland RSE President, Sir John Arbuthnott, welcomed everyone and introduced the Director of Development at Creative Scotland, Venu Dhupa. Ms Dhupa spoke of the organisations role and projects, and contextualised the evening as part their extensive programme of international partnerships and internships. The learning from a diverse array of fields, she explained, is then fed back into the cultural and creative sector to create churn and open up new perspectives for talent development. Creative Scotlands Scott Donaldson who, it became apparent, is well versed in the writings of Professor Tim Flannery, was then invited to join Flannery on the stage to play a chat show host role in the evenings conversation, with apposite questions to encourage the speakers flow. A question and answer session with the 150-or-so audience members, chaired by Sir John Arbuthnott, followed the conversation and Professor Flannerys responses are incorporated into the account which follows.
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Donaldson began by introducing Professor Tim Flannery, who was named Australian of the Year in 2007, with some of the many titles he is given: palaeontologist, mammalogist, zoologist, environmentalist, explorer and writer, and asked what set him off on these career paths. It was between the age of six and twelve, Tim Flannery related, growing up outside Melbourne amidst a patchwork of undeveloped bush and farm land in Southern Australia, that he became aware of rapid urban sprawl going unchecked. There was no regard for biodiversity and the young Flannery had strong feelings about the disappearance of parrots and frogs and the environment change. This urbanisation Flannerys mother then characterised to him as progress, something he knew then that he didnt want to be part of. His imagination was also captured whilst diving in nearby Port Phillip Bay. There he found a special place where ten millionyear-old sub-sea rocks were home to fossils of creatures from a more
ancient bay, including sharks teeth and the metre-long sections of jaw bones of extinct whales. This insight and ability to imagine was a very formative influence, instilling in him a romantic connection between the progress of nature and the evolution of life and left Flannery, at a young age, with a strong sense that the past was a hell of a lot more exciting than the present! By his own reckoning, Flannery was a bad school student and not diligent enough to get in to study science. He trained instead as a high school teacher, studying English and History, which he reflected was very valuable in teaching him to write. A timely minerals boom and lack of geologists in Australia soon enabled him to return to science and undertake a Masters in Earth Sciences and a PhD in Biological Sciences after which, and then with a three-week-old baby, found himself spat out the other end, self-deprecatingly joking: Oh, Ive got a PhD on the evolution of kangaroos, Im sure someone will employ me, not quite!. He felt incredibly lucky only months later to land the one job in Australia he would have killed for, the Curator of Mammals at the Australian Museum in Sydney, where he could study mammals, both living and fossil, and travel, thanks to the museums long
tradition of going to the Pacific Islands to study. His post entailed 15 years of climbing every mountain in New Guinea and finding many new species. Covered in rainforest, this island is exceptionally biodiverse, Flannery related, with more bird and mammal species than Australia, albeit only one tenth of its size. At that time, there were parts of the island which were home to tribes who had never before set eyes on Europeans. It was amazing for Flannery to experience being the first white man to walk into a village, but it was his discovery of new species that was of such significance to his work. Flannery discovered four new species of tree kangaroo which, he explained, fill an ecological position akin to monkeys; a metre-long rat unknown to science; and new bats and many marsupials. This was at a time when there was little or no fossil record of the Ice Age and Flannery and his team documented seven large-togigantic, unknown, extinct marsupials, defining the work that was to shape his future career. Scott Donaldson then pointed out that the 19th Century evolutionist Alfred Russel Wallace, looms large in many of Flannerys works and quoted Wallace: We live in a zoologically impoverished world, from which all the hugest and fiercest and strangest
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forms have recently disappearedyet it is surely a marvellous fact, and one that has hardly been sufficiently dwelt upon, this sudden dying out of so many large mammalian, not in one place only, but over half the land surface of the globe. Donaldson asked Flannery to offer a picture of what went missing from the Americas, Australasia and Siberia around the time of Mans arrival. The first humans to land in Australia 45,000 years ago did so after making a great ocean crossing from SE Asia in sophisticated open-water craft. Flannery invited us to imagine (as he did with the fossils in Port Phillip Bay), what those who first set foot on a beach in northern Australia would have experienced. Because the coastal flora and marine life would have been similar in SE Asia, they would have thought its just like the place we left, related Flannery, but upon pulling back the dense curtain of foliage just fifty metres inland, they would have opened up a remarkable scene which we can only begin to imagine today by thinking of the Serengeti plain. But instead of lions and elephants, the first people in Australia would have witnessed a host of fantasticalseeming creatures, which Flannery went on to describe. They would have seen herds of Diprododon oplatum, the largest marsupial that ever lived, weigh87
ing three tonnes and an unimaginable animal even to Flannery. Kangaroos give birth to offspring only the size of a fingernail, so, he wondered, how could a baby Diprododon oplatum manage to travel across the vast expanse of fur to reach its mothers pouch? This animal had a one-metre skull composed mostly of air, with a brain smaller than a fist. With all that space for sinuses, imagine its terrible sinusitis! quipped Flannery. A light head would have been a useful design feature, he explained, enabling the animal to travel long distances and conserve energy. Kangaroos hop because its the most effective way of getting from A to B devised by any mammal anywhere on Earth. Like being on a pogo stick, the energy from each bounce is stored, essential in a vast land of poor soil quality like Australia, where the kangaroo has to travel great distances for food due to limited vegetation and the scarcity of water. Today there are 70 species of kangaroo; but the first humans would have witnessed 150 different species, including 17 kinds of tree kangaroo and some that were carnivores and others that browsed from shrubs. We know from 45,000 year-old life-size cave paintings that Aboriginal people saw the leopard-sized marsupial lion, a relative of the koala turned carnivore. We dont fully know
why kangaroos and koalas became carnivorous, Flannery said, but the continent has many herbivores that became flesh eaters. Now extinct from Australia, there was Palorchestes azael, the equivalent of the ground sloth in the Americas. No one knows exactly what they looked like, but they were the size of a bull, and had a trunk and very powerful forelimbs that probably tore trees apart. There were giant lizards, including the largest goanna five metres long and half a tonne in weight, the bones of which have been discovered across northern Australia. Forty five thousand years ago, there was also the komodo dragon, which now only lives on a few small islands in Indonesia, the last place on Earth that it survives. It used to live throughout northern Australia and the islands to the north. It survived In Indonesia because the presence of the Hobbit, (a diminutive early human species Homo floresiensis), pre-adapted the komodo to how dangerous the presence of the bi-pedal carnivore, apes, can be; so when humans arrived, they knew to be afraid. In Australia, there were no Hobbits and the gigantic iguana became extinct. Im one of the few people enthusiastic about reintroducing the Komodo dragon into Australia, laughed Flannery, a development which he thinks
would do the ecology good. We know that Scotland would have had mammoth, musk ox, reindeer, bison and giant elk, Flannery reflected, but we are just starting to explore the extent of the biodiversity that was lost when people first came to the Australian Serengeti. Tim Flannery was interested in Scott Donaldsons question of what would have happened as a result of the extinctions and wondered rhetorically what the result would be if we exterminated everything bigger than a Gemsbok antelope on the Serengeti. He believes that massive wild fires (of the sort he has witnessed raging across a million hectares of bush in Australia) would break out because the grass would keep growing with nothing to graze on it. The result of the charred remains would be a simplification of biodiversity. This would have an impact on climate because transpiration by plants is important in creating rainfall, he continued. The extinction of large mammals is more significant for productivity in some climates than others. Professor Flannery began his explanation of this by boiling down the ecological function of a mammal as being a large vat of microbes that feeds plant matter in one end and produces compost out of the other. In a rich
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environment which is humid, the microbes are still there, even if you get rid of the animals, he went on, so the cycle of plant material dying, decaying and recycling still occurs. In a dry continent such as Australia or Africa, the microbes dont thrive as well outside a mammal, as fire often beats them to the dead plants, and in cold environments, permafrost sees off the microbes, so that the recycling process of nutrients that keeps ecosystems fertile is stopped. Twenty-five years ago, Flannery wrote a book postulating the contentious hypothesis that modern-day Australias landscape and climate were created by the over hunting of giant animals by aboriginal peoples. A week before his appearance at the RSE, a paper published in the journal Science went some way, Flannery shared, to suggest that his hypothesis is valid, and Flannery thinks it may have become a theory, which, he reflected is a wonderful thing for any scientist. One of the questions that has been bubbling under in Flannerys head for some time is what happened for the aboriginal peoples to move from causing the extinction of the mega fauna 45,000 years ago, to living in such an adaptive way in recent centuries. He believes that, contrary to any view that they are primitive or backward, aboriginal peoples are one of the most specialised in the way they live. An
example of this is their rarely initiating all of their own people to create an in-group, which is the norm with societies around the World, but rather initiating people from other geographical aborigine groups with the aim of creating links. This is essential in a country where drought can strike for a decade at a time and when links with other fragile groups is essential in the sharing of scarce resources. Flannery deems this way of being as an incredible achievement that allows aborigines to survive. What, Scott Donaldson probed, is the evidence that it was always humans who did this damage in causing extinctions? That has been contentious since the time of Wallace and Darwin, Flannery replied, with claims that laid the blame on humans or climate or other factors. Only in the past 1015 years have dating techniques allowed us to say when the extinctions happened in Australia. Regardless of whether climate in different regions of the planet was warming, cooling or stable at the time that the mega fauna died out, it was when humans arrived that the big animals disappeared. The suggestion that the earliest aboriginal peoples caused this is so controversial, Flannery replied to Donaldsons question, because in recent years Australia has had a legal revolution, with the recogni89
tion in Australia of native title rights to land for aboriginal peoples. The courts have ruled that if unbroken since preEuropean times to the present day, aboriginal people can make claims on land; but, importantly, a key factor centres around custodianship of the land. When a scientist says that the ancestors of the aborigines who arrived 45,000 years ago caused great environmental damage, it has legal implications. Flannery volunteered that this is a problem and is contentious, particularly given colonial history, but that as a scientist, his duty is to state where he thinks the scientific facts point. Donaldson asked why we should value biodiversity as more than just a nice thing to have, at which Flannery expounded the view that our living planet is and has been from the beginning itself shaped by life, even the continents themselves three billion years ago. The fact that we can breathe the atmosphere and that water is clean is due to the influence of life on rocks and oceans and the drawing down of the Suns energy, which is six times that of the total human energy budget. If we chip away at biodiversity, he cautioned, we tinker detrimentally with the great engine that keeps the planet habitable and so threaten to return Earth to being a planet like
Mars or Venus that doesnt support life. Donaldson recalled that in his most recent book Here on Earth, Flannery distinguishes between two opposing views, that of Alfred Russel Wallace and James Lovelock on the one hand and Darwin and Dawkins on the other, and asked him to explain why he believes that it is so important that the Wallacean view is more widely understood. Flannery began by pointing out that there were two founders of the theory of evolution by natural selection, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who were extremely different people with very different perspectives on the planet. Darwin was the most careful reductionist scientist, whose life was spent understanding the effect of natural selection on all living things, whilst Russel Wallace was interested in what evolution had created. Wallace was not a trained scientist, had not gone to university, left school at a young age and his flashes of genius on the theory of evolution came about through an attack of malaria in Indonesia. When Darwin received Russel Wallaces letter he was astonished, believing that had Wallace had Darwins notebooks, he couldnt have summarised the theory as well. Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, setting out the evidence for evolution in detail. A
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decade later, Herbert Spencer suggested that the book be best summarised by calling it survival of the fittest. Darwins sub-title for the book, The Preservation of Favoured Races led the theory to be hijacked to defend social inequalities and the power of the English nobility, whose imperialist dominance stretched around the globe. Wallace never bought into that and questioned how survival of the fittest could create such a co-operative, natural world. Wallace remained fascinated by evolutions having created every part of a civilisation, such as ordering the three trillion cells that make up the human body. He recognised that there are thousands of species and not just me, Flannery said, offering that even 10% of what he personally calls me is made up of other species: the bugs in his gut, the mites living on his eyebrows, laughing, I do wash, but theyre all there! Russel Wallace was right, stated Flannery, that the survival of the fittest and selfish genes do not accurately describe our world which has been forged by co-operation from the level of our bodies to the planetary entity, Lovelocks Gaia, which self regulates to an extent. Flannery emphasised that it is fundamental to understand that evolution is on our side when it comes to trying to live sustainably. The ability to take a more holistic, Wallacean
view, rather than the reductionist one that Flannery believes has prevailed in universities, has become more possible in recent years with technologies that enable us to monitor the planet. The conversation then turned to climate change, with Flannery, who is Australias Climate Change Commissioner, stating that the basic message from climate scientists hasnt altered for 20 years. Carbon dioxide lies at the heart of the Earths thermostat and the burning of fossil fuels in the past 200 years has released carbon into the atmosphere, creating warming. This is causing extreme weather events and acidification of the oceans, impacting on food security and biodiversity. The tree kangaroos in New Guinea that Flannery spoke of at the start of the discourse, for example, are unlikely to survive in the next few hundred years as their habitats disappear, he predicted. In Australia, he also fears for the Alpine environments and diversely floristic areas in the south of the continent. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is now 30% above what it was two centuries ago, and the rate of emissions is increasing year on year. The message we are getting from the climate scientists, stated Flannery, is that this is the critical decade. If action isnt taken this decade, its going to be extremely
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difficult for the world to slow the warming trend before we hit the dangerous threshold of two degrees of warming. In fact, Flannery went on to say, its probably just one degree more than the current situation, as the climate change scientists threshold is two degrees above the pre-industrial average (prior to 1800) and we are already a degree above that. The fear of going beyond that is that positive feedback loops will take over, beyond which we cannot reverse the Earths warming. The melting of the Arctic ice is an example of a positive feedback loop. On a bright Summers day, it will reflect away approximately 90% of the energy of the Suns rays, so has a cooling effect; but when the ice melts, the dark ocean beneath is revealed and instead absorbs 90% of the energy rather than reflecting it back into Space, causes warming and brings about a cycle that drives the temperature up. James Lovelock takes a more conservative view about the quantity of CO2 required to take us above the critical level, but Flannery defers to the view of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which involves most of the Worlds climatological experts. It was in the late 90s when Flannery himself realised that climate change was a major problem and so spent the next
five years writing a book, The Weather Makers, to explain this to the general public. It used the same data as the IPCC, but Flannery qualified that, unlike them, he was not hobbled with a review process that had to please different countries and express the situation in the most basic English. He was able to write a more passionate book which became a bestseller, published in 26 languages. Professor Flannery happened to arrive in Denmark the week the Danes learned they were to host the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference, COP15. Flannery recognised the importance of the event and the Danes were receptive to establishing collaboratively the Copenhagen Climate Council which got the backing of big business. Six months before COP15, Flannerys team convened the World Business Summit on Climate Change, which was the largest-ever meeting of businesses coming together to discuss the subject. Out of COP15, they achieved the Copenhagen Accord. Flannery described himself as having been disappointed on the day he left Copenhagen, but that he is less so now. There is hope, he offered, as things are slowly changing. The Copenhagen Accord allowed countries to pledge voluntary action to deal with climate change and with nations, as individuals dont like to fail on objectives they
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set for themselves, he postulated. Lord Stern has calculated that if you add up the commitments, they reach about half the emissions reductions we need to avoid dangerous climate change. We are still some way off achieving a global treaty on climate change, Flannery reflected, but the area that gives him the greatest hope, is technology. Solar panels halved in price last year; new technologies are being deployed in the wind sector; and there are novel distribution technologies for electricity generation. It is going to be a close run thing, Flannery said, but there is still hope of avoiding dangerous climate change. The role of the Australian Climate Change Commission is to raise the level of understanding amongst the Australian public of climate science, the economics around it and whats happening internationally. In a democracy, Flannery contended, you wont get the longer-term outcomes you need in complex issues unless theres a level of public understanding. So contentious an issue in Australia is it, however, that when the Commission goes out to speak to the public, they need police protection. Flannery says that people need to understand that Australia is the largest exporter of coal globally, and that those with vested interests in fossil fuels can be resistant to
change. When I go round regional Australia I meet lots of coal miners. Theyre invariably decent people. They come from an industry with a strong tradition, a very proud tradition, and when they hear people saythe burning of coal is part of the problem, its almost an existential threat in a way; it threatens not just their business, it threatens their self respect and you have to be very carefuldealing with all of that, Flannery said. On top of that there is a crazy fringe and belief that discussion of climate change is an attempt by the UN to set up a global government and deprive people of their liberty and, lamented Flannery, people have even brought guns to climate change events in Australia. If he knew the answer to what scientists could do better to carry people with them, Flannery said, hed be retired and on the beach somewhere! Scientific messages can be complex, such as for climate, the explanation of CO2 in the atmosphere is not simple, whereas the sceptics message is its not happening, or that person is not reliable as a source of information. The northern hemisphere has been collecting weather data since the 18th Century, and with a high density of weather stations, whereas Australia does not have that same history and coverage of meteorological data with which to
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compare current extreme weather events and so point to the human cause of climate change. The role of culture and media in the arena of climate change Flannery sees as huge, noting that some of the most effective rebuttals of the climate change deniers have been articulated through satire. The biggest concern for him, teaching science and science communication at university, is the reluctance of young people, to get involved in these subjects, and there is little respect for the expert, with the public not wanting to know. One of the things Flannery finds most frustrating is the lack of interdisciplinarity in universities, and he attempts to bring people together more, teaching Arts and Sciences students jointly, where he admits that finding a common language can be problematic. Donaldson then quoted an early Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, John Playfair, who wrote in his book about James Hutton (another Fellow): The mind seemed to go giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time and we became sensible how much further reason may go than imagination can venture to follow. Donaldson asked Flannery whether it is this failure of imagination that prevents us from grasping the geological timescales, the complexities of Earths
systems and our dependence on them, and will this ultimately be our downfall? Flannery fears, he confessed, that we are becoming less imaginative. If we understand the abyss of time to which Playfair referred, we can comprehend that this process over time has taken a little bit of the Earths crust consisting of complex pre-life type molecules and created humans, and that every living thing is just animated fragments of the Earths crust. We all share a common origin and have grown interdependent through the evolutionary force that Wallace and Darwin identified. This gives Flannery hope, and he rejects the theory that humans are too selfish and greedy to live sustainably in the world. He believes that every command and control system is selfish, citing the human brain, which weighs only 2% of our body mass, but takes a highly disproportionate 20% of the energy from the food we eat every day and will cut off energy to other organs if under duress before depriving itself. But the one thing the brain can never do is to destroy the body upon which it relies, just as we cannot destroy the planet upon which we depend. Flannery claimed that we are in an incredibly privileged position because we are Gaias intelligence, we are Gaias brain. People are important because our
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intelligence allows us to organise matter at a fundamental planetary level, he believes. We have the opportunity to organise a more sophisticated Gaian system than currently exists a nervous system for the planet. Ultimately that Gaia will reproduce, when we send life to another planet to colonise that planet with life. At the speed we can move through the universe, even today, it would only take five million years for humanity to colonise the entire Galaxyinformation systems will be organising matter at the Galactic level, asserted Flannery.
This is a critical point in history, he said and to throw it all away because we cant shift from burning coal to using wind and solar, seems to me ridiculous. Humans are extraordinary, he said, the most important amazing and marvellous thing in the entire universe and certainly the most complex.so lets hope we never let our imagination fail to see our own greatness and power, because if we do that, we will do stupid things.
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Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford 02 May 2012 An Evening with Diarmaid MacCulloch Part of the Gifford Lecture Series supported by the Gifford Trust The event provided an opportunity to meet Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University, author of A History of Christianity: the first three thousand years and presenter of the subsequent TV series. The Professor was part way through delivering The Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh. The title for the lectures, and the starting point for the RSE discussion, was Silence in Christian History: the witness of Holmess Dog. Professor MacCulloch was welcomed by the Rev. Prof. John Richardson, who said that the lecture series title brought to mind how often the Church takes the passage from Ecclesiastes 3:7 a time to keep silence, and a time to speak, but frequently forgets which is which. Before inviting questions, Professor MacCulloch summarised his lecture series, and recalled Conan Doyles story Silver Blaze, in which Sherlock Holmes recognised that the clue to who committed the murder was that the dog did not bark in the night. This, he said, highlights the fact that silence is as important as any other sort of
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evidence. In history, it takes close familiarity with a period to notice where the silences fall to sense what is missing. Some silences are because the Church is deliberately forgetting its past. The 11th-Century conversion of Iceland closely involved three Armenian bishops of the Orthodox tradition. By the 12th Century, their identities were written out of the record, and a century later the bishops had vanished altogether. By this time Iceland was in the Western, Latin, Catholic orbit so the bishops were no longer valued as part of the narrative. There were many more discreditable silences over slavery of African Americans, child abuse and anti-Semitism. Silence is about more than Christianity and concerns more than omissions. Hinduism and Buddhism have many observations on silence and on the practice of silence; Christianity has borrowed from them. Citing Cruden, though, MacCulloch added that in the Old Testament tradition silence was often a negative, associated with death and defeat. Yet there was a
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minority view, exemplified by the Second Isaiah, where the messianic figure of the suffering servant is dumb; something which became hugely important for that deviant group of Jews called Christians. Silence became increasingly significant; it seemed quite basic to Jesus Ministry. The church of Paul, though, was noisy and enthusiastic and had no notion of monasticism, which probably arrived from Syria in the 2nd
Century. The triumph of silence came in the 3rd and 4th Centuries, when monasticism and asceticism emerged strongly and established their own momentum. In the West, silence became associated with text and monastic life, which demanded literacy. This approach to silence was challenged by the Reformation, which the Professor characterised as the noisiest period in Christian history, with the emphasis on preaching and song.
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Professor Jim Al-Khalili Professor of Physics, University of Surrey 16 May 2012 Alan Turing: Legacy of a Code Breaker Joint lecture with the University of Edinburgh, School of Informatics and supported by the Gifford Trust You deserved so much better. Why did British Prime Minister Gordon Brown say sorry to the mathematical genius and war hero Alan Turing, who killed himself in 1954? Jim Al-Khalili told the story of Turings extraordinary and ultimately tragic life in a lecture to commemorate the centenary of his birth and explain the thinking of a man who helped create the worlds first thinking machines... As well as focusing on Turings stellar achievements in computer science and cryptography, AlKhalili also showed the human side of Turing as a colourful character who chained his tea mug to a radiator so no-one could steal it and wore a gas mask to protect himself from pollen. The awkward-looking Turing was also an accomplished long-distance runner who could possibly have represented Britain at the 1948 Olympics. Turing also showed the classic signs of Aspergers Syndrome, but even in the midst of Britains scientific elite at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, helping to decipher German codes, he was known as the Prof.
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Born in India in 1912 and sent to school in England, Turings genius was clear from a very young age, but his headmaster wrote to his parents: If he is to stay at public school, he must aim at becoming educated. If he is to be solely a Scientific Specialist, he is wasting his time at a public school. Despite this warning, Turing breezed through university at Kings College, Cambridge, gaining a first-class degree in mathematics in 1934 and a PhD at Princeton four years later. What characterised Turings early years, Al-Khalili explained, was his desire to tackle the big problems in maths. He was also fascinated with intelligence and how the brain works, and wondered if it would be possible for machines to mimic the brain and solve the same problems that humans can solve. This even extended to the concept of mathematising biology and the first attempts to develop what we now call artificial intelligence. Could maths express the biological world? Was there a mathematical basis to human intelligence?
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Turing was moved to pose questions like these by the death of his first love, Christopher Morcom, in 1930, while the pair were still at public school at Sherborne. Al-Khalili suggested that Turing was so disturbed by the death of his friend that he tried to put his grief in a scientific context and also turned away from religion, adopting a reductionist view, even though he still believed that there was something about consciousness separate from the machine. As time went by, the challenge for Turing was to build a machine that could run algorithms basically, a series of commands in order to do the thinking for humans. Another big problem was decidability and the difficulty of finding a proof that proof exists. While grappling with these issues throughout the 1930s, Turing also concluded that the halting problem could not be decided in other words, it was impossible to know if a machine would ever stop computing, once a program was started. During the 1930s, Turing went on to develop the Universal Turing Machine which laid the foundation of modern computing, with ones and zeroes as the software and the device that reads them as the hardware. Turings legacy is not restricted to the pure science of computing, however. He also made a major
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contribution to the war effort, helping to save many thousands of lives. In the late 1930s, he worked part-time as a cryptographer for the government, and the day after war was declared on September 4, 1939, he was sent to Bletchley Park to focus on cracking the codes used by Uboats. In the process, Turing was part of a team that built a series of electro-mechanical machines known as bombes machines that helped to speed up calculations to decipher the codes. Al-Khalili compared the pressure of this top-secret project to solving the worlds hardest sudoku puzzle or thousands of lives would be lost. After the war, whilst working at the National Physical Laboratory, Turing focused on developing a machine that could think, and developed the blueprint for a computer that could store programs the Automatic Computing Engine. Al-Khalili said that Turing was not just interested in engineering, but also in the challenge of creating a machine that could think just like a human brain the most complex system in the universe. Al-Khalili described how the American pathologist Thomas Harvey had cut up Albert Einsteins brain to investigate what made it special, and explained that Turings challenge was to mimic the ordinary brain, not the brain of an Einstein.
Turings paper on Computing machinery and intelligence kicked off the science of artificial intelligence (AI), said AlKhalili, by asking: Can machines think? In his paper, Turing developed a scenario which asked what would happen if a human was replaced by a machine, concluding it was hard for the machine to behave exactly like a human but that it may be just as clever. The machine may get the answer right, but not necessarily by thinking the same as a human. The Turing test still intrigues computer scientists today can we tell the difference between a computer and a human being? Scientists who favour a strong AI view of computers believe there is no reason why machines should not be able to think just like humans. Our brains are complex, said Al-Khalili, but they are still just biological machines. We may feel happy or sad, but just as we know that our feelings dont come from the heart, so machines may have the computability to mimic human characteristics such as intuition, etc. Turing, said Al-Khalili, was also fascinated by the chemical basis of morphogenesis essentially the fact that simple cells (e.g. in embryos) which start off more or less identical and are not capable of thinking, interact with each other to produce a highly complex
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result (e.g. the different parts of human beings such as organs, limbs and brain, etc.). Can maths express how life began? Once life begins, cells reproduce and evolution kicks in, but how do we explain the transition from inanimate to animate things? In addition, Turing wondered how patterns emerge e.g. the different shapes and colours in an individual animal. He worked out algorithms to produce cow-like patterns and showed them to people, asking Does this look like a cow? How does a leopard get its spots? The zebra its stripes? The individual cells may be blind to the bigger picture which produces complex patterns, but somehow via simple steps they interact and learn from feedback. Said Al-Khalili: Turing was convinced that mathematics could be used to describe biological processes and intelligence itself. And these ideas led to what we now call chaos theory (e.g. the unpredictability of weather), as well as to the concept of selforganisation (e.g. how individual grains of sand form shapely sand dunes). Things went wrong in Turings life in the early 1950s, said AlKhalili, when he was convicted of an act of gross indecency and given a choice of imprisonment or chemical castration via hormone therapy to cure his homosexu-
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ality illegal in those days. His security clearance was also removed. And in 1954, he killed himself, apparently by eating an apple laced with cyanide. In 2009, PM Gordon Brown issued an official apology, saying: It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europes history and not Europes present. So on behalf of the British Government, and all
those who live freely thanks to Alans work, I am very proud to say: were sorry. You deserved so much better. Al-Khalili summed up Turings legacy by describing him not only as the founding father of computer science but also a hero who had served his country under great pressure and saved many lives a genius who is finally getting the recognition he deserves, up there with the greatest mathematicians of them all.
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Professor David Cameron FRSE, Clinical Director, Director of Cancer Services, NHS Lothian, Professor of Oncology, University of Edinburgh, Associate Director, National Institute for Health Research Cancer Research Network 11 June 2012 Conducting Clinical Cancer Research in the NHS Benefits Everyone? in association with the Scottish Cancer Foundation and supported by the Cruden Foundation More than one in five cancer patients in the UK will now be recruited to a clinical trial, a vast increase in the last decade. In a persuasive and fascinating lecture, Professor David Cameron argued that while clinical trials might benefit some of those who take part, a research-active environment is certainly good for the overall health service and for the patient population as a whole. People diagnosed with cancer in Scotland today will have a much better outcome than would have been the case just 30 years ago; this is good news, but what is making the difference? Earlier diagnosis and better diagnosis techniques, better local treatments (such as surgery and radiotherapy) and new drug therapies are all influencing survival for the better; even in cases where cancer isnt cured, there are therapies which mean people can be supported to live longer with the disease. But research plays a part too: over that time the research base has
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been growing so that we have more evidence about what works, or, as Professor Cameron puts it, that tells us we should do this, and not that. And much of that research has been going on in Scotland and the rest of the UK. Indeed, the UK has the highest recruitment to clinical trials in the world, with one in every five people newly diagnosed with cancer being placed in a study. This is a huge increase over just a decade; before the National Cancer Research Network (NCRN) started in 2001, just 3.75 % of patients would have been recruited to a trial in the UK, compared to 22.8 % in 2011/12. There are various types of study: academic, including randomised and non-randomised trials; commercial, that is, testing new drugs before approval (and meeting the ever-more stringent demands of regulators); observational; and models of care, for example, seeing how the treatment works in real life outside a
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trial setting when the drug is in actual use. Professor Cameron said that although there was some public disquiet about pharmaceutical companies and their research activities, in his experience, they were very well regulated and, in the vast majority of cases, people taking part in trials will be testing a drug that has already been shown to be safe. Even phase-one trials (which test the safety of a drug) involve treatments that have been tested and found to be safe in animals. In any case, trials are very well regulated by the Medicine and Healthcare Regulatory Agency and others (including ethics committees) which have strong lay membership. Especially in these financiallyaustere times, however, there are those who question whether the NHS should be doing clinical trials: arguments include the potential saving of money by getting rid of research nurses, for example. But Professor Cameron argued strongly that clinical trials are of benefit, possibly to the patients taking part, but certainly to the wider patient population of all patients treated in the hospitals conducting research. Professor Cameron examined the evidence of the impact of clinical trials, both on those taking part, and on the sites undertaking the research. Why should patients do better in trials? It could be that
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the actual treatment being tried is better than they would have been receiving otherwise; the placebo effect might mean they do better; taking part in trials the participation effect can mean doing better, possibly because theres more attention from staff, possibly because of inclusion criteria fitter patients tend to take part in trials, so possibly theyd do better in any case. But trial participants might not be the main beneficiaries. He quoted several studies which showed no consistent evidence of benefit for individuals who took part in trials; undoubtedly some would benefit from specific treatments, but with small numbers, this wouldnt alter the population statistics. There is, however, more convincing evidence that research-active healthcare systems (i.e., hospitals which do clinical trials) deliver better healthcare. He cited several European and US studies which show that patients do better in hospitals where trials are taking place. This effect isnt limited to cancer similar results have been seen for cardiology research. So why should this be? Centres taking part in trials are more likely to adhere strictly to guidance, which means that care will be more consistent; this covers all stages of care, from the treatment patients receive in hospital to the discharge medication and lifestyle advice they are given. Healthcare
staff are also affected by being in a research-active environment if people are aware that they are being evaluated, its human nature to conform to standards of treatment and quality. Professor Cameron cited one research trial where patients could only take part in the drugs element if their surgery had been performed well so the surgeons were being influenced to do their best! Similarly, staff in research-active settings who feel they are really making a difference to care now and in the future are motivated and encouraged, which in turn helps recruitment and retention. Professor Camerons strong and evidence-based conviction is that research benefits patients, not often at an individual level, although there are obvious exceptions if the trial treatment works, but that certainly there is evidence that the quality and efficacy of therapy in an institution is improved by being involved in research activity. We dont know yet whether there is a dose response, that is, the more you do, the better you are. There is currently work taking place to evaluate what the first ten years of the NCRN have delivered. What we do know is that in the UK, every hospital which treats cancer patients with drugs and/or radiotherapy recruits to trials, as does almost every clinical oncologist.
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Radiotherapy trials can be more difficult and the UK is behind many EU countries in its take-up of new techniques because of the cost of equipment. In England, however, the implementation of the new radiotherapy techniques needed for the trials is nationally co-ordinated, which, of a necessity, ensures standardised implementation of new techniques. There is no such national co-ordination in Scotland yet. Professor Cameron touched on the economic benefit of clinical research, saying that the pharmaceutical sector is a big player in the economy and an important contributor to GDP. This is the case in traditionally low value research areas such as mental health, as well as in higher value areas such as cardiovascular disease. There is much less evidence, however, for how we actually spend money on cancer whats the rationale behind why we spend as we do? Although the cancer drugs bill is high profile and gets a lot of media attention, the UK actually spends less on this than do other countries, such as France. Indeed, the drugs bill, accounting for around 12 % of spend, pales next to expenditure on salaries and on the actual systems or health services. Conversely, around 80 % of research spend goes on drugs
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trials, with much less going to research in radiotherapy, surgery, observational and qualitative research. There is very little research into models of health service care yet this is what we actually spend most money on. But there is actually evidence that changing the way we deliver care can improve outcomes. Multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings were introduced (ahead of evidence) into cancer care in the last two decades and 95 % of cases are now discussed in this way. Professor Cameron is sure they make a difference and this view is backed by a British Medical Journal paper in 2012, which shows MDTs mean better outcomes for breast cancer patients even in the oldest patients, and the poorest patients, who would be expected to do less well generally. Although the MDT approach has now been validated by research, Professor Cameron cautioned against making wholesale changes to healthcare delivery models without the benefit of research. For example, he said there were no data to show that the current health reforms planned in England were the right thing to do; likewise, on changes to junior doctor training, and
actual decisions on who should deliver care should it be consultants, nurse specialists, GPs? The biggest area of healthcare spend is least served by research, and decisions, or practice drift, tend to be made in crisis mode, rather than underpinned by evidence. The benefits of taking part in research are not just confined to the developed world, he said, citing screening trials in India, for example, which have shown positive outcomes. Nor, he argues, should the quest for evidence be confined to health and healthcare. Education, for example, is the subject of much debate, but how many schools, teachers and pupils are involved in research to improve the way we educate people? Could a systematic, evidence-based approach be more effective than the current way we do things? Professor Cameron concluded that clinical trials improve the overall health service, that they are sometimes good for individual patients, and that they are good for the wider patient population. The challenge for the future is to embed research even further into the health service and to look purposefully at its possible application to other disciplines such as education.
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Professor Niall Ferguson Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, USA 28 June 2012 The Rule of Law and its Enemies: Civil and Uncivil Society 2012 BBC Reith Lectures As Ken MacQuarrie, the Controller of BBC Scotland, said in his introduction of this years Reith lecturer, Professor Niall Ferguson is an academic whose work encompasses the great sweep of history. But it was to a small and less historic part of the Welsh coastline that Ferguson took his audience for the starting point of his exploration of civil and uncivil societies. Ferguson explained that a decade ago he had purchased a house on the coast of South Wales in a rugged, windswept area that reminded him of his native Ayrshire. He had chosen the location because it was beside the sea but there was a catch. The once pristine beach in front of the property was hideously strewn with rubbish. Thousands of plastic bottles littered the sand and rocks and plastic bags fluttered in the wind. Drinks cans lay rusting in the dunes. Dismayed, he had asked locals who was responsible for cleaning it up and the reply had been the council. On realising that was unlikely to happen, he had set out, with black bin bags, to clean up the beach himself. However, it was too big a job for one man.
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Then, Ferguson said, it had happened. He asked for volunteers in exchange for lunch and they achieved modest success. The real breakthrough came when he made contact with the local Lions Club, a charitable organisation of which he had never heard but which he found out dedicated itself to good causes. It brought organisation and, as a result, the shoreline was transformed. That had taught him the value of spontaneous community action. A dumping ground had been turned into a beauty spot again. How many other places could be transformed like this, he thought? His series of lectures, he continued, was aimed at opening up black boxes and tonights was labelled civil society. Properly understood, civil society is the realm of voluntary associations and institutions established by citizens with a non-profit objective. These could range from schools to clubs dedicated to the whole range of human activities. The RSE, for example, exemplified civil society at its best, as it was independent societies such as the RSE that played a large part in the Scientific Revolution and the
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Enlightenment. At an individual level, there was a time when the average Briton or American was a member of a large number of societies, but this is no longer the case. But, Ferguson asked, how can the nation flourish without a vibrant civil society? Without civil society, society becomes uncivil, with antisocial behaviour becoming a problem for the State. And Ferguson added that he wanted to cast doubt on the notion that the new social networks of the Internet were in any way a substitute for the type of community network that helped to clear his beach. The French writer Alexis de Tocqueville declared that nowhere had the principle of association been more successfully applied than in America. But even there, Ferguson argued, associational vitality is in steep decline. His Harvard colleague, Robert Putnam, has studied decline between the 1960s and the 1990s, finding that attendance at public meetings on town or school affairs was down 35%, service as an officer of a club or organisation was down 39 %, membership of parentteacher associations was down 61% and membership of bowling leagues down 73%. In fact, most organisations which had once brought people together in the US are in decline. And there is a wider effect, with some academics arguing that the decline in both
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secular and religious organisations is the cause of widening inequality in the US today. And if there is a decline in the US, Ferguson asked, what hope for Europe? The facts speak for themselves. The final Citizenship Survey for England in 2009/10 makes for truly dismal reading. Only one in four people were found to be doing formal voluntary activity once a month - and that was usually a sponsored activity. The percentage of those people who informally volunteered at least once a month to, for example, help an elderly neighbour was down from 35% to 29%. Charitable giving is also in decline. So what is happening? Putnam puts it down to the growth of technology first TV and then the Internet sucking the life out of traditional associational life. But Tocqueville believed it was not technology but the State, with its seductive promises of cradle to grave care, that was the real enemy of civil society. But can the growing omnipresence of social media have any effect on nurturing a civil society? Ferguson thinks its effectiveness is exaggerated. Facebook, for example, allows people to share opinions on whatever they like. But take its role in the Arab Spring. Colonel Gaddafi was not overthrown in Libya because he
was unfriendedon Facebook, Ferguson said. If he had poked his Facebook friends about his beach, would it have been cleared in the same way that contact with a network of effective strangers allowed? He doubts it. To see how right the wise old Frenchman was, Ferguson challenged his audience to count the number of clubs they are involved in. He said he is involved in three, gives to two charities, is the member of a gym and supports a football club. He is most active, however, as an alumnus of the educational institutions in which he was taught in his youth Glasgow Academy and Magdalen College, Oxford. He also gives time to the places where his children are being educated and the university in which he teaches. And why is he so partial towards these independent educational institutions? In his opinion, the best institutions in the UK today are its independent schools, and the one educational policy he would like to see adopted throughout the country is be a significant increase in private educational institutions, along with an attendant increase in the bursaries that allow children from poorer backgrounds to attend them. This is not to say there is no need for State schools. There is no
doubt that over the last 100 years or so, the expansion of public sector schools has been a good thing. They have produced a literate, numerate and more productive workforce. But there is a need to recognise the limits of public monopolies in education. It is private schools that are now setting and raising standards across the world. That does not mean, Ferguson said, that he is advocating either independent schools or state schools there is room for both only that a mix of the two would provide meaningful competition. Would Harvard be Harvard if it were nationalised? The answer is emphatically no, he insisted. In the UK, the opposite has happened, with the universities essentially reduced to agencies of the National Higher Education Service. But, Ferguson argued, the UKs universities still charge less than they should, even with the recent increase in tuition fees. The result? Most UK universities are in a permanent state of financial crisis. Only seven made it into the recent Times league table of the top 50 world universities, yet the UK boasts some of the finest secondary schools on the planet. This is because mediocre free State schooling has incentivised the emergence of a really good private system. Change is taking place, but predominantly at present in
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England, where, ironically, the policies are being pursued by a Scotsman. Conservative Education Secretary Michael Gove has picked up ideas from a former Fettes lad, Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, which involve turning failing schools into selfgoverning academies. Numbers have gone from 200 to approaching half of all secondary schools, with some showing what can be done when the dead hand of the local council is removed. Even more promising, Ferguson contended, is the new breed of Free schools being set up by parents, teachers and others. Not selective, they remain Statefunded, but they have introduced higher standards of discipline and learning. In Scotland, they are conspicuous by their absence, yet they are part of a global trend in which smart countries are jettisoning state education monopolies and allowing civil society back into education. Ferguson argued that many other countries even some regarded as bastions of welfare state provision - are much further forward in their recognition of the value of independent schools. Numbers have soared in Scandinavian countries such as Sweden and Denmark. In Holland, two-thirds of students now attended independent schools. Today in the US, there are 2000 Charter schools publicly funded but
independently run providing choice in education to around two million people in some of the poorest areas. They do better, Ferguson said, because they are both accountable and autonomous. Despite the advances made in England, Ferguson argued, there are still further steps to be taken, even by Michael Gove. They would be to increase the number of schools that are truly independent in terms of funding, and truly free, in terms of being able to select pupils by ability. There are no such inhibitions on private education elsewhere in countries such as Sweden and Brazil, or India and parts of Africa. The problem in the UK is not that there are too many private schools but too few, and if their charitable status is removed there will be even fewer. At present, only 7 % of British teenagers are privately educated, about the same as in the US. The reason why Asian pupils are excelling internationally, Ferguson maintained, is because 25 % of pupils in Macau, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan are privately educated. Yet it has been demonstrated that a 10 % increase in private school enrolment brings a corresponding increase in attainment. And more private education means better education for everyone, especially as many private schools are expanding
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bursary provision. The 20thCentury educational revolution was in providing education for everyone. The 21st-Century revolution would be in making better education available to more students. If you are against that, then you are for keeping too many students in lousy schools, Ferguson said. The bigger picture, Ferguson insisted, using education as an example, is that over the last 50 years, government has encroached far too much on the realm of civil society. Yet, like Tocqueville, Ferguson believes that spontaneous action by citizens is better than central State action. True citizenship is not just about voting and earning and staying on the right side of the law, but about participating in the wider troupe,
governing ourselves, fighting crime, educating our children; in other words, clearing the beach ourselves. In conclusion, Ferguson said it is probably clear that he believes in the benefits of independent action rather than reliance on the State. If that is a conservative position, then so be it, he added. Once, not least in Scotland, it was considered to be the essence of true liberalism. His argument is that the country is living through a profound crisis of the institutions that were once the key to our success as a civilisation; that our once vibrant civil society is in a state of decay, not because of technology but because of the excessive pretensions of the State. It is now time to clear up the beach.
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Dr Iona Heath, President of the Royal College of General Practitioners 10 September 2012 Loves Labours Lost: Why Society is Straitjacketing its Professionals and How We Might Release Them Michael Shea Memorial Lecture Organised in partnership with the International Futures Forum The human touch has always been an important part of being a professional yet this is being put at risk by an increasingly mechanistic and target-driven world. Dr Iona Heath, a leading GP thinker, believes something extremely important has been lost. Professionals have traditionally been trusted to do their best for individuals, responding to their humanity, and making judgments based on experience and trust. Yet todays world wants them to work in a far more standardised way, driven by targets, protocols and the needs of a generalised population. This is bad for professionals, and bad for those they serve, said Dr Iona Heath. Having been a GP for more than 30 years, Dr Heath acknowledges that when she talks about professionals, her knowledge is mainly of those working in health care. When talking about how society is straitjacketing professionals, however, what she has to say applies equally to teachers and social workers and, indeed, to any group previously described as public servants.
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Dr Heath painted a picture of a Britain where professionals arent what they once were: they have been transformed into units, expected to behave in a standardised way, and the same goes for the members of the public they are there to serve. Talking of love (as in the title of the lecture), Dr Heath explained that she meant it in the sense of the Greek word agape, which she defined as the disinterested but unconditional commitment displayed by professionals. Clinicians must be able to love their patients as well as the populations they work with comprehending the world in emotional as well as epidemiological terms, she said. In other words, they must be able to see and empathise with individuals, as well as looking at whats best for the population as a whole. She quoted John Berger, author of A Fortunate Man which she called the best book written about general practice who, describing a country GP, wrote: his satisfaction comes from the cases where he faces forces which
no previous explanation will fit, because they depend upon the history of a patients particular personality. Writing almost 30 years later, however, Berger said he had come to mistrust most doctors because they no longer really love people. So what changed? In Dr Heaths view, what came in between, in the government of Margaret Thatcher, was a nadir for the politics of hope, inclusiveness and social solidarity. The economist Julian Le Grand, who was Health Advisor to Tony Blair, has written extensively on social policy. He compares a central economy in which professionals are seen as knights, acting altruistically, while those receiving services are pawns, passively grateful for the services they get to a market economy in which pawns become queens because the customer is always right, and professionals are recast as knaves, seen as acting in their own interests unless constrained by regulation. When I embarked on my career in 1974, to be a public servant was to be doing something good, said Dr Heath. By the end of the 1980s the same role had become, through a painful and demoralising process, somehow despicable. What had disappeared, she said, was any idea of a gift economy, where
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professionals could be knights, but recipients could be queens once altruism wasnt recognised it began to disappear. What was also lost in the Thatcher years was the sense that professionals were working along the frontiers of the future, and that mistakes were inevitable however hard one tries. There is little sense that politicians understand what it means to be a professional, she said, nor do they understand the sheer scale of the work that those in the health service do. All the trends have led to a crude reductionism in science and economics: both deal in false certainty, and both fail to recognise subjectivity, either in professionals or the recipients of services. Reductionism treats the body as a machine, disconnected from human suffering, and doesnt acknowledge that there are actually no easy answers, and that you cant reduce everything to an algorithm. The illusion of certainty the idea that there are always right answers becomes the basis for control and coercion, she said. She quoted Nobel physicist Wiener Heisenberg, who pointed out that scientific knowledge only covers a tiny part of reality, and that the other part that has not yet been understood is infinite. False certainty closes down curiosity and constrains the reach of our minds, Dr Heath added. Professional power is waning, and
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has been replaced not by patient empowerment, (which has also been diminished), but by corporate power. It is in the interests of corporate power to replace both patients and doctors with replaceable units, one of which needs healthcare, while the other provides it. This is leading to a move to a system of care driven by paper and computers, rather than by touch. It also, incidentally, leads to lots of profits for corporations. This is in the interests of global capital because standardised patients and professionals mean markets are maximised; its also good for politicians because its easier for them to control. The exercise of power always breeds resistance, however, and results in the Hobbesian situation in which rational beings try to find ingenious ways to avoid complying, which can mean manipulation of the system, which in turn can scupper political intentions. As part of control, Dr Heath added, the rhetoric of risk and safety has become very powerful, and now trumps other aspirations such as allowing children to explore and learn from their own experience. Were encouraged to avoid risk, and lead ever-more regulated lives, devoid of fun and thrills. Standardisation of professionals is seen as a good way of managing risk and improving safety because it eliminates the worst of practice.
But if it also wipes out the best, is this really the way we want to go? There are clear dangers in the rigid application of protocols based on general populations to individuals its a way of eroding sensitivity, flexibility and innovation in the way that care is delivered. Surely we shouldnt be stifling creativity in professionals or in patients? Were too busy doing so theres no time to think, she said, quoting the philosopher Mary Midgley. Yet its only because we dont understand anything, and cant control the future, that its possible to live. Dr Heath then turned to the case of Harold Shipman, the GP convicted of murdering patients. The view seemed to be, she said, that because something dreadful had happened, everything must change. She said she didnt believe the Shipman case had affected the trust between herself and her patients. Patients still went to see their doctors the day after the Shipman verdicts because they needed someone to trust and to care for them. Two wrongs dont make a right: the first wrong was the Shipman murders, but this would not be wiped out by the increasing surveillance and coercion of doctors. The idea that trust can be secured by regulation is at best questionable, she added.
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An obsession with measurement is trying to define, demonise and coerce deviant behaviour among doctors and patients. But statistics can be used to mask real priorities. For example, were told we have a pandemic of depression, but depression is actually a reaction to a complex set of factors. To focus on depression as a mental illness, and to fail to address social injustices such as inadequate housing and lack of opportunity, is to fail those on the losing side of society. Our view of humans as essentially unknowable is further obscured by an obsession with numbers. But we should value difference and individuality in our patients, and in professionals. Professional judgment should not be subsumed to numbers and measurements. Medicine must always balance the technical and the moral, but professional judgment is being crushed between government regulation on the one side and the market forces of competition on the other.
Patients and doctors must be free from coercion. While politicians put the needs of the population above those of the individual, clinicians cannot do the same if they are to retain the trust of patients; they must remain sensitive to individual need. Population-based public health initiatives damage and detract from individual patient care, replacing individuals with something more abstract. Doctors need several types of literacy: medical, physical, emotional and cultural. But all of these must take place in a context of moral literacy. Because making professional judgements in the face of uncertainty requires great courage, Dr Heath concluded, we must do everything possible not to lose the commitment, the courage or the openness that makes up the love in our professional labours.
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Professor Tom Devine OBE HonMRIA FBA FRSE University of Edinburgh 17 September 2012 Scottish History in Question: An Evening with Professor Tom Devine Part of the RSE @ Lochaber Programme Nevis Range, Fort William Scottish history has never been more popular or relevant. At this launch event for the new RSE @ Lochaber Programme 2012/13, the best-selling historian, Professor Tom Devine, spoke briefly on the new interest in Scottish History and answered questions from the audience on key and controversial issues of the nations past and their relationship to the present and future. The event was chaired by the Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP. Charles Kennedy, introducing Professor Devine, commented on the modern-day fascination with twenty-four-hour news, bringing with it declining standards and bitter competition for stories amongst the media providers, noting that much of this results in speculative nonsense filling up broadcast hours and column inches but not actually getting you much further with the story. He suggested that for journalists looking to predict the future their best guide is to look to the past and see what got us to where we are today. Charles Kennedy remarked that the genius of people like Tom Devine, is that he takes complex issues and makes
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them readable and accessible and makes you think. This is what Scots need to do over the next couple of years think about where we are going and look at where weve come from to assist us in this. Professor Devine noted that the union of Scotland and England over the last three hundred years has had a major impact all over the world. His discipline, Scottish History, focuses not only on the history of the nation itself, but also on the effect that the nation and its people, including engineers, medics, professors and merchants, have had globally. Professor Devine considers that one of the most fascinating and rewarding aspects of his career has been his involvement in a subject area that has moved from the periphery of Scottish education and interest to centrality. He remarked on the extraordinary changes in the study of Scottish History since he became a university teacher in 1969. Many Scots did not receive an education about their own country until recently. Indeed, Professor Devine gave up on history at school.
Today, however, there has been an amazing transformation in how the subject is taught in school and university. Scottish history has now come of age and can hold its head high among the international areas of historical study. In the current climate of semi-tension between Scotland and England, Professor Devine pointed out that he was taught at university overwhelmingly by English historians who, with the huge expansion of Scottish universities, brought with them cutting-edge international research methodologies and objectives. He commented that the English dynamic was central, and whilst most of his former teachers are no longer alive, their students are now playing a pivotal role in the developing dynamic of Scottish historical study, and he would never like to see a situation where the role of those English scholars is forgotten. Does Scottish history have any relevance in the 21st Century? Can you justify Scottish history? Professor Devine considers the study of Scottish History to be the Queen of all disciplines. In an academic sense, history is a principal mode of study; all the modern social sciences, including sociology, anthropology and economics, are dependent upon evidence and evidence is historical. Professor Devine commented that history as description and
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narrative, i.e. what happened and when, becomes boring and could be better described as antiquarianism. He believes that history is why things happen and their consequences. Professor Devine suggested that the essence of the study of history is to try to discover the absolute truth, which is largely impossible. In the absence of this endeavour, society loses its collective memory and myth floods in. Today, society is more sophisticated and the sense of mythology is not something to be traduced and dismantled, but an aspect of culture to be understood, asking questions about why people believe the way they do. Professor Devine described one of the great glories of speaking to a public audience as seeing the scales falling from their eyes, coupled with the response of I didnt know it was like that. He believes the whole point of studying history is the need to try and search for the truth and, in turn, occasionally that truth can fashion how people think in the modern period and how they vote and how they act. It is no coincidence that totalitarian regimes try to introduce a kind of statesponsored history, an understanding of the past that suits their regime. The historian has got to be left to be totally liberated and to fear no one!
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Professor Devine stated that the current debate on Scottish history, particularly in schools, can lead potentially to the Burns Supper school of Scottish history and enduring introspection. He suggested that the teaching of history in Scottish schools should have a spinal cord of the national and local aspects, but with an equally important inclusion of the British, European and global dynamic. So much of Scottish history and the iconic images of Scotland have their origins in the Highlands how much of this is due to Walter Scott and Romanticism? Professor Devine stated that the origin of Highlandism is an extraordinary phenomenon and that this is a highly complex issue. In the 1851 Census, Scotland had more males employed in industry per head of population than England, which made it the most industrialised nation in the world, and yet it was presenting to the world not only a rural face but a Highland face. Walter Scott was no doubt influential, but more interesting is why his writings had such an effect. One possible explanation, amongst others, is that from the late 18th Century onwards there was a striving for a continued Scottish identity within the Union, but without compromising the Union and its prosperity. Highlandism is based on notions developing in the late
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18th Century and the possibility of a deracinated Scotland, as a consequence of it going through the most rapid process of industrialisation and urbanisation in the western world. Englands great leap forward was evolutionary; Scotlands was radically transformational. There was a huge nostalgic urge in society to lean back to earlier times and to look at societies in Scotland that were distinctively non- Anglo where better than the Highlands for this? Professor Devine described Highland history as extraordinarily seductive. Everything is there in the Highlands, the decay of clanship, tribalism, famine, mass emigration. In the Lowlands, clearance took place a hundred years earlier and the physical remains of that great transformation no longer exist. When, as an historian, you go into an area littered with remains of one of the great transformations of history, it is no wonder that it is possible to be seduced, especially since these remains are in areas of aching natural beauty. Discussion of the role of the Churches throughout Scottish History. Charles Kennedy commented that one of the interesting features in current Scottish politics and civic life is the role of the Churches. He asked Professor Devine to com-
ment on their definitive role throughout history. One of the most extraordinary events of Professor Devines career was the invitation to speak at Glasgow Cathedral on the anniversary of the Reformation in 2011. He used the event to stress the importance of the Presbyterian tradition to the development of the Scottish nation. In the past, discussion of Presbyterianism has focused on its negative issues relating to fanaticism and mental control; however, today it is agreed by most scholars that Scottish Calvinism was at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th Century and, as such, the Kirk has had a huge effect on Scottish life and history. However, Professor Devine noted that when the media are seeking comment on various issues, they most often look to the Scottish Catholic hierarchy, not the Church of Scotland, to give this, as they can be certain of getting views which even the Catholic congregation would sometimes find controversial. Why is Scottish history poorly researched and taught? Professor Devine considers this to no longer be the case. There has been a major change in the teaching of Scottish history in schools and universities. This is not just to do with the excellence of the discipline, but also to the
inspirational developments of the 1960s and 70s within the subject, which have encouraged an interest in Scottishness and Scottish identity. How prevalent is archaeology in Scottish History today? Archaeological science is absolutely fundamental to historians. It is where science and history come together the study of material remains and the partial documentation of the period. Professor Devine quoted the recent work undertaken at the Culloden battlefield site, whereby archaeological endeavour showed that the documentary records were inaccurate. Additionally, archaeological work at the crofting township of Shiaba on the Ross of Mull recognises that archaeology does not only belong to the dark ages but also the pre-improvement era. One of the intriguing aspects of the current constitutional debate is that there was a school of thought 2030 years ago that devolution would kill Scottish Nationalism stone dead. Can you see why that argument might have applied? All the current data in terms of opinion polls suggest that the vast majority of the Scottish population at the moment wants further devolution, but not necessarily independence. Professor Devine stated that you
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could argue that devolution and devolution max are a further demonstration of the extraordinary flexibility of the AngloScottish Union. In the 19th and early 20th Centuries there was a condition of semiindependence in Scotland, whereby although the Westminster Parliament was sovereign, most of the day-to-day Scottish decisions were dealt with inhouse by Burgh Councils, local organisations, the Kirk and other voluntary organisations. In the second half of the 20th Century, and particularly since the 1980s, there was more interventionism from the Westminster government on a scale which had not been seen since the Jacobite rebellions of the 1740s. This interference meant that the balance of the Union was adversely affected, leading to the current situation. Professor Devine commented that it is therefore possible to argue that devolution and devolution max are a sign of the organic response of the Union to threat. Is Mediaeval Scottish History still a somewhat neglected period? Professor Devine does not see any sign of decline in the study of Mediaeval Scottish History. He stated that his mediaevalist colleagues have been very successful in attracting large-scale funding for major projects. The difficulty with studying post-1700 Scottish History is the overwhelm119
ing abundance of evidence; however for the mediaevalist there is a scarcity of it. Professor Devine stated, however, that if the evidence was fit for purpose then his trade would not exist the challenge is to try to interpret the evidence, to select it and try to understand it. Do you think that the widespread emigration of the 18th and 19th Centuries contributed solely to the deprivation of the region, or were there reasons other than clearance? The impact of emigration varies according to region, social group and over time. Scots have been emigrating in significant numbers since the 13th Century. Between 1750 and the famine of the 1840s, the Highland region did contribute disproportionately to the numbers leaving Scotland and, in addition to opportunityled emigration, there was undoubtedly coercive activity happening. However, Professor Devine stated that it is interesting to note that at any given point from 1861 to World War II, no more than one in 17 Scottish emigrants were from the Highlands. The Scots tended to punch above their weight in the colonies of settlement, many of them were semi-skilled or skilled, and a small minority were even university graduates. There is nothing genetic in the Scottish DNA which meant they were
going to have such a huge effect; it was because, unlike the illiterate peasants of other parts of Europe, they were coming from one of the most advanced economies in the world. The regions to which they migrated had huge potential in terms of raw material, land and cheap labour the one thing they lacked was effective technical labour, which Scotland could provide. Professor Devine commented that when trying to explain Scottish
emigration from the late 19th Century to the present, you can not forget modern migration between 1945 and 1981, 760,000 Scots left Scotland forever, and only since the mid 1990s has there been a positive balance between emigration and migration. And finally, do you have a favourite historian? That would have to be Eric Hobsbawm.
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Professor Peter Clarke FRSE University of Edinburgh 20 September 2012 The Large Hadron Collider, the Higgs Boson and Other Questions about the Universe Part of the RSE @ Lochaber Programme Kilchoan Learning Centre The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has been in and out of the news since it started operation in 2008. Most recently, the LHC made a long-awaited announcement of the discovery of a particle widely thought to be the Higgs boson. This is the first of many unanswered questions about the Universe which the LHC is striving to answer. This public talk explored what the LHC is and how it works, illustrating some of the feats of engineering required to make it possible. It described some of the large experiments operating there to see how they observe new particles and discussed what the Higgs boson is and why it produced so much excitement in the physics community. Introducing the topic, Professor Clarke cited the adage that as we delve deeper into a topic, then often we realise that there is even more that we dont actually know. With regard to the makeup of the Universe, we dont know what 95% of it is made of, though believe this comprises around 25% dark matter and 70% dark energy. As an example, stars and
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galaxies move very differently to how we would expect if they were comprised of only conventional matter which we can see leading to the need for dark matter. Indeed, it is not really understood why there is actually any matter still in existence in the Universe since, originally, there would have been equal quantities of matter and anti-matter created that should then have collided and annihilated each other, leaving nothing but photons. Another major unknown is the fundamental origin of mass, and this is what the Higgs boson is all about. Notwithstanding that there is so much we dont know and understand, what we do know is understood in significant detail. Indeed, 99% of the matter we know about comprises protons and neutrons. These are essentially formed of quarks of which there are two main types up quarks and down quarks. Additionally there are also neutrinos, of which there are thousands travelling through us all the time.
The Large Hadron Collider makes new particles. This is achieved by taking protons, accelerating, and then colliding them. The resulting annihilation effectively produces energy, from which anything can be created. Following the principle of E=mc2, the heavier the mass of the particle, the more energy is required. Consequently, to create and detect heavier particles such as the Higgs boson, larger accelerators are required to produce both high energy and a very high collision rate. CERN is the European Centre for Nuclear Research. The site straddles the French/ Swiss border close to Geneva and has become the most important site in the world for particle physics. After starting with a small circular accelerator, the size has increased to the point where the current tunnel is now 27km in circumference and is located at a depth of 100 metres. Around the circuit there are four main access points where the detectors are located. Within the tunnels, there are two beams of protons orbiting separately in opposite directions. The protons are guided around the ring using superconducting magnets which produce a very large vertical magnetic field. Superconducting magnets use liquid helium cooling to operate at minus 271 degrees Centigrade, and carry a huge electrical current using superconducting wire which
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has no electrical resistance when very cold. At several points around the tunnel the beams are brought together to collide. This results in thousands of particles being created. At those points large experiments detect which particles are produced, take measurements such as their momentum, and track where they go. Essentially, the information from the detectors can be used to reconstruct and explain what has happened in the collision process. At CERN, there are four major detectors which run continuously 24 hours every day for many months. This creates enormous amounts of data, of the order of 20 petabytes a year (one petabyte equals one million gigabytes). The analysis requires around a million programs to be run each day, which requires the use of 300,000 computers all around the world. A principal question being considered by the research at the LHC is why there is any matter and antimatter left. The approach being taken is to examine how matter behaves differently to antimatter, as there must have been such an imbalance in the early universe. The LHCb experiment is specifically designed for this purpose and measures these differences precisely to characterise and search for new sources of this phenomenon.
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Other research being conducted at LHC is the search for dark matter. Dark matter candidates are associated with a theory of super symmetry which proposes that for all the particles we know about, there is a set of partner particles that differ by one half unit of spin. It is one of these partner particles that could account for some dark matter. Since particles decay and in doing so transmute into other particles, the objective is to measure the entire decay chain and determine if there is energy that missed the detectors and was unaccounted for. This could be the signature of dark matter; however none has ever been found as yet. Professor Clarke believes if we are lucky this could be the next big discovery. It is a current discovery, however, that has been attracting the attention of both the scientific community and the general media and relates to the discovery of the Higgs boson. We have a very precise theory of particle interactions it seems to work exceedingly well. For example, in the behaviour of electromagnetism, a certain quantity can be predicted and validated down to 12 decimal places. However, the theory has a flaw in that it
requires everything to have no fundamental mass, which clearly is wrong. A fix was suggested by theoreticians including Higgs, Brout and Englert, which is known as the Higgs mechanism. Essentially it proposes that what was believed to be empty space is not actually empty space but is filled with the Higgs field, which attaches itself to particles and in doing so gives them mass. To help explain this, Professor Clarke used the analogy of a balloon moving through air or treacle. Whereas the balloon would accelerate easily through the air, it would accelerate much more slowly through the treacle, making it feel heavier. Of course, in this case, this is just viscous drag, but the Higgs field effect is not dissimilar to the treacle whereby, as opposed to the nothing of being empty, the interaction of a particle of matter with the Higgs field around it gives the particle its mass. The field itself cannot be seen; however even in the absence of particles passing through, there is still apparent activity because the field can have its own particles Higgs bosons which have now been finally detected.
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Dr Stefan Weber Director of the Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum Berlin 27 September 2012 Fragments of a Lost Past or Evidence of a Connected History: The Role and Concepts of Islamic Art in the Museum Context joint event with the Alwaleed Centre, University of Edinburgh, and the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany Dr Weber presented the first of four lectures being organised by Edinburgh Universitys Alwaleed Centre for the study of Islam in the contemporary world. He was introduced by Professor Robert Hillenbrand as someone with a profound knowledge of Islamic art, conservation and museum practice. His lecture revealed the behind-the-scenes thinking which governed the way Islamic art has been presented to the public in the past and how this is changing for the future. Dr Weber also explored the approach being taken by his own museum, which is being redesigned to meet the needs of a rapidly-growing number of visitors. The events of recent years have increased Western interest in the Islamic world. There is an awareness that we know little about Middle Eastern cultures beyond the headlines of violence and crisis. Visitors are heading for museums in search of a greater understanding of the histories and cultures of Islamic people. Dr Weber added that interest has also risen because of the increased presence of Muslims in our own countries. Globalised culture and the closer connections between the Islamic and Western worlds present museums with new challenges and the need to address different issues. Dr Weber said: A hundred years ago we were talking about societies that were far away, maybe colonial grocery shops out of which we could get some specialist items, but not part of the daily environment. Dr Weber said that the concept of Islamic art was developed by Western academics to describe the objects they regarded as being of high quality and with importance to a particular place or period. It can incorporate items from many social spheres. He showed painted interiors of Ottoman houses in Syria, items created for the pleasure of courtiers and objects of religious significance. It is a highly complex field, as it endeavours to understand the cultural expression from many dynasties, geographies and eras. Museums take different approaches to Islamic art. The Freer
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Gallery of Art in Washington concentrates on masterpieces. A small number of items are displayed, presented as monuments, and explained with text beside them. Others, such as the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum in Istanbul, are focused on the histories of particular spaces. These gather items from mosques, palaces and other places and present them by theme. Different again are those which tell the story of specific sites such as Cordobas Mardinat al-Zahra Museum. This reveals the history of a key archaeological site from one of the cultural high points of Islamic Spain. In each case, decisions are being made about what the objects stand for and the story they tell. According to Dr Weber, it is important to recognise that museums are cultural creations in themselves and reflect the ideas and values of their creators. Before the emergence of the idea of Islamic art, Western academia looked at the Middle East in terms of ethnology attempting to systematise how people lived. Events such as the World Fair of 1851 changed ideas, and people began wanting to see objects because of their technical and design merits. By the end of the 19th Century, the emphasis was shifting again as interest grew in trying to integrate Islam into a world history. The museum designer Bode began to gather
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oriental carpets into style rooms, being part of the aesthetic experience at Renaissance palaces. Bode was determined to open up the museum world to different artistic legacies establishing the first museum of Islamic art in the West. He used objects to break down borders and show cultural connections and continuities. A prime example was an ornate section of stone faade from Jordans Mshatta desert castle which could not be dated with confidence (though it is now thought to be from a caliphal palace of the 740s CE). Despite uncertainty over its origin, the faade was used as the entry point for a gallery of Islamic art because, Islamic or not, it represented the same cultural landscape. A further step forward was taken in 1927, with the decision to move the Mshatta faade into the Pergamon Museum (opened in 1932). Here it was positioned alongside objects from Late Antiquity from the Roman and Greek Middle East. At the same time, there was a growing recognition of the importance of chronology and that museum collections should show how art developed over time. Quite revolutionary was the idea that art history could only be understood by showing how, for example, early Islamic art flowed from preIslamic cultures.
By the 1950s and 60s, galleries and museums were heavily under the influence of modernist ideas and there was a movement to simply present objects as objects. This saw a reduction in explanation and contextualisation, leaving the visitor to be alone with their own response to the art. The development had started already with the famous 1910 exhibition of Mnchen in the light of the Neue Sachlichkeit, and was an important step in recognising pieces of Islamic art as art objects in their own right. Almost all Islamic art galleries in the last decades followed this trend and led to a strikingly uniform international gallery style. This, according to Dr Weber, presented difficulties for people who went to museums and galleries to find out more about a subject. While the curators understood why objects were placed together, visitors did not. Since the turn of the Millennium, there has been a shift away from galleries as neutral spaces. Design is now used to enhance the impact of the objects on display. In some cases it is the exhibition space and design that the visitor is exposed to first, and the art objects second. Scholars and curators are currently reappraising how museums should be organised. Dr Weber said he believes that one of the meanings of an object is linked to
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the meaning of the space it came from and that it may be of beauty in its own right, be technically brilliant or of an extraordinary aesthetic quality, but has even more to offer when it is understood in context. The big question is how to connect the objects in a collection with the great traditions which gave rise to them. The Pergamon Museum is planning for major changes in 2019. This will allow it to create a better cultural narrative in which the Mshatta faade will stand alongside the Ishtar Gate, from Babylon, and objects from the Hellenistic and Roman Middle East. Pre-Islamic and Byzantine elements will be incorporated in order to provide an overview of the regions history. One of the big issues confronting the museum is how to represent the sheer complexity of Islamic history to a huge audience, which has grown by 50% during the last three years. Decisions have to be made about which objects to display and the stories to tell. Museums, argued Dr Weber, are places where scholarly knowledge is transmitted to a general population that may have little background in the subject. It is of critical importance that ideas can be expressed clearly and easily absorbed. Advances in technology, such as multi-media presentations and smartphone
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apps, now provide a range of options and some objects are so powerful they need little explanation. Currently the museum is organised by dynasty but, according to a survey, visitors only remember the names of 1.5 dynasties after they leave (multiple choice question). Dr Weber said: That means that the 50 or so students and professionals of Islamic art in Germany can work with our system but the 730,000 visitors of last year cannot and the museum is not for us scholars but for the public. The museum will retain a very strong, but simplified, chronology. It will not only be organised by time, but each area will have a sense of place, period and topic. According to Dr Weber, a sense of structure and a strong narrative are essential. Unlike the scholar, the general public will be lost if they are abandoned in a free floating space, as they do not have the established knowledge to create links between the objects on display. One approach being taken in the redesigned Pergamon Museum will be to provide orientation rooms where people can learn about chronologies and cultures. The museum
will also be arranged to reflect spheres of life, including homes, gardens and places of religion. Each will be infused with the atmosphere of these types of spaces. Underlying the redesign are concepts of vertical and horizontal connections. The vertical involves showing where objects stand as part of a tradition. Dr Weber said: Islamic art doesnt start with the Quran but develops out of the common heritage of the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia and the Iranian world. The horizontal shows how people, places and objects are linked at any given time, such as the excavated pottery from the Abbasid capital of Samarra which uses ancient Middle Eastern blue pigments to synthesise Chinese decorative styles with cheaper local pottery. The blue and white from ninthCentury Iraq is, in turn, linked to the later Delftware which achieved such popularity in the UK. In closing, Dr Weber said such narratives are of tremendous value as they allow visitors to relate other cultures to their own, making them easier to understand and appreciate.
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Dr Jonathan Murray Edinburgh College of Art 28 September 2012 Location, Location, Location: Lochaber (and Scotland) in Cinema Part of the RSE @ Lochaber Programme Kinlochleven High School From Alfred Hitchcocks The 39 Steps (1935) to forthcoming Hollywood blockbusters such as World War Z, Scotlands natural and urban landscapes have inspired generations of filmmakers from home and abroad. While some movies shot in Scotland use the country simply as a breathtaking backdrop, many others have much to tell us about global views of the nations history, culture and identity. Focusing on a diverse range of films, including some shot in and around the Lochaber area, this talk identified and explored some of the key themes within Scotlands long (and sometimes fraught) relationship with the moving image. Dr Murray introduced the talk by commenting on the recent announcement of the proposed demolition of a seemingly unremarkable, 1970sconstructed high school building at Abronhill, near Glasgow. This provoked a public outcry, as for many people this wasnt just a school but the location for the fondly-remembered Scottish film Gregorys Girl, directed by Bill Forsyth. When a place is represented on a big screen and the film finds a large audience, it
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stops being simply a location and becomes somewhere to which people attach emotion. In this way unremarkable places can become important parts of our national cultural heritage. The relationship between cinema and place has a local relevance, with a long list of very well known films having been filmed either wholly or partly in Lochaber; for example, the Harry Potter films utilising landmarks such as the Glenfinnan Viaduct. Dr Murray noted that cinema allows us to travel widely and instantaneously, regardless of age, health and wealth. For millions of people around the globe, their knowledge of many places derives initially from the films they watch. Dr Murray considered the reasons behind why so many films have been set and shot in Scotland. His first suggestion revolved around the fact that Scotland is a beautiful, scenic country. Agencies charged with promoting Scotland to industry and visitors are not shy about reflecting this fact in their promotional text. Visit Scotland emphasises the stunning landscape, rolling hills, rugged mountains, castles, sprawling
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beaches; providing the perfect backdrop for the world of cinema. Dr Murray stated that many prominent filmmakers agree with this portrayal and gave the example of Bill Forsyths film, Local Hero. The beaches used in this film, which are located in Lochaber, were chosen due to their unspoiled nature; the plot of the film revolves around the idea that people can be profoundly changed for the better by the beauty and power of nature. Scotland is undoubtedly beautiful, but Dr Murray asked why is this and why do people think it so. One possibility is that it is beautiful because it is largely unspoiled by human hand; or at least it is presented in this way to the outside world. Creative Scotland promotional material emphasises Scotlands small population and empty terrain, suggesting it has more space and wilderness than practically all other European countries. Dr Murray commented that this sense of Scotland being beautiful because it is untouched is seen in many films. The 1996 Danish film Breaking the Waves is unusual because it is punctuated by periods of up to a minute showing solely a Highland vista; asking the audience to confront the beauty of the location and to consider how this affects the regions culture and the people who live within it.
Dr Murray suggested that many cinematic presentations of Scotland are an amalgam of the real and illusory, of the natural and the constructed. Depictions of the country are real and unreal at the same time, and this runs throughout the history of Scottish- based film. This idea that Scotlands beauty is too good to be true started with the 1954 film Brigadoon, directed by Arthur Freed. Freed visited Scotland in 1953 to search for locations to film the musical but, although he travelled widely within the country, he couldnt find anywhere in Scotland that lived up to his preconceived impression of the country, its people and landscape. Freed had visited Scotland many times in his head, based on his cinema experience. Due to his inability to find Scotland he literally physically constructed the film set for Brigadoon from his imagination. Dr Murray suggested that Brigadoon is a difficult film to talk about in contemporary times as it is easily scoffed at by younger audiences. They think it ridiculous and dont take it seriously at all. They cannot believe that people were so nave as to be entertained by such sentimental tosh. Audiences today think they are far more sophisticated and would never be taken in by films which portray Scotland as a saccharine never-never land.
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However, there is an argument to say that these audiences are perhaps not that dissimilar to earlier times. Dr Murray cited the examples of the animated films The Illusionist (Sylvain Chomet, 2010) and Brave (Pixar, 2012). Both films portray a hyper-real, magical image of Scotland and are based on an authentic but not accurate vision of Scotland and are still, therefore, in Brigadoon territory. Todays filmmakers are simply recreating the stereotypical images of Scotland on computers, rather than in the studio back lots used by Freed and his contemporaries. Movies work like maps; they orientate us and give us a feeling of knowledge and control over a place we have yet to physically visit. There are many places we know and understand, but we never actually physically visit. Landscapes and people are not only discovered by people; they can also be created by artists. There is an argument that everywhere is just a creation of someones imagination. For domestic viewers, however, setting films in places that they live can alienate people; they recognise it to be fabricated in order to cater to the needs of the cinema audience. Dr Murray cited the example of the famous sequence from Danny Boyles Trainspotting, in which a group of Edinburgh drug addicts find themselves
stranded in the Highlands and cannot relate to the landscape. It is somewhat ironic that, whilst foreigners finds themselves at home in a strange country, here a group of natives find themselves alienated by an image which seems surreal to them. Dr Murray remarked on recurring themes in Scottish-based cinema. Namely, that there is an emphasis on the idea that Scotland is a place that is not simply visited, but also discovered; that there is a preferred vision of Scotland as an essentially natural rather than man-made landscape and location; and that many Scottish films depict a halfway house between an illusion that tricks us on the one hand while still remaining very clearly unreal on the other. Within many Scottish films, the story often involves the central character taking a physical journey to the country and an act of border crossing. Additionally, there is a focus upon a clash of two different cultures, whereby the cultures and their values and views of the world are personified by the mobile, incoming individual on the one hand and the stable local community on the other. Dr Murray also noted that Scotland is frequently imagined as an island, whether literally or metaphorically; somewhere that is miraculously and magically separate from other places, an example of which is The Wicker
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Man. Frequently, films set in Scotland say to the viewer we are going somewhere else; to an other-worldly place. The 1946 film I Know Where Im Going focuses on the journey to Scotland and is an intensely romanticised view of Scotland. Dr Murray considers that the viewer knows it is depicting a highly constructed image, and indeed the film itself is fully aware of this, yet somehow it still moves the audience. Within many of these Scottish films, the Scottish border rarely simply signifies something geographical; the journey is also metaphysical and the films selfconsciously transport audiences to a magical version of Scotland. This device emphasises the extent to which characters are changed by the landscape and country. For example, in Local Hero, a materialistic Texan business man is sent to the Highlands to buy up land, he arrives in the country and is distracted and transformed into a more humane and attractive person. In conclusion, one of the most popular and enduring cinematic
images of Scotland is that of a place and culture that is pre- and/ or anti-modern. This can be both a positive representation of Scotland as unspoiled, or negative in terms of the country appearing uncivilised. Dr Murray asked should we be bothered by this unreal portrayal of Scotland? Contemporary domestic audiences are much more comfortable with these stereotypical, fantastical images of Scotland than they were 30 to 40 years ago, when they were seen as being culturally problematic, creating an image of ourselves which was outdated. Today, commentators try to see both sides of the argument; whilst this portrayal celebrates myth, it also has an economic importance to the country. Regarding the economic imperative, the landscape needs to be rendered financially productive, and the romantic representation of landscape and place in cinema is one way of doing this, both in terms of the domestic film industry and also tourism. To quote Local Hero, after all, you cant eat scenery.
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CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, SYMPOSIA, SEMINARS AND DISCUSSION FORUMS

Science as a public enterprise; why and how should science be open? ................................................. 134 Extreme Light: A New Paradigm For Fundamental Physics ...................... 135 Scotland and the United Kingdom ........................................................ 138 Experimental and Theoretical Approaches to Conscious Processing ...... 142 Celebrating 100 years since the birth of Alan Turing ............................ 146 Humanising the Workplace ................................................................... 147
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Discussion Forum Science as a Public Enterprise; Why and How Should Science be Open? Joint event with the Royal Society, London and the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum 21 November 2011 Is there a need for a revolution in the way that science is done? Science thrives on the open exchange of ideas and data, but needs to revisit how these principles apply in the digital age and against the rising expectation of transparency and increased access to scientists work from colleagues and the public. What should the principle of openness be? The Royal Society, London is grappling with these issues in an ongoing study: Science as a Public Enterprise. Professor Geoffrey Boulton FRS FRSE road tested the groups emerging conclusions in a discussion at the RSE. The panel also included Sir Ken Calman KCB FRSE, Professor Steve Yearley FRSE and Professor Graeme Laurie FMedSci FRSE. The discussion was chaired by Professor Wilson Sibbett CBE FRS FRSE.
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Conferences, Workshops, Symposia and Discussion Forums FrancoScottish Seminar Extreme Light: A New Paradigm For Fundamental Physics Joint event by the RSE and the French Embassy, London 16 February 2012 Laser Englighnment The laser is just over 50 years old and Professor Gerard Mourou of the Institut de Lumire Extrme, ENSTA, traced its development from the early 1960s up to the present, revealing how much its progressed through the years and some of the mind-boggling research the laser is helping to drive, including breakthroughs which could help to illuminate the mysteries of fundamental highenergy physics... Just when you think you know what a vacuum is (and understand quantum physics), along comes Professor Mourou, a pioneer in lasers, to enlighten you further. Thanks to remarkable advances in technology over the last 50 years, the laser is now on the brink of a new era of discovery, not just helping physicists study the nature of matter but also, confirming the existence of mysterious things such as dark matter and dark energy, by shining lasers into a vacuum to observe the effects. After helping scientists study the structure of solid materials (e.g. quartz), lasers will soon be used to study nothingness or reveal that there is something in the vacuum after all. The concept of the vacuum has evolved over thousands of years. Plato and Aristotle asked how could nothing be something? and concluded that a vacuum was impossible. In developing his theory of universal gravitation, Newton thought that the refraction of light in space could only be explained by the existence of aether, while Maxwell said that if this was correct, then aether must be hard as rock. Einsteins theory of relativity suggested that aether was not needed at all to explain the passage of light through space, but Lorentz and quantum physicists later suggested that something like aether may exist after all. The laws of physics are encoded in a vacuum structure, said Mourou. And if we can observe the bending of lasers inside a vacuum, by firing a single, very powerful pulse, it would tend to suggest that there is indeed more than meets the eye in a vacuum, since if the vacuum was empty, the lasers would go in a perfectly straight line.
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We will now do the same with lasers in a vacuum as we once did with quartz, said Mourou. And when we do the experiment, if we observe deviations (i.e. a nonlinear effect in large electromagnetic fields), we will need to explain them. The evolution of lasers Mourous talk focused on the evolution of lasers and the kind of research made possible since lasers first appeared in 1960. At that time, laser photon energy had the power of just one electronvolts (eV), compared to nowadays, when scientists are aiming to develop lasers capable of producing radiation in the KeV and MeV regime and particles in the evt and even the ENP (teraelectronvolts and petaelectronvolts) range a million million or a billion million electronvolts. Laser research has also gone in two different directions. It was used at first to slow down or cool atoms, looking at phenomena such as cold atoms, as well as atomic, molecular and optical physics; then it was to accelerate particles to very high energy levels, challenging the speed of light. Mourou described these two fields as 30 orders of magnitude apart, from FeV (10-15 eV ) to GeV (109) and, in the not so remote future, ENP ((10 )15). Mourou then traced the history of non-linear optics, a phenome136
non first observed with lasers in 1961 that could ultimately lead to a better understanding of the structure of matter and the laws of physics. As Mourou said, We all come from a vacuum the mother of all things. The name of the game, he said, is how to make real particles from virtual ones, using peak-power lasers, with IZEST (the International Center of Zetta-Exawatt Science and Technology) leading the way in a new area of study called ultra-relativistic optics. In the 20th Century, physicists focused on particles with mass and charge. The 21st Century will be the photon century, focusing on massless and chargeless particles, using ultra-short, ultra-fast pulses of radiation from very large-scale lasers to produce very large fields and induce very large disturbance in atoms and nuclei, and finally observing the effects in vacuum. As a measure of progress in the near future, lasers will increase in power, climbing the curve from what is possible today (1022 eV) to what is called extreme light (1022 eV and beyond), when electrons and protons get excited and start to polarise the vacuum. Mourou then talked about chirped pulse amplification and how scientists have stretched the short pulse a million times over the last 20 years in other words, the power of the laser is intensified by amplifying (a billion times)
Conferences, Workshops, Symposia and Discussion Forums and then compressing (a million times) the light. To get peak power, Mourou said, you must decrease the pulse duration (to maximise intensity), and to decrease the pulse, you first must amplify, to increase the intensity. At this point you can produce nonlinearity in the medium that will result in shortening the laser pulse. The pulse will be so strong that it will accelerate the electron forwards at almost the speed of light, also dragging the ions behind. According to Mourou, the technology has advanced so much that a laser-plasma accelerator producing GeV (gigaelectronvolt or a trillion electronvolts) electrons can now be fitted in the palm of the hand. Based on the technology available in 1954, an accelerator that would have girdled the earth would now be only 1 km long. IZEST, he added, plans to reach 100GeV in a the near future, as an intermediary step towards one TeV and the prospect of looking at dark energy and dark matter, thanks to laserbased high-energy physics which will be able to produce short bursts of protons, neutrinos and gamma rays, inside a vacuum. One ENP may be a tall order, said Mourou, but one day will be possible. And if we can use lasers to make holes in a membrane, why not in a vacuum? If we dont find what we expect to find, added Mourou, during the Q & A session which followed, then dark matter may explain things.
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Conference Scotland and the United Kingdom Joint conference Royal Society of Edinburgh / British Academy 28 February 2012 - British Academy, London 27 April 2012 - Royal Society of Edinburgh, Edinburgh The issue of Scottish independence is one of the biggest constitutional issues facing the UK at the moment, with far-reaching consequences for all UK citizens. The British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh organised a pair of conferences to discuss Scotlands past, present and future relationship with the rest of the United Kingdom. The events brought together academics and policy experts in the fields of constitutional law, politics and government, economics, international relations and history. It provided a platform for a frank and informed discussion on this topic, including complex issues such as tax and spending, the English response and relations with the European Union. The organisation of the conferences and the production of this report were overseen by the following Steering Committee: Rev Canon Professor John Richardson FRSE, Programme Convener, The Royal Society of Edinburgh (Chair) Professor Alice Brown CBE FRSE, General Secretary, The Royal Society of Edinburgh
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Professor Jim Gallagher CB FRSE, Professor of Government, University of Glasgow Professor Charlie Jeffery FRSE, Professor of Politics; Co-Director of the Institute of Governance, University of Edinburgh Professor Michael J Keating FBA FRSE, Professor of Politics, University of Aberdeen Professor Iain McLean FBA FRSE, Professor of Politics, Nuffield College, University of Oxford Professor Neil Walker FBA FRSE, Regius Professor of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations, University of Edinburgh The following is an extract from the comprehensive report prepared by the conference Steering Committee. In 2011, the results of Scottish parliamentary elections created the most significant challenge in recent times to the very existence of the United Kingdom. The Scottish National Party (SNP) became the first party to win an outright majority since the modern Scottish Parliament was established in 1999. As the partys primary platform is the campaign
Conferences, Workshops, Symposia and Discussion Forums for Scotlands independence from the rest of the UK, this result has posed serious questions for the historic union of nations on which the UK rests. The SNPs Manifesto contained a promise to hold an independence referendum; although there are legal doubts about the Scottish Parliaments powers in this respect, the UK Government agrees that an independence referendum should take place. On 10th January 2012, the Scottish Government announced their proposal that it should be held in Autumn 2014. The outcomes of the debate that has begun in Scotland may have significant implications, both for the constitution of the UK and internationally. They will define future relationships between England and the devolved parts of the UK; they will raise questions about our countrys economy, governance and international relations; and they will challenge those seeking to preserve the United Kingdom to present an account of what it means to be a UK citizen today. In this context, the British Academy and The Royal Society of Edinburgh convened a conference intended to bring academic analysis to bear on these vital issues. The conference was held over two days one in London and one in Edinburgh to unite the often separate discussions taking place around Westminster
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and Holyrood. A variety of academic and policy experts from economists to political theorists presented their evidence and views on the political and economic future of Scotland and the UK. It should be noted that this report is a record of the views expressed by speakers and attendees at these two events and does not represent an established position on the part of the British Academy or The Royal Society of Edinburgh. This report is a distillation of the contributions made by the speakers and other contributors at the conference. It aims to provide an accessible summary of the discussions which took place. It will begin by setting out evidence presented on the constitutional options which may face the Scottish people. It will then address the constitutional questions these options raise about the practical implications of either greater devolution or full independence and the effects they might have on the UK as a whole. Finally, it looks at the changing meaning of the unions which have historically bound the United Kingdom together. It could be argued that, until very recently, devolution was viewed from Westminster as more of an event than a process. It was hoped that the establishment of distinct administrations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would
put an end to some of the arguments about identity, citizenship and the appropriate distribution of political powers which have defined the history of the British Isles or, in the words of then-Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Lord Robertson, would kill nationalism stone dead. However, this has clearly not been the case. It has taken the possibility of Scottish independence and the consequent break-up of the United Kingdom as we know it to remind Westminster of the continuing salience of these questions across the country. This conference provided a timely re-assessment of the most important choices currently facing Scotland, and their implications for the UK as a whole. Speakers outlined the three broad options which may be put to the Scottish people: devolution more (represented by the current Scotland Act), devolution max and full independence. There was also an opportunity to explore the numerous questions that these options raise: their likely effect on the standing of Scotland and the UK internationally, the relationships between the UKs home nations and the economic choices which greater devolution or full independence would necessitate. How should current inequities in UK public spending be resolved? What will
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be the future status of the Westminster Parliament in an increasingly devolved UK? How will the English, whose political and economic voice remains such a dominant part of the UK, respond to greater political power and strengthening nationalism in the devolved nations? There are no obvious answers but, regardless of the referendum outcome in 2014, these are the debates which will define the economic, political and constitutional future of the UK. Finally, the conference considered the current state of the Union. The referendum that will take place in 2014 represents the United Kingdoms most significant existential threat for nearly a century. Speakers highlighted a rapidly changing economic and political context over the last thirty years. This includes an economy less focused on the manufacturing centres of Scotland, Wales and the North of England and increasingly oriented towards London and the Southeast, as well as new attitudes towards the welfare state and a declining sense of shared responsibility for welfare provision. These developments have placed the unspoken ties that have long united British citizens under increasing strain. Whatever decision people in Scotland make, this debate will remain relevant well into the future. As this conference high-
Conferences, Workshops, Symposia and Discussion Forums lighted, the discussion is certainly not confined to Scotland, and developments in Wales, Northern Ireland and, particularly, in England will shape the future path of the devolved settlement. The process of devolution will continue to form part of an ongoing debate on citizenship, governance and national loyalties that has defined the history of the British Isles and its peoples. As Scotland seeks to enhance its status and purpose as a nation in rapidly-changing economic and political circumstances, this is a process and a discussion that can only take on greater significance.
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FrancoScottish Seminar Experimental and Theoretical Approaches to Conscious Processing jointly funded by the RSE and the French Embassy, London 22 March 2012
Professor Jean-Pierre Changeux, of the Laboratoire de Neurobiologie Moleculaire, Institut Pasteur, was welcomed by RSE VicePresident, Professor Jean Beggs, as a scientist who is well known for his research in several fields of biology, from the structure, function and regulation of proteins to the early development of the nervous system. His career has combined theoretical modelling and biochemical, structural and physiological experimentation to unravel the mechanism of signal transduction mediated by allosteric proteins. His studies have received many awards and have had a profound effect on science from chemistry, molecular biology and pharmacology to cognitive neuroscience. The lecture threw light on the processes of access to consciousness in the human brain. Not all information is processed consciously which raises the question of how certain pieces of data gain access to the brains conscious processing system. Professor Changeux said the theories he was proposing have been under development by him and his colleagues, especially
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Stanislas Dehaene, for several decades, but there are still many questions to answer. The Professor presented a model of the behaviour of the mental process which has been developed on the basis of a minimalist, yet realistic, representation of the brains neural architecture and the activity patterns which mobilise this architecture. Such a model makes it possible to establish a causal relationship between the specific behaviour of the subjective mental process and objective neural measurements. The aim is to be able to test the model experimentally from the molecular to the cognitive level. Professor Changeux then provided a brief overview of the human brain, which he said was a necessary precursor to addressing the issue of consciousness. There are several levels of organisation within the brain, from the molecular to the cognitive and social. This is the consequence of Darwinian evolution. A swift and crucial period of our genetic development has taken place over the last few million years taking us from Homo habilis to Homo sapiens. In
Conferences, Workshops, Symposia and Discussion Forums this time, major changes have taken place in the organisation and adult connectivity of the brain. The Professor said it takes around 15 years for a human brain to achieve full connectivity to be fully formed. At the time when Homo sapiens first appeared in Africa, life expectancy was around 30. It is interesting to note that Darwinian evolution has selected a species that spends half its life developing its brain, he added. On top of this, there has been the development of thought and of synaptic efficacies, plus social and cultural evolution. Ultimately, the brain can be seen as a series of multiply nested Darwinian processes at the genetic and non-genetic level. According to Professor Changeux, the brain should not be seen as a black box processor with inputs and outputs, but as something which works projectively this allows us to follow external activity and to anticipate events. However, it is also limited and specific about what it holds at a conscious level. A slide was put up showing Salvador Dalis Limage Disparait, which can be seen as showing either the image of a mans bearded face or a full length depiction of a woman reading. According to the Professor, the human brain can only process one set of information at a time on a conscious level so
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viewers only see the man or the woman, not both. Access to consciousness is, therefore, on an all-or-nothing basis. Having said this, the brain is good at pulling data together. It has a global workspace where different stimuli such as the light, temperature and dimensions of whatever space we are in are synthesised. All this data is analysed with reference to memories, rules and conventions. The results provide us with the information we need to function as social beings. Despite our ability to handle all this information, very little of it is dealt with consciously. When members of an audience listen to a speaker, they will be conscious of what is being said rather than of information about the speed of their heartbeat. Conscious and unconscious processing takes place in parallel. Next, Professor Changeux turned to the issue of sleep versus wakefulness, which he said was under the control of ascending reticular neurons which are present in the brain stem. This is illustrated by the fact that if general anaesthetic is injected into the brain stem, then the entire brain is anaesthetised. Returning to conscious access, the Professor said that as far back as Descartes, there was a recognition that the brain only has limited capacity. Philosophers and scientists have gradually devel-
oped fuller and more refined understandings of what those limitations are in terms of how much data the brain can hold at a conscious level. Science has also made great advances in our knowledge of how the brain works. Professor Changeuxs team has built on these understandings to propose a model of conscious access based on the anatomy of the brain. They want to know how a global workspace could be made. The easiest way would be to have interconnections between the regions of the brain that carry out particular functions. This raises the issue of how this could be done when these regions are at a distance from one another. The solution is through neurons with long-range access. This gave rise to the concept of the neuronal global workspace. Such neurons with long-range aons have now been identified in the brain, and their long axons form what is known as white matter. Long-range neurons are more prevalent in the prefrontal areas of the brain. A major difference between humans and other species is our abundance of white matter, and also the relative size of the prefrontal cortex. This, argued the Professor, suggests the importance of the evolutionary expansion of the global neuronal workspace. The evolutionary evidence is consistent with the
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proposition that there are two computational spaces one with specialised processors for things such as perception and attention; these are non-conscious. As well as this, there is the global neuronal workspace, which can broadcast outwards to different areas of the brain, as well as receive information back in. This provides the subjective experience of being conscious and allows us to do things such as plan future action. It also provides the basis for reportability thanks to consciousness we can communicate events and ideas. The Professor described experiments to test the theory of two distinct computational spaces. One involved showing subjects a rapid succession of slides, some with words on them and others with complex figures or masks. Depending on the type of slide and the timing of their succession, the subjects reported having either seen the words (conscious processing) or not (non-conscious processing). When the words were consciously perceived, brain imaging showed a great deal of activity in the prefrontal cortex and connected areas; when they werent, the activity was less. Other experiments have confirmed greater activity in prefrontal areas consistent with the Professors theory of when conscious perception of various kinds is taking place auditory as well as visual or motor.
Conferences, Workshops, Symposia and Discussion Forums The experimental evidence also suggests that there is feedback processing taking place during conscious perception, as well as feed-forward processing. This topdown aspect of brain function is a critical element of the Professors model for access to consciousness and his theory about the all-ornothing nature of consciousness. Evidence that tends to support his ideas includes experimental findings which show that general anaesthetics produce a dramatic reduction in the activity of the cerebral cortex, but not of the sub cortical areas indicating that the activity of the cerebral cortex is critical to whether conscious access is switched on or off. EEG electroencephalography) has also shown that the feedback processes of the brain are greater than the feed- forward. As a species, this means our brains are predominantly projective. Professor Changeux went on to describe an experiment carried out in which Mooney pictures (two identical images representing a human face, but one is upside down and is not recognised) were successively shown to patients with and without a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Those with a diagnosis could not see that the inverted picture was a face, and EEG results showed that there was little activity in the areas associated with conscious processing. This, he conjectured, suggests an altered neuronal workspace. Work has also taken place which shows that mid-teenagers undergo a period of altered activation of their neuronal workspaces, which the Professor linked to the problems associated with adolescence. He suggested that this should inform us about the way that adolescents should be taken care of by society and by officialdom. It has also been possible to identify slight anatomical differences in the brains of people with autism or Aspergers syndrome, in that they have more long-range connections than people without, which may lead to differences in conscious processing. There is also emerging evidence that smoking damages the global neuronal workspace and makes the brains top-down control less efficient; and there is stronger evidence that other drugs, such as cocaine, cause similar damage, accompanied by what is referred to as loss of control of drug intake. Professor Changeux concluded by saying that not all aspects of access to consciousness have been explored and added that there is a great deal of work to do before we fully understand the nature of consciousness itself, in particular self-consciousness.
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Conference Celebrating 100 years Since the Birth of Alan Turing Joint conference with the University of Edinburgh School of Informatics, organised in partnership with SICSA and supported by Cambridge University Press 11 May 2012 This research symposium reflected on four key themes in Turings work, representing the diversity of Turings legacy, in Informatics and beyond. The four themes were Artificial Intelligence, Computability and Algorithms, Computer Hardware and modelling the brain, and Morphogenesis. The last topic made links to colleagues in biological sciences and chemistry, as Turing explored the chemical basis of morphogenesis (how the zebra got its stripes) and predicted oscillating chemical reactions (the biochemical clock).
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Conferences, Workshops, Symposia and Discussion Forums Panel Discussion Humanising the Workplace part of the Festival of Politics 2012 Organised by The Royal Society of Edinburgh in conjuction with British Council Scotland, The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (University of Edinburgh), Royal Society of Arts Scotland, Museums and Galleries Scotland, UNESCO UKNC Scotland Committee 17 August 2012 The New Lanark mills led the world in creating a workplace that respected the needs of employees; yet despite many advances the office builders of today rarely show the pioneering zeal of Robert Owen for pushing back the boundaries. Writer and broadcaster Sheena McDonald chaired a session in which Lorna Davidson looked back at the ideals that shaped New Lanark while Richard Murphy explored contemporary architectural issues. Lorna Davidson (Director of the New Lanark Trust) New Lanark was built at the end of the 18th Century close to the Falls of Clyde, where the gorge provided the sandstone and water power to build and drive the cotton mills. Ms Davidson used the development of this great enterprise of the Scottish Industrial Revolution to provide an historical context for the humanisation of the workplace. The mills founder David Dale, came from humble beginnings, and ensured that profits from his success were used to provide
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good housing and workplace conditions for the hands. In 1800 he was joined by Robert Owen who, for the next 25 years, took a radical approach to the organisation of the working community. Owen created a model industrial community at New Lanark. This was the moment when Britain was undergoing an accelerating shift from an agricultural to an industrial society, with large numbers of workers being drawn into mills which were the first factories. Women and children formed the majority of the workforce due to their nimble fingers and low cost in doing relatively unskilled jobs. Exploitation was rife as investors and owners wanted their factories and machines to be in full production for as many hours of the day as was humanly possible in some cases very inhumanly possible. Owen was determined to create something better after seeing some of the worst aspects of factory working while in Manchester, where no attention was paid to the social, housing, health or family needs of mill hands.
As New Lanark was away from any existing settlement, the workforce needed to live on site. Dale and Owen invested in high quality housing. A village stores was set up, very different from the often notorious company shops elsewhere, which used New Lanarks bulk buying power to get quality goods and sell them at subsidised prices to the 2,000strong population. The profits were reinvested in the community, helping to pay for the school. Owen was convinced that education was the key to building a better and fairer society. Each child was given a liberal education. He wrote: Every child of man should be from his birth as well trained and educated as his original organs, faculties and powers can admit. At a time when 1416 hour days were not uncommon, he insisted that eight hours was sufficient to earn a reasonable wage and that for the rest of their time, people were entitled to rest, recreation and education. At the heart of the New Lanark village he built his Institute for the Formation of Character, which was dedicated to learning and recreation. The rooms were spacious and airy, and full of natural light. This included a dedicated area for childrens play, possibly the worlds first school playground; from 1816 there was also the first workplace crche.
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Where others might have placed a church, the non-religious Owen, provided encouragement to study, question, dance and sing. Half a century before the abolition of child labour, all under tens were in fulltime education. In the evening there were classes and cultural activities for adults. Workers also enjoyed sick pay and free healthcare. Looking ahead to the next millennium, Owen said he hoped it would be a time when society faced no crime, no poverty, with better health, little misery and with intelligence and happiness increased a hundred-fold. He demonstrated at New Lanark that businesses which invested in providing a healthy and happy working environment could still be very profitable. Today, New Lanark is inscribed on UNESCOs World Heritage List, and recognised as a site of Outstanding Universal Value. Richard Murphy OBE FRSE (Richard Murphy Architects) The Medici family were the originators of the purpose built office: the Uffizi in Florence which is now a world-famous gallery. And while most of us think we know what an office is, Mr Murphy said the concept has undergone many changes. Architects first began to influence their design, through people like Frank Lloyd Wright inventor of the office atrium, in the early 20th Century.
Conferences, Workshops, Symposia and Discussion Forums By contrast, architects have had less impact on factories, though exceptions include the elegant 1970s former Cummins Engine Company in Shotts. Mr Murphy said he is concerned about whether we are currently going forwards or backwards in workplace design. Post-industrial workplaces have replaced the danger and stench of factories with the battery chicken world of offices such as call centres. For me, this is going to the core of the subject today of the inhumanity of the workplace it would drive me bonkers within a week, he said. According to Mr Murphy, the modern city was shaped by the office block and has since been undermined by movements out of town. The arrival of the car meant people could live away from their work, business parks were then shifted from the centre to the fringes, and finally shops were removed to malls and retail parks. The office itself has often become sterile as a form, says Mr Murphy, because those who finance them insist they conform to specific sets of rules and practices which can prevent innovation. Certain people such as Norman Foster have, though, been successful in challenging convention. Fosters great contribution has been to create hierarchy and change within tall buildings so not all floors are the same. It becomes a
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series of buildings stacked on top of each other, said Mr Murphy. In the Commerzbank HQ, Frankfurt, he employed a triangular design with an upward spiralling winter garden, so only two sides of any floor were bank offices. By contrast most offices are about shapism where the architect works to a prescription and then tries to enfold everything within an unusual-looking exterior. The problem is that the nature of office design is dominated by a caste of high priests who set all the rules about what the office should be. Its all about you having a 1.5m grid youve got heights from floor to floor. Despite this, he said there is progress in areas such as the services and environmental efficiency of workplaces. But the actual spatial experience most people have of an office is space with no hierarchy, a series of spaces sometimes with columns, sometimes without, where people just turn up with the furniture and say where do you want me to put this? The reality is that you probably wont get financed unless you follow the rules. This militates against the real needs of business, which are for ever-greater workforce creativity. As Google has recognised with its bean bag environment, creativity comes from incidental meeting and mixing something which
building design can promote or inhibit. One of the most interesting examples in Scotland is the Edinburgh University Informatics building which mixes cellular office units with hang out spaces. Mr Murphy said his firm had put forward one proposal which replaced the concept of the most efficient building with the idea of what would be the nicest place to work. It didnt go ahead, but one that did was the British Embassy in Sri Lanka.
Despite the conservatism of the Foreign Office, the firm was given the opportunity to create an imaginative structure in which all the employees were able to work near a garden, and making use of lots of water. The design, which is single storey and surrounds a series of courtyards, took inspiration from the work of Geoffrey Bawa, the countrys most influential architect. I would never be allowed to get away with anything like that in a commercial office in this country, said Mr Murphy.
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PUBLICATIONS
Proceedings A: Mathematics Six issues were published: Parts 141.5 & 141.6 (2011) and 142.1, 142.2, 142.3, 142.4 (2012) Earth and Environmental Science Transactions Two issues were published: Parts 102.2 and 102.3 (2011) ReSourcE - the RSEs Newsletter: Issues 33, 34, 35 and 36 RSE Directory 2011/12 RSE Annual Review 2012 (April 2011-March 2012) Science Scotland One issue was published: No. 12 Knowledge Transfer in Engineering and Informatics Policy Advice Tapping all our Talents. Women in STEM: a Strategy for Scotland RSE Committee of Inquiry Report (Apr 2011). ISBN: 978 0 902198 66 1 Lecture/Conference Reports RAE/RSE Joint Lecture, March 2011 The Twin Towers: Ten Years Ten Lesons on Sustainable Infrastructure. Professor Jose Torero FREng, FRSE. ISBN: 978 0 902198 56 2 YP Discussion Forum 2012 Enhancements in Disability Sport. Teachers Resource Pack.
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POLICY ADVICE
INQUIRIES Tapping All our Talents: Women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics: a strategy for Scotland During the 2011/12 Session, the Society published the Report of its Inquiry into the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This is of particular concern when the strategic importance of this field is considered: economic growth relies heavily on innovation and knowledge, especially in science and technology. It has been estimated that increasing the participation of women in the UK labour market could be worth between 15 billion and 23 billion (1.3-2.0% GDP), with STEM accounting for at least 2 billion. Although recent years have seen significant increases in the number of female STEM graduates and postgraduates, the numbers who proceed to take up senior positions in universities, research, business and industry remain proportionately much smaller than in the case of their male counterparts. In a straitened economy where education is free, the failure to provide a workplace where skilled individuals whether male or female can progress and thrive is a wasted investment in human capital and represents a serious loss of potential for Scotland. Attracting and retaining more women in the STEM workforce to boost economic growth is a public policy challenge which demands public, private and third sector solutions. The Royal Society of Edinburgh, with the involvement of the Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland, has established a Working Group to develop a cohesive and comprehensive strategy for Scotland to increase both the proportion of women in the STEM workforce, and the number who rise to senior positions in universities, institutes and business. The report provided practical advice on what can be done by those who have a key interest in STEM to harness the full potential of women in science. Key Recommendations Scottish Government should: take the lead in committing itself to a national strategy for Scotland an Action Plan aimed at retaining and promoting women in STEM and led by a Cabinet Secretary; reaffirms its commitment to close the gender pay gap; and expect university STEM departments to achieve the minimum standards for an Athena SWAN Silver award, or equivalent. Initiatives should be monitored and evaluated.
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UK Government should: extend existing parental leave legislation to recognise the equal responsibility of mothers and fathers for parenting. Businesses and industry should: address the issue of job design and introduce quality part-time employment at all levels for men and women; national STEM Industry Advisory Boards should develop gender equity strategies. Funders of universities and of research should: link funding to gender equality and seek to encourage a level of performance equivalent to an Athena SWAN Silver award across all Scottish university STEM departments. Universities and research institutes should: obtain the minimum standard of an Athena SWAN Silver award (or equivalent) for their STEM departments. Academies, and learned and professional bodies should: set standards that help to change the culture; lead by example ensuring that appropriate data is being collected, analysed and reported regularly, and trends examined.
SUBMISSIONS During the Session, the Society produced the following to the Scottish Parliament and/or the Scottish Government. Advice and Briefing Papers October 2011 BP 11-05. Scottish Government Spending Review 2011 and Draft Budget 2012-13 November 2011 AP 11-15. Scotlands Broadband Infrastructure December 2011 AP 11-16. Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Bill: a response to the Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee AP 11-17. Putting Learners at the Centre: Post-16 Education in Scotland February 2012 AP 12-01. Bridging the Valley of Death: Research Commercialisation BP 12-01. Scottish Parliament Debate: Scotlands Next Generation Broadband Infrastructure AP 12-02. Further Education Governance in Scotland AP 12-03. The Scottish Governments Renewable Energy Targets for 2020
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Policy Advice
March 2012 AP 12-04. A Referendum on Scottish Independence April 2012 AP 12-05. Introducing a Statutory Register of Lobbyists May 2012 AP12-06. Response to the Commission on School Reform
August 2012 AP 12-07. Fiscal Sustainability: Demographic Change and Ageing Population AP 12-08. Draft Scottish Budget 2013-14 September 2012 AP 12-09. The 2020 Challenge for Scotlands Biodiversity
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EVENTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

Christmas Lecture December 2011 On the 12th December 2011, Professor Tom Devine delivered the prestigious RSE Christmas Lecture, where he explored the puzzles of Scottish migration in the Victorian era. The lecture was attended by students and teachers from ten senior schools across Scotland and was webcast live by BBC Scotland to a worldwide audience. Masterclasses October 2011 and May 2012 In October and November 2011 the RSE ran 20 masterclasses across five universities (Dundee, Heriot-Watt, Aberdeen, Glasgow and St Andrews) In May/June 2012 the RSE ran another 16 masterclasses over four universities (Aberdeen did not participate in this round.) Discussion Forum June 2012 The latest event focused on issues around enhancements in disability sport, and was kindly supported by the Darwin Trust for Edinburgh. Arbroath Academy hosted the Discussion Forum in June as part of their 50th Anniversary, and Olympic Week. The RSE was delighted to get the opportunity to go back to school again, after some successful past events as part of RSE@ Arbroath. The discussion was led by the World Champion Para-triathlete, Jane Egan, who gave students a fascinating and inspiring introduction to the various enhancements in disability sport such as drugs and physical enhancements. She also discussed other issues facing athletes, such as the current classification system within her sport, the costs involved in taking part and the impact that coaching can have. Following their own research into these matters, the students took part in a series of debates on the key questions raised. It was extremely successful and was run again in November 2012 at Lochaber High School. RSE @ School Talks English/Scottish literature. Dr Pauline McKay. Auchmuty High School Physics. Professor Bruce Sinclair. Dunning Primary School Accounting. Mrs Sheryl Vickery. Larbert High School ICT. Mr Ross Tsakas, RSE Business Enterprise Fellow. Larbert High School Business. Paul Adderley, RSE Business Enterprise Fellow. Larbert High School ICT. Jochen L. Leidner, RSE Business Fellow. Larbert High School Physics. Alison McLure. St Georges School for Girls Astrophysics. Professor Martin Hendry. Sir E. Scott Secondary
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School, Tarbert; Portree High School; Sgoil Lionacleit, Benbecula; Tiree High School; Tobermory High School, Islay High School; Nicholson Institute, Lewis
ICT Critical Thinking. Dr Chris Speed. Kilgraston School Medicine. Dr Elizabeth Hennessey. Ellon Academy
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RESEARCH AND ENTERPRISE AWARDS

The following awards were made in Session 2011/2012 RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS BP Dr Stuart Robertson. Avenues of Application for Co-operative Bimetallics. University of Strathclyde CRF European Visiting (Incoming) Professor Igor Dukhan. Utopia of Fraternity: Interactions and Migrations in the 1920s European and Russian avant-gardes. State University of Belarus Dr Sndor Hites. Credit, Fiction, Nation-building. Hungarian Academy of Sciences Professor Mire N Annrachin. Figurative Language in Scottish Gaelic Song. University College Dublin Dr Alexander Pavlenko. A Study into the Toponyms of the Scottish Origins in the Former Russian Empire. Taganrog Institute of Management and Economics, Russia Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts. The moorings of the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border in Scotts life and correspondence. Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz Dr Berit Sandnes. Place-names in the former Viking Areas. University of Lund CRF European Visiting (Outgoing) Dr Maud Anne Bracke. Women and the re-invention of the political: the Italian feminist movement in an international perspective (19661983). University of Glasgow Dr Bernadette ORourke. New Speakers of Galician. Heriot-Watt University Professor Stephen Partridge. Video Art in Italy 19681994. University of Dundee, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Dr Myrto Tsakatika. The weakest link: changing patterns of party competition and the politics of protest in Southern Europe. University of Glasgow CRF Personal Dr Christine Dmor. Ultrasound Biomedical Microscanning: New capabilities in tissue characterisation. University of Dundee
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Scottish Government Personal Dr Angela Bradshaw. A novel approach to ameliorating vascular pathologies driven by transforming growth factor-beta (TGF). University of Glasgow
Dr Grant Hill. An accurate theoretical protocol for homogenous transition metal catalysis. University of Glasgow Dr Sarah McKim. Molecular characterisation of spike development in barley University of Dundee
ENTERPRISE FELLOWSHIPS BBSRC Dr Neil Gibbs. Curapel Ltd developing safe and effective therapies for chronic skin conditions. University of Manchester Dr Lisa Mohamet. Commercialisation of a Novel, Single-step Method for the Enrichment of Stem Cell-Derived Neural Progenitor Cells. University of Manchester Scottish Enterprise Dr Lee Baker. Chi-Squared Innovations Limited - discovering, developing and delivering an innovative portfolio of automated statistical analysis tools. University of Dundee Kanika Bansal. IV Prev - Preventing Infections from IV Drip. University of Edinburgh Dr Paolo Di Prodi. EMMA - Elderly Mobility Monitoring Assistant. University of Glasgow Dr Elias Ekonomou. Vitalmeda: The Personal Health Data Manager. Edinburgh Napier University Eleanore Irvine. biogelX: Cell Matched Matrices for 3D Cell Culture. University of Strathclyde STFC Mohammed Belal. Chirped Laser Dispersion Spectroscopy (CLaDS). STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Oliver Hardick. Nanofibres for High Productivity Bioseparations. University College London
Research and Enterprise Awards
ARTS AND HUMANITIES Research Workshops Dr Claudia Glatz. The Prehistoric Black Sea. University of Glasgow Dr Sen Molloy. The Indispensable Theory? The Theory and Practice of Realism from the Scottish Enlightenment to the Present. University of Edinburgh Dr Marina Moskowitz. Handknitted Textiles and the Economies of Craft in Scotland. University of Glasgow Prof Andrew Patrizio. The ARTIST ROOMS Research Workshop Programme. University of Edinburgh (ECA), Edinburgh College of Art Professor Alan Riach. Vision and Language: Alasdair Grays Visual and Literary Archive. University of Glasgow Dr Graeme Small. Tapestry in the Round: Interdisciplinary Crosssector Research in Textile History. University of Glasgow
Small Grants Dr Ross Birrell. Rodeo: Artist Films on R.B. Cunninghame Graham. Glasgow School of Art Dr Kate Britton. Analysis of human remains from St. Nicholas Kirk, Aberdeen: Diet, health and mobility in a Medieval maritime society. University of Aberdeen Dr Barbara Burns. Ageing and self-awareness in the literary works of Laure Wyss. University of Glasgow David Cowley. In with the new, out with the old? Integrating new technologies and traditional archaeological skills in the world of virtual archaeology. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
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Dr Philip Drake. Building reputational capital: examining film industry creativity, reputation and authorship. University of Stirling Dr Christine Ferguson. Race and Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans: Sance Records from the Henri Louis Rey Circle, 1858-1876. University of Glasgow, Dr Jacqueline Jenkinson. Shop keeping among general practitioners in Scotland, c. 18581911 - a way for poor doctors to aid poor patients? University of Stirling Dr Chris Jones. Edwin Morgan and Old English. University of St Andrews
Dr Rebecca H Jones. Presentation and dissemination of research into Roman Scotland and Roman Frontiers at the XXII International Limes (Roman Frontiers) Congress in Ruse, Bulgaria (6th11th September 2012). Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland Dr Hilary Macartney. The First Photographically Illustrated Book on Art: William Stirling Maxwells Annals of the Artists of Spain (1848). University of Glasgow Dr Fraser MacDonald. From Space Exploration to Scotlands Cold War: testing and contesting the worlds first nuclear missile. University of Edinburgh
Dr Jane Wilson Mallinson. Choral Societies in Nineteenth-Century Scotland. University of Glasgow Dr Karen Milek. Material Culture and Power Politics in Viking Age Iceland. University of Aberdeen Professor Peter van Dommelen. Ancient Interactions: Crafts, Technology and Knowledge Exchange in the Ancient Mediterranean. University of Glasgow Diane Watters. Scottish Historic School Architecture (pre-1880): Contextual Research & Survey of Northern Englands Historic Urban School Architecture. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland
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Research and Enterprise Awards
RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIPS AND PRIZES Carnegie Caledonian Scholarships Piotr Jacobsson. Dating Scottish Crannogs. University of Glasgow Jonathan Simpson. Investigating Sugar Biosensing with Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). University of Strathclyde Cormack Postgraduate Prize David Brown. Are falling planets spinning up their host stars? University of St Andrews Cormack Vacation Scholarships David Edwards. Investigating nonstandard cosmological models with gravitational wave standard sirens. University of Glasgow Alistair Hodson. Are core collapse supernovae powered by scalar gravitational waves? University of Aberdeen Samuel Irvine. Assessing Habitability in Large Exoplanet Datasets using Simple Climate Models. University of Edinburgh Aron Krausz. Resolving Stellar Populations in Two Nearby Starburst Galaxies. University of Edinburgh Juraj Sabol. A Non-Linear ForceFree Field model of the Quiet Sun Corona. University of St Andrews Lessells Travel Scholarships Liliana Acosta Alvarez. Microfluidic Platform for Cell Trapping and Separation to Generate Artificial Tissues for Biomedical Applications. University of Glasgow Pamela Anderson. The Orbital Dynamics of Advanced Planetary Observation Systems. University of Strathclyde James Calvey. IntelliBike: monitoring the condition of cycling infrastructure. Edinburgh Napier University Helen Cope. Optimising Biological Recovery of Phosphorus from Waste-streams. University of Edinburgh Kyle Crombie. Investigating the effect of pryolysis production conditions on the stability of biochar. University of Edinburgh Ian McNally. The Orbital Motion of Large Solar Power Satellites in Space. University of Glasgow Konstantinos Margaris. Study of physiological fluid flow in the lymphatic system using experimental and mathematical methods. University of Strathclyde
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SCOTTISH CRUCIBLE Dr Adam Barker. University of St Andrews Dr Rebecca Barr. University of Aberdeen Dr Helen Bridle. University of Edinburgh Dr Maria Ana Cataluna. University of Dundee Dr Alasdair Clark. University of Glasgow Dr Joanna Cloy. Scottish Agricultural College Dr Geoff Cooper. University of Glasgow Dr Sylvie Coupaud. University of Glasgow Dr Andrew Davie. University of Stirling Dr Michaela Dewar. University of Edinburgh Dr Johannes Kiefer. University of Aberdeen Dr Joanneke Kruijsen. Robert Gordon University Dr David Loudon. Glasgow School of Art Dr W. Gordon Mackay. University of the West of Scotland Dr Frankie McCarthy. University of Glasgow Dr Alistair McGowan. University of Glasgow Dr Jonathan Mendel. University of Dundee Dr Wendy Moncur. University of Dundee Dr Erik Monsen. University of Strathclyde Dr Colin Moran. University of Stirling Dr Alasdair Mort. University of Aberdeen Dr Cristina Persano. University of Glasgow Dr Anita Quye. University of Glasgow Dr Susan Rasmussen. University of Strathclyde Dr Colin Rickman. Heriot-Watt University Dr Verena Rieser. Heriot-Watt University Dr Craig Roberts. University of Stirling Dr Tamsin Saxton. University of Abertay Dundee Dr Kiril Sharapov. Glasgow Caledonian University Dr Narakorn Srinil. University of Strathclyde Dr Chris White. University of Glasgow
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MEDALS, PRIZES AND PRIZE LECTURESHIPS

Royal Medals Professor A D Milne Sir Edwin Southern Sir James Black Prize 2012 Professor G M Gadd Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane Prize 2012 Dr S Ashbrook Dr R Jenkins Sir Walter Scott Prize 2012 Professor T M Devine Patrick Neill Prize 2012 Dr N Stanley-Wall Lord Kelvin Prize 2012 Professor C R McInnes Beltane Public Engagement Senior Prize 2012 Professor T M Devine Beltane Public Engagement Innovators Prize 2012 Dr N Stanley-Wall
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GRANTS COMMITTEE
The Grants Committee considered 19 applications and a sum of 12171 was awarded. Approximately 88% of this sum was awarded as travel assistance. Travel Assistance * Young Academy Members Professor L Barron. For travel to China. 950 Professor E Clarkson. For travel to Germany. 464 Professor M Cusack. For travel to Canada. 950 Professor J H Dickson. For travel to Canada. 950 *Professor I Docherty. For travel to Australia. 866 Dr Alan Gow. For travel to South Africa. 950 Professor Simon Harley. For travel to India. 950 *Dr Rob Jenkins. For travel to South Africa. 950 *Dr Caroline Nichol. For travel to USA. 870 (unable to travel refunded) Professor Raffaella Ocone. For travel to New Zealand. 950 *Mr Chris OSullivan. For travel to the Netherlands. 500 Professor R Paxton. For travel to Wales. 300 Professor J A Sherratt. For travel to Hong Kong. 916 Professor I Stewart. For travel to USA. 925 Dr N Tausch. For travel to Australia. 950 (unable to travel refunded) Professor B Upton. For travel to Denmark. 500 Members of Young Academy for travel to Ireland. 500. (This grant was not taken up) Support for Meetings Professor R Bauckham. Scripture and Theology: Pauls Epistle to the Galatians. 750 Professor J Wardlaw. Standards for determining the vascular contribution to neurodegeneration. 750
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INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME
20-21 October 2011 A joint workshop with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) took place in Beijing. The two-day workshop on Emerging Directions in Image Processing and Understanding involved speakers from Scotland and China, with the purpose of establishing collaborations to then be supported through the RSE-NSFC Joint Project scheme. 28 October 2011 A delegation from the Bureau of International Cooperation, the Chinese Academy of Sceinces, visited the RSE to discuss their communication strategy, specifically in relation to their website. The RSE was able to provide advice following its recent website upgrade, and bring together expertise in Scotland with web experts from China. 29 November 2011 Three representatives from the Center for Administrative Services, the National Natural Science Foundation of China visited the RSE to discuss issues including energy saving, waste control and health and safety. The RSE was able to facilitate meetings between the NSFC and the Scottish Government. 6-7 February 2012 A workshop supported by the RSE and the National Science Council Taiwan took place at the University of Edinburgh on Electronic Materials and Nanomaterials, bringing together researchers from across Scotland and Taiwan. 16 February 2012 The second in a series of FrancoScottish Science Seminars took place, bringing together earlycareer researchers in the area of photonics from France and Scotland, to present their work. The seminar was followed by a public lecture given by Professor Grard Mourou, Directeur, Institut de Lumire Extrme, Ecole Nationale Superieure de Techniques Avancees. 22 March 2012 The third seminar in the FrancoScottish Science Seminar, on the subject of Systems Neuroscience, took place. Professor Jean-Pierre Changeux, Laboratoire de Neurobiologie Moleculaire, Institut Pasteur presented his work at a public lecture, and early-career researchers from Scotland and France presented their work and discussed mutual interests and opportunities for collaboration.
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2-4 June 2012 A delegation from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, lead by their President Professor Chunli BAI, visited the RSE and other organisations with connections to China. The delegation was particularly interested in the RSEs Enterprise Fellowships scheme, and the recent establishment of the RSE Young Academy. 19-21 June 2012 A delegation, lead by the VicePresident of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Prof. Wang Jie, visited Edinburgh. During the visit the delegation met with the Scottish Funding Council, and heard about the strong and long-standing links between Scotland and China held by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Edinburgh Zoo. 17 August 2012 The RSE, together with the British Council, University of Edinburgh, RSA and Museums Galleries Scotland held a discussion forum as part of the Festival of Politics. The event entitled Humanising the Workplace brought together a range of speakers with views on how the working environment affects the wellbeing of workers.
10 September 2012 The President of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Professor Sir David Skegg, and Chief Executive, Dr Di McCarthy, visited the RSE on the 10 September. They met with RSE President Sir John Arbuthott and Chief Executive Dr William Duncan to discuss possible joint activities that could be run by the RSE and the RSNZ. 17 Sep 2012 A delegation from the Chinese Academy of Sciences visited the RSE to learn how the RSE promotes scientific research, focussing on the RSEs research fellowships, scholarships and enterprise fellowships along with the Scottish Crucible programme. 2 October 2012 The RSE, together with the French Consulate General in Edinburgh held a Franco-Scottish Seminar round-table meeting for academics and policy practitioners from Scotland and from France, to exchange ideas on policy innovation and on youth employment and training policies. Participants included academics from Scotland and France, public servants and civil society representatives.
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International
Exchanges Awarded during the Session CZECH REPUBLIC Incoming Dr Atanas Christev. Heriot-Watt University. Dr Sergey Slobodyan, CERGE-EI Dr Derek Alan Wann. University of Edinburgh. Dr Drahomir Hnyk, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Outgoing Dr Trevor Fenning. Forestry Research. Professor Jana Krajnakova, Mendel University HUNGARY Incoming Prof John Henry. University of Edinburgh. Dr Tamas Demeter, Institute for Philosophy, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Dr Pauline Phemister. University of Edinburgh. Dr Sandor Hites, Institute for Literary Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Professor Daniel Marinus Ferdinand Van Aalten. University of Dundee. Dr Tamas Nagy, University of Pecs Outgoing Dr Amy Bryzgel. University of Aberdeen. Dr Laszlo Beke, Institute of Art History, Hungarian Academy of Sciences INDIA Incoming Professor John H Davies. University of Glasgow. Professor Chandan Kumar Sarkar, Jadavpur University Professor Andrew Hursthouse. University of the West of Scotland. Dr Anurag Garg, Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Insititute of Technology Bombay Professor Dino Anthony Jaroszynski. University of Strathclyde. Dr Devki Nandan Gupta, University of Delhi Professor Dong-sheng Jeng. University of Dundee. Dr Ashish Arora, Punjab Technical University Professor Pavel Kocovsky. University of Glasgow. Dr Arun Kumar Shaw, Central Drug Research Institute Professor Ping Lin. University of Dundee. Associate Professor Singh Swarn, University of Delhi Professor Ian Graham Main. University of Edinburgh, Professor Satybir Singh Teotia, Kurukshetra University Dr Tapas Mallick. Heriot-Watt University. Dr Subarna Maiti, Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, CSRI Professor Simon Tett. University of Edinburgh. Dr Saon Banerjee, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
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Outgoing Dr David Miller. University of Glasgow. Rohini M. Godbole, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Mr Gerard Porter. University of Edinburgh. Dr Amar Jesani, Centre for Study in Ethics and Rights (CSER) OPEN PROGRAMME Incoming Professor Robert Mark Ellam. Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre. Professor Cong-Qiang Liu, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences Professor Callum Hill. Edinburgh Napier University. Dr CarmenMihaela Popescu, Petru Poni Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Romanian Academy of Sciences Dr Julia Hussein. University of Aberdeen. Professor Rosa Maria Urquiza, National Institute of Public Health Dr Maria Kashtalyan. University of Aberdeen. Dr Romana Piat, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Dr Gregory Kenicer. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Assistant Professor Petr Smykal, Palacky University Professor Fiona Macpherson. University of Glasgow. Dr Derek Brown, Brandon University
Professor Peter Smith. University of Aberdeen. Professor Raffaele Casa, Universita della Tuscia Dr Jianguo Zhang. University of Dundee. Dr Carlos TraviesoGonzalez, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Outgoing Dr Adam Bock. University of Edinburgh. Professor Philip Kim, University of Wisconsin Madison Dr Alan J S Cuthbertson. HeriotWatt University. Dr Janek Laanearu / Professor Peter Lundberg, Tallinn University of Technology / Stockholm University Dr Richard Fu. University of the West of Scotland. Professor Liping Wang, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Rob Jenkins. University of Glasgow. Professor Helmut Leder, University of Vienna Dr Kenneth Mackenzie. University of Aberdeen. Dr Cecile Reed, University of Cape Town Professor James Hamish Mair. Heriot-Watt University. Dr Mohd Lokman Husain, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu Dr Veronica Morales. University of Abertay Dundee. Professor Tammo Steenhuis & Professor Anthony Hay, Cornell University Professor Wilfred Otten. University of Abertay Dundee. Dr Thilo Eickhorst, University of Bremen
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International
Dr Francisco Jose Perez-Reche. University of Abertay Dundee. Dr Eduard Vives, Universitat de Barcelona Dr Tamara Rathcke. University of Glasgow. Professor Frans Gregersen, University of Copenhagen Dr Vincent Rinterknecht. University of St Andrews. Dr Andreas Borner, LUNG, Regional Administration for the Environment, Nature Protection, and Geology Dr Andrew Spiers. University of Abertay Dundee. Dr Olena Moshynets, Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, National Academy of Science of Ukraine Dr Arjunan Subramanian. University of Glasgow. Professor Gopal Naik, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore POLAND Incoming Professor Douglas Cairns. University of Edinburgh. Assistant Professor Robert Zaborowski, Institute of History of Science, Polish Academy of Sciences Dr David Kilpatrick. Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service. Dr Anna Swierzko & Dr Maciej Cedzynski, Institute of Medical Biology, The Polish Academy of Sciences Dr David Colin Worthington. University of the Highlands and Islands. Dr Anna Kalinowska, Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences
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SLOVAKIA Outgoing Dr Amy Bryzgel. University of Aberdeen. Dr Zuzana Bartosova, Institute of Art History, Slovak Academy of Sciences SLOVENIA Incoming Dr Vivian Blok. The James Hutton Institute. Dr Sasa Sirca, Agricultural Institute of Slovenia Outgoing Dr David McArdle. University of Stirling. Dr Simona Kustec Lipicer, University of Ljubljana TAIWAN Incoming Professor John Paul Attfield. University of Edinburgh. Professor Ikai Lo, National Sun Yat-Sen University Outgoing Dr Ali Ahmadinia. Glasgow Caledonian University. Professor Chia-Lin Yang, National Taiwan University Dr Mark Hughes. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Dr Ching-I Peng, Academia Sinica Dr Amir Hussain. University of Stirling. Professor Jane Hsu, National Taiwan University
NNSFC JOINT PROJECTS Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri. University of Dundee. Professor Chengli Song, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. Lesion localization and navigation for minimal access robotically-assisted laparoscopic surgery. Professor Alan Greenaway. HeriotWatt University. Dr Yuntao He, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Dr Amir Hussain. University of Stirling. Dr Bin Luo, Anhui University. Vision-based Coordinated Control of Multiple Autonomous Vehicles. Dr Zhenhong Li. University of Glasgow. Professor Peijun Du, Nanjing University. Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar image processing for rapid assessment of earthquake hazard damage.
Professor Stephen Marshall. University of Strathclyde. Dr Sun Meijun, Tianjin University. Learning and modelling of art styles of Chinese ink paintings using hyperspectral imaging . Dr Erfu Yang. University of Stirling. Dr Jun Wang, Beihang University. Next-generation Neurobiologically inspired Autonomous Visual Surveillance Systems. Dr Jianguo Zhang. University of Dundee. Dr Wei-Shi Zheng, Sun Yat-sen University. Learning from imperfect annotations with applications in medical image analysis.
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FELLOWS SOCIAL EVENTS

New Fellows Induction Day A New Fellows' Induction Day is held annually, shortly after the election and New Fellows are encouraged to attend this to be formally admitted to the Society and sign the Roll. New Fellows not able to attend then, and existing Fellows, may make arrangements to be formally admitted at Ordinary Meetings of the Society. In certain circumstances, special arrangements may be made for Honorary and Corresponding Fellows who cannot attend an Ordinary Meeting. The 2012 Induction Day was held on 14 May 2012. Fellows Coffee Meetings Weekly Coffee Meetings were held through the Winter and Spring months, as follows: 11th October 2011. Practical Skills and Model Engineering. Professor Malcolm B Wilkins FRSE 8th November 2011. The Role of the Exhibition Centre in the promotion of learning and useful knowledge today. Professor Stuart K.Monro OBE, FRSE 6th December 2011. Reflections on the development of Scotlands public services. The President, Sir John Arbuthnott MRIA 10th January 2012. Why Roman Law? Professor Olivia Robinson FRSE. 7th February 2012. Materials Science for Enhanced Energy Storage and Conversion. Dr. Job Thijssen 6th March 2012. Science, Wisdom and Faith. Professor David A. S. Fergusson FRSE The Royal Society Dining Club The Club was established on 3 January 1820, with the view of promoting the objectives of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In Session 2011/2012 meetings were held as follows: 857th Dinner - 10 October 2011 Praeses: Sir John Cadogan Croupier: Professor Olivia Robinson 858th Dinner. 5 December 2011 Praeses: Professor David Baird Croupier: Lord Ross 859th Dinner. 2 April 2012 Praeses: Lord Balfour of Burleigh Croupier: Professor John Coggins 860th Dinner - 6 June 2012 Praeses: Dr Malcolm Fluendy Croupier: Professor John Mavor Fellows Golf Stewart Cup The 2012 Fellows Golf Challenge at the Lansdowne Golf Course, Blairgowrie, was won by Professor Alan Hood Sector Group Match The Golf House Club, Elie. 17 May 2012. The overall team winner was Sector B - the individual winner was Sean McKee
175
GRANTS, SPONSORSHIP AND DONATIONS

The Society is grateful to the following organisations for their continuing support during the Session: BBSRC BP Research Fellowship Trust Caledonian Research Fund EU FP7 Marie Curie Cofund Lessells Trust Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland Scottish Enterprise Scottish Government STFC
and also to the following for their support for specific events and activities during the financial year 201112
Arts & Humanties Research Council Brightsolid Online Innovation Ltd Chartered Institute for IT (CAS) Edinburgh Consortium for Rural Research Edinburgh Napier University Education Scotland French Embassy Heriot-Watt University James Weir Foundation Microsoft Research National Telford Institute Ove Arup & Partners Scotland Ltd
Royal Academy of Engineering Scotland IS Ltd Scotland Cancer Foundation Scottish Funding Council Scottish Information & Computer Science Alliance Society of Biology University of Edinburgh University of Glasgow University of the West of Scotland WMD Awareness Group Wolfson Microelectronics plc
177
Royal Society of Edinburgh Schedule of Investments- movements at valuation. Year Ended 31 March 2012 Opening Market Value Purchase Cost Sales Proceeds Gain/(Loss) on Sale Revaluation for Year Closing Market Value
Investment Current Holdings
Closing No.
Gilts
268,478 271,937 344,373 (289,035) -
Treasury 2.5% Index-Linked 2016 Treasury 2.5% Index-Linked 2020 Treasury 2.5% Index-Linked 2024
83,300 109,500
Other Fixed Interest R B of Scotland 7.387% 2010/49 European Inv't Bank 4.75% 2018 European Investment Bank 4.125% 17 Provident Financial 7.5% 30/09/16 Scottish & Southern 5.875% 22/9/22 Tesco 5.5% Nts 13/12/19 Vodafone Group 5.625% 4/12/25 70,000 349,724 346,085 80,760 102,345 107,717 100,114 46,521 32,755 10,822 43,530 35,122 34,176 (41,475) (38,272) (105,334) -
328,000 260,000 90,000 130,000 130,000 124,000
SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
179
298,540 48,600 54,988 82,688 58,553 105,633 297,988 67,470 63,525 122,650 60,372 90,360 52,072 84,154 117,455 37,013 37,376 169,650 (45,569) (103,684) -
Investment & Unit Trusts Aberdeen Asian Income Fund Aberforth Geared Cap & Inc Trust Aberforth Geared Inc Trust Aberforth Smaller Co Trust Blackrock Com inc Trust Dunedin Income Growth Inv Trust Henderson Far East Income Trust Herald Investment Trust Ord 0.25 Keystone Investment Trust Sarasin Investment Funds Int Equity Inc
219,000
135,690 20,900 91,000 0 134,300 20,500 8,550 265,500
20,557 (28,525) 1,056 459 (3,031) (1,949) -
35,579 16,445 18,163 14,595 4,745 10,571 8,205 13,367 50,618 (10,676) (59) (24,407) (16,908) 2,425 3,837 (13,259)
307,516 360,818 377,191 288,561 96,327 156,446 151,044 147,657 409,530 134,672 134,701 118,300 398,535 106,908 104,738 279,041
Royal Society of Edinburgh Schedule of Investments- movements at valuation. Year Ended 31 March 2012 Closing No.
15,042 112,700 62,150 14,704 88,060 22,106 (82,888) (99,939) 3,760 763 (10,751) (21,192) (4,300) 11,570 17,111 (13,699)
Opening Market Value

58,286 136,398 68,949 52,800 79,128 93,060 166,474
Purchase Cost
Sales Proceeds
Gain/(Loss) on Sale
Revaluation for Year
Closing Market Value
Financials Barclays HSBC Holdings Ord US$ 0.50 Land Securities Group Provident Financial Ord Prudential Standard Life Tr Property Investment Trust 26,600 41,079 17,550 6,900 0 86,300 49,000
Consumer Diageo Unilever Ord 1.4p 14,700 11,713 133,313 161,747 45,074 64,067 -
42,481 15,942
180
5,125 18,765 94,479 194,662 55,987 66,930 (35,206) 2,532 12,900 8,400 22,700 37,100 67,200 42,093 36,811 54,000 53,850 182,499 45,299 69,339 49,845 79,005 (36,277) (18,330) (534) 1,738 22,700 169000 160,615 162,210 132,634 -
Pharmaceuticals Astrazeneca Glaxo Smith Kline Ord 25p
(8,042) 33,136
Services Firstgroup Ord 0.50 Greggs Ord 0.20 Reed Elsevier Stagecoach Group Tesco Ord 5p
(11,430) (1,577) 2,646 7,614 (39,744)
Teleommunications British Sky Broadcasting Group Vodafone Group Ord $
(8,758) (2,231)
62,577 227,906 126,799 79,074 198,231 75,705 220,868 241,756 142,424 262,053 30,663 43,722 125,985 94,716 221,760 153,452 291,018
Royal Society of Edinburgh Schedule of Investments- movements at valuation. Year Ended 31 March 2012 Closing No. Opening Market Value Purchase Cost Sales Proceeds Gain/(Loss) on Sale Revaluation for Year Closing Market Value
57,600 20550
Utilities Centrica National Grid Ord 11p Scottish & Southern Energy 0.5 90,433 180,243 176,540 108,147 22,074 88,477 (24,410) (207,443) 12 5,126 8,063 (0) 8,093
4,200
Industrials G4S Ord 25p Rotork Ord 0.05 Smiths Group plc
15900
48,526 57,618 111,542
14,731 72,859
(52,289) -
3,763 -
13,709 (17,133)
181
2,948,542 6,064,793 1,780,000 0
Resources BP Ord US$0.25 BHP Billiton PLC USD .50 Johnson Matthey Ord 1 Royal Dutch Shell Ord 25p Total SA 48,050 7,050 4,000 16,150 7,070 117,586 81,180 53,940 280,240 189,814 104,296 72,328 22,698 81,452 72,509 -
373 (19,029) 17,722 (6,473) (36,800)
Cash 5,727 90,543
182,246 0 273,110 86,058 167,268 222,255 134,479 94,360 355,219 225,523 7,941,063
TOTALS
Schedule of Investments
FRIENDS OF THE SOCIETY

In 2009 the RSE launched Friends of the Society, a corporate engagement scheme established with the purpose of developing the RSEs relationship with Scotlands business sector. The initiative provides an opportunity for the Friends to find out more about the RSE and the important work it carries out. It also presents the RSE and its corporate partners with a platform to explore areas of mutual interest and develop joint projects. Members of the scheme also receive a number of tangible benefits in return for a modest annual fee. During the financial year 201112 the members were: Aberdeen Asset Management BP FES The Herald Lloyds Banking Group Arup RBS SCDI Scottish Resources Group Shell Standard Life Toshiba Wood Group
183
CHANGES IN FELLOWSHIP DURING THE SESSION

DEATHS REPORTED TO THE SOCIETY
Fellows John Russell Anderson Viscount (John Campbell) Arbuthnott Charles Malcolm Brown John Grant Buchanan Robert Davidson James Andrew Eddison William Norrie Everitt Alexander Fenton Raymond Michael Gaze William Morrison Gordon Sir James Arnot Hamilton Robert Mount Hill George Melvyn Howe John Mackintosh Howie Ainsley Iggo John Maxwell Irvine Sir David Jack Derrick Norman Lawley Douglas Mathon Gent Lloyd George Innes Lumsden Sir Donald Murdo McCallum John Lennox Monteith Eric Cyril Raynold Reeve Tom Ridley Sir Thomas Neilson Risk Gary Francis Roach William Shepherd Robertson Forbes William Robertson Walter George Siller George Andrew Sim Andrew Stewart Skinner Hamilton Smith Hugh Brown Sutherland Derick Smith Thomson David Prestwich Tunstall Christopher David Wicks Wilkinson
Corresponding Fellows Bhadriraju Krishnamurti Ralph M Steinman
Honorary Fellows Sir William Hawthorne Friedrich Ernst Peter Hirzebruch Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley Har Gobind Khorana John McCarthy
185
ELECTIONS
Fellows Polly Louise Arnold John Franz Bachtler Sheila Macdonald Bird David William Brown Verity Joy Brown David Allan Cameron Sara Lindsey Carter Rebecca Cheung Sarah Cleaveland Iain Cameron Conn Michael John Cowling Hilary Octavia Dawn Critchley Heather Ann Cubie Jane Elizabeth Anne Dawson Paul Garside Iain James Gordon Celso Grebogi Christopher John Hawkesworth Robert Allan Houston John Peter Iredale Simon Michael Kirby Loeske Elizabeth Beatrice Kruuk Kenneth William David Ledingham Gareth Leng Leonid Libkin Joachim Loos Iain Sinclair McLean David Muir Wood Steven Patrick Nolan Gian-Luca Oppo Graeme Douglas Ruxton George Peacock Copland Salmond Owen James Sansom Naveed Amjid Sattar Joanne Scott Alexander Stoddart Kate Gillian Storey Jason Reese Swedlow Caroline Mary Wilkinson Lesley Jane Yellowlees
Corresponding Fellows David Andrew Barry Ibrahim Abdel Razag Eltayeb Evan Rutherford Simpson Kevin Thompson
Honorary Fellows Mary Patricia McAleese Edwin Mellor Southern
186
STAFF CHANGES DURING THE SESSION

Arrivals Ms Kate Kennedy, Lochaber Project Officer Ms Julie Steele, Executive Officer Departures Dr Avril Davidson, Young Academy Manager Mrs Isabel Hastie, Admin/Receptionist Mr Robert Lachlan, Accounts Officer Ms Becki Mann, Admin Receptionist. Dr Caroline Wallace, Policy Officer Mrs Doreen Waterland, PA to Chief Executive and Officers
Other Staff in post throughout the Session Mr Gordon Adam, Director of Business Development and Communications Ms Christel Baudre, HR Officer Mrs Catriona Blair, Events Officer Mrs Risn Calvert-Elliott, Business Development and Events Manager Ms Jennifer Cameron, Office Services and IT Support Manager Dr Lesley Campbell, Fellowship, Manager (to May 2012) Dr Lesley Campbell, Young Academy Manager (from May 2012) Ms Oonagh Carroll, Events Officer Ms Morven Chisholm, International Relations Officer (to May 2012) Ms Morven Chisholm, Fellowship Services Manager (from May 2012) Mr Andy Curran, Property Services Officer Dr William Duncan, Chief Executive
187
Miss Kate Ellis, Director of Finance Mrs Anne Fraser, Research Awards and International Manager Mrs Jean Geoghegan, Finance Officer Mrs Vicki Hammond, Journals and Archive Officer Mr William Hardie, Consultations Officer Mr Graeme Herbert, Director of Corporate Services and Deputy Chief Executive Ms Martina Hlinkova, Front of House Manager Mr Robert Hunter, Evening Caretaker Mrs Susan Lennox, Consultations Officer Mrs Jenny Liddell, Communications Officer Mr Bristow Muldoon, Head of Press, Policy and Parliamentary Affairs Ms Angela Nicholson, Records Management Officer
Mrs Karen ONeill, Admin Receptionist Mr George Pendleton, Conference Centre Assistant Ms Tracy Rickard, Research Awards Co-ordinator Mr Brian Scott, Technical Support Assistant
Mr Jeremy Scott, Computing & Information Science Exemplification Project Officer (Secondment) Ms Maggie Twomey, Events Officer Mrs Sheryl Vickery, Finance Officer
188
OBITUARY NOTICES
John Russell Anderson ............................................................................... Keith Boddy ............................................................................................... Frank Featherstone Bonsall ........................................................................ Charles Malcolm Brown ............................................................................. Brian Capon ............................................................................................... Elizabeth Graham Cutter ............................................................................ Peter Brian Denyer ...................................................................................... Robert Balson Dingle ................................................................................. Michael Stephen Patrick Eastham ............................................................... David Patrick Frisby ..................................................................................... Francis John Gillingham ............................................................................. Sir Norman Graham ................................................................................... Richard Langton Gregory ........................................................................... Alan Vernon Holden ................................................................................... Sir Andrew Huxley ...................................................................................... Ainsley Iggo ............................................................................................... Sir David Jack ............................................................................................. William Fleming Hoggan Jarrett ................................................................. Hector Laing (Lord Laing of Dunphail) ........................................................ Derrick Norman Lawley ............................................................................... George Innes Lumsden .............................................................................. Douglas Maurice MacDowell ..................................................................... Alasdair Duncan McIntyre .......................................................................... John Lennox Monteith ............................................................................... Brenda Elizabeth Moon ............................................................................. Kenneth Murray ......................................................................................... Noreen Elizabeth Murray ............................................................................ Eric Cyril Raynold Reeve ............................................................................. Geoffrey Edwin Rickman ............................................................................ Thomas Neilson Risk .................................................................................. Gary Francis Roach ..................................................................................... Forbes William Robertson .......................................................................... Walter George Siller ................................................................................... Douglas Walter Noble Stibbs ..................................................................... John Arthur Swaffield ................................................................................ Charles James Taylor .................................................................................. David Prestwich Tunstall ............................................................................. Patrick (Peter) Gerard Walsh ....................................................................... Thomas Summers West .............................................................................. Christopher David Wicks Wilkinson ...........................................................
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190 193 199 202 205 207 210 214 217 218 222 227 232 236 239 243 250 253 260 263 265 270 273 277 280 284 287 292 297 302 305 309 315 317 322 326 330 332 335 339
John Russell Anderson 31 May 191830 October 2011 Always known by his colleagues as JRA, he was born on 31st May 1918 in Middlesborough, the son of a Glasgow-trained general practitioner. He entered St. Andrews University with an open scholarship in 1936, proceeded to a BSc in Anatomy in 1939 and then graduated MB with Commendation in 1942. After house jobs in Dundee, he spent a year in laboratory medicine, six months of which were with Professor Daniel F Cappell in pathology. There followed three years of National Service in Ghana, Libya (where he first learned to sail) and Egypt as a pathologist with the rank of Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1947 he was recruited to Glasgow as Lecturer in Pathology by Cappell, then Professor at the Western Infirmary. The Institute of Pathology at the Western Infirmary was inaugurated in 1896. The first two professors, Joseph Coates and Sir Robert Muir, built up the department to be one of the pre-eminent centres of research and teaching in pathology in the English-speaking world with a particular emphasis in the developing discipline of immunology. Cappell continued immunological research in particular into aspects of autoimmune haemolytic anaemia; JRA pursued research in this area, pursuing research on haemolytic mechanisms in an experimental rabbit model. As a promising scientist he was awarded a prestigious Rockefeller Travelling Fellowship to the University of Rochester, New York, which he held in 19531954, working with George Hoyt Whipple of the eponymous disease, who had shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology of 1934. JRA returned to Glasgow in 1954 as a Senior Lecturer in Pathology and met, fell in love with and in 1956 married Audrey Wilson, one of his students. They remained together happily for 55 years and she was totally supportive of him in all his activities. In 1955 he was awarded the degree of MD with Honours and the St. Andrews University Gold Medal for his thesis on Immune Antibodies in Haemolytic Anaemia: An Experimental Study. A logical progression was to extend these experimental studies from disorders of blood to autoimmune disorders of solid organs in which the immune system attacks the patients own tissues. Collaborating with Professors Robert Goudie, Watson Buchanan and Dr Kathleen Gray, they were the first
190
Obituary Notices
to demonstrate circulating autoantibodies against the adrenal gland in Addisons disease. Similarly, they found a range of autoantibodies in thyroid diseases and in various connective diseases. Together with Doniach and Roitts group in the Middlesex Hospital in London, this work was at the forefront of the investigation of immunological diseases globally. He was a founder member of the British Society for Immunology. His national and international reputation now firmly established, he was appointed to the George Holt Chair in Pathology at the University of Liverpool in 1965, returning to Glasgow as the Professor of Pathology and Head of Department in 1967. He continued and directed research, and furthered a policy of encouraging the next generation of pathologists to sub-specialise in diagnostic pathology; this anticipated the subsequent widespread international trend of such subspecialisation. Muirs Textbook of Pathology was first published in 1924, and quickly became a major international undergraduate and postgraduate text. Firstly with Cappell and subsequently alone Anderson was responsible for editing four editions of Muir. In his eulogy, JRAs son commented that during these periods of intense editorial work there were
191
three people in his parents marriage: John, Audrey and Muir. He was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1968. Despite his eminence, he was an invariably modest man. In all his activities he was scrupulously honest, evenhanded and of total integrity. On election to the Council of the Royal College of Pathologists, he quickly made his mark and proceeded to the Presidency in 1978. Travel from Glasgow to London added to the burden of the office but it was alleged he spent more time in the College than any of his predecessors. He inspired the greatest respect and affection in those who came into contact with him. He served on numerous Department of Health committees and also on the newly and largely autonomous Education Committee of the General Medical Council. His tact and fairness were invaluable in highlighting shortages of resource in the laboratory disciplines to the Department of Health and Local Health Authorities, and he promoted the formalisation of training programmes, in some ways anticipating Modernising Medical Careers. Conscious of the stresses that had become manifest at the founding of the College of Pathologists in 1962, he sought to heal real and potential divisions in the various
laboratory disciplines and other professional associations. To this end he visited all the NHS regions in the UK to discuss the problems confronting the College nationally and locally. His contributions were recognised by the award of a CBE in 1980 and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by the University of Dundee in 1981. After the end of his term as President, he returned to fulltime work in Glasgow, retiring in 1984. This was to leave him with 27 years of happy retirement. This was well-filled by entirely nonmedical interests, notably within his local community, serving the Baldernock Community Council in protecting the villages rural character. He was early to recognise green issues and with Audrey collected innumerable acorns and beechnuts and handreared thousands of saplings, which they planted with the permission of landlords locally and furth of Glasgow. His manual labour complemented Audreys refined gardening skills and the market garden produce was sold in a local charity shop. Always a keen sportsman, retirement allowed him to develop once again, skiing, racket sports, golf,
hill-walking and, perhaps his favourite pastime, yachting. With a crew of retired friends, he sailed extensively off the west of Scotland, including a visit to the remote archipelago of St. Kilda. John Anderson was in some ways idiosyncratic. With a shock of unruly hair he was not noted for sartorial elegance, on occasion wearing trousers at half-mast to reveal an unmatched pair of socks, which did, however match a similar pair at home! His body language was characterised by a quizzical and mischievous sideways glance and a restless twitch of the shoulders. He seemed to be unaffected by cold; in his room in the College the ambient temperature was maintained at a balmy 55 degrees Fahrenheit, to the dismay of a less hardy College staff. Following hill walks, he would cool off by immersing himself, fully clothed in a burn. John Anderson passed away on 30 October 2011. He is survived by his wife Audrey, daughter Lois, sons Kenneth and Russell, seven grandchildren and one great granddaughter Professor Sir Roderick MacSween
Professor John Russell Anderson, MRCP, FRCPG, HonFRCP, CBE. Born 31 May 1918. Elected FRSE 1968. Died 30 October 2011.
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Obituary Notices
Keith Boddy 1 November 193719 September 2010 Keith Boddy was an exceptional medical physicist: his achievements ranged widely, but above all, he was a personality who was for most people; once met, never forgotten. His career started in radiation safety, an interest that continued for the rest of his life, but his work developed over many other areas. By the time he retired he was a celebrity within medical physics, recognised internationally as a very significant leader. With his passing, from cancer at age 72, Medical Physics lost a great leader, a colourful personality and a true statesman. Probably the most significant step in his career came in April 1978 when he returned to his native northeast of England (which he always called Gods chosen country ) to become the second head of the Regional Medical Physics Department (RMPD) and Professor of Medical Physics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, following the retirement of Prof FT Farmer. This appeared to some people to be an unusual appointment, as he had never previously worked in a hospital nor in a medical physics department, although he had for many years worked with clinicians and accumulated an impressive record of multidisciplinary research.
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His mandate from the Northern Regional Health Authority was to develop medical physics services across the whole region (and thereby help redress the relative underfunding at that time of the NHS in northern England). He made ambitious plans and set about implementing them with determination. From a department on just two hospital sites in Newcastle, making visits to a few others, he transformed the organisation into a truly regional, comprehensive medical physics service, extending into almost every branch of medicine and including scientific, clinical and technical work, and teaching and R&D. Growth was initially fairly rapid, and then continued throughout the 20 years of his term, resulting in a ten-fold increase in size, and clinical services running at thirteen different hospitals throughout the region which extended from the Scottish border to Teesside and Cumbria. This enabled services such as radiotherapy and nuclear medicine to be delivered at national standard levels of provision. Achieving all this was a substantial feat. He attracted high calibre staff who enhanced the reputation of RMPD and, of critical
importance, maintained the required flow of new funding as the NHS went through almost continual reorganisations. These, and the many changes in senior NHS personnel involved at regional level, resulted in the very existence of RMPD being questioned several times. From a later perspective, his achievements seem yet more impressive, as maintaining a consistent direction of development in a changing environment has proven very difficult. Earlier in his career he had shown evidence of important qualities, including the ability to attract funding for projects, and to engage in spirited dialogue with fellow scientists. Now he had a clear and consistent vision of where he wanted to take RMPD and was a compelling speaker about the role of physics and engineering in medicine and its importance to clinical services and innovation. He was a serious and tough negotiator but used humour often, and a series of colourful expressions and homely analogies to make his points, and usually won any argument. Perceptive of those confronting him, he provided solutions rather than problems, and was a skilled advocate in gaining their acceptance. He exuded confidence, inspired it in those he dealt with, and in those he led.
The regional organisation of RMPD was often cited as a model for its scientific and clinical work and innovation by its staff, which ranged from novel methods for assessing blood supply to the skin (important in plastic surgery) to the risks from exposure to light, the efficacy of sunscreens, and the establishment of a regional technical aids service to provide bespoke assistive technology which became a service delivery model that others would copy. After just a few years in Newcastle there had been very significant progress, which gave him considerable authority on the national scene. He was elected President of the Hospital Physicists Association and the Institute of Physical Sciences in Medicine in 1986. At this time there was concern about the future of the profession, arising from some medical radiation over-exposure incidents, and low salaries resulting in difficulties in recruiting new graduates of sufficient calibre. Working with colleagues nationally and with those in parallel professions, he set about raising the profile of medical physics with the government, getting to know senior figures and ministers, inviting them to visit his own department, emphasising that his staff were working on the clinical frontline, or as he put it at the coalface of medicine, and were not just backroom staff. He
194
Obituary Notices
generated a sense of momentum, and within a few years there was a new NHS grading scheme for clinical scientists, providing for career progression, and a new graduate training scheme which at last made the profession attractive to new entrants. He was elected President of the International Organisation for Medical Physics (IOMP) in 1994. Under his planning and leadership, IOMP initiated its Regional Organizations programme, provided support and encouragement to the officers of new IOMP member countries and secured financial help for projects, aggressively pursued designation of Medical Physics as a profession recognized by the International Labour Organisation of the UN in its International Standard Classification of Occupations, and increased national society membership in the IOMP by about 20%. In 1997 he became President of the International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM), a body set up some years earlier to combine medical physics with bioengineering (IFMBE) so that both professions could become members of the world-wide scientific community, the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). An earlier application by IUPESM to become a full member had been rejected, calling into
195
question the existence of the IUPESM. He attacked the problem, meeting key personnel, personally lobbying and making a fresh application. The goal was achieved at the ICSU General Assembly in September, 1999 one of his proudest moments. Without his efforts and leadership, this would never have happened. Keith Boddy was born in Stockton-on-Tees. He excelled as a sportsman at school, also playing under-15 Rugby for Durham County and cricket for the local town. From Grangefield Grammar School in Stockton he went to Liverpool University from which he graduated in 1959 with a BSc in chemistry. He was then appointed as a Radiation Protection Officer and later Head of the Health Physics Section at Associated Electrical Industries Research Laboratory at Aldermaston Court. While there he completed an MSc in Radiation Physics at St Bartholomews Hospital Medical College, London University. In 1963 he moved to the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre at East Kilbride where he developed his own research programme, for which he was awarded a PhD from Glasgow University in 1967 and a DSc from Strathclyde University ten years later. He designed and built high sensitivity whole-body radioactivity monitors for use in clinical
studies for body composition and metabolism and for radiation protection. Study of human metabolism using radioactive tracers was an established method which he applied to vitamin B12, among other topics, collaborating with Glasgow clinicians. Assessing body elemental composition by irradiation with neutrons to activate elements so that they could be measured using the radiation emitted was a new concept at that time. First he used a neutron beam from the centres nuclear reactor to assess iodine in the thyroid gland, and later studied the use of radioactive neutron sources (Cf-252). However, assessment of whole body composition was potentially more useful. He realised that 14 MeV neutrons from D-T generator tubes, then recently available and developed primarily for cancer treatment, would enable a greater number of elements to be activated than was possible with radioactive neutron sources, as used in the only competing centre at Brookhaven in the USA. A concrete block shield surrounding two generator tubes with between them a moving couch for the subject were built and, with an adjacent whole-body monitor, enabled measurement of wholebody Ca, P, N, Na, Cl and O, in addition to K from natural radioactivity. This facility was used in studies of renal disease,
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hypertension and arthritis and other conditions. He also had an interest in environmental radioactivity, beginning in his first post when he established the first environmental survey programme and off-site emergency scheme outside the UKAEA and was the first to report radioactivity in rainfall following atmospheric Soviet nuclear weapons testing in 1961. In 1986 the fire at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor released radioactivity over much of Europe. In the UK, those hospitals that had suitably sensitive radioactivity monitors were able to make assessments of affected people, but there was no overall picture of the risk to the general population. Keith obtained government funding to build a whole body monitor in a large van (a repeat of an undertaking at East Kilbride), and send it around England and Wales to establish the pattern of human uptake of radioactive caesium (Cs-137). He had numerous other activities within the radiation protection field. He served on several government committees - the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee, the Committee on the Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE), and the Ionising Radiations Advisory Committee of the HSC and chaired a working group of the Watt Committee on Energy.
Obituary Notices
He was a consultant on wholebody monitoring to the International Atomic Energy Agency and advised the World Health Organisation. On the Sellafield Local Liaison Committee, he chaired the Environmental Health SubCommittee, where his abilities both to get to the core of a problem, and to express scientific information about nuclear radiation and risks in terms accessible to the layman, were particularly valuable. On COMARE, he worked on reports on cancer in the locality of Sellafield and of Greenham Common. This work continued after his formal retirement, latterly involving investigation of radioactive particles found on the beaches near the Dounreay nuclear site. He chaired the Dounreay Particles Advisory Group, liaising with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, and was still working on this until shortly before he died. Despite all his work with government agencies, he was also willing to take on the establishment in the interest of fairness and commonsense. Thus in 1992, one of his staff reported to the Environment Department details of disposal of a small amount of radioactive waste material, which their inspector then viewed as contra197
vening the site authorisation. The inspectorate then prosecuted the NHS health authority responsible for the premises. Since the incident was a technicality with no consequence for safety or health, Keith persuaded the authority to fight, and appeared as a defence witness. The result was a token fine and costs to be paid by the prosecutor. It was noted that after this event, there seemed to be a much more moderate approach taken by the inspectorate to similar incidents. He received many honours including the OBE in 1989, CBE in 1998, the Institute of Physics Glazebrook Medal (for leadership in physics) in 1992, an honorary DSc. from De Montfort University, and the IUPESM Award of Merit in 2000. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1981 and was also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, an honorary member of the British Nuclear Medicine Society, the Royal College of Radiologists and the British Institute of Radiology, and an honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and of the Society for Radiological Protection. He gave the Annual Lecture to the British Nuclear Medicine Society, the Walker Lecture to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow, the Association Lecture to the Hospital Physicists
Association and the first Jack Meredith Memorial Lecture of the Institute of Physics. His wife Sylvia was a fellow pupil at the same school as Keith in Stockton and also went to Liverpool University. They married
in 1960 and had two sons, Christopher and Graham. We and many friends and colleagues extend our deepest sympathy to his family. Iain Chambers, Roger Harrison, David Williams
This obituary was also published in SCOPE, the magazine of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. Keith Boddy, Medical Physicist, born 1 November 1937. Elected FRSE 1981. Died 19 September 2010.
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Frank Featherstone Bonsall 31 March 192022 February 2011 Frank Bonsall made an enormous impact on mathematics in Northern Britain, especially in research and graduate education. Quietly and self-effacingly, he influenced a generation of young mathematicians with the elegance and lucidity of his written and oral expositions, both of his own research and that of others. The quality of his caring and thorough research supervision was reflected in his many PhD students who continued in research. His forebears came from Derbyshire and Yorkshire, but he was born at Crouch End in London, his father being an accountant who became the Secretary of an import-export firm. The family moved to Welwyn Garden City in 1923. Frank attended Fretherne House Preparatory School and Bishops Stortford College, where he excelled academically winning most of the available prizes. He went up to Merton College Oxford in 1938, later recalling how much he enjoyed the freedom of university life during that first year at Oxford, as well as his first encounters with rigorous analysis the area of mathematics that was to become his speciality. He completed two years of study at Oxford before the war intervened. He served from 1940 to 1946 with the Royal Engineers,
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ending up with the rank of Major and spending his last two years of war service in India, testing equipment for jungle conditions. Returning to Oxford, he completed his BA in Mathematics in 1947 and, that summer, married Gillian (Jill) Patrick, a fellow Honours graduate in mathematics from Sommerville College, Oxford. Jill was to become a very successful secondary school teacher of mathematics both in Newcastle upon Tyne and in Edinburgh. Frank was offered the chance to stay on at Oxford as a graduate student, but decided instead to accept a one-year temporary lectureship at the University of Edinburgh. During that year, a seminar visit by Professor W.W. Rogosinski led to an appointment at Kings College, Newcastle (then part of the University of Durham), first as a Lecturer, then Reader and finally Professor. During his years in Newcastle, he became a leading figure in functional analysis and attracted a growing number of research students, amongst whom he was affectionately known as FFB. In Session 196263, he was supervising no less than nine PhD students, seeing each student for one hour every week. He returned to Edinburgh in 1965 to the newly-created Colin McLaurin Chair of Mathematics, with the
flow of research students continuing unabated. Not long after returning to Edinburgh, he was to play a key role in founding the North British Functional Analysis Seminar, one of the first interuniversity seminars in mathematics and a model for many others. He regarded his main research work as having begun while he and Jill were spending an academic year at Oklahoma State University. The year was 1950, at which time Senator Joseph McCarthy was beginning his witch hunts against those whom he regarded as having left-wing or liberal sympathies. University staff, as state employees, were required to sign documents avowing loyalty to the United States. Frank refused to sign on principle; his salary was duly cut off and the Bonsalls had to live on savings for the remainder of their stay. Frank spent four months at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay in 1961, and a year as Visiting Professor at Yale University (196667). Franks research interests were wide ranging. The scope of his work may be seen in the six main themes where he saw his research lying: (i) Banach algebra theory; (ii) operators mapping a cone into itself; (iii) semi-algebras of continuous functions; (iv) the numerical ranges of operators; (v) Hankel operators on Hilbert space; and (vi) atomic decompositions and sums of Poisson kernels.
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He authored 67 research papers, collaborating with no fewer than sixteen different mathematicians. He co-authored three research monographs and a chapter of one other. It is difficult to convey the technical details of his research work to a non-mathematical audience. What can be said, though, is that his work is marked by its aesthetic simplicity. This can be illustrated with one example: In the early 1960s, the graduate analysis seminar in Newcastle was struggling through a long complicated proof of a theorem of Choquet about the extreme points of compact convex sets in general spaces. Frank reduced the whole proof to one simple application of the HahnBanach Theorem (With what difficulty is that simplicity attained). When he expounded the proof at the British Mathematical Colloquium, the lecture hall was filled to overflowing, and even included many statisticians. In common with many scholars who served in World War II, Frank had by-passed the PhD degree, but he was awarded a DSc from Oxford in 1964; jokingly he remarked that he had waited until his offprints achieved an agreed weight on the kitchen scales. Throughout his career he maintained extensive correspondence with mathematicians around the world, and gave service to the leading mathematical societies in Britain. Franks honours included
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the Senior Berwick Prize of the London Mathematical Society in 1966, FRSE in 1966, FRS in 1970 and an honorary doctorate from York in 1990. He never rushed into print, and it is a pleasure to re-read some of his carefully crafted research papers. His own mathematical Apologia was expressed in an intriguing essay, A down-to-earth view of mathematics, written in 1982 for the American Mathematical Monthly (the most widely circulated mathematical journal). One of his own most challenging standards was to refuse to quote a theorem in any of his own work unless he had completely convinced himself of its validity. He saw this as necessary to maintain the integrity of mathematics. He also had a down-to-earth view of life. He and Jill were enthusiastic hill walkers and, true to character, he assisted a colleague at Edinburgh to climb many of the more inaccessible Munros and himself achieved the full set. His two articles on the definition of a Munro for the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal influenced subsequent reformulation of the list of Munros. Following retirement in 1984, he and Jill moved to Harrogate, where Frank remained active in research, travelling weekly to a
small seminar at the University of York. In his acceptance speech for the Honorary Doctorate which was awarded to him by York, he spoke about the dangers of overdependence on computer models in science. Frank loved gardening. The fruits of the large garden in Edinburgh were widely shared, whilst the garden in Harrogate was a veritable wonder to behold, consisting of three different gardens: flowering trees and shrubs; rose gardens and herbaceous borders; and (his passion) vegetables and fruit bushes. There were also exotic flowers in the sun parlour and on the patio. He probably grew some of the best fruit and vegetables obtainable in Harrogate. He also recorded extensive weather data for Harrogate. He and Jill were also enthusiastic solvers of the Ximenes crossword puzzle in the Observer, and their names were listed as winners on more than one occasion. Frank Bonsall was the epitome of a scholar and a gentleman and will be remembered by former students and colleagues with respect and affection in equal measure. He is survived by his wife Jill, their happy marriage extending over 64 years, and also by his older brother Arthur. John Duncan, Alastair Gillespie
Frank Featherstone Bonsall BA, DSc(Oxon), DUniv(York). Born 31 March 1920, elected FRSE 1966, elected FRS 1970. Died 22 February 2011.
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Charles Malcolm Brown 21 September 194111 October 2011 Professor Charles Malcolm Brown, one of Scotlands most innovative thinkers in the field of microbial science and technology, sadly passed away on 11th October 2011 at home in Balerno, Edinburgh. The eldest of three sons, Professor Brown, better known as Charlie Brown, was born on 21st September 1941 in Gilsland, a small village near Hadrians Wall. He often joked that had his mother been evacuated a few miles further north during the war, he would have been born on the right side of the border. His father was a blacksmith and was a soldier during the Second World War. After the War, his parents settled in Durham, where Charlies education began. He transferred from the local primary school to Houghton-leSpring Grammar School in Durham in 1953. In 1960 he won a Brewers Society Scholarship to read Biochemistry at Birmingham University. After graduating with a BSc in 1963, he developed a close research relationship with the well-known microbiologist Professor J S Hough, at Birmingham University, and completed his PhD on Metabolic studies of yeast in continuous cultures in 1966 under his supervision. To pursue his research interest in microbiology, Charlie worked as a Research
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Fellow from 1966 to 1967 in the laboratory of Professor A H Rose, who was Head of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Newcastle. Charlie was aware that the values in university education were changing from non-vocational education to a wider concept of university education where, in the biological sciences, multiple expertise was required to develop a profitable biotechnological industry. His university career began at the University of Newcastle, where he was a lecturer in Microbiology from 1967 to1973. He moved to the University of Dundee in 1973 to become a senior lecturer, and in 1979 he was appointed Professor of Microbiology at Heriot-Watt University. At that time, microbiology was part of the Department of Brewing and Biological Sciences, lead by Professor D J Manners. In 1988, the Department was restructured as the Department of Biological Sciences and the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling (ICBD), and Charlie became the first Head of the Department of Biological Sciences and the Founding Director of the ICBD. ICBD graduates work successfully in malting, brewing and distilling companies worldwide.
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During his university career Charlie published over one hundred scientific papers, for which he was awarded a Doctor of Science Degree from Birmingham University in 1981. The title of his DSc Thesis was Continuous culture in microbial physiology and ecology. Charlie made a significant contribution to the commercial rewards of linking microbial science with fermentation technology. In addition to having a significant teaching load, he took a keen interest in the research work of his post-graduate students, served on over twenty university committees and officiated as external examiner and assessor of a similar number of institutions of higher education. Despite these commitments, Charlie found time to establish and develop Fermentech Ltd (1981) and BioScot Ltd (1984) as leading biotechnological companies. Charlie had extensive research and educational links with Scottish Enterprise, Research Councils, the Scotch Whisky Association, brewing and malting companies, biotechnical companies, PuriTech Ltd, the Scottish Marine Biological Association, the Ministry of Defence and the Research Board of the Agricultural and Food Research Council, and was Deputy Chair of the Department of the Environment Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee. He was also Founding
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Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Microbiological Sciences, Chairman of the Advisory Board and Editor of Process Biochemistry and was on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Applied Bacteriology, the Journal of the Institute of Brewing and the Journal of General Microbiology. Charlie did not shy away from administrative responsibilities and, on top of his research and educational activities, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Science at Heriot-Watt University from 1993 to 1995 and was Vice-Principal/ Assistant Principal (Resources) from 1995 to 1999. He retired from the latter post in 2001 and became an Executive Director of the Edinburgh Business School, a position he held until he retired in 2006. Charlie gained many awards over the years and was proud to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1983), the Institute of Biology and the Institute of Brewing. Professor Charlie Brown was not only a distinguished academic and technologist, but also a devoted husband to Diane his wife, whom he met during his time as an undergraduate student at Birmingham University. She was his constant support. He was equally devoted to his three children, Sara, Ann and Elizabeth, and to his grandchildren, Duncan, Robert, Elspeth, Carrie, Douglas
and Zoe. Although Charlie had a well-deserved international reputation for his scientific work, he once thanked me for a written recommendation but was selfeffacing enough to add, jokingly, that the fiction was appreciated. Professor Charlie Browns contribution to Scottish education, science and technology goes
beyond what can be conveyed fully in a short summary of his career. Although he would simply say that he did his best, he will be sadly missed and fondly remembered not only by his family but also by his friends, colleagues, staff and students whose lives are richer because of his life and work. Geoff Palmer
Charles Malcolm Brown BSc, PhD, DSc(Birm). Born 21 September 1941. Elected FRSE 1983. Died 11 October 2011.
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Brian Capon 7 November 193020th May 2010 Brian was born in Southampton and educated at Tauntons School. He gained a First-class Honours external University of London BSc Degree from University College Southampton in 1952, and a PhD from the University of Southampton in 1955. He spent two years as a research chemist in the Semiconductor Group of the General Electric Company in Wembley, before choosing an academic career and becoming an Assistant Lecturer in Chemistry at Birkbeck College in 1957. In 1965 he moved to the University of Leicester, eventually becoming a Senior Lecturer. His stay at Leicester was relatively short and in 1968 he migrated north to the University of Glasgow, where he remained for the next fourteen years. He progressed rapidly through the ranks and was awarded a personal Chair in 1974. He was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1977. In 1982 he took early retirement from Glasgow and spent a year as a member of the scientific staff at the Beilstein Institute in Frankfurt, before taking up the Chair of Chemistry at the University of Hong Kong, where he became Head of Department. He found a new enthusiasm for his research and spent a happy and productive
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decade there until his final retirement in 1991. Brian was a distinguished physical organic chemist. His early work was concentrated in the areas of inter- and intramolecular catalysis, including enzyme catalysis. He was the first person to demonstrate intramolecular catalysis in the hydrolysis of glycosides and acetals, and he also pioneered the investigation of the intermolecular catalysis of the reactions of these species. His most important achievement was the discovery of methods for the generation and detection in solution of unstable reaction intermediates and other unstable molecules. Postulated reaction mechanisms often involved hypothetical intermediates that were never detected, but Brian showed, by the use of suitable precursors, that it was possible to generate these species in solution, detect them and investigate their properties by NMR and UV spectroscopy. Initially, he examined the tetrahedral intermediates of O,O-acyl transfer reactions and was able to demonstrate their existence, a major advance in mechanistic organic chemistry. Simple enols had long been regarded as incapable of
independent existence, but Brian showed they could be prepared in solution. In particular, he was able to make vinyl alcohol in solution, characterise it by NMR spectroscopy and observe its slow transformation into acetaldehyde. Brian also used his approach to generate and investigate unstable tautomers of heterocyclic compounds in solution. Brian published over 130 scientific articles and reviews. He was particularly associated with the well-known series Organic Reaction Mechanisms, which he edited for several years with Professor Charles Rees and to which he made many contributions. Retirement left Brian without a laboratory and colleagues, and thus unable to pursue scientific research. He turned his attention to his other great interest opera and decided to create an operatic database. The database is
called CLOR (Capons List of Opera Recordings), and includes details of all recordings that have been commercially available at any time, both of complete operas and of extended excerpts from operas lasting longer than twenty minutes. The database contains information on over 12,000 recordings. Its compilation was a mammoth task and occupied almost twenty years of Brians life; he was still working on it when he died. Along with his important scientific contributions, CLOR is his legacy. Although quiet by nature, Brian was a stimulating friend, colleague and neighbour for many years. I shall always remember him with great affection. He died peacefully at home on 20th May, 2010. He is survived by his younger daughter Julie. Sadly, since his death, both his wife Ruth and his older daughter Claire have passed away. J D Connolly
Brian Capon, BSc, PhD. Born 7 November 1930. Elected FRSE 1977. Died 20th May 2010.
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Elizabeth Graham Cutter 9 August 192923 October 2010 Emeritus Professor Elizabeth Graham Cutter, who died of cancer aged 81, had an international reputation for her extraordinarily precise microsurgical approach to studies of the anatomy and development of lower and higher plants. She employed this approach to understand how various types of plant cells and organs originate, are modified, and function. For example, in one important paper, Lewis Feldman and Elizabeth described how an aquatic plant, Hydrocharis morsus-ranae (Frogbit) formed root hairs. In this differentiation process a certain type of cell in the root tip divides unequally to form larger and smaller daughter cells. The larger cell type differentiates to form diploid epidermal cells that eventually cover and protect the surface of the root, and the smaller cell type differentiates into root hairs. In the first part of this process the chromosomes and cytoplasm of the smaller cell undergo successive duplications without the nucleus or the cell dividing. This results in the production of a large, vacuolated, octoploid cell that then differentiates into a root hair. Elizabeth was the only daughter of Roy and Alix Cutter, who first met in 1928 whilst travelling by
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boat to the Sudan, where Roy was a judge in the colonial civil service. Until her parents returned from the Sudan in 1936, Elizabeth lived with three maiden aunts in Edinburgh before going to Rothesay House, a girls boarding school, where she eventually became Head Girl. This school was evacuated to Paxton House near Coldstream during the Second World War, but even there the pupils regularly had to shelter in the basement as German planes passed directly overhead. Subsequently, Elizabeth obtained a First Class Honours B.Sc in Botany from the University of St Andrews (1951) and a Ph.D in Botany from the University of Manchester (1954). Professor Claude Wardlaw was her Ph.D supervisor and their research relationship led to a lifelong friendship. Indeed, when Elizabeth returned to Manchester in 1972 she bought a house in Bramhall (Stockport) very close to where Wardlaw had retired. However, despite their forty-year friendship, Elizabeth always referred to him as Prof, never as Claude. Within ten years of obtaining her PhD, Elizabeth was awarded a DSc by the University of St. Andrews. After a period (19551964) in the Department of Botany in Manchester, Elizabeth was, in the
modern idiom, head-hunted by the University of California at Davis to replace Katherine Esau, an eminent plant anatomist, who was a recipient of Americas National Medal of Science. Four years later Elizabeth was promoted to a full Professorship. Elizabeths reputation was further enhanced by the publication in 1969 and 1971 of a two-volume work on Plant Anatomy that was widely adopted as an undergraduate text in the UK and North America. One reviewer wrote, At last, a first-rate comprehensive physiological-developmental plant anatomy book. In order to care for her mother in the UK, she resigned her Davis Professorship in 1972 and moved to a Senior Lectureship in Manchester, where seven years later she was promoted to the George Harrison Chair of Botany. At the time Manchester (including the Faculty of Technology) had well over 225 Professors, but only six were women. Perhaps this was the reason that when Elizabeth arrived in her office as the new professor the cleaner greeted her with Good morning, sir. Thus, although in the 1970s it was very difficult for a woman to reach the topmost rung of UK academia, Elizabeth achieved this feat. On becoming Head of Botany in 1979 Elizabeth knew that a great deal of work needed to be done if the Department was to regain its former reputation for research.
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Unfortunately, various factors made this task difficult. In particular, the drastic reduction in university funding that followed the election of the Conservative Government in 1979 meant that she was unable to reinvigorate the Department by recruiting new staff. In 1986, following a long period of anxiety and uncertainty, Botany and ten other Departments in Science and Medicine merged to form Manchesters School of Biological Sciences containing more than 125 academics. Because of her integrity and the confidence that staff had in her, Elizabeth was able to successfully guide the Botanists through this difficult period. In doing so she worked hard to ensure that Plant Sciences established a secure position in the new School. Characteristically, despite her justified concern that the re-organisation might disadvantage Botany, she loyally supported those leading the School. Indeed, she led a root and branch revision of the undergraduate curriculum, which eventually resulted in the foundation of eighteen, modular-based BSc degrees in biological sciences. Thus, although the creation of the School had been driven primarily by the wish of the University to improve research, Elizabeths leadership ensured that its first benefits were improved undergraduate provision and increased student choice. Indeed Elizabeth
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was an excellent teacher and field botanist. As a Lecturer she had led undergraduate field courses and she continued to participate in them in Manchester even after becoming Head of Department. Elizabeth published over fifty papers and her research reputation was a magnet for graduate students from around the world, eight of whom subsequently rose to the rank of full Professor in the USA, Canada and New Zealand. Her graduate students included Patrick von Aderkas, Kevin Gould and Les Nyman in Manchester, and John Caruso, Jack Fisher and Larry Peterson in the University of California at Davis. Elizabeth was an enthusiastic supervisor of research students, encouraging innovation and gaining loyalty. She became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1971 and was an office holder in several Learned Societies, including the Botanical Society of America, the Linnean Society of London, the International Society of Plant Morphologists, and the Society for Experimental Biology. In retirement, Elizabeth became President of the Botanical Society of Scotland. Elizabeth retired to Gattonside in the Scottish Borders and pursued her lifelong hobbies of angling
(often travelling to the Isle of Skye) and photography (she was as an Associate Member of the Royal Photographic Society). These are activities that require the kind of patience and attention to detail that she had always displayed as an academic. She embarked on many botanical and photographic expeditions to Europe, Australia and Southern Africa and particularly enjoyed her annual trips with friends to the alpine meadows around Wengen in Switzerland. Although Elizabeth Cutter had no living relative, she has a devoted family of former graduate students and colleagues. This family will miss her delightful Twelve days of Christmas cards: how did she find a new design each year? Elizabeth will be remembered for her science, for her integrity, for her loyalty, and above all for her great kindness. She had a great influence on the lives and careers of many Botanists. Acknowledgements: I am grateful to Margaret Smith, Daphne PeirseDuncombe (Elizabeths friends), Judy Jernstedt, Lewis Feldman (University of California), Ron Buter, Bob Callow, Alan Charlton and Harry Epton (University of Manchester) for their help in writing this obituary. Anthony P J Trinci
Elizabeth Graham Cutter BSc (St Andrews), PhD (Manchester), DSc (St Andrews). Born 9 August 1929. Elected FRSE 1971. Died 23 October 2010.
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Peter Brian Denyer 27 April 195322 April 2010 Peter Denyer was a unique combination of electronics engineer, distinguished academic, inventor, company CEO and multiple entrepreneur. He pioneered CMOS image sensor chips for many applications including, most famously, mobile phones. He was the first academic to bring a Scottish University spin-out company to PLC (London Stock Exchange). To his students and close colleagues, he was an inspirational teacher and dynamic leader, a supportive and generous friend. Peter studied Electrical Engineering at Loughborough University, where he graduated with First Class Honours in 1975. He worked for a short time at GCHQ and then moved to Edinburgh, designing LSI Circuits for Ferranti Defence Systems and later at Wolfson Microelectronics, including a digital micrometer and CCD signal processing arrays for sonar pulse compression. At the same time, he studied part-time for a PhD at Edinburgh University. Peter excelled as both an undergraduate and a PhD student. He showed early interest in company start-ups, working for a year as cofounder and Director of the LSI design house Denyer-Walmsley Microelectronics Ltd. In 1980, Peter was a Lecturer at Edinburgh University, and his first research project was to invent a method of bit-serial silicon compilation, which grew rapidly into a six-man research activity. During this period he took up two Fellowships one with Sir Clive Sinclair and then one in information technology. He also held extensive consultancies, including with BT, BP,Thorn-EMI, ESA, Shlumberger and, with colleagues, gave short courses to industry. His next step was to secure funding for the Silicon Architectures Research Initiative, a 30-man joint programme between the University and seven supporting companies, which he led. His promotion from Reader to Professor set a record on October 1st 1986 he was appointed Reader, but the very next day he was appointed to the Advent Chair of Integrated Electronics (Venture Capital), becoming the youngest Professor at the University of Edinburgh. Through the venture capitalist Advent, this post carried consultancy links with many other companies. At this time, Carver Mead, one of the key figures in VLSI research gave this assessment of Peter:
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He is certainly one of a handful of most creative and innovative workers in the VLSI field. [His work ] illustrates a range ... and breadth of interest and is truly inspiring There are, world-wide, perhaps two or three people of any age that combine a comparable depth of scientific understanding, with a demonstrated capability to subject their ideas to real, experimental verification Carver Mead tried to persuade Peter to join him at Caltech. It is largely thanks to Peters Glasgowborn wife Fiona Reoch, whom he met at GCHQ and moved with to Edinburgh, and who wanted to educate her family in Scotland, that Peter developed his career in Scotland and not in the USA. Whilst leading the Silicon Architectures Research Initiative, Peter devised innovative projects for his final-year and PhD students. This included a finger-print recognition system which attracted around 0.5M of funding from De La Rue. The shortcomings of the then commercially available imaging systems provoked Peter to conduct design experiments into making imager chips. In 1989, this culminated in the worlds first single-chip CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) video camera. Peter quickly took the opportunity to develop this technology commercially by setting up VLSI Vision Ltd (VVL)
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with University and Venture Capital support. The significance of this step should not be understated. At that time, a time of economic difficulty, the production of CCD imagers had largely ceased in Europe and nobody else believed that the infant CMOS imagers could compete. In fact, some industrialists and academics were convinced they were not even possible. The success of the VVL imager, together with timely scaling of CMOS processes, meant that this was a revolution with great potential. For several years, VVL held an unchallenged lead, accompanied by intense international scrutiny. During this period, Peter was very pro-active in the invention of new products and generous in giving them to others to develop. But he also spent time on the stressful and difficult detailed de-bugging and thrived on solving difficult problems in the face of adversity. VVL grew from one employee to around one hundred. It grew from an unknown University spinout company into the first Scottish University Company to become a PLC and be placed on the London Stock Exchange. A relentless problem was that of raising funds to continue the work. This was a really daunting task: every six months or so, a new and much larger round of funding was needed. In addition to all the other demands, technical and managerial, Peter had an extraor-
dinary skill convincing Bankers and Venture Capitalists to invest in the growing Company. Indeed, in 1998, as part of the next round of raising capital, the only viable option was for the company to be taken over. It became the Imaging Division of ST Microelectronics (with a head office in Geneva) which, from having no imaging capability, has become a world leader in camera chips for mobile phones. Many years on, this R & D Division is still based in Edinburgh and has strong links to the University of Edinburgh School of Engineering. Granted leave of absence from his Chair at the University from 1992 to 1998, he resigned from it after the sell-off of VVL. After acting as consultant and advisor to ST Microelectronics during the transition, Peter re-directed his energies towards encouraging young academics to commercialise their ideas, sharing his experience and helping their start-up companies to attract investment. He acted as Chairman for the Scottish Microelectronics Centre, for MicroEmissive Displays and for Rhetorical Systems. In 2001 he was appointed Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh and was an advisor to their Commercialisation Unit. He also chaired ATEEDA, QFT and Pufferfish, advised Dexela, and was a board member of the ERA Foundation. There are many other companies,
in which he did not hold an official position but which benefited from his inspiration, advice and assistance. Peters publications include three text books and around 100 coauthored academic papers, including three best paper awards. He supervised around 30 PhD students and at least an equal number of Research Associates. In VVL ,many of his key employees learned a great deal from him informally and quite a few, inspired by his example, left to form their own companies. All of these people are indebted to Peter in many ways. As an entrepreneur at VVL, he created jobs and many other subcontract jobs both in Scotland and internationally (US, Europe, Far East). This was one of the achievements of which he was most proud at the time. In 1997 Peter obtained a Queens Award to Industry for VVL. In 1998 he was awarded the Royal Academy of Engineerings Silver Medal and was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2008, the work on CMOS camera chips was awarded of one of the Rank Optoelectronics Prizes. Peter was an inspiration to a generation of students, young academics and aspiring entrepreneurs. He was very inventive, dynamic and exciting to work with. He was full of energy and enthusiasm and thrived on
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adversity. But underneath it all he was just a very nice guy. His death is a great loss to Scotland and the UK. His skills, advice and assistance in finding customers and investors for many high-tech SMEs over the last decade will be sorely missed. In the last few years, Peter took up sailing and progressed from novice to skipper in two years. He became a passionate yachtsman, sailing off the west coast of
Scotland and in the Mediterranean. This is a sport of sufficient challenge at multiple levels to hold his interest. Peters sudden and untimely death from cancer was a tragic loss for his colleagues, friends and especially for his family: wife Fiona, daughters Kate and Kirsty, as well as his father and mother and two brothers. David Renshaw
Peter Brian Denyer BSc (Loughborough), PhD (Edinburgh), FIET, FIoN, FREng. Born 27 April 1953. Elected FRSE 1998. Died 22 April 2010.
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Robert Balson Dingle 26 March 19262 March, 2010 Robert (Bob) Dingle was born on March 26, 1926 in Manchester. He studied at Cambridge University (Tripos Part I 1945, Part II 1946) and began research in theoretical physics under the supervision of D R Hartree, earning a PhD from Cambridge in 1952 after spending the year 19471948 visiting Bristol under the supervision of Professors Mott and Frhlich. Following research positions in Delft in the Netherlands and Ottawa in Canada, he was appointed to a Readership at the University of Western Australia. In June 1960 he arrived in St Andrews as the first occupant of the Chair of Theoretical Physics. He was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1961. After a sabbatical period in Canada, California and Western Australia, he remained in St Andrews until his early retirement through ill-health in 1987. His original field of research was theoretical condensed-matter physics, in which he made major original contributions in several areas, described in nearly forty scientific papers. The topics included quantum and statistical physics, magnetic properties and surface reflectivity of metals, anomalous skin effect, scattering theory in semiconductors, the
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conductivity of thin wires, and liquid helium II. Some of this work is remembered eponymously: the Dingle temperature, DingleHolstein resonance, and the Dingle factor. During this work, he encountered deep mathematical difficulties, associated with the approximate evaluation of integrals and the solution of differential equations, leading to infinite series (asymptotic expansions) that were usually divergent. Dingle realised that existing techniques for making sense of such series, and getting useful results from them, were often crude and ill-founded, and he devoted the remainder of his research to mathematical asymptotics. It was in this area that he made his most profound and lasting contributions, described in twenty papers and culminating in his definitive and magisterial exposition Asymptotic expansions: their derivation and interpretation (Academic Press 1973). Before Dingle, almost every scientist who encountered a divergent series regarded it as meaningful only up to an inherent vagueness, usually associated with the remainder after discarding the divergent tail of the series. Much effort by mathematicians was
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devoted to establishing precise limits (error bounds) on this vagueness. Dingles approach was startlingly different: building on nineteenth-century insights by Stokes, and avoiding what he regarded as a too-limited approach by Poincar, he regarded a divergent series as an exact coding of the function it represents. Decoding (interpreting) such series is exact in principle, and in practice can lead to vastly improved approximations. By identifying common patterns in the divergent series commonly arising in physics and applied mathematics, he was able to establish systematic interpretive rules, now recognised as providing a solid foundation for asymptotics and the first fundamental advance in the subject for nearly a century. In subsequent decades, several other scientists arrived independently at similar concepts, but priority was undoubtedly Dingles, his methods were more effective, and he developed the techniques in much greater detail. Recognition was not immediate. In large measure this was the result of Dingles style as a scientist. He did not rush to publish each incremental advance as a separate paper, breathlessly
announced at conference after conference. Rather, he was oblivious to what Ramn y Cajal called the sour flattery of celebrity. And although he enjoyed several collaborations, he worked mostly alone, rarely travelled to conferences, and by modern standards of physical science his papers were few, but ripe. He was a committed and sometimes provocative teacher, remembered for his dry and often mischievous wit and the generous hospitality provided by him and his wife Helen. As a research supervisor, his advice was economical, but always helpful and perfectly to the point. On the administrative side, he chaired the Governing Committee of the NATO Scottish Summer Schools in Physics for several years, as well as being the Director of the 1962 and 1967 Schools. He was responsible for remodelling the first-year mathematics teaching at St Andrews; he was convenor of the Project Committee for the construction of the Student Union building, overseeing the project from start to finish; and he represented the university Senate on the Union Governing Board.
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Outside science, he enjoyed music (his family was musically accomplished). And his enjoyment of fine wine and good food was perfectly complemented by Helens legendary skills as a cook. His keen interest in local history and architecture led to painstak-
ing research and an unusual and detailed map of old St Andrews. He died on March 2, 2010, in St Andrews, and is survived by his wife and their daughters Judith and Susie. Michael Berry, John Cornwell
Robert Balson Dingle. Tripos I & II, PhD (Cantab). Born 26 March 1926. Elected FRSE 1 March 1961, died 2 March, 2010.
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Michael Stephen Patrick Eastham 2 December 193727 October 2012 Professor Michael Stephen Patrick Eastham, FRSE, who was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1982, died on 27 October 2012, aged 74. Malcolm Brown and Desmond Evans write: Michael Eastham will be remembered as a leading mathematical analyst who contributed extensively to the theory of ordinary differential equations. Michael was born in London on 2 December 1937. After attending Manchester Grammar School, he entered Merton College, Oxford in 1956 and graduated in 1959 with double first class honours in Mathematics. He then was a research student of the eminent analyst Professor E.C Titchmarsh and obtained his DPhil in 1962; during 1959-61, he was a Domus Senior Scholar at Merton College. He was admitted to the Degree of Doctor of Science of Oxford University in 1974. After lectureships in Reading (196265) and Southampton (196569), he spent the years 1969 88 in the University of London, at Chelsea and then Kings Colleges, being promoted to Professor in 1980. He received the Keith Prize of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1978. From 1988 until 1991 he was Professor of Mathematics in Bahrain and was Honorary Research Professor at Cardiff University School of Computer Science and Informatics from 1995. Michael was a widely acknowledged authority on the spectral theory of differential equations, and was particularly well-known for his analytical skills. He made many significant contributions to such topics as the asymptotics of solutions of linear differential systems, the deficiency index problem, periodic problems, spectral concentration and resonances. He was the author of 124 research publications and five books. Michael is survived by his widow, Heather, two sons and four granddaughters. He was a dear friend and will be greatly missed by all who knew him. B M Brown W D Evans
Michael Stephen Patrick Eastham. Born 2 December 1937. Elected FRSE 1982. Died 27 October 2012.
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David Patrick Frisby 26 March 194420 November 2010 David Frisbys clear, intelligent, and persuasive voice will be missed across many fields of scholarly endeavour. As the only son of a coppersmith and his wife, David was born into modest circumstances in Sheffield in 1944. An outstanding grammar school career led to employment as a management trainee for the National Coal Board, which in turn led to a Coal Board-funded scholarship to study sociology at the LSE. Although destined for a starry academic career, David at no point lost his attachment to his roots, and happily recounted tales of a series of improbable summer jobs, which saw him painting coal trucks black and learning the tricks of bus conducting from old hands in the Chesterfield depot. Judging the right moment to ring the start bell just as the sprinting passenger was about to leap on board was, by all accounts, one of the finer skills. More serious employment soon followed, with a five-year sojourn at the University of Kent, followed in 1975 by a move to the University of Glasgow, where David was a leading light in the Department of Sociology for thirty years, before taking up a chair at the LSE in 2005. Although firmly and productively settled in Glasgow, he travelled widely throughout his
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career; teaching and researching at Heidelberg, Konstanz, Princeton, San Diego and Yale. Davids wanderlust matched his intellectual restlessness, which constantly pushed him in new and demanding directions. His PhD, awarded by the University of Glasgow in 1978, was on the origins of the sociology of knowledge, and addressed in particular the work of Max Scheler, Georg Lukcs and Karl Mannheim. This dissertation already confirmed Davids high-level skills in the German language, which enabled him to work on the Mannheim Papers in Heidelberg University, where the text was completed. It was subsequently published by Heinemann in 1983 under the title The Alienated Mind: the Sociology of Knowledge in Germany 19181933, and republished in an extended form in 1992 by Routledge in its International Library of Sociology. Introducing this text, David defined in one characteristically clear and simple sentence the conviction that drove much of his subsequent work, namely that the reflections that we associate with the sociology of knowledge emerge out of a theory of culture, usually a critique of contemporary culture that is seen to be in a state of crisis.
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Georg Simmel was the lens through which David focused his initial investigations, and in the same year that his doctorate was awarded he published (together with Tom Bottomore) a pioneering translation into English of Simmels Philosophy of Money. A string of further works on Simmel followed, which included: Georg Simmel (1984), Simmel on Culture (1997), Sociological Impressionism: a Reassessment of Georg Simmels Social Theory (1992), Simmel and Since (1992) and George Simmel: Critical Assessments (1994). David also worked with German colleagues in situating Simmel within the broader context of German sociology, most notably in his essay on Simmel, Ferdinand Tnnies and Max Weber, published in 1988 in Ottheim Rammstedt (ed.), Simmel und die frhen Soziologen, and in Fragments of Modernity: Theories of Modernity in the Work of Simmel, Kracauer and Benjamin (1985), which introduced twentieth-century German social theory to successive generations of undergraduates across the world and elegantly delineated the febrile and precarious nature of modernity. Simmel was born in Berlin on the corner of Leipzigerstrasse and Friedrichstrasse a junction, as David pointed out, that was to become the point of intersection of the social circles of
consumption and circulation. The formation of society, the sociology of culture, modernity and its implications were recurring themes in Simmels own writings, and formed the armature for Davids scholarly explorations, for which the metropolis, the great city or Grostadt, was the inescapable context. With the sociological background so comprehensively covered, Davids thoughts in the 1990s turned increasingly towards the fabric of the metropolis, its planning and its architecture. Vienna around 1900 was the city of choice and the initial focus was the architect and designer of the General Regulation Plan for Vienna, Otto Wagner. The resulting text, Metropolitan Architecture and Modernity: Otto Wagner in Context, was awarded an MArch by the Mackintosh School of Architecture in the Glasgow School of Art in 1998. It was contracted for publication by University of Minnesota Press but remains, sadly, unpublished. The connection formed by David between the disciplines of sociology and architectural and urban history was to prove enormously fruitful, as it mirrored the intellectual constellation that informed much of the theoretical discussion of the city in the first six decades of the century. Moral consensus, social solidarity, individual identity within the
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larger community, and the need for shared meanings in a secular culture were issues of vital importance both to the sociologist and to the architect and city planner over this period. The attempts to shift the balance between what Simmel termed subjective and objective culture in the modern metropolis in favour of the former; the desire to shape a genuine individuality in periods of excessive individualism (Durkheim); the search for a positive urban way of life in the face of increasing social differentiation (Wirth, Geddes); the longing for a re-enchantment of the world despite the forces of disenchantment (Weber); the parameters of a viable asphalt culture (Sombart); and the filling in of empty spaces (Bloch) by a new spirituality that embraced utopianism all found tangible forms or resonant echoes in contemporary architectural practice and debate. In 19982000, David was awarded a senior Senior Scholar Grant by the Getty Grant Program, Los Angeles, together with Iain Boyd Whyte, which enabled them to advance their research on these themes more fully. Among the outcomes were Davids Simmel in Wien (2000), and the collection of his essays brought together in Cityscapes of Modernity (2001). Whilst primarily focused on Vienna and Berlin, one of the texts in this volume looks more gener-
ally at the city as the purlieu of the detective and, in particular, at Dashiell Hammett and his onetime employer, the Pinkerton Detective Agency, famous for its motto: We never sleep. The same restless energy marked Davids pursuit of detective novels, which sat in their hundreds, double-banked on his bookshelves. By happy coincidence, Alan Pinkerton, who set up the eponymous Agency in Chicago in 1850, had been born in Glasgow in 1819. A further essay from this period investigated the great Viennese debate of the 1890s on the competing charms and meaning of straight versus crooked streets (in: Iain Boyd Whyte, ed., Modernity and the Spirit of the City, 2003). Very typically, David did not simply content himself with a straightforward account of the Otto Wagner versus Camillo Sitte dispute, but used it to test Michel de Certeaus proposition that the activities of the planners and architects and the everyday practices of the urban population are divergent, with the planners producing panoramic visions that are inaccessible to those who live below the thresholds at which visibility begins. A sojourn at the Davis Center for Historical Studies at Princeton University in 200405 saw more work on the German-speaking metropolis, and the gestation of
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an anthology of texts on Berlin in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (with Iain Boyd Whyte). The manuscript had already been submitted before the onset of Davids final illness, and found a very positive resonance with the external readers of the commissioning publishers, the University of California Press, one of whom noted: Its major contribution is to reconstitute the built environment of Berlin during the period of its classical modernity by the selection and juxtaposition of texts from fields including architecture, urban planning, sociology, political theory, cultural criticism, literature, and journalism. Few cities in the world have had this type of comprehensive multidisciplinary treatment. Publication of the book will be an extremely important event in spatial cultural studies, for it will set the standard for a methodological model that
could be employed in many different national and historical contexts. As Davids final publication, it will be a worthy monument to a brilliant career. Academic brilliance, however, is rarely so happily combined as it was in Davids case with a charming modesty, great intellectual generosity, and a sincere desire to support the work of others. His marriage of almost thirty years to Tanya Ticktin was an enormous source of strength, and Tanyas vigour, anarchic scepticism and vivacious humour were the perfect complement for Davids own quieter and more reflective wit. David Frisby will be sorely missed by all who had the good fortune to know him: he was a wonderful colleague and friend, who left life as he had lived it: quietly, uncomplainingly and with great dignity. Ian Boyd Whyte
David Patrick Frisby BSc (LSE), MArch (Glasgow School of Art), PhD (Glasgow), DSSc (Queens University, Belfast). Born 26 March 1944. Elected FRSE 2001. Died 20 November 2010.
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Francis John Gillingham 15 March 19163 January 2010 Born in Dorchester, England, on 15 March 1916, Francis John Gillingham, or John as he preferred, was educated at The Thomas Hardye School, Dorchester, Dorset and studied medicine at London University and St.Barthomolomews Hospital, where he won prizes in surgery and obstetrics. After graduation, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corp and was deployed for 18 months in Sir Hugh Cairns crash course in all aspects of neurological trauma. Gillingham later became commanding officer of the number 4 Neurological Surgical Unit in the Middle East and Italy the Nomadic Surgeons. After the war he returned to Oxford and in 1950 was appointed Senior Lecturer in Surgical Neurology at the University of Edinburgh. Gillingham spent 12 years working alongside the Edinburgh University Professor Norman McOmish Dott, one of the great triumvirate of neurosurgeons that also included Hugh Cairns in Oxford and Sir Geoffrey Jefferson in Manchester. In 1961, as an expert in Parkinsons disease, Gillingham was chosen to operate on the politician S. J. V. Chelanayakam, leader of the Sri Lankan Tamil United Front the Tamil Tigers. The operation was carried out in Edinburgh and prolonged the leaders life. In 1962 Gillingham became Reader and in 1963 Professor of Surgical Neurology at the University of Edinburgh and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1970. In 1980 he became President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, where he vigorously pursued and established Fellowships in surgical sub-specialities. Education was a primary interest and he supported the use of tutorials, television and other audiovisual aids. Gillinghams experiences during the Second World War gave him an understanding of, and a lasting interest in, head injuries. He was working with the fullyequipped mobile neurosurgical units, the brain child of Sir Hugh Cairns, officer in charge of the crash course in military head injuries. To quote Gillingham: He was the boss of us and greatly liked and was a friend of Judy and myself. Ours was the number 4 mobile surgical unit, we chased after the 8th Army in the desert for some two months during the huge battle for El Alamein and then to Sicily [The Nomadic Surgeons]. Ken Eden our OC from
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UCH in London was our CO; married with three young children, he died from polioencephalitis early in the Italian Campaign. I was recovering from poliomyelitis which left me with a paralysed jaw, eating slops for three months; however I cheeked my way back to command the unit. 1300 missile injuries were treated in the North African Desert and nearly 5000 in Italy Gillingham kept meticulous notes on how bullets entered, traversed and often exited soldiers brains: One day a young soldier came into the pre-op tent, apparently well but for a headache and the suggestion of neck stiffness. He had been blown up by a mine and had felt a blow to the right right side of his head. Looking with a mirror he saw a wound. I took the opportunity to look at the same spot on the left side and found a two-millimetre hole. There was nothing on X-ray and we assumed the fragment had passed right through, missing every important structure. We did nothing and the soldier returned to full fighting duties after a week lucky chap! These tiny missiles were just what was required for our endeavour to map the grey matter and its small and large masses. Others had done some mapping of the cortex in World War I and here was a new opportunity. ....I resolved therefore to face the discipline of
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detailed recording of every operation I did, writing in captured Italian bookkeeping books, which were sadly lost in a flood. It was important to record the direction of the missile in three dimensions, unless it was a through-and-through. Gillingham correlated these injuries with any abnormal central nervous system (CNS) signs or behavioural and emotional aberrations, and superimposed scattergrams of a similar type and looked for the appropriate function of the injured part. He made diagrams of these injuries, describing an area now known as the reticular activating system. Missiles in this area always resulted in total loss or serious loss of consciousness nowhere else did this occur with missile injuries. This Gillingham regarded as the seat of the conscious mind, an analogy being the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer. In recognition of this work he was awarded the Medal of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons (in May 2009). When his colleague in Edinburgh, Professor David Whitteridge, described the use of microelectrodes in distinguishing between grey and white matter, Gillingham immediately saw its usefulness in distinguishing deep brain structures. From these first microelectrode recording studies, fundamental insights were gained to improve lesion accuracy,
including the observation that spontaneous rhythmical discharge from the thalamus was synchronous with tremor. However, the main emphasis of his work in Edinburgh was on stereotaxis as an aid to localising brain lesions. He was introduced to stereotactic surgery by Grard Guiot, who had visited Edinburgh to learn aneurysmal surgery from Professor Norman McOmish Dott and Gillingham. Several days were spent with Guiot, performing freehand pallidotomies under local anaesthesia using a subfrontal approach to the anterior perforated substance. Gillinghams wealth of experience in aneurysmal surgery led him to adapt Guiots stereotactic method to an occipitoparietal approach to avoid striate arteries. Over the years he refined this apparatus, introducing a motorised drive and extensions, targeting the cerebellum, brain stem and cervical spine in chronic pain and dystonias. Results from 60 patients showed that electrocoagulation lesions of the globus pallidus, internal capsule and thalamus, either separately or in combination, reduced tremor and rigidity in 88% of cases. In this era predating MRI scans, stereotactic neurosurgery proved to be one of the most important developments in 20th-Century brain surgery.
Gillinghams interest in the nature of memory and evolution never diminished. One day, discussing Marcel Prousts In Remembrance of Times Past, he remarked that Proust was possibly a temporal lobe epileptic, and pointed out that temporal lobectomy on the left side had to be carefully done lest damage to the superior temporal gyrus caused loss of cognitative memory, adding that certainly the hippocampus, amygdala and the wider functions of the temporal lobe are much concerned with memory, both long- and short-term. Further time and studies will reveal the cortical areas dealing with specific functions such as music, calculation, language and computerisation, which may need the access of the short-term memory. In 2008, John Gillingham suffered and survived major cardiac surgery; he was successfully operated on by surgeons in London, for whom he had great praise. His room was sparse a chair a table, a floor cover but was spotlessly clean. In December 2008 he wrote I am now stabilised on cardiac drugs and prednisolone, 18 milligrams a day, for giant cell arteritis. How are you? Have you had giant cell arteritis? A horrid thing! Also I have been confined to a wheelchair with a weak shoulder. I do wonder about its pathology,a
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worn out adrenal cortex. Not bad for 93 eh!. In retirement he enjoyed debating evolution and creationism. He agreed with both Darwin and David Attenborough about the anatomy of descent and basic functions, but argued that our brains have evolved to such a degree beyond the apes that perhaps we should look to a missing link for our intellectual functions; but felt that we have lost ground to the apes, greed and other things having set us back. Darwin and Attenborough have emphasised an anatomical approach but the evolution of consciousness remains an enigma. To quote Gillingham: We have learned from rehabilitation studies that most of us die without having exploited more than 50% of our brain potential. There are areas of the brain where even grey matter substations have not yet been allocated a function. Systems within the brain, if interrupted in their connections, can, with skilled rehabilitation, be persuaded to initiate alternate connections within the brain and spinal cord. This plasticity is noteworthy in the CNS, which so far has not been persuaded to regenerate. His wife Judy was a constant support. He married Judy (Irene Jude) in 1945 and they had four children and many grandchildren,
Hugh Cairns, a brilliant administrator, arranged their wedding locally in Oxford, followed by a reception in his house. After the war they settled in a splendid house overlooking the Forth, where Judy was a sparkling hostess entertaining guests with tales of their many tours abroad. In retirement, Gillingham went as Professor of Neurosurgery to the King Khalid University Hospital at Riyadh at that time a veritable nest of distinguished medicos. Gillinghams services were in demand during the planning for a new medical school and I remember his insistence for the necessity of a helicopter pad. He at once set about with great gusto, improving training and skills in the neurosurgery section which soon began to flourish. He was helped along by a fortuitous first case. A young male Saudi had suffered severely from epilepsy which was refractory to treatment despite the efforts of clinics in Paris. Gillingham diagnosed a cerebral aneurysm and operated with success. It is apocryphal that outside the door of the theatre during the operation there stood a faithful family retainer wielding a sword! His modesty and kindliness were apparent throughout his life; all who met him remained to admire him. Once, walking through the main corridor of the King Khalid Hospital in the company of a Syrian Surgeon who had studied
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in Tubingen, we encountered John, advancing towards us with his entourage. As they passed by, the Syrian doctor lent to my ear and whispered Do you see that
man? I would never tell him so but I would do anything for him! Nihil tetigit quod non ornavit Angus E Stuart
Francis John Gillingham CBE, MBE (Mil), MBBS(London), Hon MD Thessaloniki), FRCS, FRCSE, FRCPE, Hon FRACS, Hon FRCS Ireland, Hon FRCPS Glasgow, Hon FSACS, Hon FCS Sri Lanka. Born 15 March 1916. Elected FRSE 1970. Died 3 January 2010.
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Sir Norman Graham 11 October 191326 February 2010 Norman Graham was born in 1913 in Dundee, but his roots were very firmly in the West End of Glasgow, where he was raised and educated. His father had moved from Dumfriesshire to Glasgow to train as a marine engineer and worked at sea for several years. During the Great War, his ships operated under naval direction; one was torpedoed off the Scillies while another served at Gallipoli. After the war, Normans father became a partner in a firm of engineers in Glasgow. Norman enjoyed a stable and happy home life which left him with a lifelong commitment to the church, a love of golf and an enduring affection for the west coast, initially Arran and the Firth of Clyde but later Arisaig, Coigach and Colonsay. He was usually top of the class at Hyndland Primary School and delighted his fellowpupils by confounding an overbearing headmaster by successfully spelling onomatopoeic both forwards and backwards. He was joint Dux at the High School of Glasgow and entered Glasgow University in 1931, taking first class Honours in History in 1935 and in Classics in 1936. He then competed successfully for the Home Civil Service, opted for one of the Edinburgh departments and was posted to the Department of Health for Scotland in October 1936. The stamina and abilities of the small cadre of very able young civil servants then in the Edinburgh departments were to be stretched to the limit over the next few years as intense preparations were made to protect and succour the civilian population from the effects of the aerial warfare which by then looked unavoidable. Norman was involved in planning the provision of health facilities, including emergency hospitals, over much of Scotland. During this time he was still living at home in the West with time for golf and rugby but he also took on a commitment to help the Reverend George MacLeod (then of Govan Old Parish Church, founder of the Iona Community, later Lord MacLeod of Fiunary) and his talented team of young ministers to run the boys clubs at the Pearce Institute in Govan. Soon after the outbreak of war Norman was sent to London as private secretary to the Scottish Office permanent secretary Sir Horace Hamilton. He expected to be released to join the Navy but instead was posted to the new Ministry of Aircraft Production where he experienced a huge
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range of work - running Lord Beaverbrooks Spitfire Fund, purchasing strategic materials covertly from unfriendly neutral countries, planning the establishment of a college of aeronautics which would later become become Cranfield University and considering how to deal with the V-weapons the Germans were known to be developing. In his spare time he served in the Home Guard and latterly as a special constable. Finally in 1944 he became principal private secretary to the minister, Sir Stafford Cripps, whom he found to be the ideal boss, pleasant, considerate and amusing as well as incisive. After the war Norman was posted back to the Department of Health for Scotland (DHS) in Edinburgh. On promotion to assistant secretary in charge of the hospitals division, his great contribution to public services in Scotland could begin in earnest. The new Labour government were pushing ahead with the establishment of the National Health Service. DHS had to devise and negotiate solutions appropriate to the Scottish situation where, for example, the general hospital service depended wholly on voluntary hospitals. One important difference the DHS team were able to achieve was to make the teaching hospitals the responsibility of the new Regional Hospital Boards instead of leaving them as
self-standing entities as in England and Wales; this was to make for much better overall management of hospital provision over the first decades of the NHS. The Scottish Act was passed in 1947 and came into effect in 1948. After a spell in charge of one of the housing divisions during the critical period of expansion in the early 1950s, Norman succeeded Douglas Haddow as health undersecretary in 1956, a post he would hold for over seven years. Thanks to an improving economic situation it was possible to plan and begin to implement a comprehensive hospital building programme, including the new Dundee teaching hospital at Ninewells and a series of district general hospitals; Norman set in hand important original work on ward design, based on innovative study of working practices. These years saw an effective campaign to improve childrens dental health, the mass radiography campaign to eradicate tuberculosis and a radical revision of Scottish mental health legislation, a particular concern of his. His work for the Health Service was recognised by his appointment as CB in 1961. At the start of 1964, however, Normans nearly 20 years of involvement with health came to an end with his promotion to be Secretary of the Scottish Education Department (SED). SED was the
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oldest of the Scottish departments (being set up by an Act of 1872) and had traditionally kept itself a bit apart from the others. It had only come fully into the Scottish Office family in 1945 and had in the past drawn many of its senior administrators (including Normans predecessor, Sir William Arbuckle) from the ranks of HM Inspectorate of Schools. Normans arrival came as a breath of fresh air, not to say a mighty whirlwind! Norman found his new department immersed in a great ferment of activity, largely led by the Inspectorate, which was aimed at modernising and re-appraising the school curriculum; there was also the ticking time-bomb of the commitment to raise the school leaving age to 16, with all that that implied in terms of resources accommodation, teachers and curriculum. He could see the immense advantage Scotland possessed in having a single national approach to the curriculum and examinations (in contrast with the situation at that time in England, where there were several examining bodies with different curricula and there was no tradition of central leadership) and he valued the quality of the Inspectorates work. He believed however that more should be done to involve the teaching profession and the wider public. He quickly saw that the Labour ministers who came to power later
in 1964 under the former teacher Willie Ross had strong views about education and would not necessarily be willing to rubberstamp whatever ideas the department put to them. Normans solution was to establish a more open and consensual approach to curricular development, involving teachers as well as the Inspectorate, under the oversight of what became the Scottish Consultative Committee on the Curriculum which he himself chaired in its early years. Normans concept of a national system of curricular advice based on wide consultation and consensus has served Scotland well for over 40 years, and has certainly protected our schools from the over-prescription and frequent changes of direction experienced in England. Normans years at the SED were full of change and challenge. Labour ministers were determined to change the structure of Scottish secondary education and pushed through a wholesale changeover to comprehensive schools throughout the country; they also abolished the right of local authorities to charge fees in certain of their schools including Normans Glasgow High School, and withdrew government funding from the then grantaided schools. In some areas this resulted in quite dramatic changes which were nevertheless success-
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fully negotiated and implemented. Meanwhile, far more than the expected 30% of pupils were succeeding in the Ordinary Grade SCE examinations (introduced only in 1959) and many more than previously were proceeding to gain enough Highers to go into higher education. The big expansion in teacher training provision planned by Normans predecessors was at last enabling teacher shortages to be overcome and a properly planned school building programme was underway, including provision for the raising of the school leaving age. One element of the programme which Norman was particularly proud of was to provide decent hostel accommodation for senior pupils from remote islands and mainland areas who would have to leave home for some or all of their secondary education. Another area of major change was higher education, where the number of universities in Scotland doubled from foure to eight following the publication of the Robbins Report (1964). Strathclyde was formed from the Royal College and the Scottish College of Commerce in Glasgow and Heriot-Watt College was upgraded; all three colleges had previously been under SEDs tutelage. Norman was also involved, as assessor to the University Grants Committee, in Dundees erection into a separate
university and especially in the process which resulted in the establishment of a completely new university at Stirling. In recognition of the role he played, both Heriot-Watt and Stirling gave him honorary doctorates and he later served on the Court at Stirling. Looking back at Normans years at the administrative helm of the NHS in Scotland and in charge of SED, one can see that it was a period of relative political calm and financial optimism in which ministers and their professional and administrative staff felt able to take a long view of prospects and plan the big picture with some confidence. Normans inspiring, magisterial leadership and flair for identifying and empowering talented individuals made sure that good use was made of this period of opportunity for the benefit of health and education. Throughout his career Norman Graham displayed the highest commitment to public service and brought energy, directness and imagination to the work for which he was responsible. He was trusted by ministers and highly respected by his colleagues and is gratefully remembered by many of those who served under him and were inspired by him. His distinguished public service was recognised by his appointment as Knight Bachelor in 1971.
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Some time after his return to work in Edinburgh after the war, Norman met and fell in love with Kitty (Catherine Mary Strathie), whom he married in February 1949. They were to enjoy over 61 years together, nearly 58 of them in Longniddry, where they had a new house built in 1952 as soon as post-war restrictions eased. There he could indulge his delight in gardening and golf, play his part in the life of the parish church (he served as an elder for over 50 years) and the wider community, and bring up his children John (who was to follow his father into the Scottish Office), Alastair and Catherine. After his retirement in 1973 Norman served on the Council on Tribunals, the BBC Advisory Committee and the Broadcasting Council for Scotland. But perhaps
the task he most enjoyed was to serve for ten years as the Secretary of States nominee and first Chairman of the St Andrews Links Trust, which was set up in 1974 to run the golf courses in St Andrews. The Trust was highly successful and he found the work absorbing and exhilarating; what is more, when he retired after ten years he was given the right to play free on any of the courses for life. He and Kitty also took the opportunity to travel more widely in Europe, North America and Australasia and to spend time with their children and their seven grandchildren. Norman remained physically well into his nineties and intellectually vigorous to the end. He is survived by Kitty, his three children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandson. Russell Hillhouse
Norman William Graham, CB, Kt, MA (Glasgow), DLitt (Heriot-Watt), DUniv (Stirling). Born 11 October 1913. Elected FRSE 1972. Died 26 February 2010. Vice-President 1977-1980
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Richard Langton Gregory 24 July 192317 May 2010 Richard Langton Gregory was descended from a long line of academic Gregories. The first was the illustrious James Gregory of Aberdeen (1638-1675), who invented the Gregorian reflecting telescope and developed the calculus. Richards father, Christopher Clive Langton Gregory, was Director of the University of London Observatory at Mill Hill, and Richard retained the family interest in astronomy. It is, of course, not enough to inherit good blood - one must also show achievements in ones own lifetime. This Richard Gregory certainly did, making significant contributions over such diverse fields as the philosophy and psychology of perception, the design of instruments, and the popularisation of science for the general public. He was perhaps one of the last great Gentlemen of Science. Richard showed his inventive talents from an early age. As a boy he went to the King Alfred School in London, where he received every encouragement to explore and accidentally reinvented Pythagoras theorem. He served in the RAF (Signals) during the Second World War, which provided further training in radio communications and radar. His
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talent for explaining science to the public had already been spotted by the Air Ministry, and in the summer of 1945 he was posted to a very popular exhibition at the John Lewis bomb site in London, where he had the job of showing factory workers and other visitors how military devices worked. He won an RAF scholarship to study philosophy and experimental psychology at Downing College, Cambridge (194750). After a period of research at the MRC Applied Psychology Unit (195053) he became a lecturer in the Psychology Department of Cambridge University (195367), and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College (196267). He was also the Director of the Special Senses Laboratory, and it was at this stage that I became his research assistant on a US Air Force grant in 1961. The Special Senses was (as I soon discovered) a historical term for the well-known five senses of Vision, Hearing, Taste, Smell and Touch as opposed to the general or common sense and other less understood senses. The title in no way restricted his enterprises: at this period he was working on the interaction between vision and the vestibular sense; weight perception; the visual system of the copepod
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Copilia; a general theory of the visual illusions; the development of a scanning electron microscope and a telescope camera that removed atmospheric turbulence; and on his first major book Eye and Brain (1966), which went into five editions. His laboratory contained a large parallel swing, a motorised sled on railway lines, and a plethora of fascinating objects. It was a golden age. At this time Richard was married to his first wife, Margaret Muir (divorced 1966). They had two bright children, Mark and Romilly. They were a very hospitable couple, often entertaining students and colleagues in their home. Richard believed that life should be fun, and that research should be fun. Why spend time on boring research, when there were so many interesting topics to investigate. Richard was happiest with phenomena that could be demonstrated in an afternoon, and he did not want to get involved in lengthy experiments and statistical analyses. This caused difficulties for some of his students and research assistants, including myself. We needed to conduct publishable experiments to establish our careers, and could not afford to change tack along with his shifting enthusiasms. There was also the problem of interpreting his wishes. Richard never liked to say No, so he always
said Yes. One eventually learned that Yes meant No, Yes, yes meant Perhaps, and Yes, yes, yes really did mean Yes. This behaviour produced some interesting social situations. Richard used to take his research team to conferences, and introduce us to other psychologists at receptions; each person we met would suggest that we should eat together later that evening, and Richard would agree to three or four such commitments before finally leaving with another group. Richard could get away with behaviour, and with research strategies, that less talented people cannot so he was not an ideal role model for aspiring academics. Nevertheless he was very concerned to promote the careers of all those who worked with him, and he inspired many people to follow up his ideas. One of his most successful research assistants and co-inventors was Stephen Salter, an engineer who later became famous for his nodding ducks an early version of wave power technology. Richard revered many earlier scientists, but had a special regard for Hermann von Helmholtz. He expounded Helmholtz idea that much of perception was like an unconscious inference, and he maintained that perceptions are hypotheses. He explained certain geometrical illusions as automatic bottom-up processes that were
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nevertheless similar to top-down distance-scaling processes. This was not a new idea, but Richard had the gift of publicising it. He gave these illusions a new lease of life, with many researchers conducting experiments and entering the controversy. Richard also admired Kenneth Craik, the first director of the MRC Applied Psychology Unit in Cambridge, who died tragically young. Craik developed the idea of a cerebral model, or inner representation of the world, which allows us to perceive and interact with the world. Richard followed this idea with enthusiasm, and believed that computers and robotics could give us insight into the workings of the brain. Richard was always a little larger than life, and inevitably his laboratory began to run out of space. In 1967 he followed the ancestral call and went to Edinburgh University as one of the three founding professors of the Department of Machine Intelligence and Perception, the other two being Donald Michie and Christopher Longuet-Higgins. It was the first of its kind in Europe, and he helped to develop the pioneering robot Freddie. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1969. I caught up with him again in 1969 when I moved to Stirling University. By this time he was married to Freja Balchin (divorced 1977), and
again they were very hospitable in their beautiful New Town flat. However, Richard did not enjoy Edinburgh. The weather was bad, the city was lacking in buzz, and it was a long way to London and Cambridge. But much worse were the difficulties of the new department. The three founding professors were all brilliant scientists, but prima donnas. They could not sort out a common direction for their research, and they did not get on with each other. The group broke up when Richard left for Bristol in 1970, and Longuet-Higgins for Sussex in 1974. Nevertheless, their work had laid the foundation for modern artifical intelligence (AI) research. The infamous Lighthill Report of 1973 caused the Science Research Council to restrict funding for AI in the UK for a decade, though work continued elsewhere. Richard himself had an ambivalent attitude to computers. He did not like using them to conduct perceptual experiments, preferring the clever and elegant pieces of apparatus that he designed himself. But he remained enthusiastic about robotics and AI, and was deeply disappointed by the Lighthill Report. Richard moved to Bristol in 1970 to become Professor of Neuropsychology and Director of the Brain and Perception Laboratory. This was perhaps the most fruitful
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period of his life. He founded the international journal Perception (1972), published several books including The Intelligent Eye (1970), edited The Oxford Companion to the Mind (1985, revised edition 2004), established a hands-on science centre in Bristol called The Exploratory (later to become Explore@Bristol), and continued to give many radio and television broadcasts. He officially retired from his Personal Chair in 1988, and was made a CBE in 1989. He was elected an FRS in 1992 for the Improving of Natural Knowledge. He was showered with honorary degrees DUniv from the Open University, Stirling and York; DSc. from Bristol, Exeter, East Anglia, UMIST, Keele and Edinburgh; and an LLD from Bristol. He was awarded countless other honours, prizes and fellowships. Richard continued to find time for travel and fun. He often visited Scotland for meetings of the society for Scotch Perspectives in the History of Perception an irregular society that requires aspiring members to submit a bottle of malt whisky that no other members have submitted.
Richard presented a brand that he pronounced No Can Do an example of one his appalling puns, and quite inappropriate. If anyone ever had a Can Do approach, it was Richard. People like Richard Gregory never truly retire. As an Emeritus Professor he established the Perceptual Systems Research Centre in Bristol University Psychology Department. He worked with the Engineering Department on a snooker-playing robot, and retained his childlike enthusiasm for new inventions. In his later years he lived with his long-term partner and collaborator, Priscilla Heard. He began to slow down after he suffered a minor stroke in 2008, and he died a few days after a massive stroke in May 2010. He will be remembered as an inventor and communicator; as an inspirer of ideas; as a generous and forgiving man, lacking in malice and guile; and as the little boy who never grew up. He is survived by his two previous wives, his long-term partner Priscilla Heard, his children, and two grandchildren. Helen E Ross
Richard Langton Gregory CBE, MA (Cantab), DSc, LlD (Brist), FRS, FRSA,FBPsS; Born 24 July 1923. Elected FRSE 1969. Died 17 May 2010.
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Alan Vernon Holden 12 July 19221 August 2011 Alan Vernon Holden was born in Cambridge on 12 July, 1922 and died in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee on 1 August, 2011, aged 89. With his passing, science in Scotland has lost one of the pioneers of freshwater chemistry in Europe but his legacy lives on through his many publications. Alans parents, Arthur and Ruby Holden, encouraged Alan in his education and were pleased when he opted to go to university. Unfortunately, Alans father died at the young age of 41. Alan attended Milton Road Elementary School and then Cambridge and County High School for Boys where he won a Scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge. At university he studied chemistry, physics, mathematics and mineralogy. Because of World War 2, the normal course was reduced from three to two years and Alan soon graduated with an Honours BA in 1943. From 1943 to 1945 Alan was employed by the Ministry of Supply. He then joined the staff of the Kodak Research laboratory, where he remained until 1950. A year or so earlier, the Brown Trout Research Laboratory (now the Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory) had been established at Faskally, near Pitlochry, and on 1 August,
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1950, Alan was appointed as a Scientific Officer and Senior Chemist there. He spent the rest of his working life at Faskally and, on the retirement in 1974 of Kenneth Pyefinch, FRSE, the laboratorys first Officer-in-Charge, Alan was appointed as his successor as a Senior Principal Scientific Officer. He remained in charge there until his own retirement in 1982. During three decades of research at Faskally, Alan initiated a number of major projects relating to the chemistry of rivers and lochs in Scotland and its relevance to fish ecology, especially the biology of Brown Trout and Atlantic Salmon. One of the earliest of these studies was the experimental chemical fertilisation of freshwater lochs, aimed at improving their productivity and ultimately that of their native stocks of Brown Trout. Initially, four lochs in Perthshire were selected for a fertilisation experiment in 1952, following preliminary monitoring of their chemistry. Calcium and phosphate were the two chemicals used for enrichment. In 1954, the experiment was extended to six lochs in Sutherland, followed in 1957 to two lochs on Islay and a further two in Perthshire. Much useful information was obtained from
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these experiments, a notable feature of which was the quick uptake of phosphate within the systems concerned. This lead to valuable experimental work on the role of loch sediments and the uptake there by the sediments and by aquatic plants of phosphates. Some of these experiments involved the use of radiophorphorus. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was considerable concern among ecologists about the extensive use of pesticides such as DDT and Dieldrin and their subsequent effects on wildlife and the environment in general, including human health. A programme to investigate this topic was initiated by Alan at Faskally which produced results so important that some industrial procedures were changed to stop further damage to the environment. A good example of this was at Loch Leven, where the woollen mill at Kinross stopped the use of Dieldrin as a mothproofing agent directly as a result of the evidence of organochlorine residues in the tissues of fish in the loch. The programme on pesticides was subsequently expanded to include studies on mercury. As with the research on loch fertilisation, new analytical methods had to be developed in the laboratory by Alan and his coworkers. After the War, some poisons, such as cyanide (under the trade name
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of Cymag) became readily available. The salmon poaching fraternity in Scotland quickly recognised its potential and fish kills from this source became fairly common in Scottish rivers. Again, Alans team were called on to develop suitable methods for the detection of cyanide in fish tissues and, in many cases were subsequently able to provide the necessary scientific evidence to convict offenders. In the 1970s, the chemical quality of rain became an important international issue and a major programme of research on this topic was initiated by Alan and his colleagues. Alan had already created a firm foundation for such work by his studies in the 1950s which showed that the influence of airborne sea water on the chemistry of west coast lochs is important in the general supply of nutrients to these waters. As well as showing further that significant amounts of sea salts were being deposited inland in Scotlands lochs and rivers during storms, the results of the new research provided a major contribution to our knowledge of the impact of acid rain on native fish stocks. The strong collaborative approach between the chemists and fish biologists at Faskally showed that a significant number of fish stocks in Scottish lochs had become extinct as a consequence of acidification.
Alan and his team published many important scientific papers on the above topics over the years and he became a major contributor to various committees, seminars and conferences, both in the United Kingdom and internationally. He chaired several groups, including one within the European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission dealing with problems of water quality. He was also chair of an OECD working group on Wildlife Sampling and Analysis and of an Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Working Group on Pollution of the Ocean. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1973. After his retiral in 1982, Alan devoted his activities to a number of important local organisations. He was a long-serving Rotarian and a member of the Pitlochry Probus Club. At various times he was Chairman of the Pitlochry Community Council, a representative for Moulin on the local Neighbourhood Watch, a member of the local Crime Panel and, for 20 years, the hard-working
Secretary of the Pitlochry Abbeyfield Society. In addition to these contributions to society, Alan continued his professional interest in fisheries as a member of the Institute of Fisheries Management and he was appointed Chairman of the Scottish Branch in 1982. In recognition of his services to the Institute he was subsequently elected a Fellow and an Honorary Vice-President. Alan had a long and happy family life in his home in the village of Moulin with his wife Dolly (Dolina) and their daughter Fiona. Eventually Alan and Dolly became the proud grandparents of Lynsey and Michael who became an increasingly important part of their lives. Sadly, Dolly died a few years before Alan. A memorial service for Alan was held in Pitlochry on 10 August, 2011 and attended by his many friends and former scientific colleagues. He was later laid to rest at Fonab Cemetery beside his beloved Dolly. I thank Gordon Struthers, Ross Gardiner and Fiona Bell for their advice in preparing this obituary. Peter S Maitland
Alan Vernon Holden. BA (Cantab), FIFM, FSB. Born 12 July 1922. Elected FRSE 1973. Died 1 August 2011.
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Sir Andrew Huxley 22 November 191730 May 2012 Professor Sir Andrew Huxley, widely regarded as one of Britains most eminent scientists and great university administrators, the former master of Trinity College, Cambridge, shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963 with Sir Alan Hodgkin, a lifelong friend and collaborator, and with Australian scientist Sir John Eccles, who was cited for research on synapses. They received the prize for unravelling the biophysical mechanism of nerve impulses which control muscle action. Huxley and Hodgkin began collaborating on the nature of nerve impulses in August 1939, when Hodgkin invited him down to the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, following his return from America. While there, he had successfully demonstrated the mechanism by which electrical impulses activate the next segment of a nerve fibre, and had begun to work with the recently discovered nerve fibre of the giant squid. At the time, there was controversy about the way in which neural signals were generated and transmitted along fibres and across synapses the connecting junctions where there are gaps between the ends of one fibre and the beginning of the next. The scientists began experiments on the very large nerve fibres (diameter about 0.5mm) possessed by squids. Their first task was to measure the viscosity of the interior of the fibre by suspending it vertically and dropping droplets of mercury down it. This failed because the mercury droplets stopped as they entered the fibre, showing that its interior was a solid, not a viscous liquid as supposed. Instead, they pushed an electrode down inside, in order to measure directly the potential difference between inside and outside and obtained a direct recording of the voltages across the nerve membrane, the first time that this had been done. The consensus of the time was that the interior of a fibre at rest was up to one-tenth of a volt negative relative to the external solution, but rose to equality with the external potential at the peak of a nerve impulse. The pair confirmed this as regards the resting state, but the internal potential at the peak of the impulse was substantially positive. They published a short paper in the journal Nature, announcing their achievement of recording
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action potentials from inside a nerve fibre. However, their work was suspended with the outbreak of the Second World War, during which time Huxley was involved in a number of projects. Initially a clinical student in London, due to the Blitz teaching was suspended, and Huxley spent the rest of the war on operational research in gunnery, first for Anti-Aircraft Command and later for the Admiralty, working in a team under Patrick (later Lord) Blackett. Hodgkin worked in radar research with the Air Ministry. In spite of the war and their involvement in widely separated and often secret activities, the two men remained in touch and even swapped advice on particular problems. One such occasion saw Huxley design and produce, using a lathe, a new type of gun sight during the development of airborne radar. Soon after the war, in 1946, they returned to neurological research at Cambridge. Their work necessitated the development of specialist equipment which in many cases was not only designed by Huxley, but also built by him. They began discussing how the squid membrane becomes specifically permeable to sodium ions. These are about ten times more concentrated in the external solution than inside the fibre, so
they diffuse inwards, carrying their positive charge. Within six years, Huxley and Hodgkin had laid the detailed foundations of the modern understanding of the transmission of nerve impulses. Their model, which was developed well before the advent of electron microscopes or computer simulations, was able to give scientists a basic understanding of how nerve cells work without having a detailed understanding of how the membrane of a nerve cell looked. They demonstrated that these travel, not along the core of the fibre, but along the outer membrane as a product of successive cascades of two types of ion. The finding and the detailed mathematical theory that accompanied the work, completed in 1952 in a series of five papers, was groundbreaking and resulted in their share of the Nobel Prize. Born in Hampstead in 1917, Andrew Fielding Huxley came from a celebrated family. His grandfather was Thomas Huxley, the 19th century biologist and staunch supporter of Charles Darwin; his two half-brothers were Julian Huxley, also a biologist, and Aldous Huxley, author of the novel Brave New World. Surrounded by a plethora of books of all persuasions, Huxley became interested in science and
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practical engineering, learning how to make microscopes and other scientific instruments. He was encouraged by his mother, who was good with her hands, and at the age of 14 he received a metal-turning lathe. It proved a revelation. With it he produced many items including a 6cc twostroke internal combustion engine. This skill was to prove invaluable in later life, enabling him to design much of the equipment he used in his experiments. Huxley attended University College School before transferring to Westminster School with a Kings Scholarship. In 1935, he won a scholarship to read natural sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge. Initially, aiming to specialise in physics, a friend suggested physiology to Huxley because it was a most vital subject and he would be learning things that were still controversial, which appealed to his sense of curiosity. During his research with Hodgkin, Huxley also worked with the Swiss physiologist Robert Stmpfli on myelinated nerve fibres. Together, in 1951, they evidenced the existence of saltatory conduction in myelinated nerve fibres. Thereafter, Huxley turned to muscle contraction and its causes, and developed an interference microscope for studying the striation pattern in isolated
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muscle fibres. He also developed a microtome for electron microscope sections, and a micromanipulator. In 1984, Huxley succeeded Hodgkin as master of Trinity, Cambridge, breaking the tradition whereby the mastership alternates between a scientist and an arts man. Huxley relished the opportunity and took on the role with his strong yet gentle and peaceful personality. He was carefully but sharply outspoken on issues of scientific structure, the university role and the need for long-term stability in the national research base. Already a research fellow at Trinity College in the late 1940s, Huxley became Director of Studies (195260), and was Jodrell Professor of Physiology at University College London (196069). As a Fellow of the Royal Society (1955), he served on its Council (196062) and held a Royal Society Research Professorship at UCL (196983). Huxley was an editor of the Journal of Physiology (195057), and also an editor of the Journal of Molecular Biology. He received many national and international honours. *** To my knowledge, writes Tam Dalyell, Andrew Huxley took many initiatives to help scientists at the beginning of their careers and those facing adversity.
Allow me a personal experience. In 1981, I sabotaged in the House of Commons Standing Committee a Private Members Bill by the Wellingborough MP, Peter Fry, which would have had the effect of inhibiting scientific research in Britain on animals. My Party leaders, Jim Callaghan and Michael Foot, were deluged with over 500 seemingly independent, but incandescent letters complaining that so wicked a man as Dalyell could be endorsed as a Labour MP. What were they going to do to arrange my deselection as a Labour candidate in the 1983 General Election? Callaghan, who was well disposed towards me, summoned me to his office. What have you been up to? Its not only the anti-vivisectionists that have written, but a number of
those who claim to be substantial financial donors to the Labour Party. How am I to reply? Michael Foot summoned me. I love cats, he said. Unprompted, hearing of my plight, Andrew Huxley, as President of the Royal Society, broke precedent and wrote to Callaghan and Foot saying that the Fry Bill would injure medical research. My bacon was saved. Huxleys contribution to the Research Defence Society was extremely significant. For a quarter of a century after 1981, I would phone him from time to time about the content of my weekly column for New Scientist. No man was less conscious of his eminent positions. Martin Childs, Tam Dalyell
Sir Andrew Huxley OM PPRS HonFREng HonFRSE. Born 22 November 1917. Elected HonFRSE 1983. Died 30 May 2012.
Sir Andrew Huxley, OM PPRS HonFREng HonFRSE Eminent scientist whose pioneering work earned him a Nobel Prize in 1963 Huxley often designed and built the new specialist equipment that his scientific work necessitated First published in The Independent, 6 June 2012 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-andrew-huxley-eminentscientist-whose-pioneering-work-earned-him-a-nobel-prize-in-1963-7817934.html reproduced by permission of The Independent
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Ainsley Iggo 2 August 192425 March 2012 Ainsley Iggo, born in Napier, New Zealand on the 2nd of August 1924 died at his home in Edinburgh on the 25th of March 2012 aged 87. As an electrophysiologist ,Ainsley pioneered the study of sensory cutaneous receptors and afferents, the organisation of the dorsal horn and the physiology of the ascending tracts within the spinal cord. In particular he was amongst the first to classify C fibres and mechanoreceptors and discovered themoreceptors in the skin. His most cited paper is a classic with Alan Muir, outlining the morphological and physiological characteristics for distinguishing a unique cutaneous receptor type from all others, in this case the Merkel receptor. Interestingly, his next most cited paper dates from 1955, describing his early work in Edinburgh which completed his studies for his PhD in the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, on tension receptors in the stomach and urinary bladder. At this time he also established the mandatory requirements for the identification of action potentials recorded from a single fibre using the collision technique. In his autobiography, published in the series The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography on the Society of Neuroscience website, Ainsley gives a fascinating and highly readable account of his life and career. He begins by describing his rather humble beginnings in an impoverished New Zealand; first in Greymouth on the west coast of the South Island and later in Invercargill where he attended secondary school at Southland Technology College. This was the start of a series of interlinked events orchestrated by a number of outstanding mentors, K. E. McKinnon in Invercargill, M. M. Burns in Lincoln College, Canterbury, J.C. Eccles in the University of Otago, A. T. Phillipson in the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen and David Whitteridge in Edinburgh. One of the many charms of the autobiography is the ease with which Ainsley highlights the contribution made by his mentors, colleagues and collaborators. Ainsleys first encounter with an electrophysiologist was when passing through Dunedin he phoned J. C. Eccles to ask for a temporary job. Ainsley had won a Travelling Scholarship while working for his masters degree in Canterbury Agricultural College which would only become available two years later, and he needed an interim job. With the
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financial help of a cousin and later an assistant lectureship he was able to study physiology under Eccles, Archie McIntyre and others and take part in a research project recording extracellular potentials from excised superior cervical and the cilary ganglia with Eccles daughter, Rose Eccles. The project was a flop and Ainsley turned down the opportunity to work for a PhD in Otago. It is not clear why J.C.Eccles suggested isolating the ganglia. In his 1935 papers describing his work in Oxford Eccles emphasised the need to preserve the blood supply to the ganglion care being taken not to endanger its blood supply. With the blessing of Eccles, he set out for the UK and at the age of 26 began work for his PhD in the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen. The focus of his new mentor, Phillipson, was on the reflex regulation of ruminant gastric movements in sheep and Ainsley worked on the isolation of ciliated protozoa from the rumen of sheep while he tried to put an electrophysiology laboratory together using a manual published by C. J. Dickinson and the help of a local marine engineer. Although the quality of his electrophysiological recordings were a disappointment, over a two-year period he developed a preparation for the analysis of the central control of the movement of the reticulum and rumen of
sheep and this combination of viscera and recording from peripheral nerves was to dominate his early publications. This early need to build his own equipment was the stimulus for the superb, highly enviable, electronic and mechanical workshops he established in the Department of Veterinary Physiology on the Dick Vet campus at Summerhall. In 1952 Ainsley joined David Whitteridges Department of Physiology in Edinburgh and spent many months building an integrated electrophysiological recording unit under the supervision of Jock Austin. At Whitteridges suggestion he began by recording from the pelvic visceral nerves as they entered the spinal cord and identifying tension receptors in the bladder and flow detectors in the wall of the urethra. Once he mastered this technique he returned to the stomach recording from identifiable single units of slowly conducting A and C fibres of the vagus nerve. Not only did he find in-series tension receptors similar to those in the bladder but more superficially in the mucosa he isolated pH sensitive receptors. Having mastered the technique of recording from single unmyelinated fibres Ainsley felt sufficient confidence to explore the role of C fibre afferents from the hairy skin of cats which were easily excited by innocuous stimuli.
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Contrary to the perceived wisdom based on work in man Ainsley showed several categories of C fibres could be activated by mechanical, thermal and chemical stimuli. Importantly, many C fibre mechanoreceptors were highly and specifically sensitive to innocuous tactile stimulation at thresholds only slightly higher than A fibre receptors. As mentioned earlier he classified the receptors served by C fibres and assigned putative nociceptor roles to both A and C fibres and drew attention to the similarity of the activation thresholds for both heat and pain receptors. Ainsley concluded that his results were consistent with the specificity concept of sensation rather than the more fashionable hypotheses developed by Weddell, Wall and others. Weddell argued that the anatomical arrangement of the nerve fibres in the nerve trunks was significant to the understanding of the mechanism of cutaneous sensibility. Wall was most insistent that sensation was critically dependent on the excitability of the second order neurones in the spinal cord and added insult to injury by writing Of the unmyelinated C fibres, Iggo had reported [only] a few nociceptors (1960). It seemed possible, however, that these might have been damaged by his dissection method.
A visit to Hensel and Zottermans laboratory in Marburg, which was exceptionally well equipped, to test temperature sensitivity, allowed Ainsley to test his specificity hypothesis i.e., that skin thermoreceptors were specific and should be distinguishable from tactile receptors. The work was highly successful and identified cold receptors with a peak sensitivity of 25C and warm receptors with a maximal sensitivity at 42C. Importantly the temperature receptors were insensitive to mechanical stimuli. In 1959 Ainsley departed on sabbatical leave to the Australian National University in Canberra where Eccles had built up an exceptionally well equipped and staffed laboratory. As others have done, Ainsley described the work required to obtain satisfactory results as long and gruelling. Although Ainsley describes the outcome as equivocal his attempt to quantify recurrent inhibition of motoneurones by firing impulses along the ventral roots while recording intracellularly from Renshaw cells would still be considered ambitious today. When he returned to Edinburgh, Ainsley continued his pursuit of the controversy surrounding the modality specific hypothesis, now funded by a Locke Research Fellowship. This led to work in primates and the extension of his interests from viscera and skin to
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muscle systems. He also made an attempt to look at the ability of certain chemicals, chemalgogens such as acetylcholine, histamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine, to stimulate cutaneous afferents. Most importantly he identified mechanoreceptors innervated by myelinated fibres, by their adaption rate. The study on Merkel cells mentioned in the introduction was extended with Alan Brown to look at the effects of axon degeneration and regrowth. Critically the normal slowly adapting response only reappeared when the regrowth of the axon was complete. Later in the 1990s on a visit to Monash University, Ainsley working with Uwe Proske, followed up the work on regenerating axons and suggested that substances transported down the axon and accumulated at the growing tip are required to give mechanical sensitivity. Only in the last two years has the role for one such protein, Piezo, been established. Touch spot afferents were subsequently classified into slowly adapting mechanoreceptors type I and II (SAI and SAII) and the idea that the cutaneous sensibility was served by a variety of distinctive receptors confirmed. In 1962 Ainsley was appointed to the newly created Chair of Veterinary Physiology in the Edinburgh Veterinary College and moved into recently vacated space
at Summerhall that allowed him to build state-of-the-art laboratories and workshops. Funding from the Agricultural Research Council prompted a return to work on ruminant digestion. By recordings from the afferent and efferent axons in the vagus Ainsley and Barry Leek showed that the pattern of discharge in the preganglionic afferents had a temporal relationship to the reticuloruminal contractions. Tonic afferent inflows from the in-series receptors during inactive phases of the digestive cycle initiate a reflex drive from the medullary gastric centres and the resultant muscle movement. This work was extended with David Cottrell to look at the duodenum. As in the stomach the sensory receptors adapted slowly to mechanical probing. Bolus injections of gastrointestinal polypeptides evoked contractions and activated tension receptors. A new phase of work on somatosensory mechanisms began when Alan Brown rejoined the laboratory. The sensory innervation of the rabbit ear was shown to differ from the general body skin; Type D and G hair follicle units were present whereas SAI and SAII and type T hair units were absent. This went some way to explain the different approach of Graham Weddell and Simon Miller who had championed the temporospatial pattern hypothesis of
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sensation. With Alan Brown, Ainsley embarked on a rigorous sampling exercise using timelocked mechanical stimuli and established the characteristics of various classes of mechanoreceptors, hair follicle types T, G or D and SAI or SAII. In a parallel study with Margaret Chambers the nerve endings associated with SAII receptors were shown histologically to be spindle-shaped and orientated parallel to the surface of the skin i.e., typical Ruffini endings. A detailed study of whiskers and sinus hairs on the toes of cats with K-M Gottschaldt characterised receptors in terms of their rate of adaption. An opportunity to look at the actions of the various types of cutaneous receptors on segmental spinal cells arose when Ainsley was invited to work with Manfred Zimmerman and Hermann Handwerker in Heidelberg. This led to the beginning of a classification of dorsal horn neurones as Class 1, driven by sensitive mechanoreceptors and Class 2 by noxious thermal and mechanical stimuli. Although prominent in spinal animals the Class 2 cells were often absent in intact preparations, suggestive evidence of potent supraspinal modulation of nociceptive cells. Class 3 cells excited only by noxious stimuli were recorded from lamina 1. These early studies of nociception were extended using ever more
sophisticated techniques, including electrical stimulation of the locus coeruleus and the raphe magnus nuclei. Both had inhibitory actions on dorsal horn neurones. In 1982, Sue Fleetwood-Walker joined the group and established that the major action of the descending catecholamine pathways was through alpha2-adrenergic receptors. Following his trip to Heidelberg, Ainsleys major interest switched to the neurones in the most superficial layer of the dorsal horn (Rexeds Lamina 1). With Fernando Cervero and Hisashi Ogawa, Ainsley was able to show that the large Waldeyer neurones in lamina 1 included nociceptive neurones sensitive to a number of different inputs. However, the zone included other cells driven by light tactile stimuli. Importantly the firing of these cells by light touch provoked a powerful inhibition of the nociceptive discharges in other cells. The inhibition remained when the spinal cord was cold blocked rostrally. Later, working with Wilma Steedman and Vince Molony, intracellular recordings were made from substantia gelatinosa neurones, some of which were shown, with some difficulty, to have short and long range projections in Lissauers tract. In an adjacent laboratory, Alan Brown had shown the spinocervi247
cal tract to be an important pathway from hair follicle afferents. Ainsley, with Vince Molony and others, mentioned earlier confirmed that the centrally projecting spinocervical tract cells of lamina III could be affected by noxious inputs, but were on only one occasion excited exclusively by a nociceptive input. Thus it was not possible to describe the tract as a nociceptive system. This work formed the basis of a series of reviews in Brain and symposia organised by the Royal Society and a NATO Advanced Science Institute. With Hisahi Ogawa, Ainsley continued to use a combination of electrophysiological and electron-microscopical techniques to explore cutaneous receptors in the cats footpad. An attempt to resolve the role of Merkel cells failed. However, in 1991, Ainsley accepted an invitation to visit Okazaki in Japan and work with Haru Ohmori, who had developed a technique for enzymatically isolating cochlear hair cells, with the hope that he could isolate Merkel cells. Although the intention to measure changes in calcium ion concentrations in the isolated cells failed, the work was continued in Edinburgh during a sabbatical by Masakazu Tazaki. Although the main objective again failed, since his return to Japan, Masakazu has succeeded in
measuring the activity of calcium channels in Merkel cells. Working first with Ulf Lindblom in Stockholm and Gisele Guilbaud in Paris, and later with Danny McQueen and Blair Grubb in Edinburgh, Ainsleys interest turned to a rat model of rheumatoid arthritis and the action of aspirin. In inflamed joints, the normally silent joint receptors discharge continuously and are excited by innocuous stimuli. The application of soluble aspirin or paracetamol reverses the enhanced excitability. This action was attributed to the prevention of the formation of prostaglandins. Prostaglandins were shown to enhance the ability of bradykinin to excite joint nociceptors. Specifically, PGI2 was shown to sensitise joint receptors in both normal and arthritic rats suggesting that in arthritis it is the formation of PGI2 that leads to the enhanced excitability of nociceptors. In a final series of overseas visits to Monash University, Ainsley, working with Uwe Proske, identified unique electroreceptors concentrated on the tip of the bill of the platypus and the tip of the snout of the echidna or spiny anteater. Unlike the electroreceptor of fish, the electroreceptors in these species is a structurally specialised afferent nerve ending rather than a separate cell.
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In this account of his life I have focused on the details of Ainsleys research and the contributions of his colleagues. Ainsleys aspirations and work ethic were forged very early in his career before he left New Zealand. Likewise the central thread of his day to day research crystallised not long after he built his first electrophysiological rig and from then on he rarely departed far from his quest to
prove his initial hypothesis that skin sensation including pain originated in an array of specific receptors associated with the afferent nerves and pathways. In Scotland he was fortunate to find equally dedicated colleagues with a similar vision. Professor Iggo served on the Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1990 to 1996, including three years as Research Awards Convener from 1993 to 1996. Submitted by Professor J S Kelly
Ainsley Iggo, FRS, FRSE, FRCPE. Born 2 August 1924. Elected FRSE 1963. Died 25 March 2012.
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Sir David Jack 22 February 192418 November 2011 Distinguished pharmacologist who developed drugs that have saved the lives of thousands of asthma sufferers around the world. Drug discovery today is a highly technical process involving computerised screening of libraries of chemical compounds for their ability to react with preparations containing possible drug targets, and selecting those which respond positively for further development. But it was not always thus. Most of the medicines we use today for treating common diseases such as asthma, angina pectoris and peptic ulcer were discovered in a different manner by small teams of chemists, experimental pharmacologists and clinicians, often led by a visionary scientist whose understanding of drug development and the nature of the underlying disease process were the key to successful drug discovery. David Jack, who died in November 2011, was such a visionary. It is due to his grasp of the complexity of how the lungs respond to chemicals in both a beneficial and adverse manner that he and a small team were able to invent a series of medicines which have saved the lives of countless asthma sufferers and allowed
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most other asthmatics to live a normal symptom free life. The citation awarding him the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1978 named him one of the worlds most successful inventors of significant new medicines. David Jack was born in Markinch, Fife, the sixth and youngest child of a coal miner. After secondary education at Buckhaven High School, he became an apprentice pharmacist with Boots the Chemists in Cupar, eschewing the opportunity to study mathematics at Edinburgh University. His ambitions at that time were to work in retail pharmacy but, having completed his apprenticeship, in 1944 he entered the BSc course in Chemistry and Pharmacy at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow where he won every undergraduate prize open to him and graduated with first class honours. David became an Assistant Lecturer in experimental pharmacology in the University of Glasgow , having turned down an offer to study for a PhD Increasingly uncomfortable with experimental animal work, he joined Glaxo Laboratories as a pharmacist where his main role was to formulate new products and supervise their transfer to production. But he found this
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work repetitive and unfulfilling and in 1953 moved to Smith Kline and French as Senior Development Pharmacist while at the same time studying for an external PhD at Chelsea College under the supervision of Professor Arnold Beckett. His exceptional research potential was easily recognised and in 1961 he was invited to become Director of Research and Development at Allen and Hanburys, whose parent company was Glaxo. There, he created the unusually productive team which he deemed necessary to achieve his ambitions of inventing medicines to treat important human diseases, a venture new to the Glaxo group at that time. It is interesting to note that in the same small corner of West Fife in 1924, two clinical scientists were born who invented medicines which have had an overwhelming influence on world health. Their career paths were different but the end results were equally impressive. David Jack was responsible for inventing drugs to treat asthma and to prevent it (salbutamol salmeterol, beclamethasone, fluticasone), while James Black invented drugs to treat angina and hypertension (propranolol) and peptic ulcer (cimetidine). Both were giants of drug discovery to whom society owes a great debt. David Jack is best known for the discovery of some of the most important drugs to treat asthma
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and other chronic lung diseases. He appreciated the importance of delivering asthma treatments directly to the lungs by an inhalation device to produce a more rapid effect and to have fewer side effects than drugs given by mouth. Working with Roy Brittain he invented salbutamol (Ventolin), the first selective beta 2 receptor agonist which opens the airways and rapidly relieves asthma symptoms. Salbutamol was a major success and remains the most widely used asthma drug in the world today.. But its duration of action is short and patients had to use it frequently. This led David and his team to develop the first long lasting beta 2 receptor agonist, salmeterol. Allen and Hanbury already had a steroid skin cream and it was argued that that similar steroids could benefit asthma sufferers by damping down inflammation in the lungs. Moreover, if given by inhalation they could avoid producing the troublesome adverse effects of oral steroids. This led Jacks team to develop the first inhaled steroid beclamethasone dipropionate (Becotide) which was launched in 1972. Inhaled steroids have literally revolutionised the therapy of asthma, cutting down asthma attacks, preventing hospital admissions and reduced the death rate from asthma which in UK was one of the highest in the world.
But David Jack also discovered other important drugs. His friend James Black had invented a new treatment for peptic ulcer, cimetidine, which acted by blocking histamine receptors in the stomach. David improved on cimetidine to develop ranitidine (Zantac) which had fewer side effects and was to become the biggest selling drug in the world. Other discoveries followed sumatriptan (Imigram) for the treatment of migraine, ondansetron (Zofran) for the treatment of nausea following chemotherapy and fluticasone (Flixotide) a more potent inhaled steroid than beclamethasone. This succession of drug discoveries made Glaxo one of the most successful pharmaceutical companies in the world. Not surprisingly, many honours came his way. Knighted for his services to the British Pharmaceutical Industry in 1993, having previously been awarded the CBE, he was made FRS in 1992 and awarded its Mullard Medal the same year. Scotland had recognised his achievements by electing him FRSE in 1978. The British Pharmacological Society, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry all bestowed their highest awards
and he was given honorary degrees by seven universities. David Jack was passionate about science and was the catalyst for the work of many others both in industry and academia. His logical approach to drug development and to solving the difficult problems of invention have been the inspiration to a generation of basic and clinical scientists. This is one of his most important memorials. His enthusiasm for science, which was evident long into retirement, was coupled with great kindness; especially to junior colleagues, who remember him with great affection as well as great respect. The high standards that he espoused and his unwillingness to accept anything less have left an indelible mark. In all this, David was ably supported by a strong and stable family life. Lydia, his wife whom he met as pharmacy students in Glasgow, gave him the support he needed when negotiating the caprices of the pharmaceutical industry and she survives him with their two daughters. A wide circle will mourn the passing of David Jack, of whom it can truly be said that he made a real contribution to the health and wellbeing of society.
Sir David Jack, BSc(Glas), PhD(Lond). Born 22 February 1924. Elected FRSE 1978. Died 8 November 2011 This obituary first appeared in The Times on 18 November 2011 Reproduced by permission of The Times
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William Fleming Hoggan Jarrett 2 January 192827 August 2011 Bill Jarrett was among the most eminent experimental pathologists of his generation. His contributions to veterinary and human medicine were immense: in the course of his own research he discovered several viruses, defined the pathogenesis of important animal diseases and helped develop vaccines for their control; in addition, he had a major influenpce on research on viruses of great importance in humans. His work was carried out in Glasgow over a period of 40 years, apart from interludes in Kenya in the 1960s and at the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the 1980s. He was Professor of Veterinary Pathology at the University of Glasgow from 1968 until he retired in 1990. Bill was born in 1928 in Glasgow. His father, though a joiner and cabinetmaker, came from a farming background and moved his family shortly afterwards to an agricultural smallholding near Cumbernauld. Their early life there no doubt influenced Bill, his elder brother Tom and younger brother Oswald to study veterinary medicine. Bill graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College with honours in 1947 and then, already attracted to research, studied for a PhD, training in animal pathology at the College and in human pathology with Dan Cappell, Professor of Pathology at the Medical School. Consequently, he had a wide understanding of animal and human diseases which laid the foundation for his future research in comparative medicine. During this period, the College became incorporated into the University of Glasgow as the Veterinary School and its first Director, William Weipers, was able to recruit a remarkable group of talented staff, including Bill. Bills PhD studies had defined the types of pneumonia in cattle in the west of Scotland and led to his involvement as the pathologist in a multidisciplinary team in the School, investigating parasitic bronchitis in cattle caused by the nematode Dictyocaulus viviparus, then a major scourge of local farming communities. This hugely successful collaboration established the epidemiology of the condition and defined in detail the processes in the pathogenesis of the disease. The group found also that recovered calves were immune to reinfection, suggesting that vaccination might be feasible. This discovery led to the production of the first, and still only, commercial vaccine against a nematode parasite, which helped
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bring the disease under control. This innovative vaccine comprised the infective larval stage of the parasite, attenuated by X-irradiation, which produced immunity without damaging the host. The vaccine was lauded in 1960 as one of the major medical advances of the century by Sir Harold Himsworth, then Secretary of the Medical Research Council (MRC). As a result, major research and funding and royalty income were attracted, and Parasitology developed as a major component in the research profile of the School, which continues to this day. In 1963, Bill spent a period in Kenya as part of the Glasgow contribution to an international team to establish the Veterinary School of the University of East Africa in Nairobi. His major research there, which he often claimed was among his most satisfying pieces of work, was the quantification of the kinetics of replication of the protozoan Theileria parva, the cause of East Coast Fever in cattle. This work formed the basis of subsequent vaccine development in Africa. When the new Veterinary Hospital opened at the Garscube campus Bill was appointed head of pathology and his post mortem room became established as a focus for much subsequent legendary research and teaching. During his earlier studies with
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Cappell, he had become interested in human leukaemia and lymphoma. Now he initiated studies in animals that were to have remarkable consequences. He began a large abattoir survey to define the types of lymphosarcoma in cattle that were prevalent in the UK. Influenced by a form, enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL), that occurred in many continental European countries and in North America, and had the characteristics of a transmissible disease, he and his colleagues, including Bill Martin (FRSE), attempted to transmit the condition in cattle and identify a virus, but without success. This outcome was explained by their concomitant extensive epidemiological and pathological studies that showed that EBL did not in fact occur in the UK. When the causative agent, bovine leukaemia virus, was isolated subsequently from enzootic cases in the USA in 1970 and diagnostic tests for the virus were applied to British cattle, their conclusion proved to be correct. By contrast, their search for a virus in lymphoma in the cat was spectacularly successful. In his diagnostic pathology work at Garscube, Bill noted a very much higher prevalence of lymphoma in cats than in man. When a local veterinary practitioner drew to his attention to a household of cats in which a large number of cases had occurred in a short period of
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time, Bill considered that the reason might be that the disease was infectious, like the condition in domestic poultry and laboratory mice. He set up transmission experiments in cats using material from one of these cases. In 1963, after an incubation period of over a year, the disease was transmitted and a virus was demonstrated in the resulting tumours. This was subsequently shown to be a novel retrovirus, feline leukaemia virus (FeLV). The discovery of FeLV immediately provoked great interest in the field of oncology, coming at a time in the early 1960s when viruses were becoming seriously considered as causes of cancer in man. It was described as Exhibit A in an application to the US Congress by the NCI for substantial funding to set up the Special Virus Cancer Program in 1968, which established an infrastructure for subsequent virus hunting in human cancers. Subsequently the most direct impact of FeLV on human medicine was the influence of Bills work on his friend Robert Gallo at NCI. Gallo was persuaded to explore human T-cell leukaemias for viruses after Bill found that most lymphomas caused by FeLV in cats were of Tlymphocyte origin. He established a way to grow T-cells in long-term culture from which came his discovery of the first human retrovirus, human T-lymphotropic
virus (HTLV-1), and later human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). With substantial funding from cancer charities, Bill then recruited a team which investigated the biology of FeLV in depth, together with collaborators throughout the world. The virus was shown to be a common infection of cats, particularly affecting animals kept in groups, in which the virus was transmitted very efficiently. Many animals recovered from the infection but some became persistently infected and had a very high risk of developing leukaemia or lymphoma. Diagnostic tests were developed which identified infected animals. By isolating these cats, spread of the virus could be halted. Bill also showed that vaccination was possible and the group collaborated with pharmaceutical companies in the development of a variety of commercial vaccines. The application of these methods of control has resulted in FeLV infection now being uncommon in many countries and has made a profound improvement to cat welfare. A valuable collaboration of Bills group with Jim Neil (FRSE) and his molecular biological colleagues at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research on the Garscube campus provided an opportunity to define the molecular events in the pathogenesis of lymphoma by FeLV. They discovered that the virus
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activated cellular oncogenes by several mechanisms of insertional mutagenesis. When Jim subsequently moved his group to the Veterinary School and established a Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, he began to use this device in other systems to identify novel oncogenes. He also became involved in defining the molecular events that caused other FeLVrelated disease. Bills detailed pathological studies of haematopoietic disease in the cat showed that FeLV caused several types of anaemia as well as leukaemia and lymphoma. FeLV subtypes were recognised that caused pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) and the group showed these viruses to be mutants of the common form of the virus, which blocked the production of red blood cell at a specific stage of differentiation. Another offshoot of the expertise generated by FeLV research was the creation of the Leukaemia Research Fund Human Virus Centre with the remit to discover viruses as causes of human leukaemia and lymphoma. The first director was David Onions (FRSE) who had been involved in defining the pathogenesis of PRCA in cats. The director is currently Bills daughter, Ruth, a graduate in medicine who had been a postgraduate scientist with Robert Gallo. In 1968 Bill was appointed Professor of Veterinary Pathology
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at Glasgow and attracted substantial funding for new research laboratories. In the 1970s and 1980s, following observations in the 1960s of papillomas in association with clusters of vulvocutaneous carcinomas in Friesian cattle in the Highlands of Kenya, with Max Murray (FRSE), he investigated the reasons for a high incidence of alimentary tract carcinoma in cattle in parts of Scotland. Through a large abattoir survey, he showed that papillomas were more common and occurred in greater numbers in animals of all ages on the cancer farms compared to lowland cattle, and that they were caused by a novel virus, bovine papillomavirus type 4 (BPV-4). In older cattle, he noted that cancers could develop from existing papillomas and proposed that immunosuppressants and carcinogens in bracken were responsible for this malignant progression. At this time he established a productive collaboration with Saveria Campo (FRSE) of the Beatson Institute. With Bill, she and her colleagues investigated in detail the biology of bovine papillomaviruses, especially BPV-1, -2 and -4, and developed recombinant vaccines of BPV-4 proteins that protected cattle from developing papillomas when challenged, and indeed could slow the growth of existing tumours. These results laid the conceptual framework for the
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production of vaccines against the subtypes of human papillomaviruses that cause cervical cancer in women, which are now offered routinely to young women in many countries. After the co-discovery of HIV by Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier, Bill renewed his association with Gallo and in the late 1980s worked with him in Washington as a Fogarty Scholar on the nascent field of HIV vaccine research. Bill was one of a group of eminent scientists who successfully made the case to the Thatcher government that this novel disease was so important that it required new investment in research despite public expenditure cuts. Consequently, he became a founder member of the AIDS Directed Programme of the MRC. With colleagues in Glasgow, particularly Jim Neil and his brother Oswald, he established a research group that exploited another newly-discovered retrovirus, feline immunodeficiency virus, as a model for HIV vaccination. Perhaps the most telling achievement of the group was determining the constraints that apply to vaccination with this type of retrovirus: in particular, the discovery that certain prototypic vaccines enhanced the virus infection rather than protecting against it. Unfortunately, this outcome was confirmed subsequently by trials of a HIV vaccine.
Work on both FeLV and FIV continues at the School in the Retrovirus Research Laboratory. The breadth of Bills research and the success of so many of his projects are astonishing. What was the essence of his achievement? Contributing factors were his encyclopaedic knowledge of animal and human pathology and great powers of observation, which underpinned his many discoveries. He had a deep understanding of how to relate structure with function, and a fascination of how things worked; and like Lord Kelvin, one of his icons, recognised the crucial importance of measurement. In the laboratory he was confident, but always prepared to listen; kind but tough. He had an interdisciplinary mind-set, always working with teams that he enthused. His concepts and understanding ranged from the gene to the host, animal or man. Everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. He was also an inspiring teacher. With Ian McIntyre and colleagues, he masterminded the Glasgow Veterinary Schools innovative undergraduate curriculum, which was influenced by earlier experience in the establishment of the veterinary school in Nairobi. A fourth-year course with a strong clinico-pathological basis permitted the introduction of a lecture-free final year devoted to clinical work, a structure that is
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now commonplace in veterinary education. A crucial element of this scheme was the post-mortem demonstration of clinical cases to which fourth and final year students had been assigned in their clinical work. There, Bill and his team of talented pathologists together with their clinical colleagues would review the cases, relating clinical signs to post-mortem findings and considering the underlying pathogenesis and the concluding diagnosis. These sessions were legendary, especially as result of the vigorous discussions that often ensued, and were a major factor in stimulating research programmes, publications and the motivation of students to follow an academic career. His remarkable contribution to veterinary pathology and comparative medicine was recognised during his career by the award of many honorary degrees and lifetime achievement awards from universities and scientific societies throughout Europe and North America. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1965 and awarded its Makdougall-Brisbane Prize, (198082). Bills family have had a remarkable association with the Society. His uncle, broadcaster Harry Hoggan, brother Oswald, and daughter Ruth were all elected Fellows. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1980.
Bill was a charismatic and highly entertaining character, which won him his numerous friends and research colleagues. His reputation attracted many students and collaborators, who have constituted his diaspora and continue to motivate new generations of scientists and leaders, many of whom are now FRSEs. His physical legacy to science in Glasgow is recognised by the new infrastructure at the Veterinary School: the Henry Wellcome Institute of Comparative Medical Sciences and the soon-to-be completed home for the MRC/University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research which confirms the international status of the University in research on comparative medicine, virology and oncology. In 1953 Bill married Anna Sharp, then a Lecturer at the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Domestic Science, and a woman of great charm and wit. They eventually established a home in the countryside north of Glasgow that became a welcoming focus of generous hospitality for their family and huge circle of close friends, embracing a wide range of talented people from all walks of life and nationalities. Bill and Anna had known each other since their school days at Lenzie Academy, when they had developed a passion for the Scottish countryside, especially the mountains. Over the years they
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engaged in sports that carried a certain frisson: mountaineering, skiing, motor rallying and particularly sailing, on the west coast of Scotland, France and Mallorca. At the same time Bill was a talented musician (he played trumpet, guitar and sang with a Scots and jazz bent), passionate about politics, a voracious reader and bon viveur (malt whiskies, and oysters at the Oyster Bar of the Grand Central Station in New York
among his favourites). Over the last few years while these activities were curtailed, he maintained his sense of humour and brilliant mind set. Anna and Bill died almost within a year of each other. He is succeeded by his daughters Freda and Ruth, both distinguished medical graduates, Fredas children Amanda and Hamish, and his brother Oswald. Os Jarrett, Ruth Jarrett, Max Murray
William Fleming Hoggan Jarrett, FRCVS, FRCPath, FRCPG, FRS. Born 2 January 1928. Elected FRSE 1965. Died 27 August 2011.
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Hector Laing (Lord Laing of Dunphail) 12 May 192321 June 2010 Hector Laing was the grandson of Sir Alexander Grant, Baronet, and throughout his life he sought to emulate him. Sandy Grant was a Moray Loon who learned to bake in McVitie and Prices Edinburgh shop, eventually buying that business and opening biscuit factories at Robertson Avenue and, in time, in London and Manchester. He was a friend of Ramsay Macdonald, became a baronet and as a wealthy man was a generous benefactor. He helped to finance the building of the National Gallery of Scotland and made substantial gifts to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. He purchased the estates of Dunphail, Logie and Relugus in Morayshire and left these to his three grandchildren, Hector, Sandy and Robin Laing. If Hector Laing sought to emulate his grandfather, it will be seen that he did so. Educated at Loretto, after a spell at Jesus College, Cambridge, he was commissioned, serving with the Armoured 3rd Battalion Scots Guards. He was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the American Bronze Star. The subalterns in the 3rd Battalion were an interesting
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group who were all successful in their post-war careers. Bob Runcie became Archbishop of Canterbury, Peter Balfour became chairman of Scottish & Newcastle, Andrew Elgin (the Earl of Elgin & Kincardine) the Lord High Commissioner, and Chips Maclean (Lord Maclean) became the Lord Chamberlain. All remained friends right through their lives, and Laing maintained a friendship with his tank crew and found employment for many of them after the war. On demobilisation, he joined McVitie & Price, then a private company, and was appointed a director in 1947. In 1948, the company merged with Macfarlane Lang & Co to form the public company United Biscuits. Laings special skill was in production, and he was soon recognised as an expert in the automation of biscuit production. He became managing director in 1964 and chairman in 1972. United Biscuits made many acquisitions: William Crawford & Son, DS Crawford, Macdonalds, Meredith & Drew, Kenyon Sons & Craven and the Keebler Co. Keebler was the second-largest cookie company in the United States. United Biscuits, through
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these acquisitions and internal growth, became a major producer of biscuits and snack foods. Laing was early to recognise that the workforce had a stake in the business. He invited representatives to attend every annual general meeting, believing that those who gave their working lives to the company were as important as the shareholders who gave their cash. He was regularly seen in all the company plants. His vision for business caught the eye of Margaret Thatcher. They became close friends, and she regularly holidayed at Dunphail in Morayshire. In 1973, Laing was appointed a director of the Bank of England and served until 1991. Knighted in 1978, he was made a life peer in 1991. Laing held many public offices and served in numerous food-related organisations. In 1984, he was named Businessman of the Year, and from 1988 to 1993 he was treasurer of the Conservative Party. In 1950, he married Marion, the daughter of General Sir John Laurie, Bt, of Maxwelton. Laing learned to fly in his twenties and retained a pilots licence for most of his life. At Gerards Cross, in Buckinghamshire, he built a fine garden, as he did at Dumphail. In both places, he was a regular attendee at church and was
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generous to his churches, as he was in countless other respects. As his grandfather had been generous to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, so was Hector Laing, donating specially designed Knights of the Thistle china to the Queen for the Golden Jubilee. As he and his brothers had inherited fine properties in Morayshire, so he acquired estates there in order that his three sons, all of whom have had successful careers, would enjoy the Moray countryside which had meant so much in his life. Once asked about some complicated aspect of his Christian faith, Laing responded: I leave that to the theologians. Asked about some aspect of Conservative policy, his answer was the same: I leave that to the politicians. He did not claim expertise in these and other subjects, but he did claim, and rightly so, that he was a baker. Laing had dreamed since boyhood of emulating his grandfathers career. In the end he was destined to eclipse it. It has been argued that there are few real leaders today. Laing led from the front in all that he did, and his management and his workforce realised they were working with someone whose decision-making and powers of communication they respected
and responded as people will when well led. He is survived by his wife, Marian, who had been such a support to him during his very busy life, and
by his sons, Mark, Robert and Anthony. Submitted by Sir Charles Fraser This obituary also appeared in The Scotsman on 21 June 2010.
Hector Laing, FRSE. Born: 12 May 1923. Elected FRSE 1989. Died 21 June 2010.
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Derrick Norman Lawley 26 March 191527 February 2012 Derrick Lawley, one of our most senior Fellows, died on 27 February 2012. An outstanding mathematician, with over 60 papers to his name, he was a pioneer in various difficult aspects of multivariate statistical inference. His engineer father had an inventive streak, and Derricks talents showed early. Years at Charterhouse led to an Open Scholarship to Clare College Cambridge, and First-class graduation in 1937. His early employment as a statistician with the distinguished Scottish School of Educational Research at Moray House, Edinburgh, involved him not only in problems of standardising mental tests (The Moray House Test) but also in the vast topic of factor analysis. As a consequence of this association with the late Sir Godfrey Thomson, he became an authority on this field of statistics, a status that not only earned him a DSc but also, in 1948, brought him election to Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He delighted in telling of an incident in about 1940, when he was under consideration for applying his mathematical expertise to an unspecified
wartime task. During an interview, he was subjected to an IQ test. He noticed that in front of him was a Moray House Test that only a few months previously he had spent much time validating and standardising! His 1963 book with A E Maxwell (Factor Analysis as a Statistical Method 2nd ed. 1971, Butterworths) has long been the standard introductory text fpr psychometricians. A Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, elected in 1946, Derrick was one of the first to bring strict modern principles of statistical estimation into the structure of factor analysis. His 1968 paper (Jreskog K. G. & Lawley D. N. New methods in maximum likelihood factor analysis. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology 21, 85-95) was a major methodological advance in the period before computer sophistication produced efficient numerical procedures for the maximisation of a complicated likelihood function. In 1946, Derrick was appointed Lecturer in Statistics in the University of Aberdeen. Only a year elapsed before Professor Alexander C. Aitken recalled him to Edinburgh as Lecturer in Statistics, with diverse responsibil-
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ities, in the University of Edinburgh. In 1966, Edinburgh undertook a major expansion in its facilities for teaching and consultation in statistical science. Derrick now found himself translated, as Reader, to David Finneys new Department, where he became a central pillar in loyal support of his old friend until retirement in 1982. Many newcomers to the staff later expressed their gratitude to Derrick and his wife for hospitable help around the time of their arrival.
Marriage with Ruth Freeman came in 1948. The couple were enthusiastic hill and mountain walkers. He tended the garden of their new house meticulously and made it highly productive, as fondly remembered by their one daughter. He was a good pianist and lover of classical music. Blessed with or cursed with (?) perfect pitch, he was a regular attender at concerts in his city. Derrick left few personal records. I am indebted to Miss Anne Lawley and to Professor Colin Aitken for help in confirming much of the detail above. David J Finney
Derrick Norman Lawley, MA(Cantab), DSc(Edin). Born 26 March 1915. Elected FRSE 1948. Died 27 February 2012.
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George Innes Lumsden 27 June 19264 September 2012 Innes Lumsden, former Director of the British Geological Survey died in Oxford on Tuesday 4 September 2012 aged 86 after a prolonged illness. Innes was born on 27 June, 1926 in Peterculter, Aberdeenshire, the only child of George Lumsden MM, a policeman, and his wife Margaret. His primary education was at schools in Ballater and Torphins and progressed to secondary education at Banchory Academy, where he became School Captain and achieved prizes in Science, Mathematics and History. Influenced by the Headmaster, Archibald Gullett, he took up a State Scholarship in Pure Physics at Aberdeen University, though he had also gained entry to the Meteorological Office as a trainee. He completed a BSc degree in Physics in 1947, but, influenced by the teaching of Professor T C Phemister and Dr T S Westoll he fell under the spell of Geology, won the Lyon Prize in Geology in 1947 and graduated with First Class Honours in Geology in 1949. Vacation employment with the Directorate of Opencast Coal Production convinced Innes that he wanted to be involved in the field of applied geology and so he turned down an invitation from Professor T N George to lecture at Glasgow University to take up an
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appointment as a geologist in the Geological Survey of Great Britain on 12 September 1949 and was posted to Edinburgh. The Geological Survey qualified as an acceptable organisation in which he could complete his National Service, but his first two years had to be restricted to work associated with coal-mining. He was given the task of resurveying the southern half of the Douglas Coalfield in Lanarkshire and soon became involved in logging and interpreting cores from boreholes, recording underground sections in collieries and in advising on day-to-day geological problems encountered throughout eastern Ayrshire and southern Lanarkshire. Innes found that solving problems and giving geological advice was extremely rewarding and, in particular, logging cores which were sections that no one had yet encountered. In 1951 he was set the task of surveying the Carboniferous of the Canonbie area of Dumfriesshire. The succession there could not be established from surface exposures and he successfully commissioned the sinking of the Archerbeck Borehole which, at 4604 ft. in depth, was the deepest cored borehole in the country at the time and established an
unbroken sequence of most of the strata of the Lower Carboniferous. Innes was also heavily involved in advisory work, putting his geological understanding to the benefit of wider Society. He established a route for the M9 to avoid abandoned oilshale workings and a rerouting of the A1 to achieve a suitable site for the Torness Power Station and also allow the maximum development of limestone resources in East Lothian saving many millions of pounds. Around the same time there was increasing interest in the feasibility of underground storage, which required a strong cross-disciplinary approach involving both geologists and hydreogeologists. Innes was in the forefront of this development and travelled to Sweden to learn what was being done there. In 1970 he was appointed District Geologist in charge of South Scotland and moved significantly towards scientific management. He created strong links with other disciplines, particularly geochemistry and geophysics and got heavily involved in the projects of the Industrial Minerals Assessment Unit, surveys for metallic mineral resources, and the search for suitable geology for the underground storage of radioactive waste. He developed strong links with the Scottish Development Department to increase the
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application of geology to the benefit of the people of Scotland and also to secure funding for the Survey in the applied field. This led to the production of Environmental Geology maps. These were designed to present the geological elements of an area as separate maps, which could also be combined to provide summary maps related to, for example, development potential, geological hazards or mineral resources. In 1980 he was appointed Assistant Director Edinburgh and Senior Officer Scotland. He developed the facilities in the Surveys new Murchison House site gaining publicity for the organization and much better communication with government, industry and the general public through Open Days and meetings and discussions with wider stakeholders. This had its ups and downs and one difficult function was negotiating with protestors who were threatening to use physical means to stop radioactive waste disposal surveys in the field, but the problems were much reduced by getting the individuals into Murchison House and engaging with them in the great advantages of applying geological principles more generally. On the up side he was involved with a number of radical initiatives which were to prove fundamental to BGSs future programme. In the late 70s radical new interpreta-
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tions of the tectonic evolution of the Southern Uplands were published, this prompted BGS to consider a resurvey of the area. Innes felt that the classical comprehensive approach was inappropriate and, building on the work of the Mineral Reconnaissance Project at Ballantrae and Girvan, he proposed mapping a series of across-strike corridors using conventional 1:10k mapping methods with rapid correlation between the corridors aided by multidisciplinary methods such as remote sensing, regional geochemistry and geophysics. Ultimately the project, in cooperation with academia, would lead to a wider understanding of the tectonostratigraphy and deep geology of the area. This approach appealed to Malcolm Brown, the then Director, and led to the establishment of a series of multidisciplinary regional projects as the core of the BGS land Survey work. In 1981 Innes established a Data Bank project in the Edinburgh Office which was designed to allow computerized retrieval of Land Survey data held by the Land Survey, the Mineral Assessment Unit, Hydrogeological, Engineering and associated Groups. Although initially resources were limited this initiative was arguably the beginning of a data delivery
system which is now fundamental to all BGS operations. His role in Scotland was terminated abruptly in 1982 when he was appointed Deputy Director at the Surveys new headquarters at Keyworth, Nottingham. His task was to get Keyworth going and he did, completing the conversion of the existing buildings and developing new facilities for a modern geological survey. He also introduced the concept of a centralised databank of geological data which came to fruition as the National Geosciences Data Centre and the Information and Central Services Division. He was now heavily involved in the day-to-day management of the British Geological Survey (BGS) with its 800 staff and 35 million per year income at a time of reductions in overall funding. He succeeded in preventing the transfer of Hydrogeology out of BGS and the closure of the Exeter Office. This was a particularly difficult time for BGS. A Visiting Group, which reported in October 1984, was critical of the progress on Land Survey mapping and in February 1985 NERC published its Corporate Plan. Among other recommendations the Plan proposed the break-up of BGS into five sections with each section head directly responsible to a Director of Earth Sciences based at NERC headquarters in Swindon; the post of Director of
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BGS was to be downgraded and the responsibilities reduced to management of the Land and Overseas Surveys. These proposals produced a hostile response from BGS senior management, staff side and several senior academics. The senior staff were in a difficult position with their line managers in Swindon, in effect NERC were involved in discussing the future of BGS without BGS having the opportunity to state its case. Nevertheless the BGS senior staff and staff side set up a working party to address the situation. An informal Strategic Plan for BGSs future was prepared. Innes, who was a strong believer in the integrity of the Survey was directly involved in these actions and with the support of the BGS Directorate sought the assistance of the Chief Scientist at the Cabinet Office and got an official reprimand from NERC for doing so. The result of all the activity, however, was the setting up of the Study Group into Geological Surveying chaired by Sir Clifford Butler. The group began work in the autumn of 1985. Shortly afterwards in October 1985, Malcolm Brown retired as Director and Innes was invited by NERC to become Director of BGS. As Director he had no Deputy and was responsible for the total management of BGS including the vast amount of work associated with ensuring that the Butler
Study Group understood the detail of the function and responsibility of a national Geological Survey. Because of its informal status the BGS Strategic Plan was inadmissible as evidence to Butler but Innes presented its main points in his Forward Look for 1986 and this was considered by the committee. Butler finally reported in March 1987 and established the integrity of BGS. This must have been a great relief to Innes. However, the post of Director of BGS remained subsidiary to that of the Director of Earth Science (who had been appointed in March 1986) and to a passionate Survey man like Innes this must have been a considerable disappointment. Massive restructuring was involved, but he was successful in stabilising funding and managed to revive the annual recruitment of scientists. He retired in August 1987. A change of direction was indicated on retirement and he accepted an appointment to the Civil Service Commission to chair Boards responsible for recruiting scientists into the Civil Service. In 1992 he transferred to carrying out the same function over a wider range of grades and ages in the specialist area of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency of the Ministry of Defence, stepping down from that role in 1999.
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In the latter part of his BGS career, Innes was heavily involved in the meetings of Directors of Western European Geological Surveys (WEGS) and became Secretary and then Chairman of their Standing Group on Geological Information related to the Environment. He was finally elected to be the only Honorary Chairman of that Group! He compiled and edited a book entitled Geology and the Environment in Western Europe and, in 1996 became the Secretary of the Directors Forum of European Geological Surveys, which facilitates collaboration amongst the national organisations of more than 40 countries. After considerable success he retired from that role in September 2002. Throughout his career Innes maintained a fundamental belief in the need for a national geological survey as a basic requirement for economic growth and development. He saw the need to make the geology understandable to users and to tailor BGS products to their requirements. To this end he was an innovator introducing new methodologies and concepts, new attitudes to geological surveying and to project completion and new styles of end-product. He believed in the integrity of the Survey, with the
specialist units complementing the field mappers. During his time in the Directorate, these principles were often at variance with those of his political masters and funding for the core activities was continually under threat. Innes played a critical role in defending the role of the Geological Survey and could view with satisfaction that the BGS, the oldest in the world, has survived for 177 years and has evolved to meet the needs of the modern world. Innes married Sheila Thomson in 1958 and together they created a great spirit of camaraderie among colleagues throughout the Geological Survey. Among the Geological Surveys of Europe both were deeply respected and their role, together, as ambassadors for BGS should not be underestimated. The support and encouragement given by Innes to junior staff as they made their way in their careers was much appreciated and he will be fondly remembered. He is survived by his wife, Sheila and their three children, Graham, Richard and Gillian. Professor Stuart K Monro Dr Douglas Fettes
George Innes Lumsden, BSC, CGeol, FGS, FRSA. Born 27 June 1926. Elected FRSE 1967. Died 4 September 2012.
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Douglas Maurice MacDowell 8 March 193116 January 2010. Douglas MacDowell occupied the Chair of Greek in the University of Glasgow from 1971 to his retirement in 2001, the longest period of office of any Glasgow Professor of Greek since Edmund Lushington, Tennyson s brotherin-law, retired in 1877. His paternal grandfather was born in Hillhead, Glasgow, in 1872, and his mothers family came from Morayshire. Douglas himself was born in London in 1931 to Maurice Alfred and Dorothy Jean MacDowell, and brought up mainly in that city, except for a few months in 193940 when his father was posted in the RAF to Lossiemouth and Leuchars. Douglas attended first Elgin Academy and then Madras College, St Andrews. He was later to declare that he learned more English grammar in Elgin than he ever learned anywhere else. From 1941 to 1949, he was educated at Highgate School in London. It was there that his love for the study of Greek began, and where too he developed what was to become a lifelong interest in the theatre. His performance in the schools dramatic society as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night must have been a sight worth seeing. His National Service from 1949 to 1950 was spent, after a trying period of basic training, as a sergeant in the Royal Army Educational Corps at Chepstow. The experience of teaching there, as he came to acknowledge himself, was not entirely useless to him later on. In 1950 he entered Balliol College, Oxford, as an Exhibitioner, and gained Firsts in both Mods and Greats. Along the way he found time to ride on a pantomime donkey in a production of Aristophanes The Frogs. After graduation, his first appointments were as a Classics schoolmaster, first at Allhallows School in Devon, and then at Merchant Taylors School in London, where he enjoyed teaching the sixthformers but, in his own judgement, was less effective as a teacher of the younger boys. With his move to Manchester University in 1958, Douglas properly began the academic career in which he was to become one of the most distinguished Classical scholars in Britain and beyond. Starting as an assistant lecturer, he rapidly climbed the ladder of promotion, reaching the rank of Reader in 1970. At Manchester he published his first two books, a commentary on an important speech by the Athenian orator Andocides and a lucid study of
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Athenian homicide law. So began his pioneering revival of the study of Greek law and oratory, which was to inspire several distinguished younger scholars in the later 20th Century. His appointment in 1971 to the Chair of Greek at Glasgow came at a time when the Department, like most university Greek departments, was facing the problem of survival fewer schools were teaching the subject and the supply of students was drying up. Douglas was exactly the right person in the right place at the right time. First, he instituted a first-year class that would teach Greek language from scratch, with himself as its teacher in the fine old Scottish university tradition in which the professor did not leave the elementary teaching to an assistant. Secondly, he started a first-year class in Greek Civilisation, in which students studied Greek literature, history, philosophy and art, all without the language. Those colleagues who had some doubts about the academic value of reading Greek literature only in translation soon changed their minds, as they found that students who did not have to spend time on the mysteries of the optative mood or the genitive absolute could produce literary criticism at a standard at least equal to that produced by their linguistic colleagues. This class has gone
from strength to strength, especially since the amalgamation in 1988 of the separate Departments of Greek and Humanity (i.e. Latin) into a single Department of Classics, offering classes in both Greek and Roman Civilisation right up to Honours level. Thirdly, it was under Douglass leadership that the Department began to attract a greater number of postgraduate students, many of them from Greece. He was a devoted teacher and a very good lecturer, with an enviable gift for explaining difficult problems in language that his listeners could understand. His lectures on Comedy were generally enlivened by the funny voices with which he cited the lines of the various characters. He cared greatly about his students, and was in the habit of leaving his office door open so that they, as well as his colleagues, could consult him at any time; when the door was closed, that meant that he was teaching. More than one impoverished postgraduate student benefited financially from his generosity. As a colleague, he was ever helpful and supportive, and the Department that he led was a happy one. Throughout all this, he found the time to publish a seemingly endless number of major editions of, and books and articles on, comedy, as well as on Athenian oratory and law. Happily, he lived
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to see his latest book, Demosthenes the Orator, in print just before his death. In recognition of his achievements, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1991 and a Fellow of the British Academy in 1993, and in 1992 he received a DLitt from Oxford. His retirement in 2001 was marked by a three-day conference organised by his Glasgow colleagues on Athenian Law and Life, with seventeen of its papers printed in a Festschrift volume in 2004. As an administrator, Douglas was highly competent, but it was not his favourite activity. On one occasion, when the headship of the Department was due to be changed, he and I were interviewed simultaneously by the Dean, and each of us did his best to persuade the Dean that the other should be appointed. Douglas was more persuasive than I was (his work on oratory served him in good stead), and I had to undertake the task.
In the world outside the University, he was throughout his life an enthusiastic member of the Classical Association, and regularly attended its Easter Meetings. He served as Secretary of the Council of University Classical Departments, as Chairman of the Scottish Hellenic Society, and of the Classical Association of Scotland, and also of its Glasgow Centre, a body which he himself revived years after it had become defunct. He continued all his life to enjoy music, opera and the theatre (with frequent visits to London), and holidays in his beloved Rockcliffe on the Solway Firth and Lochinver in Sutherland. He never married, and was himself an only child. He is survived by several cousins. In the Classical world, Douglas had a wide circle of admiring and affectionate friends, and right up to the end he was an unfailing source of information about their movements and activities. They will miss him greatly. Alex F Garvie
Douglas Maurice MacDowell, MA, DLitt, FBA. Born 8 March 1931. Elected FRSE 1991. Died 16 January 2010.
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Alasdair Duncan McIntyre 17 November 192615 April 2010 Alasdair McIntyre, Scottish marine biologist, born in Helensburgh in 1926, died after a short illness, in Aberdeen on 15 April, 2010. In his long and eventful life, Alasdair travelled many different roads, following his many interests along pathways that sometimes led to unexpected destinations. The starting point for his lifelong intellectual and scientific interests was the family home in Helensburgh. The Hermitage School, his first school, was close by as was also the rocky sea-shore where Alasdair and his brother, Gordon, spent many hours exploring the pools for shrimp and limpets. Unsurprisingly, both brothers became biologists, Alasdair graduating from Glasgow University in 1949 with first class honours in zoology. His dissection of the cranial nerves of the dogfish was considered so perfect that a picture of it was permanently displayed on the wall. The next stage of his journey saw him complete his graduate studies, after which he moved north to join the staff of the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen in 1951. There he remained for the next four decades, making his way up the career ladder until his appointment as Director of Fisheries Research for Scotland in 1983 and co-ordinator of Fisher273
ies Research and Development for the United Kingdom in 1986. His retirement in 1987 was far from marking journeys end; new opportunities presented themselves and not only when Alasdair became Emeritus Professor of Fisheries and Oceanography at Aberdeen University, a position that he retained until his death. During his early years at the Marine Laboratory, Alasdairs research and his scientific activities developed across a broad range of interests. Initially, he studied the halibut stocks in the North Atlantic, working from research vessels and also from the commercial long-liners that fished off Greenland. His abiding interest in the investigation of the fauna on the sea bed led to his efforts to improve the efficiency of bottom sampling gear, the results of which in the form of the SmithMcIntyre grab have been used by successive generations of marine biologists. He was one of the first to recognize the importance of the meiofauna that play a critical role in transforming the debris reaching the sea floor into food for the larger macrofauna. His Biological Review article Ecology of Marine Meiobenthos (Wiley, 1969) remains the starting point for their study. The handbook Methods for the study of Marine
Benthos, first produced in 1971 with Norman Holme, is now in its 3rd edition (2005), co-edited with Anastasios (Tasso) Eleftheriou. From the early 1960s Alasdair, working with a diverse group of researchers, began a decadal study of a sandy beach at Loch Ewe in the west of Scotland. The aim was to demonstrate how the food web from plankton through benthos to fish, determined the annual production of juvenile plaice and its inter-annual variability. This was relevant to the burgeoning interest in fish farming as well as being of basic ecological interest, and grew into a much larger investigation of marine ecosystems involving experts from around the world. Alasdairs time as Director of Fisheries Research for Scotland was a challenging period, not only with the decline in fisheries but also with the expanding oil industry causing many turf issues concerning the marine environment. Alasdair became a leading authority on the international aspects of these questions and served as chairman of the United Nations Joint Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution and as Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Marine Pollution of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. He was very active in the UK, chairing the Atlantic Frontier Environmental Forum that
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involved a wide range of industries and research organisations. He was President of The Scottish Association for Marine Science and the Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science. The award of a CBE in 1994 was recognition for these and many other achievements. The advancement of marine science in Scotland was an important concern. Alasdair supported the creation and development of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) as Vice-President and then President. He played a key role in the marine interests of Scottish Natural Heritage. As Emeritus Professor in the Zoology Department of Aberdeen University he helped found and develop their MSc courses in marine science. He received honorary doctorates from Stirling and Edinburgh Napier Universities. In these roles, after he retired, he was able to speak openly about the many problems facing the marine environment in Scotland. Because of his great experience, incisive mind and clear expression of the science, he was often called on in public inquiries and in legal challenges in marine cases. Alasdair produced a great number and variety of scientific papers, reports and edited volumes. Generations of marine biologists received help from Alasdair, whether as a teacher of students
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or PhD examiner. His gentle way of speaking and impeccable manners masked a sharp mind. Woe betide any student that tried to pull the wool over his eyes. He was Editorin-Chief of the journal Fisheries Research from 1987 until his death. Over the last decade Alasdair was heavily involved in the ten-year global initiative Census of Marine Life (COML), helping to set up the European component of this programme and establish the office at SAMS. During the programmes last year, Alasdair edited the synthesis volume Life in the worlds oceans: diversity, abundance and distribution, which brought together the work of over 2000 scientists from 89 nations around the globe. The volume, completed very shortly before his death and published by Wiley-Blackwell, was launched at COMLs Decade of Discovery
symposium/celebration in London on 4th October 2010. In addition to all his scientific achievements, Alasdair will be remembered as a very cultured man - always extremely well dressed and well mannered, fond of good food, a connoisseur of wine, a keen member of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and a great conversationalist with time for everybody. He was, in fact that rarity of modern times a true gentleman. To show a broader side of his character, he was a season ticket holder for Aberdeen Football Club, an activity that must have tested his patience in recent, lean years! For his friends and acquaintances it was a privilege to have known him and he will be sorely missed. Alasdair is survived by his wife Catherine, daughter Alison and grandson Sebastian.
Some lines from Cavafys Ithaca provide a fitting description of Alasdairs long journey from the seashore of Helensburgh. Pray that the road is long. That the summer mornings are many, when, with such pleasure, with such joy you will enter ports seen for the first time; stop at Phoenician markets, and purchase fine merchandise, mother-of-pearl and coral, amber, and ebony, visit many Egyptian cities, to learn and learn from scholars. Always keep Ithaca on your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all.
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It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches. Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would have never set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. John Steele and Margaret Eleftheriou.
Alasdair Duncan McIntyre, CBE. BSc, DSc (Glasgow), HonDUniv(Stirling), HonDSc (Napier), FIBiol, FRSA. Born 17th November 1926. Elected FRSE 1975. Died 15 April 2010.
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John Lennox Monteith 3 September 192920 July 2012 John Lennox Monteith, who has died aged 82, pioneered the application of physical principles in the study of how plants and animals interact with their immediate environment, or microclimate. In a career spanning over half a century, he is perhaps best known for the Penman Monteith equation that has become the basis for guidelines for estimating irrigation water requirements used by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). He became one of the youngest ever Fellows of the Royal Society, London in 1971, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1972. In addition, he was a Fellow (1951) and Honorary Fellow (1997) of the Royal Meteorological Society, Fellow (1966) of the Institute of Physics, Fellow (1976) of the Institute of Biology, and served as president of the Royal Meteorological Society from 1978 to 1980. In 1989 he was awarded an honorary DSc by the University of Edinburgh. During his career he served on many national and international scientific committees and on the editorial boards of prominent scientific publications. He also served as Fellowship Secretary to this Society from 1997 to 1999.
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Born in September 1929 in Fairlie, Ayrshire, John was the only child of the Reverend John and Margaret Lennox Monteith and began his schooling at Paisley Grammar School before the family moved to Edinburgh when he was eleven. His father, who had suffered from multiple sclerosis, died shortly afterwards. From a very early age John showed innate scientific curiosity, encouraged by family friends who supplied him with electricity and chemistry sets. He was fond of practical jokes and experimenting with hazardous chemicals acquired from a local scientific supply shop. A strong all-rounder at George Heriots School, Edinburgh, and keen on amateur dramatics and music, he was nevertheless propelled towards a future in either physics or chemistry biology being out of the question given his perceived inability to draw specimens. On leaving he studied Physics at Edinburgh University and particularly enjoyed lectures by the distinguished meteorologist, James Paton. Graduating with First Class honours, he sought opportunities in agricultural aspects of meteorology, recognising the chance to contribute to the major societal challenges of sustainable food
production, while also escaping the confines of a laboratory. Embarking on postgraduate research at Imperial College, Howard Penman, from the Rothamsted Experimental Station in Harpenden, encouraged him to focus on the science of dew formation. Dew had been identified as a potentially important precursor for plant fungal infections, but it remained unclear what weather conditions were necessary for dew to form, and hence it was difficult anticipate when damage was most likely to occur. His investigations required the development of novel and highly sensitive micrometeorological instruments for the measurement of dew fall, humidity and energy fluxes. Using a method of analysis that would characterise many of his future papers, he recognized that the balance of incoming and outgoing energy at ground level determined the source of the dew (i.e. soil or atmosphere) and the amount that could be formed. In 1954, he moved to Rothamsted as a Scientific Officer and began working under Penman, who was concerned how variation in weather affected soil moisture. Penman had developed a method to predict the rate of evaporation from wet surfaces, but it did not take into account the complicating effects that vegetation imposed on water loss. By
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harnessing the analogy of electrical resistance, John showed how to account for surface conductance of water, and produced the Penman-Monteith equation that more correctly accounted for wind and surface effects. The approach was subsequently adapted to model the behaviour of any natural system involving mass or energy exchange in fields ranging from animal energetics to pollutant deposition. While at Rothamsted, John also made, in collaboration with Geza Szeicz, some of the worlds first measurements of carbon dioxide exchange (CO2) between the land surface and the atmosphere. In 1967 John was appointed to the newly-created Chair of Environmental Physics at the School of Agriculture, Sutton Bonington, a faculty of the University of Nottingham. Although he had not considered teaching, he took very naturally to the task. Many students, as well as colleagues, would find their careers shaped and altered by their associations with him, and several now hold important positions in organisations across the world. The discipline of Environmental Physics as a defined field of study really became established with the publication of Principles of Environmental Physics in 1973, later editions of which were
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written in collaboration with his colleague Mike Unsworth. With funding from the Oversees Development Agency, his growing team established a unique set of large, microclimatologically controlled greenhouses which allowed realistic field-scale assessments of the growth of crops from the semi-arid tropics under different environmental conditions. John became increasingly interested in the factors determining crop growth and yield, and eventually spent a sixmonth sabbatical at NASA in Maryland, USA, developing approaches to assess crop production from space using remote sensing. The Nottingham group continued to develop micrometeorological instruments for measuring physical attributes of the environment, collaborating with two major suppliers of stateof-the-art environmental research instrumentation for Britain and Europe, Delta-T Devices, and Campbell Scientific Ltd, for whom John was a co-founder. In 1987 he became Director of the Resource Management Program at the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics in
Hyderabad, India, where he served until 1991. On his return to Edinburgh, he was invited to become Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology at Penicuik. John had a multi-faceted personality and a wide range of interests. He was an accomplished organist, and for many years served the communities of Sutton Bonington Methodist Church and Mayfield Salisbury Church, Edinburgh, in this capacity. He had a deep love of the countryside, and of wilderness areas, particularly the Scottish Highlands where he enjoyed hill-walking. He was also a keen photographer, and gardener. A devoted husband, father and grandfather, John is survived by his wife, Elsa, his five children, David, Graham, Donald, Alison and Andrew, and by eleven grandchildren. Submitted and prepared by the Monteith Family, with contributions from Johns colleagues, including Dr Dr Gaylon Campbell.
John Lennox Monteith FRS, FRSE, BSc, DIC, PhD, FInstP, FIBiol Hon. DSc. Born 3 September 1929. Elected FRSE 1972. Died 20 July 2012. This obituary also appeared in The Scotsman on 8 August 2012.
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Brenda Elizabeth Moon 11 April 19317 March 2011 Brenda Moon made an outstanding contribution to the development of Edinburgh University Library as its head from 1980 until her retirement in 1996, she was an efficient Curator of the RSE (2002-05), and her influence on all those who knew her well was immense, her diffidence of manner concealing great drive and determination (not for nothing is Philip Larkin credited with designating her the steel snowdrop). Born (in Stoke-on-Trent, to be precise) while her parents, Clement and Mabel Moon, were living in Newcastle-under-Lyme, she spent her early years there. When she was 11, the family moved to Birmingham and she received her secondary education at King Edwards Grammar School for Girls, Camp Hill, gaining there her abiding love for the Classics. From there she went to St Hildas College, Oxford, to read Greats (19491953), followed by professional training at the School of Librarianship and Archives, UCL, 1954-55. She was joint winner of the Cowley Prize for Bibliography in 1955 and became a Fellow of the Library Association in 1958. Her first professional post was as an assistant librarian at the University of Sheffield (195562). While there she compiled for the Institute of Classical Studies two lists of publications on Mycenaean civilisation from 1935 to 1955 and from 1956 to 1960 (London, 1957 and 1961). From Sheffield she moved to Hull, at first as SubLibrarian (196267) and then as Deputy Librarian (196779), under Philip Larkin, who relied on her a great deal (for a time, during Larkins absence on leave, she became Acting Librarian). In particular, it was she who managed the installation of the countrys first GEAC automated library system. Earlier, she had become the secretary of the Southeast Asia Library Group, which was founded at an ad-hoc meeting held at Hull in 1968, and subsequently the Editor of its Newsletter (until she left on her appointment as Librarian at Edinburgh University). Published outcomes from this include a Survey of Library Resources (Hull: SEALG, 1969, 2nd edn 1973) and a union catalogue, Periodicals for South-East Asian Studies (London: Mansell, 1979), as well as a Directory of libraries and special collections on Asia and North
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Africa, with R.L. Collison (London: Lockwood, 1970). Brenda Moon was the first woman to head a Scottish university library (and one of the first in any major UK research library). On arrival at Edinburgh University Library at the beginning of 1980, she was immediately involved in the discussions on library automation that had just begun and she soon achieved the second GEAC installation in the UK. Edinburgh University Library may have been a late entrant to the library automation race but, thanks to her vision and the active support of the Universitys computing service, it became the first major university library in the UK to tackle the huge issues of scale involved in delivering a computer-based service. Brenda Moon was a strong proponent of collaboration. She herself was a co-founder of the Consortium of University Research Libraries and its Chairman (1992 96), and also secretary and then chairman of the SCONUL Advisory Committee on Access to Materials (198793). In the wake of membership of the Vice-Chancellors committee to enquire into library provision in Oxford (198687 a heavy commitment involving weekly meetings there for a period), she became an active Assessor to the Curators of the Bodleian Library on its automation plans (1987); at the same period
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she was also adviser to the libraries of Lund, Linkping and Uppsala Universities on library automation. Equally she insisted that Edinburgh University Library as a whole play its part in co-operative networks and enabled members of her staff to meet specialist opposite numbers in other libraries, arranging for exchanges between Edinburgh staff and their opposite numbers from other libraries, and for librarians from elsewhere to be seconded to Edinburgh University Library within their particular fields, which undoubtedly enhanced the name and reputation of the Library across the world. She clearly foresaw the importance of international collaboration a decade before the internet made all libraries global. The interest she showed in her staff is well remembered. At the same time, she was a powerful advocate of the importance of building special collections and archives and bringing the papers of poets and commercial companies to the university; major collections that came to the Library during her librarianship, include the BBC Press Cuttings, papers of the poets George Mackay Brown, Norman MacCaig and Hugh MacDiarmid, the papers of John Middleton Murry, the Barry Bloomfield and A H Campbell
Collections of editions of W H Auden, the Arthur Koestler Collection, and Corson Sir Walter Scott Collection. She revived the Friends of the University Library, encouraging their role in funding acquisitions. Brenda Moon was also one of the last of the generation of scholar librarians. She had a scholars interest in the Librarys collections and its history, arriving in Edinburgh during the University Librarys own 400th anniversary celebrations and shortly before retirement writing a booklet on the history of its Library Committee. She gained her MPhil in 1987 from Leeds University with a Thesis on the botanical artist Marianne North and later, in 2002, when she was able to resume her research after retirement, gained her PhD. from the University of Hull, with a Thesis on the founder of the Egypt Exploration Society, Amelia Edwards, which became the basis for her book More usefully employed: Amelia B. Edwards, writer, traveller and campaigner for ancient Egypt (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 2006). She herself had a lifelong interest in botany, at first sketching and later photographing wild flowers on the many travels to different part of the globe, from Alaska to Tasmania, often undertaken in company with her younger sister, Mary Moon, former headmistress
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of Manchester High School for Girls, by whom she is survived. She was also a keen hill walker until 2000, when the sudden onset of impaired mobility ruled it out. Another frustration in her last few years was rapidly failing eyesight, limiting her scholarly activities, with the result that her final piece of research was left not quite complete at her death. Brenda Moon was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1992 and subsequently became its Curator (20022005), doing excellent work in that role and in organising its library collections. She retired in 1996 from Edinburgh University Library, which had by then revived in her honour the older title of Librarian to the University of Edinburgh. Her church affiliation always meant a great deal to her throughout her life. In Edinburgh she was an active member and elder of Augustine United Church, George IV Bridge, where her concern for others and her incisive comments and advice at meetings were as evident as in her professional life. It is typical of her Christian commitment that the vast bulk of her significant personal library was sold at the annual Christian Aid book sale at St Andrews and St Georges Church, Edinburgh, after Edinburgh and Hull University Libraries had selected a certain number of items. Both in the church and in
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the library her hospitality was well known and many meetings at both were rendered more agreeable by the baking she provided;
excelling as an administrator, she was also eminently practical. John Brockington
Brenda Elizabeth Moon, M.A. (Oxford), M.Phil. (Leeds), Ph.D. (Hull) Born 11 April 1931. Elected FRSE 1992 (and Curator 200205). Died 7 March 2011.
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Kenneth Murray 30 December 19307 April 2013 Ken Murray was one of the most eminent scientists in the United Kingdom and an international leader of scientific innovation. He developed the first vaccine against viral hepatitis B, which has saved countless lives worldwide. Professor Murray was one of the earliest workers in genetic engineering, which has opened a new avenue of scientific research and has led to new treatments for diseases and genetic disorders. He was co-founder of the first European based Biotechnology company, Biogen. Most of Professor Murrays commercial income was used to found the Darwin Trust in 1983. The trust has supported the education of many young scientists, and helped to fund cutting-edge research and improved facilities at the University of Edinburgh. His generosity also supported activities to inspire the next generation of potential scientists. Ken was born in Yorkshire and brought up in the Midlands. He left school at the age of 16 to become a laboratory technician at Boots in Nottingham. After parttime study he obtained a First-class Honours degree in chemistry and a PhD in microbiology from the University of Birmingham. It was in Birming284
ham that he met his wife, Noreen, who was to become a close scientific collaborator. They were married in 1958 and shared many interests, such as hill walking and camping. They continued to support each other throughout their lives. Ken continued his research at Stanford University and returned to the UK in 1964 where he worked in the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology. He joined the University of Edinburgh in 1967 at what was then the only department of molecular biology in the country. He went on to become Biogen Professor of Molecular Biology in 1984. He and his colleagues made the University a leader in the molecular biology revolution. Ken went on to become Head of Molecular Biology from 1976 to 1984. Following his retirement in 1998, he continued to come to the laboratory every day, leading further scientific endeavours. Increasingly, he spent more time on his philanthropic support of others through the Darwin Trust. Ken received much recognition for his outstanding work. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1979, received the Willem Meindart de Hoop Prize in 1983, and in 1992 was given a Saltire
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Society Scientific Award. He was awarded a knighthood in 1993 and a Royal Medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2000. In 2010, Ken and Noreen jointly received a lifetime achievement award from Nexus Life Sciences. Recently the Kenneth and Noreen Murray Library was built at the Kings Buildings Science Campus at the University of Edinburgh, recognising the couples distinguished careers and their commitment to the advancement of science and engineering. Despite the wealth from Kens vaccine and his various successes, he remained a very modest and approachable person. He was an inspirational teacher and collaborator who was always very supportive of colleagues and friends and quick to praise success. Kens scientific interests lay in methods for sequencing, or deciphering, strands of DNA code. He developed methods based on new ideas, to isolate specific genes, and so began genetic engineering. Along with Noreen and others, he developed recombinant DNA technology, or gene cloning. This represented a revolution for scientists in terms of understanding how cells work, how genetics work and how the development of organisms is controlled and how it can go wrong.
Professor Murray immediately put these ideas to a practical task how to create a vaccine for a devastating liver disease, hepatitis B. This condition lacked reliable treatment and led to deaths among the 300 million people around the world infected with the virus. Ken found a way to identify the hepatitis B virus and then produced a man-made vaccine. This was done under very difficult conditions, as people were scared of new genetic engineering technology, and so he had to work in secure facilities. By 1978, Ken and colleagues had created the vaccine and later proved that it was effective in treating hepatitis. He was involved in the establishment of Biogen, which commercially developed the vaccine for use. The vaccine is used around the world. After this success, Ken continued his molecular biology research activity at Edinburgh for many years. Ken had suffered from ill health for a number of years, yet remained very active intellectually and had a wide circle of friends around the world. He survived Noreen in 2011. Although Ken and Noreen had no children, they leave behind a large community of colleagues and friends whose lives they have touched. This includes the students and colleagues with whom Ken shared his ideas
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willingly, colleagues who were able to use his techniques and materials for their own scientific research, those whose education
he financed, and the many who did not know him but whose lives were improved because of his work. He will be sadly missed. Mary Bownes
Professor Sir Kenneth Murray, FRS, FRSE, FRCPath, FSB, FMedSci, BSc, PhD(Birm), Drhc(Edin). Born 30 December 1930. Elected FRSE 1989. Died 7 April 2013.
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Noreen Elizabeth Murray 26 February 193512 May 2011 Noreen Murray was recognised internationally as being one of Britains most distinguished and highly respected molecular geneticists. In the early 1970s, together with her husband Ken and colleague Bill Brammar, she led the development of recombinant DNA technology, or genetic engineering, as it is commonly called. This was a seismic event, ultimately affecting all areas of biology and making possible much of modern biotechnology. Their pioneering work put the UK at the head of this revolution in research, and the technology and tools that they developed have had lasting impact. Noreen was born Noreen Elizabeth Parker in Read, near Burnley in Lancashire. She enjoyed a rural upbringing, initially in the village of Read and, from the age of five, in Bolton-le-Sands, on the edge of Morecombe Bay, where her father, John Parker, was headmaster of the local school. The family spent much of their time outdoors, playing tennis, cycling, swimming or rowing on Lake Windermere or on the canal at the bottom of their garden. Their home in Read was close to the cricket ground, and Noreen particularly remembered watching Learie
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Constantine, the much-admired West Indian cricketer. Noreen said that as a child she was a little tomboy, and she loved climbing trees. She also liked to help her father with gardening, and she had her own section of their garden, which was the beginning of a life-long love of plants. Her father was a strong disciplinarian and she and her older brother had a strict but loving upbringing. He was particularly concerned about punctuality and, as a result, Noreen said she always tried to be on time. Noreens brother, Neil, also had a strong influence on her. He was a keen naturalist (he later studied forestry at Edinburgh University) and he encouraged Noreen to collect pressed flowers and birds feathers. In her 5th form at school, Noreen studied physics and chemistry, biology not being an option available to her at that stage. However, her brother introduced her to the subject, teaching her Mendels Laws and encouraging her to read biology books. Thus, at the age of 15, Noreen changed from thinking of becoming a domestic science teacher to studying biology. Noreen won a number of prizes at school and in 1953 was awarded London Intercollegiate and State
Scholarships to enter Kings College, London, to study botany. She developed an interest in microbial genetics and after graduation moved to the University of Birmingham to work for a PhD under the supervision of David Catcheside, Head of the new Department of Microbiology. Noreen was very interested in the nature of the gene and whether genes concerned with a particular biochemical pathway were closely linked in eukaryotes, as had been found for some pathways in bacteria. Catcheside used the bread mould Neurospora crassa as an experimental organism, and Noreen decided to investigate the chromosomal distribution of genes needed for synthesis of the amino acid methionine. This required isolation and genetic mapping of mutants that could not grow without methionine, leading to an interest in the mechanism of recombination, the process that ensures that new combinations of genetic variants are transmitted from one generation to the next. Noreen discovered that recombination does not occur uniformly along chromosomes, but occurs more frequently at hotspots from which it proceeds preferentially in one direction. Noreen occasionally recalled with amusement that, when she first arrived with her luggage at the large house where she was to stay
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in Birmingham, she was mistaken for a maid going into service. In Birmingham she met her future husband, Kenneth Murray, who was studying for a PhD in chemistry. In addition to their shared passion for laboratory work, they enjoyed hill walking, camping and climbing, especially in the Scottish Highlands. They married in 1958 and were later to become close scientific collaborators. After completing their PhDs, Noreen and Ken took up postdoctoral positions at Stanford University. Noreen continued her studies of Neurospora during five happy years in David Perkins laboratory, describing her time there as being outstanding. She found the environment at Stanford intellectually stimulating, meeting many leading microbial geneticists. It was during this time that she first met Frank Stahl, who was interested in her studies of polarised gene conversion and who later collaborated with Noreen during sabbatical visits to the UK. In 1964, she and Ken returned to the UK, Noreen to work with Harold Whitehouse in the Botany School, Cambridge, and Ken to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Noreen was shocked that her degrees were not recognised by Cambridge University. It seemed that she was expected to work for a Cambridge PhD and, during her 6th year as a postdoc-
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toral researcher, she appeared on the photograph of the Cambridge PhD students. In 1968, Noreen took up a position in Bill Hayes MRC Unit of Molecular Genetics in the University of Edinburgh, and Ken became a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Molecular Biology. Noreen decided to turn her research to systems that were more accessible to molecular studies. She had become interested in the phenomenon of host-controlled restriction (the ability of bacterial cells to restrict foreign DNA) and decided to study this phenomenon in Escherichia coli, using bacteriophage lambda and her knowledge of bacteriophage genetics learned from Frank Stahl. Ken, at the end of his time in Fred Sangers laboratory, had begun to determine short DNA sequences at the ends of the lambda genome, and they became excited by the prospect of combining their genetic and molecular skills to identify the DNA sequences that are cleaved by DNA restriction enzymes within the phage lambda genome. Noreen and Ken were among the first to realise that the ability to cut DNA with restriction enzymes opened up the possibility of joining together different DNA molecules that had been cut in this way, to produce recombinant DNA molecules, and thereby to
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clone DNA sequences. Noreen used elegant genetic approaches to modify the chromosome of phage lambda, reducing the number of restriction enzyme cleavage sites, so that it could be used as a DNA cloning vector. Noreen, Ken and their close colleague, Bill Brammar, used these modified bacteriophage to clone defined fragments of DNA from a variety of organisms. Over the next ten years, Noreen developed a series of increasingly sophisticated lambda vectors, in Edinburgh and at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, where she and Ken worked from 1980 to 1982. These were rapidly adopted by researchers throughout the world and are still widely used today. She also realised at an early stage that the protein products of cloned genes could be expressed in bacterial host cells, and her clever use of the quiescent, lysogenic state of phage lambda allowed the expression of proteins that may be toxic to the bacterium. This facilitated the high level production of proteins in bacteria, including enzymes such as T4 DNA ligase, polynucleotide kinase and E. coli DNA polymerase that were of major importance for the new recombinant DNA technology. The practical aspects of Noreens work were always supported by scholarly exploration of the
biochemical and genetic properties of the systems used, and it is notable that many of her publications have only one or a few authors, because she was generally the main instigator and often the sole technical contributor to the work. In the collaborative work with her husband, Noreens contributions were clearly identifiable; she being the geneticist, he the biochemist. Noreen was generous with her time, both with her colleagues and by serving on many committees, including the Executive Advisory Board of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, the BBSRC Council, the Council of the Royal Society, the Cabinet Office Science & Technology Honours Committee, as Vice-President of the Royal Society and President of the Genetical Society of Great Britain. She was also a Trustee of the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh, a charitable organisation founded by Ken and Noreen to support research in the natural sciences. In 1988, Noreen was promoted to a Personal Chair at Edinburgh University, as Professor of Molecular Genetics. Her many contributions to science have been honoured by Fellowships of the Royal Societies of Edinburgh and London, Membership of the European Molecular Biology Organisation and Honorary DScs from the Universities of Birming290
ham, UMIST, Warwick, Lancaster, Sheffield and Edinburgh. She was awarded the Gabor Medal of the Royal Society, the AstraZeneca Award of the Biochemical Society, the Nexxus award (jointly with Ken) and, in 2011, she received a Royal Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She was awarded a CBE for services to science in 2002. Despite her eminence as a scientist, Noreen was always very unassuming and quietly spoken. She was also strong minded and very determined. Noreens achievements came at a time when it was not always easy for women to make a career in science and it is a measure of her ability, hard work and determination that she reached the very top of her profession, despite occasionally contending with the unconscious prejudice of the scientific establishment. Perhaps because of this, Noreen was particularly attentive to the careers of her female colleagues and delighted in their success. Although she had no children, Noreen thought of her students and postdocs as her family and she earned their admiration and affection. Noreen loved to work at the bench and continued to do so long after her formal retirement in 2001. She was an exceptional mentor to those who worked with or around her, whether an
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undergraduate, postgraduate student, technician, postdoctoral research assistant, sabbatical visitor or academic colleague. She was inspirational both by example and through her lectures, which were delivered with clarity and confidence despite her finding public speaking stressful. She was extraordinarily hard-working, and held very high standards not only in her work but also in her personal life. Noreen took pleasure in gardening, fine art and the company of others. The garden at their house in Edinburgh was her favourite place to escape to and it always looked magnificent. Noreen also took a pride in her appearance and dressed elegantly and stylishly. She and Ken were exceptionally hospitable to friends and colleagues, entertaining them at home, where Noreen was an excellent cook, or at the Edin-
burgh New Club. An invitation to dine was a real treat. In 2010 Noreen was diagnosed with a form of motor neurone disease. She confronted this affliction with courage and dignity, more concerned for the welfare of those around her than for herself. By the beginning of 2011 she could no longer speak, but she continued to come into her office to deal with correspondence and to converse with colleagues via notes. At the beginning of May she entered the Marie Curie Hospice in Edinburgh, where she died with Ken at her side. Noreen will be remembered with huge affection and admiration by so many, and she will be greatly missed. She is survived by her husband, Professor Sir Kenneth Murray, and her brother, John Neil Parker, who lives in Australia. Jean Beggs and David Finnegan
Noreen Elizabeth Murray (ne Parker), CBE, FRS, BSc (Kings College London), PhD (Birmingham). Born 26 February 1935. Elected FRSE 1989. Died 12 May 2011.
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Eric Cyril Raynold Reeve 14 September 191314 December 2011 Eric Cyril Raynold Reeve, known to his friends as Eric, was born on September 14th 1913, in Liverpool. His father had been a Church of England missionary in Japan from 1907 to 1910, while his mother was the daughter of a vicar, so the ambience of his early years was very much Church of England. He was the second of four brothers. They lived in a succession of towns in England as his father moved from parish to parish. In 1915 they moved to Great Yarmouth and in 1920 to Hockering, Norfolk and later to Lowestoft, Suffolk, where he became a close friend of Benjamin Britten at the local prep school. Britten was Head Boy, while Eric became School Captain. Two or three years later he entered Norwich Grammar School, in the Cathedral Close, as a boarder, and spent the rest of his schooldays there. His elder brother, Basil, who was at the same school, won a History Scholarship to Oriel, Oxford, while Eric joined St Peters Hall (later College) Oxford, to study mathematics. After completing a year of his honours degree he wanted a change and, on the advice of Basil, who had switched to medicine, Eric opted for Zoology, of which he had no prior experience. After a vacation crash course from Basil in basic topics, he was accepted into the department, where his lecturers included E. S. Goodrich, J. Z. Young and E. B. Ford. In his second year he entered for the Christopher Welch Research Scholarship, open to students of Botany, Zoology and Medicine, which covered the fees for a four-year DPhil and, to his surprise, won it, in spite of his very recent introduction to Zoology. The previous winner had been Peter Medawar, later Nobel Laureate. The supervisor for his degree was J. Z. Young. He proposed an excellent project in the application of mathematical analysis to differences in growth and form, a development from DArcy Thompsons classic studies and Julian Huxleys more recent theory of Heterogony or Allometry. The project involved a study of three genera of New World anteaters namely Cyclopes (the pygmy anteater), Tamandua (a mediumsized anteater) and Myrmecophaga (the giant anteater) which differ greatly in size, with correlated increasing length of the snout bones compared with cranium length. Eric applied the new statistical methods devised by R. A. Fisher, at that time
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almost unknown to biologists, to the relations between snout and cranium length. This was based on a large number of skulls of each genus collected and measured by many comparative anatomists over more than fifty years, including two large samples of skulls from Chicago and samples measured by Eric and others from the Oxford and London Museums. This showed that while Cyclopes and Tamandua differed greatly in body size, there was little difference between them in the relative sizes of snout and cranium, while Myrmecophaga was clearly different. This was published as a study in the application of quantitative methods to systematics and was indeed a pioneering contribution since, in those days, the application of mathematic analysis to biological data was quite unfamiliar to biologists. After the anteater study, Eric extended the same sort of analysis to the study of horses and their ancestors back to Eohippus, using samples measured by himself and P.D.F. Murray from collections in the London Natural History Museum. Plotting face length against cranium length on a log log scale showed clear evidence of change in the relative proportion of face to cranium length over a period of ten million years. Relative length of face apparently declined as modern horses grew
larger in size. On the basis of these studies, Eric wrote a joint article with Julian Huxley for a book, edited by Peter Medawar, to honour DArcy Thompsons original approach to animal growth and form. Having completed his degree, Erics next move was to the statistical department of Rothampstead Experimental Station. There he joined a large team of mathematicians, statisticians and agronomists, led by Frank Yates, to apply R. A. Fishers newlydeveloped statistical methods of analysis to a large body of data relating to the yield of different crops on farms throughout the UK, with or without the application of various artificial fertilisers. The collaborative results were published by Yates in 1941 under the title Fertiliser Policy in Wartime. War in Europe now dominated life. Yates next took on the comparison of the safety of different kinds of air-raid shelter, for which members of the team, including Eric, sought the views of the public. He was next sent to the Ministry of Home Security Research Group, which had taken over the Forest Research Station at Princes Risborough, to collect information on the effectiveness of Allied bombing on German and European cities, although the results were not published. A team was also set up, including Eric, to examine the effects of
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German bombing on British manufacturing centres, such as Birmingham and Coventry. Shortly after that, Eric joined discussions with Francis Klingender and the crystallographer J. D. Bernal at Princes Risborough, succeeded by a move to Klingenders house in London as more convenient for their work. About this time, Eric met Edith Simon through Klingender. Edith was a brilliant young author and also a talented artist, who later developed the wholly original technique of scalpel painting which appeared regularly at Edinburgh Festival exhibitions and which always commanded Erics enthusiastic support. He never doubted that his meeting with Edith was the most important event of his life. Eric next moved to a branch of the Foreign Office. When the war in Europe ended, the US Government amassed a large team, based at Bad Nauheim, to study the effects of American and British bombing on the German war effort. Eric was sent as a liaison officer, with the rank of Major. This United States Strategic Bombing Survey had many sections devoted to reactions of bombed workers, dispersal of vital factories, damage to key production, etc. It was a rather chaotic situation, since much essential information had already been taken by the Americans and the
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Russians, so that team members working on specific aspects often found their data were incomplete or located elsewhere. Eric, by talking to them about their problems, was often able to act as a useful link and reveal gaps that could be dealt with. The British end of this operation was run by Professor Solly Zuckerman. By this time Eric was anxious to get back to scientific research, so he consulted Peter Medawar, who informed him that the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) had decided to set up an organisation designed to put British livestock production on a more scientific basis. It was to have two divisions, an academically-oriented group under C. H Waddington and a more practically-oriented group, supplied with access to farms for the different kinds of livestock, under Professor White. Waddington was pleased to invite Eric to join his group. The whole organisation was to be known as the National Animal Breeding and Genetics Research Organisation. After much sounding out as to whether the University of Sussex or of Oxford was to be the centre of operations, the University of Edinburgh came up with an attractive offer which would see Waddington translated to the Buchanan Chair of Genetics, housed in the Institute of Animal Genetics, at Kings Buildings.
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While these negotiations were afoot, Waddingtons group was temporarily housed in the Hendon Golf Clubhouse. I had also joined Waddingtons group, and Eric and I found ourselves sharing a large room in the golf club to serve as laboratory. We got on very well from the beginning. After a good deal of discussion we decided to collaborate. We had a similar sense of humour and complementary scientific backgrounds, while neither of us took ourselves too seriously; essential ingredients for long term collaboration. We started work with Drosophila melanogaster under the most primitive conditions and at the height of one of the worst winters on record, when the power to our single incubator was often cut off. By 1947, however, we were comfortably installed in the Institute of Animal Genetics and could embark on our long-term study on the inheritance of body size in Drosophila, based on the measurement of thorax length. A series of joint papers grew out of experiments on the effects of long-term selection, inbreeding, crossing strains, etc., all of which had a bearing on the interpretation of the results of livestock and poultry breeding. These appeared as successive studies in Quantitative Inheritance. Since housing was scarce and expensive, the ARC had hired Mortonhall House, a large
mansion on the southern outskirts of Edinburgh to house Waddingtons scientific staff and their families, since the accommodation included suites suited for family occupation as well as single rooms on the top storey. Waddington entertained the slightly romantic notion of life in a college atmosphere, with everyone dining at a long table with himself at the head. Eric and Edith had a comfortable flat. Although Mortonhall solved the immediate housing problem, in due course, communal living, especially under the trying conditions of rationing, proved a less than tranquil existence in which tensions and stresses originating in the laboratory became entwined with the domestic scene. As soon as it became feasible, families drifted out to their own accommodation in Edinburgh, but not before Edith produced her first born, Antonia. The Reeves first moved to Rosebery Crescent, where they stayed for ten years, during which time Simon and Jessica were added to the family. Later they moved to Grosvenor Crescent, not far away, where they spent the rest of their lives. In 1975 Eric was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. As time passed, Erics and my interests tended to diverge and he branched into microbial genetics, especially of Klebsiella, while I opted for ecological genetics. An
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important development was the foundation [in 1960] of a new Genetics Journal, Genetical Research, published by Cambridge University Press. At first, the Journal of Genetics was the preferred outlet for our research. But this was owned and edited by J. B. S. Haldane, who pursued his editorial duties at a glacial pace and was the source of everlasting frustration. Hence the drive for a replacement journal which Eric was invited to edit, a task which he undertook for 36 years with unremitting care and attention to clarity and respect for the English language. Many an author benefited from his advice. The Journal of Genetics was taken by the Haldanes to India [where it is still co-published by Springer and the Indian Academy of Sciences]. Towards the end of his career, Eric was invited to organise and edit the Encyclopaedia of Genetics, a Nature-sized volume of some 900 pages. This was a mammoth undertaking which entailed an immense amount of correspond-
ence, since his aim was to obtain authoritative, lively and readable articles from leading geneticists right across the field. Shortly after publication, the rights were bought by the giant American firm Taylor and Francis, who paid the editor and contributors all that they were owed. They had an eye for quality. So much for Eric Reeves varied and distinguished scientific career. What of the man? He was a person of high principle in the conduct of human affairs. He displayed an unruffled, tolerant attitude and was not easily moved to anger. A devoted husband and father, he enjoyed the company of friends, was a keen tennis player and never happier than in the embellishing of a comic anecdote. He was in all respects a very civilized person whose passing is a loss to all who knew him. He is survived by Antonia, Simon and Jessica. Forbes W Robertson
Eric Cyril Raynold Reeve. Born 14 September 1913. Elected FRSE 1975. Died 14 December 2011.
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Geoffrey Edwin Rickman 9 October 19328 February 2010 Geoffrey Rickman, Emeritus Professor of Roman History at the University of St Andrews, was a man of great wit and humour. He was also a remarkable scholar, an inspiring teacher, a wise administrator, and a major figure in the life of two great institutions of learning, the University of St Andrews and the British School at Rome. Geoffrey Rickman was born on 9 October 1932 at Chert, a hill sanatorium and cantonment, sixty-five miles from the Khyber Pass and thirty-four miles south east of Peshawar, in what was then the Naushahra district of the North West Frontier Province of British India, now the HQ of the Special Service Group of the Pakistan army. He was the third of four brothers, the second of whom died in India. When he was two years old, the family returned to England and settled in Winchester, where his fourth brother, Harry, was born. There he attended a local primary school and then, after passing the scholarship examination at the second attempt, Peter Symonds School, a voluntary controlled grammar school for boys in Winchester. From Winchester, he proceeded with a State Scholarship to Brasenose College Oxford in 1951, where he took a First-class degree in Literae Humaniores in Trinity Term 1955. After his graduation, he did his National Service from 1955 to 1957, most of which was spent in the Joint Services School for Linguists, first at Bodmin and then at a disused airfield outside the fishing village of Crail in the East Neuk of Fife. In 1957 he returned to Oxford, where he studied for the Diploma in Classical Archaeology, which he completed in one year rather than the usual two and which was awarded with distinction in 1958. His choice of the classical archaeology diploma marked a significant change in his approach to ancient history, and one which was to characterise his work from then on. Although he had shown himself a skilled practitioner in the style of history which was then dominant, especially in Oxford, of scrupulous investigation and interpretation of the ancient literary sources, he found himself, as a result of his two years away from the world of academic scholarship, dissatisfied with it as means of discovering the realities of the ancient world. Now, and increasingly over the rest of his career, he wanted to know not only what the literary remains of antiquity could tell us,
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but what actually happened; and it was this that directed him towards the examination of the archaeological record. Thus, after his success in the Diploma in Classical Archaeology, he proceeded to the British School at Rome (BSR), aided by the award by the Craven Committee of the Henry Francis Pelham Studentship in 1958, to work on the granaries (horrea) of the port of Rome at Ostia, which was the basis for a DPhil Thesis, entitled The Design, Structure and Organisation of Horrea under the Roman Empire, supervised by Ian Richmond. His year at the BSR was to prove a turning point in many ways. A different non-verbal world of effort and achievement was opened up, as he wrote later in the Schools Centenary volume. Perhaps more importantly still, it was in this year that Geoffrey, returning briefly to England, married Anna Wilson, whom he had first met nine years earlier when she was a pupil at St Swithuns School in Winchester, and they took a honeymoon trip to Greece before returning to the BSR. They returned to Oxford later that year, and Geoffrey held a Junior Research Fellowship at The Queens College Oxford for the next three years. This enabled him to complete his DPhil Thesis, which was examined by Sheppard Frere and Russell Meiggs, both of whom were to provide invaluable
help in the preparation of the publications which emerged from it. The viva took place in February 1963, but by this time Geoffrey and Anna had moved to St Andrews on Geoffreys appointment to a Lectureship in Ancient History. This was to be his home for the rest of his life. When Geoffrey began teaching at St Andrews, he was a one-man department, a relatively insignificant island, overlooked by the towering cliffs of Greek and Humanity. Over the next thirty-five years he effectively created the Department of Ancient History. That is not to say that he began the department. The first lecturer in Ancient History at St Andrews was Peter Brunt, appointed to St Andrews in 1947 and later Camden Professor in Oxford, and he was followed by E. S. Stavely and Ursula Hall, both of whom made important contributions to the discipline. Moreover, Brunt collected around him a remarkable set of colleagues, some of whom remained in St Andrews in the flourishing and supportive milieu which he established, while others went on to be equally successful elsewhere. It is no disrespect to any of these, however, to say that Ancient History in St Andrews, and the esteem with which it is regarded in the world of classical scholarship across the globe, is Geoffreys creation.
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Outwith St Andrews, Geoffreys best known academic work is contained in two books and a series of just over a dozen articles. In terms of sheer bulk, this is a not a large output; but its significance is far greater than its size. His first publication, the book Roman Granaries and Store Buildings, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971), was based on his DPhil Thesis. Such works often reveal their origins only too clearly in a worthy if somewhat stilted style, more suitable for examiners than for subsequent readers, and in a relentless concentration on the topic in hand. These fears were recorded by one reviewer as he took up the book he was to review; however, as he went on to say, it turned out to be so well written and the author so capable of drawing out the human implications of the buildings that it proved, to the present reviewer at least, one of the most interesting books read recently. (Peter Salway, Roman Storehouses, Classical Review n.s. 24, (1974), 116119, p.117). The reviews at the time were not, of course, uniformly favourable; Geoffrey was particularly mortified by the observation by J. K. Anderson that he hoped that the Vale of Strathmore would not become standard usage: Strath was selfexplanatory ( J. K. Anderson, Classical Philology 68, (1973), 234235); but the value of the
book was widely recognised both for its subject matter and for its accessibility and it was predicted that it would long remain the standard work on the topic. And so it has remained. Nine years later he produced a second book, The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980), largely written up during a three-month spell at the BSR during a period of study leave. Although this is a very different book from his first, covering in a more discursive style the vast question of the provisioning of the largest city of antiquity across half a millennium, its basic approach is the same. What he attempted to do was to produce a readable narrative, unclogged by too much scholarship but setting out a large selection of the evidence available, and drawing attention to the problems which seem to me particularly important and worth discussion. In this he undoubtedly succeeded. It was a remarkable and pioneering piece of work, the first to appear in English on its subject, and has proved its worth, both in giving access to students to the complexities of the methods, the politics and the economics of so essential a part of the life of Rome and the Roman world, and in promoting and provoking the studies of other scholars, which have become increasingly numerous in the decades since its publication.
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After his work on the corn supply, it was perhaps inevitable that Geoffrey should turn his attention to the ports of the Mediterranean. Between 1985 and 2008, he published ten articles on Roman ports, with the original intention of writing a book on the subject. As time went by (and as he was increasingly engaged with the administration of his university) he became ever more aware of the immensity of his project and, although he has left copious notes as well as the typically vivid and astute accounts to be found in his preparatory publications, it became increasingly unlikely that it would ever be finished. After the onset of the pulmonary fibrosis which led to his death two years later, he wrote no more on the subject. By then he knew (though was surprised to know) the respect in which he was held by his colleagues. He had been a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London since 1966 and twice served on the Council of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (in 19701972 and 19881991), but was genuinely astonished to be elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1989. He was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2001. In 2002, in his speech at his retirement as Chairman of the British School at Rome Council, Geoffrey Rickman declared I have
been a very lucky man. I have loved two institutions and one woman in my life, and it has been my good fortune to have spent most of my life with all three the University of St Andrews, the British School at Rome, and my wife Anna. The importance to him of the BSR has already been noted, but his support and untiring work for the School went far beyond the early years in which he found such inspiration there. A regular visitor at the School and a continuing encourager of those whom he met there, he became a member of the BSRs Faculty of Archaeology, History and Letters in 1979 and Chairman of the Faculty from 1983 to 1987. He also strongly supported one of the BSRs most significant recent archaeological projects, the investigation of the site near Fiumicino simply known as Portus, the Port, and the network of ports connected to it. Following his retiral from St Andrews in 1997, he became Chairman of the Schools Council and, with the then Director, Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, oversaw and enabled the most significant development of its buildings since the original construction in 1916: the library extension, a new lecture theatre and internal redevelopment and external improvement, utterly transforming the School.
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At St Andrews, his acute intelligence and sense of duty, and above all his integrity, made him an outstanding administrator. When the three departments of Greek, Humanity and Ancient History were brought together in a single School in 1990, he was the obvious choice for its first Head; and two years later, he was appointed to the office of Master of the United College, which had in earlier years involved the responsibility for discipline of students in the Faculties of Arts and Science, but which now included far wider responsibilities. As such, he oversaw major changes in the university, including the restructuring of the teaching structures, and achieved them with his inimitable combination of tact, incisiveness and good humour. As a scholar (a word he would have hated), an educator and an administrator, Geoffrey Rickman was outstanding; but that gives only a partial picture of the man. Though he always claimed to be inherently lazy, his zest for the
exploration of the realities of the ancient world and for communicating them to his students, and his love for and practical devotion to the University of St Andrews and the BSR, give the lie to this oft-repeated misapprehension of himself. He was cultured in ways that are not always those of a university professor, with a particular and abiding love of opera. He swam whenever he could (including visits to the elderly Infirmary Street baths when visiting Edinburgh as an external examiner); and he would regularly take himself down to the West Sands at St Andrews to walk up and down its two-mile length to clear his head and sort out problems, whether academic or administrative. He was a rich and complex man, and an essential part of that complexity was a simple integrity. I am most grateful to Mrs Anna Rickman, Mr Harry Rickman and Professors Jill Harries and Christopher Smith for their help in preparing this note.
Geoffrey Edwin Rickman, MA, DPhil (Oxon), FSA, FBA. Born 9 October 1932. Elected FRSE 2001. Died 8 February 2010.
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Thomas Neilson Risk 13 September 192227 June 2012 At a time when the reputation of bankers is even lower than that of politicians, it is appropriate to remember Sir Thomas Risk, Governor of the Bank of Scotland from 1981 to 1991, as a professional of impeccable integrity and an acute sense of rectitude. When I last talked to him, in March, he was movingly heartbroken about the behaviour of those now in charge of cherished banks, and ashamed of their treatment of customers who had put their trust in them. Part of the trouble is that in my day the bank bosses had been brought up in good traditions, many of them starting as tellers. Now, too often, the decision makers have been brought in from backgrounds far from conversant with the ethics of banking. Professor Sir John Shaw, Governor of the Bank of Scotland from 1999 to 2001 and deputy for eight years before that, and therefore in a position to know, recalled to me: Tom Risk epitomises the end of an era, in the sense that he carried into his business affairs in every action a sense of responsibility for the public interest. Some surnames are uncannily appropriate to the role in life of their bearers; Risk emerged as the
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antithesis of his surname. He epitomised the probity and sound judgement of the Scottish financial institutions and particularly, as Chairman of the Edinburgh International Festival Endowment Fund, devoted much time, energy, and expertise to underpinning the arts. He once told me that if he had a hero, it might have been Lorenzo de Medici. Thomas Nielson Risk was the son of a Glasgow lawyer and an Aberdonian mother. His father Ralph had won an MC in Flanders in the First World War, and inculcated into Risk and his brother John, with whom I worked closely as treasurer of the group against Scottish devolution in the late 1970s that boys could best serve their country in war by using their brains. Like so many of his generation, Risks career was interrupted by war. Entering Glasgow University, he joined the University Air Squadron. An exceptional athlete, he represented Glasgow at the University Athletics Championships at Aberdeen in 1941. He finished a close second on the track to George Carstairs, later Professor of Psychiatry at Glasgow, but ahead of the economist Sir Alan Peacock.
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Weeks later Risk volunteered for the RAF, showing such aptitude that he was chosen as a pilot to train with the US Navy at Pensacola, Florida. The Americans advantage was that they had good methods, but at that time most of them had little experience of war, he recalled. Pensacola gave Risk an easy rapport with the US business and banking leaders whom he was to meet later in life. Risk was assigned to the Big Cats, the Catalina flying boats; patrolling the North Atlantic in boats of 16-18 hours flying time meant that men based at places like Macrihanish had a pretty arduous war. The RAF held on to Risk when many were allowed to go to university, and he served with the RAF Volunteer Reserve. He maintained a lifelong interest in the welfare of RAF personnel, and was a trustee of the RAF Museum at Hendon. He returned to Glasgow University in 1948, graduating Bachelor of Law in 1949. He could well have been lost to the legal profession, and perhaps to Scotland, when he received a tempting offer to join the newly formed British Overseas Airways Corporation as a pilot. It must have required an iron determination for a young man of quality to forsake all the glamour and allure of the worlds developing international air routes for the hard benches of the Scots law classroom at Glasgow University.
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After graduation he became a partner in the highly regarded Glasgow law firm of McClay, Murray and Spens, where he remained a partner until 1981. There, he became more interested in the financial sector and was appointed a director of Standard Life in 1965, serving as chairman from 1969-77. Only once, during many occasions and much fine sport in his company, did I see Risk angry. It was when we were passing what used to be the Distillers headquarters in Edinburgh. The Guinness affair, when a group of the companys executives attempted to manipulate share prices, still rankled: to think that Saunders gossiped around that I was a patsy! Immensely courteous, Risk was no patsy. He had become a director of British Linen Bank in 1968, and was one of the driving forces of the 1971 merger with the Bank of Scotland. Six years later he was appointed a Deputy-Governor and in 1981 was the unanimous choice of his senior colleagues for Governor. Under his chairmanship the Bank established itself as one of the most innovative and successful of the UK banks. Largely due to Risks leadership and quality of judicious stubbornness, the Bank not only maintained its independence but miraculously achieved a smooth
takeover of the significant Barclays shareholding. A director of Shell from 1982 to 1992, crucial years for North Sea exploration, Risk had an exceedingly authoritative finger in many industrial and commercial pies director at the thriving Howden Engineering Group from 1971 to 1987, member of the Scottish Industrial Development Board, Chairman of Scottish Financial Enterprise, director of the Bank of Wales, and of the Merchants Trust (19731994). For four difficult years under Mrs Thatcher (19871991), he was a somewhat
thwarted member of the National Economic Development Council. As Honorary President of Glasgows Citizens Theatre, and as an influence on the affairs of the Edinburgh Festival for half a century, he was strongly supported by his wife Suzanne Eiloart, a most spunky lady whom he first met as a WAAF officer senior to him in Ceylon during a posting in 1945. Risk was a man of dry humour. He would say wryly, What a name I have for a central banker! But with Tom Risk there was no risk. Tam Dalyell
Thomas Neilson Risk, BL, LLD(Glas), Drhc(Edin). Born 13 September 1922. Elected FRSE 1988. Died 27 June 2012.
Sir Thomas Risk BL, LLD(Glas), Drhc(Edin) Governer of the Bank of Sotland hailed for his integrity and rectitude First published in The Independent 6 July 2012 Reproduced with permission from The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-thomas-risk-governer-ofthe-bank-of-sotland-hailed-for-his-integrity-and-rectitude-7917856.html
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Gary Francis Roach 8 October 193317 March 2012 Gary Francis Roach was born in South Wales on 8th October 1933. After a short spell in Persia, as it then was, the family returned to Britain at the outbreak of the Second World War and settled in Nottinghamshire, where Gary attended Southwell Minster School. After gaining his BSc Honours degree in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Wales in 1955, he joined the Education Branch of the Royal Air Force, attaining the rank of Flight Lieutenant, before moving on, in 1958, to a post as Research Mathematician with the British Petroleum Company. While working for BP, he studied parttime at Birkbeck College in London and was awarded an MSc with distinction in 1960. In 1961 he accepted his first fulltime academic post as a Lecturer in Mathematics at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), from where he gained his PhD in 1964. His Thesis, entitled Dynamical Theory of Viscous Tides in Close Binary Systems, led to the immediate award of a Fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 196667 he spent a year as a Visiting Professor at the University of British Columbia, where he worked with Robert Adams. On returning to the UK, Gary joined the staff of the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1971 and then to Reader in 1972. He was appointed Professor in 1979, and in 1982 was awarded the prestigious 1825 Chair of Mathematics in succession to Donald Pack. Gary had a long and distinguished research career in Applied Analysis, leading to several books, many papers and contributions to conference proceedings and a number of patents. His first book, Greens Functions, was published in 1970, with a second edition appearing in 1981, and the book remains a standard reference in the field to this day. His experience in industry, both in his early career and through subsequent consultancy with bodies such as the Ministry of Defence, Ferranti, ICI and British Gas, led to the study of many problems of practical importance in which applications of Functional Analysis and Operator Theory played a major role. Much of his consultancy work was not published. Classical scattering theory was a major strand of Garys research.
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He studied linear and nonlinear evolutionary equations, modelling both stationary and time-dependent scattering processes involving moving boundaries and timedependent potentials. A major focus was on inverse problems in radar, sonar and ultrasonic testing. In the course of this research he established many fruitful collaborations, with Ralph Kleinman in Delaware, Rolf Leis in Bonn, George Dassios in Patras, Ioannis Stratis in Athens, and others. Another of Garys research interests was multiparameter spectral theory. Initially inspired by F V Atkinsons seminal 1964 paper and subsequent textbook, Multiparameter Eigenvalue Problems, he collaborated in this area with Patrick Browne and Paul Binding in Calgary and Mel Faierman in Witwatersrand, as well as leading his own group of research students at Strathclyde. From 1979 until his retirement in 1996, Gary led the Applied Analysis group at Strathclyde. He instituted a series of annual workshops, covering the groups various research interests, held in the beautiful surroundings of Ross Priory on the shores of Loch Lomond. Proceedings of these workshops were produced under Garys editorship. Another notable event for the group was hosting a conference on Evolution Equations in 1994, which was a sequel
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to a similar conference organised by Jerry Goldstein and colleagues at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge the previous year. The University of Strathclyde had a long-standing exchange agreement with the Technical University of Lodz which Gary embraced with enthusiasm. There were regular visits by staff in both directions, while three students came from Lodz to study for Strathclyde PhDs under Garys supervision, most notably Jacek Banasiak. In recognition of his contributions to the exchange agreement and his eminence in the field of Applied Analysis, Gary was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (ScD) by Lodz in 1993. This was in addition to the DSc that he was awarded by the University of Manchester in 1991, in recognition of his major research achievements. Gary achieved many other distinctions. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1977. He gained the prestigious award of a Killam Research Professorship in Canada, the first mathematician to receive this accolade. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and of the Royal Society for Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Apart from being a prolific author in his own right, Gary was heavily involved in the editing of journals.
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In particular, he was a founding managing editor of Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences, and continued to oversee its development for over 25 years. He also served on the Editorial Board of Applicable Analysis and on the Advisory Board for the highlyregarded Pitman/Longman series of Monographs and Research Notes. On his retirement in 1996, Gary was appointed Emeritus Professor. He retained an office in the Mathematics Department at Strathclyde for a number of years, continuing his research and his editorships. Books entitled Wave Scattering by Time Dependent Perturbations: An Introduction and An Introduction to Echo Analysis: Scattering Theory and Wave Propagation appeared in 2007 and 2008, respectively. His last book, Mathematical Analysis of Deterministic and Stochastic Problems in Complex Media Electromagnetics, jointly authored with I. G. Stratis & A. N. Yannacopoulos, was published in 2012 by Princeton University Press. Sadly he never saw the book in print. In all, Gary wrote five books, edited eight others, authored over 150 research papers and supervised 20 PhD students. Gary gave loyal and distinguished service to many bodies at local, national and international levels. Within the University of Strath-
clyde, he was Head of the Department of Mathematics from 1980 to 1982, before being appointed the first Dean of the new enlarged Faculty of Science from 1982 to 1985. He served on both the Senate and the University Court. He was convener of the Military Education Committee (joint with the University of Glasgow) from 1992 to 1995. Outwith the University, he was President of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society in Session 198182, and served as Convener of the Conference of Professors of Applied Mathematics and of the University and Colleges Admissions Service (Scotland) Coordinating Committee. He held office in a range of charitable organisations. In 1997, he was Deacon of the Incorporation of Bonnetmakers and Dyers, one of the 14 Incorporated Crafts of the Trades House of Glasgow. In this role he played an active part in the Citys affairs for that year, with an emphasis on charitable work and education. From 1996 he was a member of The Trades House of Glasgow School Craft Project Committee, visiting schools and taking a keen interest in what the pupils produced. At his instigation the Committee introduced an award (The Deacon Conveners Achievement Award) to recognise outstanding work. In 1983 Gary joined The Nomads Club. This body, formed in 1895,
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exists as a forum for discussion and debate, and Gary presented an Annual Paper to the Club, on a matter chosen by the President of the year. This gave Gary considerable pleasure, owing to the subject usually having absolutely nothing to do with Science or Mathematics! He was President in Session 199899 and was made an Honorary Member in 2010. In addition to all these activities, Gary pursued various hobbies. After Mathematics, classical music was perhaps his greatest passion. He was a member of a philatelic club called The Vikings and specialised in the stamps of the Faroe Islands. Another interest was radio-controlled model planes. At flying displays, he acted as air traffic control, ensuring that no two planes were using the same radio frequency. Gary was an enthusiastic and talented sportsman. His first love was rugby and, as a teenager, he was invited to participate in trials for the Welsh Under-21s. Unfortunately, a week before this event, he suffered a serious neck injury
that ended his rugby career. At Strathclyde University in the late 1960s, he was a member of the Staff Squash Club team that was just pipped for the West of Scotland Division 1 Championship. He continued to play squash at a high level until his early 50s. Throughout his life he also had a passion for hillwalking and bagged many Munros. While working for BP, Gary met a young lady from Fife called Isobel Nicol, and they enjoyed over 50 years of happy marriage. For 44 years they lived in the Stirlingshire village of Fintry which Gary loved dearly. Gary was proud of his Welsh heritage. It was perhaps poignantly appropriate that he died in Bannockburn Hospital on 17th March 2012, having that afternoon watched his beloved Welsh rugby team defeat France to win the Grand Slam. Adam McBride
Gary Francis Roach, OStJ, FRAS, FIMA, FRSA. Born 8 October 1933. Elected FRSE 1977. Died 17 March 2012.
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Forbes William Robertson 29 January 19201 June 2012 Forbes was born in Vancouver, Canada. His father, Forbes Proctor Robertson, was an Aberdonian and his mother, ne Amy Dorothy Lancey, of English and German descent, came from London. After a few years the family moved to nearby Seattle, where his father was in the retail trade, and he began school. However, his mother was not at ease in the North America of the l920s and so when he was aged seven the family resettled in Eastbourne, Sussex, closer to his mothers roots. There, he developed his love of the countryside, eagerly observing flowers and butterflies on the South Downs. His father was, however, dissatisfied with the quality of his education, and so when Forbes was 12 the family returned to Aberdeen, to St. Swithin Street, where he and his brother, Angus were enrolled in Robert Gordons College. Forbes was very successful academically and happily developed his many interests, especially in the flowering plants of the Aberdeen area. Living on a Canadian war pension (his father was invalided out of the First World War), life during the 30s was frugal; however, books, especially poetry, were readily available from the public library. Already his aim was to be a trained naturalist.
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Forbes went to Aberdeen University in 1941, aided by a Macdonald Bursary and a Carnegie Fellowship, and received First-class Honours in Zoology in the Natural History Department. He was taught genetics by Cecil Gordon and did an Honours project with Jimmy Sang. The Professor of Natural History at this time was Lancelot Hogben (who later moved to a Chair at Birmingham University), and Forbes was appointed as his assistant and as a Lecturer in Zoology, whilst also serving with the Worcester Home Guard during the latter years of WW2. He obtained his PhD from Birmingham University in 1945. In 1946, Forbes was appointed to the newly-created National Animal Breeding and Genetics Research Organisation (NABGRO), led by Professor R. G. White, an agriculturalist, with C. H. Waddington as Chief Geneticist. It was in NABGROs temporary offices at Hendon Golf Course that he met Eric Reeve, who was to become his collaborator for the next 14 years. Forbes wanted to study quantitative inheritance because, he said, it was little understood and regarded as impossibly difficult, so I thought this was a proper challenge for long-term research, and Eric Reeve had the mathemat-
ical skills to complement Forbes practical experimental ones. Shortly afterwards, NABGRO moved to Edinburgh and the animal geneticists moved into the Universitys Institute of Animal Genetics. Many of the geneticists, including Forbes, for a time lived in an ultimately ill-fated sort of commune in Mortonhall House (now a Garden Centre). Robertson and Reeve revelled in the freedom given them in a dedicated research unit, with an enlightened Director in Waddington who let them follow their own research path. At that time, some evidence for the success of selection had been demonstrated, but there was not much information either on the range of traits and species, or on what was the genetic basis of any response. They worked with the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, extremely suitable for multi-generation selection experiments, and concentrated on measures of body size such as thorax and wing length. Much of the early work was reported by Robertson in a landmark Symposium held at Cold Spring Harbor in 1955, attended by most of the leading figures in quantitative genetics. In experiments replicated over different wild-caught founder populations, they observed responses subsequently obtained in many other labs: selection responses were substan-
tial and similar in different populations; high and low selected lines did not respond at the same rate. Although selection plateaux were reached, they were not due to gene fixation because reversing the direction of response produced a rapid reversal in response, indicating that extreme animals were less fit. Robertson and Reeve published 21 papers altogether, with 13 in the series Studies in Quantitative Inheritance. In recognition of this research, Forbes was awarded his DSc from Edinburgh University in 1955. Subsequently, Forbes concentrated increasingly on the genetics of larval growth itself and, in particular, on how it relates to the environment, such as diet quality, using lines of Drosophila selected for large size or short development time on precisely defined diets. He showed there is a specific stage of growth, the length of which is critically affected by the diet, but after which the duration is tightly controlled although the diet may affect the final size, indicating how animals can adapt to their environment. In the early 1960s, Forbes started to broaden his research, first into ecological genetics and then to biochemical and molecular genetics and finally, after his move to Aberdeen in 1970, into human and medical genetics. Forbes
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published a series of eight papers on the ecological genetics of growth in Drosophila, looking at the interaction between nutrition and selection for body weight, which had relevance to selection in livestock in field situations; other aspects of this research involved different populations and species of Drosophila relating to wild populations By 1966, Forbes had become interested in the biochemical analysis of one of the traits he was working on growth and with Bob Church, a Canadian visitor to his lab, he started dissecting the genetic differences in the components of growth. This widening out to an analysis of the genetic variation in eye pigments and again with visiting scientists (first N. S. Chauhan in 1966 and then Ilse Babette Barthelmess in 1969) showed the alterations in the metabolic pathways involved, even inferring which enzymatic steps might be altered. Forbes also made use of the recently developed starch gel electrophoresis techniques, with his student Robert Semeonoff, to demonstrate widespread polymorphism in an esterase in the field vole, and to demonstrate that the polymorphism was balanced, probably due density-dependent selection. Both of these projects were very early in applying biochemistry to quantitative and population genetics; fields that
have developed enormously since Forbes original studies. In the late 1960s, Forbes was also a pioneer in applying the new techniques of molecular biology to the complex topics that interested him. He was greatly helped by the presence in the Institute of Animal Genetics, in the late 1960s, of leaders in this newly emerging field Max Birnstiel, John Bishop and Ken Jones. He collaborated with all three labs and published a series of six papers, separately with them, ranging from a study of transcription in T4 bacteriohage to a comparison of differences in reiterated DNA sequences by RNADNA hybridisation. I sense that Forbes at this time (196869) believed that biochemical and molecular genetics were beginning to make a dramatic impact, but he could not quite see what direction he should go in to take advantage of this. Forbes was also becoming dissatisfied with the situation in Edinburgh; although by then promoted to Senior Principal Scientific Officer, he felt that the Agricultural Research Council were not investing in the future of the Unit (and indeed the ARC closed it in 1980), and so he started looking for another senior post. By the late 1960s, universities were beginning to expand genetics, often to complement their medical schools, and
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Aberdeen (where Forbes had been brought up) was one of these. After a period of some uncertainty, during which he considered a move to Canada, he was appointed to the Chair and Headship of the new Department in Aberdeen. Forbes was delighted with this, as it presented him with the new scientific challenge he was looking for to extend into another developing area, this time Human Genetics. Although he immediately set about developing new courses for undergraduates, Forbes said that his early days in Aberdeen were spent looking for a suitable project in medical genetics; indeed he published on a number of topics, such as arthritis, chromosomal abnormalities and joint dislocation, until he settled on the relationship of genetic variation in serum lipoproteins and coronary heart disease. This was an important topic in the Northeast (as it is in all of Scotland) and made full use of Forbes mathematical skills and experience in quantitative genetics, as it became clear that it was not only a complex character probably affected by many genes but also one with strong environmental interactions, including nutrition. The main purpose of the work was to establish robust techniques for the study of lipoprotein variation in human populations, and to evaluate the importance of
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such variation in disease risk, particularly coronary heart disease, including the use of nuclear families from northeast Scotland to provide estimates of the genetic contribution to variation in individual lipoprotein classes. From 1976 until his retirement in 1985, he published a series of some 15 papers (almost all with his colleague Alastair Cumming), in which they were able to establish the nature of the genetics of Apolipoprotein E (Apo E) polymorphism and evaluate its specific contribution to lipoprotein variation and to the genetic component of the risk to coronary heart disease. This involved population studies in the northeast of Scotland and analysing the relationship of genetic variation in serum lipoproteins in general and, later, polymorphisms in the specific Apo E system. The importance of lipoprotein concentration as a major risk factor in coronary heart disease was confirmed in subjects born in the northeast of Scotland. Family studies revealed that some of the variation in lipoprotein concentration was inherited; lending support to the idea that the tendency for heart disease to run in families could be due to inheritance of lipid levels. A further population study demonstrated for the first time that one of the Apoliprotein forms, Apo E4, constituted a risk factor for
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coronary heart disease and, in addition, influenced lipoprotein levels in a way which could explain the increased disease risk. During his 15 years in Aberdeen, as well as his medical genetics research and, keeping up some research in Drosophila quantitative genetics, Forbes developed a new area of research in the genetics of rain forest trees, one that foreshadowed his major interest in his retirement. The rain forest project was a collaboration between the University of Aberdeen and the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, and Forbes spent several months in Malaya as part of the project. He made use of his experience in isozymes to study their variation and relationship to important traits, especially in the reproductive pattern of trees, important in the management and conservation of forest resources. As well as interchange of academic staff, the project was also successful in producing six PhD students, and it is often quoted as an early successful model for collaboration between a UK University and one in the developing world. Forbes continuing wide interests in several areas of genetics indicate a broad range of scholarship that is very unusual today, with our typical concentration on tightly- focused areas of research; of his top five quoted papers, two are in human genetics and one
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each in quantitative, molecular and ecological genetics. Emphasising the importance if his work as a whole, his papers are still highly quoted in the literature, nearly 30 years after his retirement a lasting test of their quality and relevance. Forbes retired from his Aberdeen Chair in 1985, although he felt he still had some years-worth of research in him. He did not, however, let retirement stop him. He became active in several public organisations, including the Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh, the Caledonian Horticultural Society and the Scottish Rock Garden Club; but most notably the Royal Society of Edinburgh (he was elected to the Fellowship in 1974). Forbes served the RSE in several capacities (including Vice-President and Meetings Convener) from 1976 to 1993, and he worked hard to increase the credibility of the RSE as a recognised authority in public affairs; he was awarded the RSEs Bicentenary Medal in 1996. At home, he resumed his lifelong interest in botany, embarking on a series of studies of Scottish gardens and gardeners, especially of rock gardens, and between 1997 and 2011 he gradually published three books, some ten papers and various reviews. He pioneered a new type of garden history that focused on the plants and the people who grew them.
He co-authored a Millennium publication on Scottish Rock Gardening in the 20th Century. His book published in 2000, Early Scottish Gardeners and their Plants 16501750, grew out of his curiosity about what was growing in Scottish gardens of the 17th and 18th centuries. His last book, Patrick Neil: Doyen of Scottish Horticulture, was published in 2011, in his 91st year, and also touched on the Scottish Enlightenment. Forbes practised what he preached and developed fine rock gardens, successively at his homes in Inverleith Place (Edinburgh), at West Cults (Aberdeen) and, during his retirement, at Braid Farm Road, back in Edinburgh. And about the man himself? He was gifted with an extraordinary memory and a clear, perceptive and logical mind, spiced with a ready sense of humour that he retained all his life. Red-headed and moustached in his early professional years, he could be quite fiery, although he mellowed considerably with age. He was not afraid to ruffle the feathers of the scientific establishment. Like many of his scientific contemporaries,
he was very hard working and was a staunch supporter of egalitarian principles. During his Birmingham years, for example, he set up the Birmingham Branch of the Association of Scientific Workers, and campaigned for the better treatment of lab technicians. A man of unwavering principle, he was invariably considerate of others. He was known as an outstanding mentor to his many PhD students and younger colleagues. A devoted husband, father and grandfather, he was happiest with his family and closest friends, in whose company he explored many, mostly mountainous, lands near and far, with plants and plant photography never far from mind. He enjoyed the enduring love and wholehearted support of Katherine, his wife for nearly 65 years. He touched the lives of all those who knew him and will be much missed. He is survived by his wife, Katherine, his three children, Alastair, Colin and Fiona, and six grandchildren. I would like to thank, A Robertson, W G Hill and A Cumming, for their help Grahame Bulfield
Forbes William Robertson, BSc, PhD, DSc. Born 29 January 1920. Elected FRSE 1974. Died 1 June 2012.
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Walter George Siller 11 November 192423 October 2011 Walters parents were both medical doctors, his father an oral surgeon and his mother a physician. Born in Leopoldsdorf, Vienna, his childhood was spent in the country in Asparn (near Mistelbach, Lower Austria) for primary schooling and in Vienna at a boarding school for secondary education until the age of 14. In early 1939, as the Second World War loomed, he and his older brother emigrated with a Kindertransport from Vienna to Scotland. His mother (who was of Jewish descent) came later in August 1939. His schooling continued in various schools in Edinburgh and East Lothian as part of the evacuation system at the time. He finished secondary education at the Friends School, Wigton, Cumberland. Walter had a lifetime ambition to be a veterinarian. Before starting his veterinary studies at the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College, Edinburgh in 1944, he worked at Edinburgh Zoo for six months. In 1946 his mother died and in 1947 he broke off from his studies and returned to Austria to see his father. He continued to study at the Veterinary College in Vienna, where he graduated DrMedVet in 1951 and became
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deeply interested in pathology. Returning to Edinburgh, he obtained a temporary post for training in poultry diseases at the then Ministry of Agriculture Veterinary Laboratory, Lasswade, Midlothian, under the direction of the late Dr J.E. Wilson FRSE, and in 1952 he resumed his studies at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies (by then a Faculty of Edinburgh University). In 1954 he obtained a BSc (Vet Sci) and an MRCVS, gaining medals of distinction in pathology, medicine and obstetrics. His research career in poultry pathology started with short spells as a Veterinary Inspector with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Preston, Lancashire, and then as an Assistant Veterinary Investigation Officer at the West of Scotland College of Agriculture (Auchincruive, Ayr). In 1955 he was offered a permanent appointment to carry out original research as Head of a Poultry Pathology Department at the newly-formed ARC Poultry Research Centre, Kings Buildings, Edinburgh, under the Direction of the late Dr A.W. Greenwood (Fellow and twice Vice-President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh). For the next 30 years he undertook research in poultry
pathology, specialising in renal, circulatory and locomotor systems. He published about 100 original papers and book chapters connected with his work and was invited to give lectures in the UK and abroad. In 1962 he was awarded a PhD (from Edinburgh University) and in 1963 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1972 he received a Special Merit Promotion to Senior Principal Scientific Officer. In 1976, during the bicentenary celebrations of the Vienna Veterinary School, he was made a Freeman of the School in recognition of his contributions to veterinary science. In 1981 he shared with a collaborator, Dr P.A.L. Wight, the Tom Newman International Award for the Most Conspicuously Meritorious Contribution to Research in Poultry Husbandry, related to the discovery of the aetiology and pathogenesis of deep pectoral myopathy (Oregon Disease) of turkeys. He retired in 1984. Walter had countless friends and a great sense of humour and he will be remembered as a good teller of jokes, even when his health began to deteriorate during the last two years of his life. To those suspecting memory loss he would comfortingly say dont worry, its normal, its only benign forgetfulness. He loved
the Scottish countryside, in which he did much caravanning and hillwalking, especially with his beloved Labrador dog. He loved fishing for trout and salmon and nurtured bird life. He was passionately fond of classical music, and in his early veterinary education years in Edinburgh, he was Captain of the University Fencing Club and was awarded a Blue for fencing. He was also a keen member of the Scottish Magic Circle. He was a member of the RSPB, the WWF and the Edinburgh Zoological Society, and supported Greenpeace. Fittingly, he collapsed and died whilst feeding birds and squirrels in his garden. He was bilingual, and for 25 years translated veterinary text books from German into English for the Berlin publishing house Paul Parey. This he continued after retiring, when he also learned Italian and Dutch to keep his mind active. In 1954 Walter married Henrietta, and their two children, Peter and Wendy, subsequently produced four grandchildren, to whom he was a devoted grandfather. Sadly, his wife and son predeceased him, in 1978 and 1985 respectively. He is survived by his daughter and by his grandchildren, Fiona, Michael, Richard and Ruth. Peter Lake
Dr Walter George Siller BSc(VetSci), DrMedVet (Vienna), PhD(Edin), MRCVS, FRCPath, Born 11 November 1924. Elected FRSE 1963. Died 23 October 2011.
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Douglas Walter Noble Stibbs 17 February 191912 April 2010 Emeritus Professor Douglas Walter Noble Stibbs was an astronomer and astrophysicist of international standing, who for thirty years held the Napier Chair of Astronomy at the University of St Andrews and the associated post of Director of the University Observatory. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1961 and served as a member of Council from 1970 to 1972. A native of Australia, but with three Scottish grandparents, Walter Stibbs was born in Sydney on 17 February 1919. His father died three years later. He wrote: with only a limited amount of suburban street lighting and no industrial contamination in the atmosphere, I had perfect access to the glorious constellations that surpass by a substantial margin those in the northern hemisphere. Accordingly, my interest in astronomy began at a very early age. Entering the University of Sydney in 1937, he was awarded the Deas-Thomson Scholarship in Physics in 1940, graduated BSc with first class honours and the University Medal in Physics in 1942, and MSc in 1943. As a research assistant at the Commonwealth Solar Observato317
ry on Mount Stromlo, Canberra, during the Second World War, he contributed to some of the earliest optical munitions work undertaken there. He designed a folded optical system for a gun sight, which went into production later in the war, as well as a sun compass for use in desert warfare. In 1942, at the age of twenty three, he was appointed assistant lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Physics at New England University College, Armidale later to become the University of New England. This period,194245, was interspersed with wartime research work on submarine detection for the Royal Australian Air Force. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1943. In 1945 he returned to Mount Stromlo, where he held the position of Senior Scientific Officer. Some of his research papers published at this time have become classics, opening new horizons for stellar physics. In 1948 he started writing a highlyregarded textbook, The Outer Layers of a Star, co-authored with Dr (later Sir) Richard Woolley, which was published in Oxford by the Clarendon Press in 1953. This dealt mainly with the analysis of the observable radiation from a
star, particularly with reference to the formation of the continuum and the line spectrum. In these early years, Walter Stibbs produced some of the most significant astronomical research of his time, both observational and theoretical. In 1949 he married Margaret Calvert, also a science graduate of the University of Sydney, and the following year he was awarded the Radcliffe Travelling Fellowship in Astronomy by the University of Oxford, to carry out observations at the Radcliffe Observatory in Pretoria and to work at the Oxford University Observatory with Professor Plaskett. In 195152, at the Radcliffe Observatory, he undertook extensive observational work, using the Radcliffe 74-inch telescope, on Cassegrain spectroscopy of Cepheid variables in the southern hemisphere. All his observations were made in the days when astronomers had to wear padded clothing on winter nights, before the days of electronic controls inside warm rooms. A member of New College Oxford 195254, he graduated DPhil in 1954 for his work on Galactic Cepheid Variables and the rotation of the Galaxy. It was mainly for this, as well as for subsequent work, that in 1956 he was awarded Oxford Universitys Johnson Memorial Prize and Gold Medal for the Advancement of
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Astronomy and Meteorology, thereby joining the ranks of distinguished previous recipients who included E A Milne and G L Camm. He wrote several papers and in addition worked on integral equations with Professor Titchmarsh in the Mathematical Institute, and lectured on galactic dynamics at the Oxford University Observatory. Walter subsequently worked for four years for the UK Atomic Energy Authority at Aldermaston, establishing a research group working in astrophysics in a classified context. His two daughters were born during this time in England. In 1955, the Napier Chair of Astronomy at St Andrews University had fallen vacant following the retirement of Professor Freundlich, and in 1959 the University Court decided to fill the vacant Chair. Walter was appointed to the Chair and to the Directorship of the University Observatory. Several years of intense administrative work in the sixties saw the completion of the 38-inch James Gregory CassegrainSchmidt telescope (named after James Gregory, the first appointee to the Regius Chair of Mathematics at St Andrews) and substantial extensions to the University Observatory, including the Napier Building with two more research telescopes, and a new workshop. The 38-inch telescope was the largest optical
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telescope in the United Kingdom at the time, and with his research students he used it effectively on major observational programmes on distant galaxies at the forefront of research in surface photometry. With the help of Principal (later Sir) Malcolm Knox, he was also responsible for the installation and operation of the first-ever computer in St Andrews, an IBM Model II system with the largest magnetic core storage then available with that system, with three units of disc storage including the monitor, and with high-speed card input and printer. It was housed initially at the University Observatory and inaugurated in 1964. At that time it was the largest system of its kind in Europe. He recruited several new staff members and updated the undergraduate syllabus, as well as resuming the training of research students. He became concerned at the degradation of astronomical observing conditions at the University Observatory by badlydesigned street lights and other outdoor lighting, and used his understanding of light-scattering in the atmosphere to suggest improvements, which also saved energy and gave superior lighting on the ground. The St Andrews Town Council adopted these proposals for street lighting. His own research had to take second place during this time. On the
occasion of his retirement in 1989, a colleague wrote: He actually appeared to relish the task of administration, and was quick to seize the opportunities afforded in the sixties, for the development of the sciences in particular, to greatly expand the activities of the Department of Astronomy. He was tireless and successful in his pursuit of, and advocacy for, the resources to acquire additional staff, premises and equipment. He always kept closely in touch with all that was going on and maintained a lively and informed interest in the work of his colleagues, whom he was ever ready to encourage and support. Behind the scenes Professor Stibbs showed a deep concern for the welfare of the individual, student, staff or other who suffered any misfortune or needed help. Concurrently with his work at the University Observatory, as well as service on Faculty, Senate and numerous committees within St Andrews University, Walter also made substantial contributions organisationally to the wider world of Astronomy. As well as membership of the American Astronomical Society, in the seventies he was a member of the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society and its Vice-President (197273). He was Chairman of the Finance Committee of the International Astronomical Union
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and prepared and presented three Triennial Budgets to three General Assemblies of the IAU. He was also Chairman of the Astronomy Policy and Grants Committee of the former Science Research Council in succession to Sir Fred Hoyle, and Chairman of the Science Research Council (SRC) Northern Hemisphere Planning Committee in 197275. At that time he prepared the scientific case and technical specification for the La Palma Observatory and its 4.2-metre William Herschel Telescope, during the critical phase when British astronomy was in a state of flux concerning institutions, personnel and research direction, which the SRC sought to control. During this time, the AngloAustralian Telescope was under construction and he was present at its inauguration in Australia by the Prince of Wales in 1974. He was also a member of several other SRC Committees and a member of the Council itself from 1972 to 1976. He held several visiting Professorial appointments at Yale University Observatory, the University of Utrecht and the Collge de France, where he was awarded the Mdaille du Collge in 1976. He was also a member of the Centre National de la Rcherche Scientifique (CNRS) Committee, Observatoire de Haute Provence, of which he was the first foreign member.
Walter Stibbs was a man of many talents. He was an accomplished organist and a fine sportsman. He played cricket for the Berkshire Gentlemen during his early years in England and he took up marathon running at the age of sixty two, when most people are thinking of conserving their energies, taking part in all the major events from Berlin to Boston. Music and photography were his chief recreations. He was particularly interested in organ music, and whether at home or abroad would often seek out churches of particular interest. In 1989 Walter retired from the University of St Andrews and in 1990, after an absence of nearly forty years, and at the age of seventy, he returned to live in Canberra, where he became a Visiting Professor in the Australian National University. For some years he contributed honours courses in the Mathematical Sciences Institute and also worked in the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Mount Stromlo Observatory. The disastrous bushfire of 2003 destroyed his study at Mount Stromlo, which contained many of his historic and irreplaceable books and papers, and in the same year he also suffered the tragic loss of his younger daughter. Soon after this his eyesight began to fail, and shortly after his ninety-first
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birthday he passed away, on 12 April 2010. A colleague wrote to me after his death: During the years that Professor Stibbs was the Napier Professor of Astronomy in the University of St Andrews, the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics was relatively small, but the true measure of its success is to be found in its work in teaching and research and the impact of these both within and
beyond St Andrews. It turned out a remarkable number of successful astronomers and some of the most important and innovative projects of recent years are led by Walters former students, who may be found in observatories and universities worldwide. I have used Walters own records and I thank Dr T R Carson and Dr T Lloyd-Evans for their contributions to this Notice. M L C Stibbs
Douglas Walter Noble Stibbs, BSc, MSc (Sydney), DPhil(Oxon), FRAS. Born 17 February 1919. Elected FRSE 1961. Died 12 April 2010.
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John Arthur Swaffield 4 March 194321 February 2011 Professor John Swaffield, Professor Emeritus and Head of the School of the Built Environment at Heriot-Watt University between 2002 and 2008, was an engineer and an academic who firmly believed in enabling learning through the application of theory and technology. He pioneered the application of engineering and science in his chosen field of water conservation and drainage engineering, and he established a number of highly successful Building Services Engineering undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes. Many will also know that he held the role, between 2008 and 2009, of President of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE). Growing up in Aberystwyth, John soon recognised his talent for engineering, his love of aircraft and his desire to seek a career in a discipline defined by real-life challenges. He studied Aeronautical Engineering at Bristol University, graduating in 1965, following which he undertook his PhD at The City University, London. It was during his time at Bristol, as an undergraduate, that he met and married Jean, then a trainee nurse, and together they became proud parents to Toni and Joanna, born in 1969 and 1970 respectively. Having secured his PhD, which focused on pressure surge propagation in aircraft fuel systems, John returned to Bristol, this time to Filton, where he led the Concorde fuel system test programme with the British Aircraft Corporation. These years marked a defining stage in Johns career and one that he found both hugely exciting and rewarding. However, a career in academia beckoned, and in 1972 John joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at Londons Southbank Polytechnic. There he taught fluid mechanics to building services engineers before moving to Brunel University in 1974, where he set up the Building Services component of the Brunel Degree in Building Technology. He also initiated the Brunel MSc in Building Services in 1976. It was during his time at Brunel University that John first became involved in the application of theory and engineering principles within the field of water conservation, and he would subsequently recall the extensive laboratory test rigs housed at Brunel that he would come to own as part of his laboratory equipment at Heriot-Watt Univer-
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sity. John also began to extend his research, through funding awarded by the World Bank, to underdeveloped regions worldwide. In addition, it was around this time that John first attended the annual symposium of the CIBW62 Working Group. Run by the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction, Working Group 62 addresses all aspects of water supply and drainage for buildings. John soon became a Scientific Committee member for this group and a stalwart of its annual meetings; indeed, he participated in the latest meeting held in Sydney, Australia in November 2010. John joined Heriot-Watt in 1985, taking up the William Watson Chair of Building Engineering. Here he also introduced undergraduate and postgraduate Building Services Engineering programmes, and in 1988 became Head of the then Department of Building Engineering and Surveying; a post that he held again from 1995 to 2002. As Dean of Engineering between 1991 and 1993, John also had an impact on the wider University and, to many who worked with him, this cemented the view that when the University restructured in 2002, John was the perfect choice for the role of Head of the School of the Built Environment - a School that combined the Building
Engineering and Surveying and Civil Engineering departments at Heriot-Watt and the School of Planning and Housing from the Edinburgh College of Art. Securing continuous funding (19892011) from UK research councils and from government and industrial sources, John was able to firmly establish a research profile that became recognised worldwide. He pioneered the use of both low-flow sanitary appliances and the application of numerical simulation techniques to assess the performance of building drainage and ventilation systems. Building on the use of the method of characteristics technique, previously applied to large-scale pressure surge problems, John developed techniques to enable the simulation of pressure transients in building drainage ventilation systems and attenuating flows in drainage pipework. Subsequent analysis allowed the introduction of suppression and control strategies. Solutions included those developed in response to the SARS fatalities in Hong Kong in 2003 and a drainage and ventilation solution for the London O2 Dome, as well as a remote noninvasive depleted trap seal detection system. John strongly believed that the support and guidance of industry colleagues was vital to success, and he established and maintained a
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number of long-standing stakeholder relationships. He published his research widely, and was recognised internationally as the expert in water conservation and drainage engineering. John was also heavily involved in organisations outside HeriotWatt. Particularly noteworthy was his significant contribution to Defras Water Regulations Advisory Committee, a Committee he chaired between 1995 and 2003 and one that was responsible for legislation introduced in 1999 and 2001 that led to major water conservation progress. He was also a member of the Building Regulations Part H and G Working Groups and of the 2006 Office of Science and Innovation (OSI) Review of Science at the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG). In addition, he was the CIBSE-nominated member of the UKs Research Assessment Exercise Panel for the Built Environment in 1996 and 2001. Within CIBSE, John participated in many committees, including the Education, Training and Membership Committee and the Research Committee. He also chaired the Institutions Accreditation Panel until 2008 and, from 1993 to 2008, the Editorial Panel of the Building Services Engineering Research and Technology journal. In addition, between 2002 and 2006, he chaired the editorial board of the Building
Services Journal. He was delighted to be elected CIBSE President (20072008), a time during which he championed sound engineering thinking as the basis of all good solutions. Given his background in water conservation, he was also a strong supporter of CIBSEs Society of Public Health Engineers. John thoroughly enjoyed living in the city of Edinburgh, and took particular delight in the vibrant atmosphere of the city during the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival; his interest for jazz sitting comfortably alongside that of political and military history and science fiction. His colleagues often commented in jest that he was an honorary Scot, and he was often mistaken by international colleagues as Scottish. Throughout his academic career, John authored a number of books, many of which became the bible for those working in field. In addition, Fluid Mechanics by Douglas, Gasiorek & Swaffield, now in its 6th edition, became hugely popular as an undergraduate standard. John retired from Heriot-Watt in 2008, but retained a part-time research contract, thus freeing up time to complete Transient Airflow in Building Drainage Systems, a textbook that drew heavily on the work of Johns research group and that he had long sought to pen. Johns retirement also allowed him more
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time to spend with his wife, Jean time increasingly enjoyed in their cottage in Old Cambus in the Scottish borders. John was, without doubt, a pioneer in the field of water conservation and the application of numerical modelling techniques to building drainage problems. This led to him being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2004, and he was appointed Convenor of the RSEs Engineering Sectional Committee from 2008. Through-
out his career, one that saw him supervise 21 PhD students, he was generous in his praise of colleagues and never failed to recognise the contribution of those he worked with. He was a man of remarkable knowledge and integrity and was, without exception, much respected. John is survived by his wife Jean, his daughter Joanna, and his grandchildren Lorenzo and Isabella. John was predeceased, in 2006, by his eldest daughter Toni. Garry Pender
John Arthur Swaffield BSc(Bristol), PhD, MPhil(City), MRAeS, MCIBSE, FCIWEM, CEng. Born 4 March 1943. Elected FRSE 2004. Died 21 February 2011.
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Charles James Taylor 3 July 19129 January 2010. After a distinguished career in forest conservation in West Africa, Charles Taylor returned in 1954 to the University of Edinburgh, retiring in 1979 as Professor of Forestry. Across the world, he will be remembered by hundreds of graduates whom he advised as their Director of Studies and welcomed to his home but, arguably, his lasting legacy is in the field of technical education below university level. He possessed great strength of character, a man of principle and clarity of purpose, coupled with wisdom, promptness of action and decisiveness. Charles James Taylor was born in Shanghai, into a family of master mariners and marine engineers, and educated at the Shanghai Public School for Boys, the multiracial character of which was to have a lasting influence upon him. Scots influences were strong, and in the Scottish Company of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps he was a piper. On his fathers retirement, the family returned to Britain and Charles entered the University of Edinburgh, graduating BSc (Forestry) in 1934. As a student he was known as China Taylor, to distinguish him from another of the same surname. The sobriquet was doubly appropriate because Charles could, at will, present a completely inscrutable face. He spent a further year at Edinburgh in postgraduate study in Botany, before going to Hertford College at Oxford on the Colonial Probationers Course. He then joined the Colonial Forest Service in 1936, to serve in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Whilst an Assistant Conservator of Forests, Charles enlisted in the Gold Coast Local Forces, part of the Territorial Army. From 1939 to 1945 he saw active service with the 1st Bn Gold Coast Regiment, part of the Royal West African Frontier Force, against the Italians in East Africa, Somaliland and Abyssinia, and against the Japanese in Burma, rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel. He was awarded the MBE (Military) in 1941 and the ED. Back in the Gold Coast as Conservator of Forests in charge of research, he began the study of the forest vegetation that led to the publication of two major works, The Vegetation Zones of the Gold Coast, published in 1952, and Synecology and Silviculture in Ghana (1960), which were the basis of his Thesis for his PhD Degree at Edinburgh.
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Charles left the Colonial Forest Service in 1954 and was appointed to a Lectureship in the Department of Forestry at Edinburgh University, when the Chair was held by Professor Mark Anderson. He had particularly happy memories of his association with Anderson, whom he held in the highest regard as a scientist and as a man. When Anderson died suddenly in 1961, Charles became Acting Head of the Department, a position he held until December 1963, when a new Professor was appointed to the renamed Chair of Forestry and Natural Resources. It was largely due to Charles tenacity that the title retained Forestry. Extraordinarily, he was to serve in the same acting capacity for two further periods in 1971 and 1974. His leadership of the Department in these interregna ensured they were not stagnant inactions but periods of further development. His management style was active and decisive. Colleagues recall one Board of Studies convened, business transacted, AOB and closed, all in four minutes. In the first interregnum, Charles not only led the Department of Forestry, but also undertook the heavy task of editing and bringing to publication the late Professor Mark Andersons History of Scottish Forestry (Nelson, 1967). Anderson had left a mountain of material, some typescript (single-
spaced and no margins, as was his wont), and much in his minute handwriting. Charles not only undertook the editing of this twovolume thirteen-hundred-page scholarly work, but also raised the financial backing for it. In 1976 Charles was appointed to a Personal Chair of Forestry in the University and in the following year was awarded the CBE for services to forestry. He had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1963. For twenty years at Edinburgh, Charles Taylor served as the Director of Studies, an appointment he greatly enjoyed because of the opportunity it provided to be involved with young people. Undergraduates several hundred over those years were entertained to coffee and sandwiches in the family home (his wife, Peggie, was an expert baker), hospitality that meant much to those far from home. The Department was unusually cosmopolitan: on one occasion the undergraduates and postgraduates comprised over fifty nationalities, with several Commonwealth countries sending scholars as they expanded their forest services. In such circumstances, the Director of Studies was particularly influential and Charles deep interest in people, coupled with an excellent memory, enabled him to maintain links with graduates throughout the
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world over many years, to the benefit of the University and of later graduates. For fifteen years he led the final year students visits to the forests of France, Belgium and Switzerland, tours that many graduates regard as the highlight of their university education. While his professional work in the Gold Coast was on the ecology and silviculture of tropical forest, Charles was deeply involved in furthering the education and training of local foresters. His textbook on Tropical Forestry (OUP, 1962) was intended principally for forest rangers and, when he returned to Britain, he had similar concerns for the professionalism and training of foresters of all grades. He became active in the affairs of the forestry societies and committees concerned with education and technical training. For a half-century, the Forestry Commission had run schools for their own staff requirements, but there was no equivalent organised training for those in the private sector. Charles was the leader in providing nationally organised forestry education and qualification below university level, and was instrumental in getting established City and Guilds of London Institute certificates in Forestry and the Ordinary National Diploma. Consequently, the Forestry Commission schools closed and their place was taken
by the Forest Colleges at Newton Rigg and Inverness. He served as President of the Royal Scottish Forestry Society from 1973 to 1975. Charles was also highly effective in raising professional standards at senior levels. He was concerned that the existing Society of Foresters of Great Britain was not functioning at the fully professional level intended by its founder, Mark Anderson. He influenced the changing of the Society to the Institute of Foresters, serving as its President from 1977 to 1979, providing the basis for the subsequent granting of Chartered status. His important contribution was recognised by the award of the Institutes Medal. Gardening was Charles principal hobby, beginning in West Africa, flowering at Cluny Gardens in Edinburgh and, in failing health and failed eyesight, even in the patio garden at York. He was always an active member of his church, inducted as an elder in the Church of Scotland in 1956. Above all, however, Charles Taylor was a family man. He married Margaret Bark in February 1940 and when Peggie died in December 2009, they were within two months of their seventieth wedding anniversary, a glowingly successful and devoted partnership. There are three sons, grandchildren and great-grand-
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children. It was typical of the man that, after experiencing many separations from his family, caused by war and later by service in the tropics, Charles firmly rejected the offer of a prestigious overseas appointment, solely on the grounds it would have meant
further separations. At Peggies funeral, he said he would soon follow. He died on 9 January 2010 in York, aged 97. Colleagues and friends remember a fine man. William Mutch
Charles James Taylor MBE (Military), ED, CBE. BSc, PhD(Edinburgh). FICFor. Born 3 July 1912. Elected FRSE 1963. Died 9 January 2010.
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David Prestwich Tunstall 15 July 193926 August 2012 Dr David Prestwich Tunstall joined the University of St Andrews as a Lecturer in Physics on 1 January 1966. Previously he had studied at the University College of North Wales in Bangor, where in 1959 he graduated with a First Class Honours BSc in Physics, being placed at the top of his year. He remained at Bangor to do a PhD in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Relaxation in Solids under the supervision of Professor E. R. Andrew. On graduating in April 1963, he first spent a year on a Varian Fellowship in Zurich, and then in 1964 went on to the University of Grenoble as a researcher where he continued his studies in NMR before coming to St Andrews. St Andrews was to remain his base and NMR was to remain the major theme of his research throughout the rest of his career. His ability to combine innovative experimental research with insightful analysis based on an exceptional mathematical ability resulted in him becoming widely acknowledged as a world authority on NMR and Ultralow Temperature Physics. With Dr F. A. Rushworth, a colleague in the Department, he co-authored the book Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, which was published in 1973 and which went on to became a seminal text in the field.
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His career in St Andrews flourished, and in 1975 he was appointed as Senior Lecturer and in 1978 as Reader. Despite being firmly anchored in St Andrews, David was an internationalist at heart, and the passing years saw him spending many periods of research leave abroad, including as Visiting Associate Professor at Cornell University (19734), Senior Visiting Lecturer at the Norwegian Technical Institute, University of Trondheim (1976), and Visiting Fellow at the University of California Los Angeles (197980). External recognition was to follow, and in 1985 he was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, in 1990 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and in 1991 a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. Notably, Davids elegant high pressure experiments on the metal-insulator transition particularly attracted the interest of the future Nobel Prize winner, Sir Neville Mott, who made several research visits to St Andrews in the 1980s. But it was not only through his research that he contributed for he played a full and innovative role in both teaching and administration. In 1986 he was the Director of the 31St Scottish
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Universities Summer School in Physics, and over the years he participated in the organisation of numerous other key events including Summer Schools, Conferences and Royal Society Research Colloquia. In November 1993 David suffered a serious setback to his career and to his life in general when cancer was diagnosed. But he fought a valiant and successful battle with the disease returning to work in April 1994, and remarkably quickly gained full speed in his research, teaching and administrative capacities. He restructured the First Year Laboratory in 1994, moving away from stand-alone experiments to a modular approach where students progressed through an integrated sequence of experiences encompassing demonstrations, hands-on experimentation, analysis and critical evaluation of results, and perspective building exercises. In collaboration with the School of Chemistry and with access to the new NMR spectrometer based in Chemistry his research activities expanded to encompass superconductors, solid oxide fuel cells, and batteries for laptop computers. This highly
successful final decade of his working life concluded with his retirement in September 2004 after close to thirty-nine years of service to the University of St Andrews. Apart from Physics David lead a very full life with his wife Rosemarie and their three children. (To their delight Kate was later to find fame as the singer KT Tunstall.) A keen tennis player and good athlete he ran in the Glasgow Marathon and finished well ahead of some surprised Physics research students. He loved the Scottish and Welsh mountains and even climbed Mont Blanc at the age of 60. After his retirement, the family moved to the south of England, finally living in Bath. Despite suffering from Parkinsons in his last years, David continued to lead an active life, particularly enjoying long distance coastal walking. He died in the early hours of Sunday morning on August 26 2012, aged 73. Professor Peter C Riedi Professor Malcolm H Dunn (We wish to thank Dr P W F Gribbon for help with this article.)
Dr D P Tunstall, CEng, FIET, CPhys, FinstP, FRSE. Born 15 July 1939. Elected FRSE 1990. Died 26 August 2012.
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Patrick (Peter) Gerard Walsh 16 August 192316 January 2013 Peter Walsh, the name by which, ever since his boyhood, he was always known, held the Chair of Humanity (Latin) in the University of Glasgow from 1972 to his retirement in 1993. He was elected FRSE in 1983, a relatively early recognition of his significant contribution to advancing and expanding research in Classics and particularly in the then rather rare areas of renaissance and early modern Latin. Born and brought up in Accrington, Lancashire, as one of nine children in a working-class family, his boyhood, as he was to describe it later, was chiefly comprised of two elements: firstly religion; as a result of his experiences on the Somme Peters father had become a devout Catholic, and three of Peters siblings were to become nuns, and two of them priests. The other element was backstreet football. For the whole of his life he remained devoted to both religion and sport (though the football probably ceased to be of the backstreet variety). Cricket was to bcome his major sporting interest, and in his 80s he continued to play tennis once or twice a week. At the same time, Peters father was determined that his children should have a good education.
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Peter won a scholarship to Preston Catholic College, where he excelled in both the classroom and sport. Military service followed, first in the RAF, in which he recorded the lowest ever score in practical tests, and then in the Intelligence Corps in Italy and Palestine. On his return to civilian life he entered Liverpool University on a county scholarship, graduating with a First in Classics in 1949. He obtained his PhD from University College Dublin, and remained there as a Lecturer in Ancient Classics from 1952 to 1959. In 1953 he married Eileen Quin. From Dublin he moved to the Department of Humanity in the University of Edinburgh, where he was in due course promoted, first to a Readership, and then to a Personal Chair. In Edinburgh he pioneered an Honours class in medieval Latin, taught jointly by Peter and a colleague from the English Department, who, according to one of his former students, made an incomparable pair of humane and learned mentors and installed in us a lifelong affection for medieval Latin. In 1972 he succeeded C.J. Fordyce in the ancient Chair of Humanity in the University of Glasgow, from which he retired in 1993. His
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arrival came at a difficult time for University Departments of Greek and Latin. With declining numbers of students coming from schools in which they had already been trained in the languages, a future for study at university level was by no means assured. Both Douglas MacDowell, who in 1971 had been appointed to the Chair of Greek, and Peter, in the Humanity Department, rapidly set about making the the changes required to ensure the survival of the subjects. In both languages beginners courses were created, as were courses in Classsical Civilisation which catered for students who wished to study Classical literature, history, art, and philosophy, without any knowledge of the languages. Any misgivings which may have been felt at first about the academic rigour of such courses were soon dispelled. An increasing number of excellent students were attracted to them, particularly when the Greek and Latin elements became more integrated after the two Departments were formally united as a single Classics Department in 1988. Another success was Peters involvement in Latin Alive, residential courses in Latin for pupils from the local schools. In his term of office as Dean of the Faculty of Arts he was a vigorous champion of the importance of the Humanities at a time of cuts. He was a gifted,
sympathetic, and indeed inspiring teacher, and, as both AFG and EAM can testify, a congenial and supportive colleague and friend. Some of EAMs best memories of him, as one of the then rather rare newly-appointed (and female) lecturers, are of the encouragement and mentoring he provided for a teacher and researcher who was working almost entirely outside his specialist comfort zone, and with images and objects rather than verbal material. She was honoured to be asked, before the then Greek and Humanity Departments were merged in 1988, to teach outside her own speciality, and contribute to an honours class on Latin poetry a very early example of team teaching, and a rare crossdisciplinary use of a lecturer in Greek. When, at a much later stage, EAM became the Dean of the Faculty herelf, the happily retired Peter would periodically ask how it was going, with a wry smile but an evidently genuine concern for the well-being of both the post and its occupant. Throughout his academic career and for the whole of his retirement Peter was astonishingly prolific in his publications. He established his international reputation with his first two books, on the Roman historian Livy and on the Roman novel, published in 1961 and 1970 respectively, during his period at
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Edinburgh, both of them on subjects which at that time were relatively unfashionable topics for research. From then on he produced a seemingly endless stream of editions and translations of, and other works on, mainstream classical authors, but also increasingly on medieval and late Latin, including an important edition of the racy Carmina Burana, and, in keeping with his religious interests, especially on patristic writers. For much of this he was a pioneer. His most recent publication was a Harvard anthology of Latin hymns. At the time of his death he was engaged on a massive edition of Augustines City of God, and had safely completed Books I-XVI out of XXII. Not surprisingly he received several invitations to serve as Visiting Professor in North America (including Yale and Toronto) and Australia. In 1993, in view of his services to the Catholic Church, for example as a governor of St Aloysius College, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great. In the same year the University of Edinburgh conferred on him the Honorary Degree of DLitt. In all of this he remained his own modest self. In the last two years of his life Peter was increasingly weakened
by Parkinsons disease, but suffered it patiently and uncomplainingly. He still managed to attend Sunday Mass in his local church, and was still working in his study on the day before he died. On the final day, just before he was taken away to hospital, when Eileen told him that he had to stay in bed, he replied, But thats a waste of time. And, as he waited for the ambulance to take him to hospital, when asked if there was anything that he would like to be brought to him, he replied, Could you go and find out the cricket score. Above all Peter was devoted to his family, Eileen and their five children, Anthony, Patricia, Stephen, John and David, and 18 grandchildren, all of whom survive him. Throughout his illness Eileen was almost always by his side, patiently supporting him. At his funeral one of his sons said in the eulogy that he had never heard him say a bad word about anyone. It was probably not pure coincidence that a Classics teacher was heard to say after the funeral that he had never heard anyone say a bad word about Peter. The two go together. He was an extraordinary man who will be greatly missed. Alex F. Garvie, Elizabeth A. Moignard
Patrick (Peter) Gerard Walsh, KCSG, MA(Liv), PhD(NUI), HonDLitt(Edin). Born 16 August 1923. Elected FRSE1983. Died 16 January 2013.
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Thomas Summers West 18 November 19279 January 2010 Tom West was one of the most brilliant and prolific analytical chemists of his generation and enjoyed an outstanding international reputation for the many advances that he made in this field. Working first at the University of Birmingham, he pioneered a wide range of innovative developments in chemical analysis using atomic and molecular spectroscopic techniques. Later at Imperial College, he formed and led a team of young and enthusiastic analytical chemists, some of whom had come with him from Birmingham, creating a vibrant centre of excellence that was widely recognized as being at the leading edge in this area of science. To mention only a few of Toms achievements: he developed a spectrophotometric technique for the analysis of fluoride, which is still a method of choice; in the fields of flame and atomic absorption spectroscopy and atomic fluorescence spectroscopy he introduced innovative methodologies which massively reduced detection limits to sub-parts per billion levels; his research also led to notable developments concerning microwave-powered, electrode-less spectral lamps, atom trapping techniques and low luminosity flames. Toms time at Birmingham and Imperial College was extraordinarily productive in terms of publications. By the time he left Imperial College in 1975 he had authored or co-authored no less than 350 publications, in addition to writing a highly regarded text book entitled Analytical Chemistry. Indeed, in one particular issue of The Analyst, practically every paper bore T S Wests name. Tom West was born in Peterhead in 1927, but the family later moved further north to Portmahomack near Dornoch. He was educated at Tain Royal Academy and graduated from Aberdeen with a first class honours BSc in chemistry in 1949. On enquiring about the possibility of doing post-graduate research, Tom was asked by his professor about his particular area of interest and on being told that it was analytical chemistry was advised that there was no future in it. This rather negative response prompted him to join Ronald Belchers analytical chemistry group in Birmingham which had moved there from Aberdeen in 1948. He graduated PhD in Birmingham in 1952 and for the next three years held a DSIR Fellowship, before being appointed to a lectureship in
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1955. His high promise was emphasised by the award of the Meldola Medal from the Royal Institute of Chemistry for the year 1956. Tom was the first analytical chemist for many years to receive this coveted award for British Chemists under the age of 32 who have conducted the most meritorious and promising original investigations in chemistry and published the results of these investigations. His Birmingham DSc followed in 1962 and his colleagues rejoiced with him in his appointment to a Readership in Imperial College in 1963 and subsequent Chair in 1965. Toms enthusiasm for analytical chemistry attracted a wide circle of equally enthusiastic research students and post docs. Without exception, all regarded him as an inspirational and innovative leader, although with such a relaxed and quiet attitude that he was held not only in high esteem but with real affection. He was regarded as the perfect PhD supervisor, happy to let his students get on with things if they had ideas, but always ready to help if help was needed. Many of his former students went on to succeed in academia in their own right, not a few becoming Professors or even Vice-Chancellors. In recognition of his scientific excellence, Tom was awarded the Gold Medal of the Society of
Analytical Chemistry (SAC) when at Imperial College and went on to serve as President of the SAC from 1969 to1971 and as the Hon Secretary of the Royal Society of Chemistry from 1971 to 1973. He also served as President of the Analytical Division of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) from 1979 to1981 and became IUPAC Secretary General in 1983. In 1975, Tom West was appointed to the post of Director of the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research in Aberdeen. These were the days when Directors were expected not only to direct the overall research programme but also to actively engage in their own research interests. Part of the attraction of this new post, in addition to that of returning to his native Scotland, must have been the high reputation held by the Institutes Department of Spectrochemistry for the analysis of trace elements in plants and soils. Tom entered this field with relish and in collaboration with colleagues applied new spectroscopic techniques for the quantitative analysis of essential and toxic trace elements present in the agro-ecosystem and in the wider environment. These were the days too when the heavy hand of bureaucracy was scarcely felt in the conduct of scientific research, which to a large extent was left to the discretion of the individual
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scientist. Thus, much of Toms period of office at the Macaulay Institute was marked by a light and encouraging touch which made science so exciting and even fun to do. While supportive of the Institutes basic and applied research aimed at improving the fertility and productivity of Scottish soils, he was perceptive in realizing the growing importance of investigating the environmental impacts of agriculture and industry. In particular, he stimulated studies on the fate of heavy metals in soils, especially those to which sewage sludges had been applied, and on the impact of acid precipitation on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Tom was instrumental in securing for the Institute a leading role in the Surface Water Acidification Programme sponsored by the Royal Society, which led directly to a change in Government policy in this respect. Tom was also keen to broaden the scope of the Institutes work on the international stage and was the first member of staff to visit China in the early 1980s. This resulted in the initiation of collaborative contacts with Chinese scientists which remain fruitful to the present day. Times were changing, however, and with the advent of food mountains in the EU, as well as the need to cut back on public expenditure within the UK, the raison detre of many of the
Institutes within the Agricultural Research Service was coming into question. For the Macaulay Institute, this culminated in the publication of a strategy document by the then Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland (DAFS) which recommended amalgamation of the Institute with the Hill Farming Research Organization in Edinburgh, as well as the closure of the Aberdeen site subject to the outcome of a feasibility study. This recommendation came as much of a bombshell to Tom as it did to the rest of his staff, but he immediately demonstrated true leadership qualities by organizing a campaign highlighting the advantages of the Aberdeen site. This was successful in that it persuaded DAFS to reverse its initial recommendation with regard to the location of the new institute. In all other respects, Tom was warmly supportive of the creation of the new institute, recognizing its necessity in the changed circumstances of the time, but at the same time determined to minimize the adverse effects on staff careers that might be entailed in the rather radical new programme of research. These were difficult times for all concerned and unfortunately significant staff redundancies and redeployments became inevitable. Throughout this period, however, Tom encour-
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aged everyone to work for the success of the new institute and when he retired in 1987, some six months after the new Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (MLURI) was formally established, he must have felt pleased with the final outcome of all his efforts. Tom West was appointed a CBE in 1987 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1979 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1989. He was active in retirement serving as President of IUPAC and as Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of Aberdeen. He was unfailingly helpful and supportive in the efforts of staff of MLURI to promote international research projects or to secure funding for visiting research workers from abroad.
Tom married Margaret Lawson, a fellow student of Aberdeen University, in 1952. He died on January 9, 2010 in Lincoln, where he and Margaret had moved so as to be closer to their family. Margaret died the following day. They leave a son (Tom), two daughters (Ann and Ruth) and four grandchildren (Alexandre, Marianne, Sarah and Catherine). A memorial service to commemorate Toms and Margarets life and work was held in Portmahomack (August 6, 2010) where they are also laid to rest. M J Wilson I am greatly indebted to Professors Brian Gowenlock and Malcolm Cresser for providing information relating to Tom Wests academic career.
Thomas Summers West CBE. BSc(Aberdeen), PhD, DSc(Birmingham). CChem, FRSC, FRS. Born 18 November 1927. Elected FRSE 1979. Died 9 January 2010.
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Christopher David Wicks Wilkinson 1 September 194023 February 2012 Chris Wilkinson was the father of nanotechnology at the University of Glasgow. His great interest in making things and his insatiable curiosity across a broad range of science led to major advances in nanoelectronics, cell engineering and nanomagnetism. In the process, he became one of the most cited engineers in Scotland. Born in 1940, Chris studied Physics at Balliol College Oxford, before moving to Stanford University, where he obtained a doctorate in applied physics. After two years at the English Electric Valve Company, he joined the Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Glasgow, where in 1992 he was appointed James Watt Professor of Electrical Engineering. He held this post with distinction until his retirement in 2005. Chriss early work involved the interaction of sound and light, in particular the way in which light waves could be guided, with a view to realising an optical communication system. Such work required the fabrication of structures on a very fine scale, and Chris developed an interest in exploring what limited just how small structures could be made. He introduced electron beam lithography to the University and
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rapidly became a leading international force in nanotechnology. In 1987 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, one of many awards bestowed on him by learned societies. Whilst his initial successes were in high speed electronic devices, much of Chriss later work led to a new dimension in cell biology. Working with Adam Curtis, he introduced nanofabrication to biology as a wholly new tool which spread quickly beyond Glasgow. He was also instrumental in setting up Kelvin Nanotechnology in 1997, to facilitate the commercialisation of the world-class technology and expertise in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering. He was a Director until January 2012. Chris had an inter-disciplinary approach to research, linking physics, engineering and biology. He was an inspiration to those around him and recruited many talented people to Glasgow over the years. He cared deeply about young researchers and technicians, playing a major role in the University in the development of both. His colleagues viewed him as challenging but stimulating company, a man with a glint of steel and great determination
and glorious when arguing over a point of science as if it were the whole world. He was someone to look up to, but impossible to emulate. Chris always applied his engineering and practical mind to personal issues. When his first grandchild was born with a chromosome 18 deletion, he researched it thoroughly and then helped form Chromosome 18 Registry and Research Society Europe, linked to the parent body in the USA. This organisation now has a network across Europe, supports research and organises conferences for affected families.
Beyond the University, Chris led a full and varied life. He enjoyed working on his allotment with his wife, Judy. Indeed, it was conversations on the allotments with Adam Curtis, who had a plot close by, that led to the pioneering bioengineering research. However, Chris was at his happiest in the mountains, whether in Scotland or elsewhere, and he and Judy were active members of the John Muir Trust. Chris died on 23 February 2012. He is survived by his wife, Judy, three children, Rona, Kit and Maggie, and four grandchildren. John Chapman, Judy Wilkinson and family.
Chris Wilkinson, MA(Oxon), PhD(Stanf). Born 1 September 1940. Elected FRSE 1987. Died 23 February 2012.
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TRUSTEES REPORT TO 31 MARCH 2012

OVERVIEW The RSE is Scotlands National Academy. It has made a major contribution to Scottish Society since 1783 through Fellows, such as Adam Smith, Walter Scott, James Clerk Maxwell and James Black, whose achievements resonate internationally. It is unique in Britain and distinctive internationally in the breadth of its fellowship which ranges across the sciences, medicine, engineering, the social sciences, arts, humanities, business and public service. Its purpose is to promote excellence across the whole range of human understanding and the use of that understanding in the betterment of the national and international society of which it is part. In recent years, the activities of the RSE have both deepened and diversified in contributing to Scotlands economic, social and cultural prosperity. Over the year ended 31 March 2012 we delivered a wide range of public benefit activities, many in partnership with and/or supported by others with common goals in mind. In delivering these activities we drew upon the considerable strengths and varied expertise of RSE Fellows across a very wide range of disciplines. These Fellows played an active role in maintaining the highest-quality standards
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of delivery and the cost of Fellows time, given pro bono, would have amounted to over 0.7m. The highlights of the year include: Launch of the RSE Young Academy of Scotland and selection of 68 members Launch of a major Inquiry Report on Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Award of two RSE Beltane Prizes for Public Engagement Live Webcast by the BBC of the Schools Christmas Lecture by Tom Devine on To the Ends of the Earth: Scotlands Global Diaspora Launch of the first phase of a Computing Exemplification Materials Project in support of the Curriculum for Excellence Seven corporate partners joined and six corporate partners continued as Friends of the Society Award of a further 12 Enterprise Fellowships throughout the UK Two joint events in a series of seminars held in partnership with the French Embassy, London, for early-career French and Scottish scientists RSE@Dumfries & Galloway, an ongoing programme of activities across the Dumfries & Galloway region that concluded in June 2011
Award of the RSE/BP Hutton Prize in Energy innovation to Dr David Wright, a prize awarded on a biennial basis by the RSE Council to an early-career researcher based in Scotland, who has shown a significant individual contribution to energy innovation through research and knowledge exchange. A joint workshop with National Natural Science Foundation of China on Image Understanding and Processing Climate Change Inquiry dissemination events. The consolidated financial result for the year of 1.77m includes several non-recurring items a major legacy, where RSE was the main benificiary from Dr David Shepherd of 1,280,281, and a further payment of a legacy from Dr Gethin Lewis of 350,000. There was a windfall receipt from sales of the digitised historical journals of 50,000 and an unplanned surplus of 106,000 in restricted funds arising from the early resignation of CRF research fellows.
The underlying financial outcome for the year was a deficit of 21,000, as follows: 000 Total net incoming resources Less: Legacy Dr Shepherd FRSE Dr Lewis FRSE Sales of digital archive Surplus of CRF income Appeal income Operating deficit on recurring activities 1,771
(1,280) (350) (50) (106) (6) (21)
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT The RSE Council, chaired by the President, comprises thirteen Trustees, including four VicePresidents, the General Secretary, the Treasurer, the Fellowship Secretary and five ordinary members. Subject to annual reelection, Council members serve for three years, except for the General Secretary and Treasurer, who may serve for up to four years. All are unpaid. The Council is responsible for the strategic direction and policies of the RSE, and normally meets quarterly. An Executive Board has delegated responsibility from the Council for delivery of the RSEs activities. It is chaired by the General Secretary, and also has as its elected members, the Treasurer, the Conveners of the main operational committees and the Curator, as well as
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Trustees Report and Accounts to 31 March 2012
the Chair of the RSE Scotland Foundation and senior executive staff. The Executive Board normally meets quarterly and reports to the Council. The Council members and the office-bearers serving on the Executive Board are all elected annually by the Fellowship in a postal ballot. New members of Council and the Executive Board are given an extensive induction through discussions with the Chief Executive and senior staff. The Audit & Risk Committee (see Risk Management), Fellowship Committee, Investment Committee and Prizes & Medals Committee report directly to Council. Reporting to the Council through the Executive Board are operational committees, including the Education Committee, International Committee, the Business Innovation Forum, various Research Awards Committees, the Meetings Committee and the Young Peoples Committee. These Committees largely, but not exclusively, comprise Fellows of the RSE and are concerned with the operational delivery of the RSEs varied activities. All Fellows are actively encouraged to participate in the RSEs activities. Two other charitable trusts founded by and closely connected to the RSE, the BP Research Fellowship Trust (the BP Trust) and
the RSE Scotland Foundation (the Foundation), are included in the consolidated financial statements. The Foundation plays a leading role in the RSEs public outreach activities and manages the premises in Edinburgh. The Trustees of the Foundation are appointed for three years by the RSE Council. Following a transfer of assets in 2009, the Foundation is also responsible for managing the programme of activities in support of research in Scotland, funded by the Caledonian Research Fund. The BP Trust was created following a donation of 2m in 1988 from BP to support a scheme of post-doctoral research fellowships in specified subjects and which are awarded at the sole discretion of the RSE. The RSE President, General Secretary and Treasurer are the BP Trustees, ex officiis. Statement of Councils responsibilities The Council is responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). Under charities legislation applicable in Scotland, the Council is required to prepare accounts for each financial year that give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the RSE and of the incoming resources and
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application of resources of the RSE for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Council is required to: select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently; observe the methods and principles of the Charities SORP; make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the RSE will continue in operation. The Council is responsible for keeping accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the RSE and which enable it to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and RSEs own Laws. It is also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the RSE and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The Council is also responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the RSEs website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. RISK MANAGEMENT The Audit and Risk Committee, operating on a joint basis with the Foundation and the BP Trust, reports directly to the Council, the Foundation and the BP Trust. Its Chair, who cannot be a Trustee or other Office Bearer of the RSE, is invited to attend Council meetings as an observer. Its remit includes keeping under review the effectiveness of internal control and risk management systems of the RSE and its connected charities. The Council believes that the existing systems and the structure of decision taking and reporting through senior staff, the Executive Board and the Council continue to provide assurance that risks are assessed and carefully managed. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES Mission and Role In keeping with its Royal Charter, the mission of the RSE is to provide public benefit through the continued advancement of learning and useful knowledge. To fulfil this, it promotes learning and puts the multidisciplinary
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expertise of its Fellows to work for the good of Scotland and its people. Its role is to: promote and recognise excellence in, and its application to, all areas of learning be a source of independent and expert advice on matters affecting the wellbeing of Scotland and its people advance public discussion on matters of national and international importance. The difference the RSE aims to make All of the RSEs activities aim to contribute to the following public benefit outcomes: enhancing the capacity of world-class science and culture researchers working in Scotland increasing Scotlands research and development connections internationally improving connections between business and academia enhancing the capacity of school-age children to adopt science as a career enhancing the publics understanding of science and culture issues informing and influencing public policy decisions
Strategic Priorities The RSE seeks to make a difference through its programmes of Core Public Benefit, Fellowship and Support services. Overarching these are the following strategic priorities: developing partnerships and connections providing independent advice on major issues affecting public policy developing arts and humanities activities and their interface with science broadening public engagement diversifying funding sources ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE YEAR This section describes the achievements of the RSE, the Foundation and the BP Trust, reflecting the fact that the Financial Statements are presented on a consolidated basis for this Group of connected charities. The performance of the RSE and its connected charities in the year, as compared to the output targets set in the Operational Plan, is reported quarterly to the Executive Board, and thereafter to RSE Council and to the Trustees of the other connected bodies. These reports have again shown that over 95% of the targets were reached or exceeded. In many areas, additional targets, not in the initial Operational Plan were also delivered.
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The core public benefit programme activities are: RSE Young Academy of Scotland The Young Academy operates under the auspices of the newly constituted RSE Scotland SCIO, a new form of Scottish charitable incorporated organisation to deliver activities for public benefit. Launched in 2011, the Young Academy aims to broaden the experience of a group of the best and most vigorous young scientists, scholars and professionals with the purpose of developing a distinctive, coherent and influential voice in Scottish society from those who will shape its future. It aims to provide opportunities for interaction between members across disciplines and professions and with decision makers, opinion formers and experts, funding bodies, national institutions, the public and the national and international media. Since its launch, the Young Academy has set up Working Groups to address challenging issues facing society in Scotland and beyond. Activities are coordinated through a peer-elected Facilitating Group of five Young Academy members. Activities to date have included consultation responses, local meetings of the Working Groups and plenary sessions. A two-day AGM is scheduled for Aberdeen in
September 2012, followed by plenary sessions in December (Edinburgh) and March (St Andrews). The next round of the application process for membership will begin in autumn 2012. The Young Academy is an excellent example of how the RSE can contribute to the wellbeing of Scotland through its own initiative without having to depend on others and by using its own resources. Enhancing the capacity of world-class science and culture researchers working in Scotland RSE Research Awards continue to support some of the most outstanding young scientists and innovators working in Scotland today. The Research Fellowships Awards Programme successfully enhances the capacity of worldclass science and culture researchers working in Scotland; and increases Scotlands research and development connections internationally. It creates conditions that attract those with outstanding potential conducive to becoming research leaders, to establish their careers in Scotland and make long-term contributions to the STEM base and its application in Scotland. It provides scope to place special emphasis on areas of research key to the well-being of Scotland; for example, energy, environment and biosciences, and complements similar programmes available on a
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UK-wide basis from the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, Research Councils and major Research Charities. It is only through partnerships with BP, the Caledonian Research Fund, the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland and the Scottish Government that the RSE is able to provide these awards. The following awards in science were made during the year: One new BP Personal Research Fellowship awarded from 13 applicants One CRF Personal Research Fellowship awarded from 18 applicants Ten CRF European Visiting Research Fellowships awarded in Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences Cormack awards: one Undergraduate Prize, one Postgraduate Prize and six Vacation Research Scholarships, plus one Piazzi Smyth Vacation Scholarship John Moyes Lessells Scholarship: four travel grants. Due to cuts in Scottish Government Grant, the pattern that had existed since 2008 of being able to award six, five-year fellowships per year had to be curtailed. With great reluctance, the Council decided that, to safeguard the support of existing Research Fellows, there should be a
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moratorium in 2011 and no new appointments were made in the Scottish Government Personal Research Fellowship scheme. The 17 Research Fellows already in post continued to generate substantial benefits for Scottish research. Also supported by Scottish Government grant, the Arts & Humanities programme, although much reduced from 201011, supported the award of: Six Research Workshops, from 14 applications Fifteen Small Research Grants, from 24 applications In addition: Four Research Networks were supported in their second year of a two-year grant Two Major Research Grants were supported in the continuation of their grants Since its inception in February 2007, the Arts & Humanities programme has enabled 63 individuals to develop new links with people and organisations with whom they would not normally work. An independent review of this scheme was completed in late October and was presented by Sir John Enderby FRS, to RSE senior officers and Scottish Government representatives. The report shows the programme to be highly effective and contributing to many
of the Scottish Government National Outcomes. In presenting the report to the RSE, Sir John commented,I have been impressed by the range and quality of research and connections between academics that has been made possible by a relatively limited amount of money [on] projects that will add to the understanding of Scotlands cultural richness, both historically and in the current day. The Royal Medals of the RSE are its most prestigious award, recognising outstanding research excellence and scholarship. The 2011 medals were awarded, with the approval of Her Majesty The Queen, to Professor Noreen Murray CBE, FRS, FRSE for her leading role in the development of gene cloning technology which influenced the course of biological research worldwide; to Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws, for her outstanding contribution to human rights and civil liberties, access to education, arts and ethics; and to Professor S Desmond Smith OBE, FRS, FRSE for his varied work in physics, especially in optoelectronics, spectroscopy and laser technology, and its application in industry and research technology. Professor Murray received her Medal from the President at a ceremony at the University of Edinburgh shortly before her death in May
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2011. The other Medals were presented by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at the RSE in August 2011. The IEEE/ RSE/James Clerk Maxwell Award for 2011 was awarded to Marcian Edward (Ted) Hoff Chief Technologist (Retired), Teklicon, Inc for developments in programmable integrated circuitry for a wide range of applications. This award was also presented in August 2011 by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, in the presence of the IEEE President Moshe Kam. Increasing Scotlands research and development connections internationally This programme seeks to increase Scotlands research and development connections internationally; and increase the number of world-class science and culture researchers working in Scotland. It helps create conditions for talented people to live, learn, visit, work and remain in Scotland; and supports Scotlands reputation as a distinctive global identity, an independent-minded and responsible nation at home and abroad and confident of its place in the world. Since 2003, Scottish Government funding has supported the establishment of formal Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between the RSE and 12 overseas sister Academies, and also supported the development and
maintenance of relationships and activities with other overseas Academies. Based on the good relationships developed, the Bilateral and Open exchange schemes support researcher exchanges that lead to collaborative projects and result in further research funding from other sources. A particularly strong part of the programme, which cements relationships and collaborations, are the joint research projects run over two years between Scottish and overseas Institutes (currently Chinese institutes jointly funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [NSFC]), supporting longer-term collaborations and levering further funding. During the year, 31 Bilateral and 27 Open Exchange Scheme grants were awarded, which amounted to 196.5 person weeks of researcher support (for visits between Scotland and over 20 countries worldwide). Seven new joint projects with the NSFC were awarded for two years from Spring 2012 in the area of Image Processing, and ten existing joint projects in Information Science, and Biological Sciences were supported in their first and second years. Funding was also continued for the final year of collaboration between the University of Stirling and the Institute of Automation, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, to support a ScotlandChina Higher
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Education Research Partnership for PhD Studies in the area of Telecommunications and Information Technologies.RSENSFC Workshop, Beijing, China The RSE and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) have a formal agreement, established to support research collaborations between Scotland and China. Under the terms of this agreement, the RSE and NSFC organised a workshop in October 2011 in China in the area of Image Understanding and Processing. A delegation of six leading researchers attended from Scotland to meet with their Chinese counterparts, present their work and explore future opportunities for collaboration between the participants from Scotland and China. FrancoScottish Science Seminar Series: In partnership with the French Embassy in London, two joint workshops and two lecture events were held in Spring 2012 as the second stage of a three-year collaboration. The collaboration consists of events run for earlycareer French and Scottish scientists in areas of science where there is excellence in both France and Scotland. The purpose of the seminars is to explore and publicly present areas of science where both Scotland and France have strengths and to stimulate
FrancoScottish collaboration. The topics chosen were Systems and Molecular Neuroscience and A New Paradigm of Science Driven by Ultrafast Lasers. To further strengthen our International links, a Consular Corps visit to the RSE was organised in June 2011. This event was aimed at increasing the level of activities with the Consular Corps, involving them in our international activities and running joint events. Over 15 countries were represented at this meeting, and a direct result was an approach by the Polish Consulate to organise a joint event. Improving connections between business and academia The Enterprise Fellowship schemes run by the RSE are designed to encourage commercialisation of technology-based business ideas from academic institutions into spin-out companies. This activity helps create sustainable companies with high-value jobs and contributes to the economy in the long term. The RSE administers three Enterprise Fellowship Schemes, funded separately by Scottish Enterprise (SE), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The Enterprise Fellows selected must demonstrate the entrepreneurial spirit needed to create a
thriving business from a research idea. The fellowship offers support to develop their business skills, plus introductions to mentors, potential collaborators, investors and other specialists to help get their businesses off the ground. The RSE/SE Enterprise Fellowships programme, aims to appoint 60 Fellowships over five years. Funding has so far been made available by Scottish Enterprise to appoint 36 over the first four years. The seventh round took place in Spring 2011 and three Fellows were appointed who took up post in October 2011. The eighth round took place in Autumn 2011 and five Fellows were appointed who took up post in Spring 2012. Fourteen former SE Enterprise Fellows responded to a recent survey of their successes over the past two years. Between them they have attracted public funding (e.g. SMART awards), totaling 1.1m and have recruited 22 new employees. They have won nine new contracts worth 6.2m and launched seven new products. Private finance has been secured of 1.4m. Both of the Research Council schemes operate on a UK-wide basis and encourage the commercialisation of research previously funded by BBSRC and STFC. Following a rigorous selection process, one BBSRC Enterprise Fellow took up post in April 2011, with another three taking up post in October
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2011. No STFC Enterprise Fellowship was awarded in 2011. Enhancing the capacity of school-age children to adopt science as a career The Schools Programme continues to use RSE Fellows and other experts to share their knowledge and understanding of science and culture with pupils, with a particular focus on enthusing those already engaged, and reaching those pupils who are not in close proximity to Scottish Universities and Science Centres, and who therefore have more limited opportunity to participate and meet with experts. The programme comprised: 39 Science Masterclasses for S1 and S2 science subjects, hosted at five Universities, attended by 852 students from 73 schools; 22 Schools Talks, where the content was agreed with teachers in line with their curriculum, attended by 1085 students from 22 schools. A range of additional young peoples activities were organised throughout the year: Turing 2012 Schools Activity the Twit-test; Scottish Book Trusts National Non-fiction Day two talks; RSE Beltane Prizes for Public Engagement one Prize Lecture;
Bonnie Dunbar Activity Day 2011 two events; RSE@ Dumfries and Galloway Schools Talks seven events. A range of follow-on activities arose from the standard programme of events: Additional masterclass school talks because students had missed out on places on the original Masterclasses Student work experience at the RSE Christmas Lecture with the RSE and BBC Scotland, as a follow-on from an earlier TV & Film Masterclass; Teaching Resources based on the RSE Christmas Lecture; CBBC Programme Little Stargazers featuring RSE Corresponding Fellow Dr Bonnie Dunbar. Enhancing the publics understanding of science and culture issues Events Nine lectures covering diverse topics ranging from Mathematics to the Arab Spring. Three annual lectures: RSE Christmas Lecture: Tom Devine on To the Ends of the Earth: Scotlands Global Diaspora; Beltane Prize Lecture by Professor Aubrey Manning on Communicating Science as Culture;
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Edinburgh Lecture Series: Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell on A celebration of Women in Astronomy. Eight joint lectures in partnership with the following organisations: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Edinburgh; The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and supported by the Journal of Scottish Philosophy; International FuturesForum; Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, supported by Edinburgh Council and the European Commission; Edinburgh Consortium for Rural Research and the Society of Biology Scotland; The Royal Academy of Engineering; Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Scottish Funding Council; The Royal Society, London, and the Genomics Policy and Research Forum. Two joint conferences involving partnership with: Gengage Your Genes and Clinical Research Being More than a Guinea Pig. British AcademyScotland and the United Kingdom RSE@ Dumfries & Galloway programme:
Three lectures Four discussion forums/workshops. Five events held in association with: Royal Society of Chemistry Science and the Parliament; The Confucius Institute Young China, Young Scotland; Scottish Parliament Festival of Politics; Edinburgh City of Literature enLIGHTen; Cockburn Association Doors Open Day. Communications A new RSE website was launched in 2011. It is updated regularly and provides information for the public and for Fellows. This year, seventeen audio/video recordings of events were added to the website, and 27 written summary reports of activities in the public events and schools programme were published on the site soon after the events had taken place. Media briefings and press releases were provided for most major events and launches, and there was appreciable media coverage of many of the significant activities in the RSE programme. Four issues of ReSourcE, the RSE Newsletter, were published and distributed to the Fellowship and around 3,000 others, including
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business leaders, journalists, research institutes, schools, MPs, MSPs and interested individuals. Fellows also received a monthly ebulletin, which enabled them to keep up to date with and, if appropriate, disseminate information on the RSE and its work. In addition, seven public e-bulletins were sent out during the year to advertise various events and schools activities. Two issues of Science Scotland entitled The search for new drugs and Knowledge Transfer in Engineering and Informatics were published in the year. Science Scotland continues to increase peoples awareness of cutting-edge science and technology activities in Scotland. Each issue is distributed to over 2,000 recipients worldwide. The issues are also available on the Science Scotland website. Journals The RSE, through the Foundation, publishes two journals, Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Proceedings A: Mathematics. Copies of the journals are sent to 350 University Libraries, Academies and Institutions worldwide, as part of the Societys exchange programme. The journals are highly regarded by academics as publication vehicles for their research, and they both maintained a respectably high impact factor in comparison with similar journals
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in their fields. Six issues of Proceedings A were published during the 2011/12 financial year; two issues of Transactions were published. The digitisation of the RSEs archive journals Transactions (17831979), Transactions: Earth Sciences (1980-2000), Proceedings (18321940), Proceedings A (19411999) and Proceedings B (19411996) was progressed by Cambridge University Press during the year and was marketed and made available for sale to the public during 201112, thus making the RSEs highly-regarded journal archive more easily accessible to a world-wide audience. Prizes RSE and Edinburgh Beltane launched the RSE Beltane Prizes for Public Engagement in 2011, with the aim of recognising and rewarding the advancement of high-quality public engagement with research. The Senior Prize was awarded to Professor Aubrey Manning OBE FRSE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh; and the Young Innovator Award for an emerging talent to Dr Joanna Brooks, Human Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh. Informing and influencing public policy decisions Using the multi-disciplinery knowledge and expertise of its
Fellows, the RSE provides evidence-based advice to inform public policy decisions made by Scottish, UK and European Parliaments and Governments. It also facilitates discussion between Scottish parliamentarians and science stakeholders, promotes the contribution and role of science to these parliamentarians and aims to improve the Parliaments understanding. Key outputs of the RSEs Policy Advice Unit were five in-depth briefing papers and 16 Advice papers, nine to the Scottish Parliament and/or the Scottish Government, on a wide range of topics including: Alcohol Minimum Pricing and Proposals for Referendum on Independence. Oral evidence to Scottish Parliamentary Committees was also provided on subjects including: Digital Scotland, school education and low-carbon economy. A Science and the Parliament event was held in partnership with the Royal Society of Chemistry in November 2011. Amongst the keynote speakers, on Science and the Economy were: John Swinney MSP (Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth), Professor Anne Glover (the then Chief Scientific Adviser to the Scottish Government), Ian Ritchie (Co-Chair of the Scottish Science Advisory Council) and Professor Alice Brown (Vice-
Chair of an RSE Women in STEM Working Group.) RSE Inquiry, Women in STEM This Report was produced by an expert Working Group, chaired by the distinguished astrophysicist Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell. It aimed to develop a cohesive and comprehensive strategy for Scotland to increase both the proportion of women qualified in STEM in the workplace, and the number of women who rise to senior positions in universities, research institutes, government, business and industry. Sir John Arbuthnott stated The recommendations in the report are directed at Government in Scotland and the UK, as well as universities and industry, for the benefit of the whole of society. RSE Digital Scotland In April 2011, the RSE Digital Scotland working group published Ambition for a Digital Scotland, a call for Scotlands political parties to commit to a high-speed Scotland, ahead of the May election. The RSE worked with the Scottish Documentary Institute and film-makers Pulkka to make a short (seven-minute) film on some of the themes raised in the report, including why Scotland needs fibre backbone to connect all its communities. RSE Education Committee
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The RSE Education Committee members contribute to the development of policy in relation to education at all levels. Following the publication of the Briefing Paper on school education issues, members of the Education Committee met with the Scottish Governments Learning Directorate to discuss the issues raised in the paper and how the RSE could continue to provide support and constructive challenge to the implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence. In association with Education Scotland, the RSE and the British Computer Society are undertaking a joint project to produce exemplification materials to support the teaching of Computing Science in schools under the Curriculum for Excellence. Following on from the successes of its Education Committee activities, the RSE has established a Learned Societies Group on Scottish Science Education. The group comprises representatives from the Association of Science Education, the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre and the Society of Biology. It will engage with and provide advice to policy makers in relation to the major reforms underway in Scottish education. The Fellowship Programme The RSEs Fellowship includes men and women from all parts of
Scotland, the UK and overseas, and encompasses the full range of disciplines, including science, engineering, social sciences, arts, humanities, law, education, business and industry. In March 2012, the RSE announced the election of two new Honorary Fellows, four new Corresponding Fellows, and 40 new Fellows. This followed the scrutiny in 2011 of 149 candidates through a four-stage committee process, culminating in the postal ballot in December of the entire Fellowship. The addition of new Fellows in 2012 brought the numbers in the Fellowship up to 1563 (as at 1 March 2012) 65 Honorary Fellows; 64 Corresponding Fellows; 1434 Fellows. The discipline balance of the Fellowship can be broadly represented by four cognate sectors. The current balance of these sectors (excluding Honorary & Corresponding Fellows) is: 36% Life Sciences 36% Physical Engineering and Informatic Sciences 14% Humanities and Creative Arts 14% Social Sciences, Education, Business and Public Service The RSE holds an Induction Day each year for the new Fellows. This
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provides an opportunity for new Fellows to meet with members of Council, the Executive Board and RSE staff, and to be formally admitted to the Society. There were also events primarily for Fellows, including the Fellows Summer Reception, the Royal Medals Award Ceremony and the Annual Statutory Meeting. RSE Scotland Foundation In addition to the publication of the RSE Journals, the Foundation continued to support education and the transfer of useful knowledge through letting the conference facilities in George Street. Income from this activity was down from the previous year; although the number of hires was greater than 2010/11. The Foundation was also responsible for letting surplus space to tenants Universities Scotland and Lakeland Ltd. The income generated from these lettings supported public benefit programmes. Caledonian Research Fund (CRF) On 11 March 2009, the Foundation received a transfer of funds from the Caledonian Research Foundation. Under the transfer agreement, the Trustees agreed firstly to honour the existing financial commitments of the CRF in support of scientific research, and thereafter to apply the assets at their discretion, with the proviso that they should have
regard to the existing activities of the CRF, but that this should not place any restrictions on the purposes for which the assets may be used. During the year, the final payments were made in respect of appointments in place at the transfer date and the balance of the fund is now unrestricted. One postdoctoral Fellowship and two postgraduate studentships were awarded during the year. The Trustees have determined that they intend to continue all the existing schemes, but to ensure a balance between the costs of the schemes and the income earned from the investments. All of the activities of the CRF are administered on behalf of the Foundation by the RSE, except the administration of the postgraduate scholarship scheme, which remains with the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. FINANCIAL REVIEW AND POLICIES BP Research Fellowship Trust The first BP Hutton Prize in Energy Innovation was awarded to Dr David Wright in 2011 for his research entitled The detection of oil and gas from surface-based electromagnetic measurements. He intends to use the funds to fund up to three student internships to enable promising students from anywhere in the world to come to Edinburgh and carry out original research within
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his group. These students may be recent BSc, MSc or PhD graduates. The prize is awarded in alternate years between the years of the award of the BP Research Fellowship. There are three ongoing BP Research Fellows in post. Investment powers and policy The management of the investment funds of the RSE, the Foundation and the BP Trust is carried out by Speirs & Jeffrey & Co. on a discretionary basis. The objectives set by the Council are to ensure a sufficient level of income to meet the target set annually by the Council, and to invest for real capital growth over the long term. The Council has delegated the detailed monitoring of performance to an Investment Committee, which includes at least one ordinary member of Council and two experienced investment professionals and which makes comparisons against a composite benchmark reflecting the mix of assets held and the WM Charities Income Constrained Index. Income Target 000 250 130 325 Actual Income 000 306 123 348 Total Benchmark Return % % 6.5 4.7 (RSE) 4.6 4.7 (BP) 6.5 4.7 (FDN)
set by the Committee and risk environment. In the year under review, no compliance issues arose which required to be reported to the Committee. Operating policies grant making The RSE makes grants to individuals in higher education institutions in support of research activities in the categories of postdoctoral Research Fellowships, Support Research Fellowships, Post-graduate Studentships, undergraduate Vacation Scholarships, Enterprise Fellowships and international exchange grants. Each of these categories is specifically funded from various sources, including the RSEs restricted funds. The basis of eligibility and selection varies according to the detailed scheme regulations, which are published on the RSEs website (www.royalsoced.org.uk). Grants are also made in support of research activities of Fellows of the RSE, including support for travel connected with research or scholarship, small-scale specialist meetings, to assist research visitors to Scotland to undertake collaborative research work with a Fellow, to assist a visiting lecturer to come to Scotland, to assist research collaboration between two institutions in Scotland or between universities and industry, and to assist in the publication of
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The Investment Committee meets twice annually with the investment managers to discuss their compliance with the constraints
books written by Fellows. These grants are funded by the RSEs designated Grants Fund. The Grants Committee is responsible for making awards in accordance with the detailed rules set out by the Council for the disbursement of the Grants Fund. Reserves policy and funds The RSE holds a number of restricted funds resulting from bequests for particular purposes, details of which are set out in note 2 to the financial statements. The Council has created designated funds, from its unrestricted funds, the purposes of which are also set out in note 2 to the financial statements. The General Fund represents the balance of unrestricted funds arising from past operations. The Council has examined the requirement to hold unrestricted funds, and concluded that, whilst the present level of reserves gives adequate working capital for core costs, it is desirable to have a General Fund reserve in the range of six months expenditure on central costs, or approximately 780,000. The current fund balance is 623,000. The Council has also reviewed the purposes and amounts of each of the designated funds, which comprise allocations for specific purposes of sums that had been donated in prior periods, together with the Development Fund and the Capital Asset Reserve. It is the Councils current intention to
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strengthen the RSEs financial independence by using major donations and legacies to build the Development Fund. Result for the year The consolidated surplus for the year was 1,771,000, including two major legacies: 1,280,281 from Dr David Shepherd FRSE and a further payment of a legacy from Dr Gethin Lewis FRSE of 350,000. The underlying operating deficit for the year was 21,000, compared to a surplus of 19,000 in the previous year. Investment gains comprised 23,800 realised in the year and 208,000 unrealised at the year end. The net movement on funds for the year after the FRS17 actuarial adjustment was 1,929,000. Total incoming resources Total incoming resources were 6.75 m (2011 5.95m), the increase arising mainly from the legacy receipts. Other voluntary income, which includes Fellows subscriptions and continuing contributions from the Friends of the Society corporate partners of the RSE, listed in note 26c, remained similar to previous years. Investment income of 0.8m increased by 17%, reflecting the addition of income from legacy proceeds, but incoming resources from charitable activities decreased by 17% to 3.8m.
The major reason for the fall in incoming resources for charitable activities was the 16% cut in Scottish Government grant to 2.455m. This resulted in decreases of 79,000 for science research fellowships and 353,000 for the Arts & Humanities Research Awards, funded by Scottish Government. Fluctuations in the pattern and numbers of Enterprise Fellow appointments also contributed to the decrease in income. Resources expended On a like-for-like basis, but excluding the exceptional pension credit in 2011, total expenditure decreased by 15% (0.88m), as a result of decreased expenditure on charitable activities. Cost of generating funds (note 6) includes the cost of the Fellowship office, the costs of building management in respect of income from letting of surplus space, as well as fundraising costs, both direct and management time in securing funding. Reductions in grants payable in support of research and innovation gave rise to the major part of the decrease in expenditure on charitable activities, falling from 4.01m to 3.18m. The largest component of this decrease came from the curtailment of the Scottish Government-funded Arts & Humanities awards programme. There was also an unplanned reduction in the CRF grants
payable, due to early resignations of two Research Fellows. Total expenditure on influencing public policy increased by 9%, due to sustained levels of activity in new areas. A new area of charitable expenditure was the development and support of the RSE Young Academy of Scotland. Governance costs continue to represent less than 3% of total recurring income.Transfers between funds, shown in the Statement of Financial Activities, comprise the recurring transfer from the Capital Asset Reserve of a total of 101,000 to match the depreciation of buildings and the capital repayment of the loan to the Foundation; and a transfer on consolidation from the Foundation restricted fund balance to the General Fund, equivalent to the net inter-entity income received in the RSE. Balance sheet Consolidated net assets have increased from 22.18m to 24.11m; mainly due to the 1.6m of legacy income. The contribution from the unrealised surplus on investments of 0.2m is offset by a FRS17 pension adjustment of 75,000. For the second year running, the net pension position calculated by the actuary was a surplus, and the amount recognised in the financial statements was restricted so that no net pension asset was recognised, because it is unlikely
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that such an asset could be realised in the foreseeable future. Net current assets decreased from 1.54m to 1.49m, as both debtors and creditors have reduced in line with grant activity. Debtors have decreased by 0.25m, mainly reflecting the timing of receipt of Scottish Government grant.Total funds increased by 1.93m. In addition to the revenue surplus of 1,771,000, there were realised and unrealised investment gains of 232,000, and a negative movement of 75,000 on the actuarial pension fund liability. Future plans The Scottish Government has cut the RSEs grant by a further 4% for 201213 to 2.35m, with indicative levels of grant in 2013 and 2014 being reduced by a further 250,000. The effect of these reductions will be a cut of 28% by 2013, compared with 201011. These substantial cuts greatly reduce the scale of the research fellowships and grant activities that the RSE runs on behalf of the Government, despite compelling evidence of the value to Scotland of the Science Re-
search Fellowship and the Arts & Humanities Research Awards. Public sector funding is likely to continue to be uncertain, but our review of the Strategic Framework and priorities for the period from 2012, will seek to mitigate the effects of these uncertainties. The focus will remain on the successful delivery of the RSEs varied programme of activities with public benefit outcomes. The Council continues to develop partnerships with the corporate sector through the Friends of the Society, and seeks to increase its internal resources, to improve the level of income that the RSE receives from non-governmental sources. The aim of building the Development Fund as an internal resource continues, although this is of necessity a long term plan. Nevertheless the RSE is determined to strengthen and enhance its contribution to the wider society of which it is part. Signed on behalf of the Council Ewan Brown CBE Treasurer 3 September 2012
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AUDITORS REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

Independent Auditors Report to the Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh We have audited the financial statements of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for the year ended 31 March 2012 which comprise the group statement of financial activities, the charity statement of financial activities, the group balance sheet, the charity balance sheet, the group cashflow statement and the related notes. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). This report is made solely to the charitys trustees, as a body, in accordance with section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitys trustees, as a body, those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charitys trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
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Respective responsibilities of Trustees and auditor As explained more fully in the Trustees Responsibilities Statement, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of financial statements which give a true and fair view. We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and report in accordance with regulations made under that Act. Our responsibility is to audit and express an opinion on the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with the Auditing Practices Boards (APBs) Ethical Standards for Auditors.Scope of the audit of the financial statements. An audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or error. This includes an assessment of: whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the charitys circumstances and have been consistently applied and adequately disclosed; the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by the
trustees; and the overall presentation of the financial statements. In addition, we read all the financial and non-financial information in the Trustees Report to identify material inconsistencies with the audited financial statements. If we become aware of any apparent material misstatements or inconsistencies we consider the implications for our report. Opinion on financial statements In our opinion the financial statements: give a true and fair view of the state of the group and the charitys affairs as at 31 March 2012 and of the group and charitys incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended; have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).
Matters on which we are required to report by exception: We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Charity Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) requires us to report to you if, in our opinion: the information given in the Trustees Annual Report is inconsistent in any material respect with the financial statements; or proper accounting records have not been kept; or the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit. Henderson Loggie Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors (Eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006) 3 September 2012
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R O YA L S O C I E T Y O F E D I N B U R G H
ACCOUNTS
Group statement of nancial activities (incorporating the income & expenditure account) for year ended 31 March 2012
Note General Fund Income Legacies Voluntary income Activities for generating income Investment income 4 4 4 34,847 207,470 246,151 1,630,386 23,062 253,273 550,032 1,630,386 269,213 253,273 792,349 _ 409,292 253,487 675,139 Designated Funds Restricted Income Restricted Funds 2012 Total 2011 Total
Incoming resources from generated funds Incoming resources from charitable activities Total incoming resources 5
280,998 89,296 370,294
1,837,856 3,392,153 1,837,856 3,392,153
826,367 324,580 1,150,947
2,945,221 3,806,029 6,751,250
1,337,918 4,611,679 5,949,597
Expenditure Cost of generating funds Charitable activities Exceptional FRS 17 pension credit Governance Total resources expended 6 6 6,12 6 (108,919) (546,027) (93,958) (3,392,153) (46,451) (947,707) (155,370) (4,979,845) (163,066) (274,042) (25,356) (68,602) (3,392,153) (66,708) (834,548) (255,130) (4,569,345) (281,453) (5,421,394) 240,000 (159,621) (5,622,468)
Net (outgoing)/incoming resources before transfers Transfers between funds Other recognised gains/(losses) Gains/(losses) on investment assets Realised gains Unrealised gains Actuarial (losses)/gain on Lothian Pension Fund Net movement in funds Balance brought forward at 1 April 2011 Balance carried forward at 31 March 2012
(175,733)
1,743,898
203,240
1,771,405
327,129
109,557
(101,818)
(7,739)
406 6,419
3,869 61,162
19,545 140,699
23,820 208,280
8,150 515,810
(75,000) (134,351) 1,707,111 355,745
(75,000) 1,928,505
175,000 1,026,089
758,237
7,698,610
13,724,827
22,181,674
21,155,585
623,886
9,405,721
14,080,572
24,110,179
22,181,674
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Group balance sheet at 31 March 2012

Note 2012 Fixed assets Tangible xed assets Fixed asset investments Investments at market value 15 19,099,992 22,752,546 Current assets Debtors Cash at bank and in hand Deposits Designated funds Deposits Restricted funds Deposits General funds 16 910,595 295,351 96,825 1,262,255 295,112 2,860,138 Current liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 17 (1,371,625) (1,570,713) 1,217,162 130,051 96,343 1,637,362 29,356 3,110,274 17,087,892 20,859,963 14 3,652,554 3,772,071 2012 2011 2011
Net current assets Total assets less current liabilities Provision for liabilities and charges Net assets excluding pension fund Lothian Pension Fund dened benet scheme asset/(liability) Net assets after pension fund asset/(liability) 18
1,488,513 24,241,059 (130,880) 24,110,179
1,539,561 22,399,524 (217,850) 22,181,674
23 24,110,179 22,181,674
Funds General Fund Add: Pension reserve 19 Designated Funds Restricted Funds Total funds 20 21 623,886 9,405,721 14,080,572 24,110,179 758,237 7,698,610 13,724,827 22,181,674 623,886 758,237
The accounts were approved by the Council on 3 September 2012 and signed on its behalf by: Ewan Brown, CBE Treasurer
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RSE balance sheet at 31 March 2012

Note 2012 Fixed assets Tangible xed assets Fixed asset investments Investments at market value Loan to RSE Scotland Foundation 14 15(a) 15(b) 2,058,368 7,941,063 1,657,096 11,656,527 Current assets Debtors Cash at bank and in hand Money Market deposits Designated funds Money Market deposits Restricted funds Money Market deposits General funds 16 859,704 295,351 96,825 1,123,166 295,112 2,670,158 Current liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net current assets Total assets less current liabilities Provision for liabilities and charges Net assets excluding pension fund Lothian Pension Fund dened benet scheme asset/(liability) Net assets after pension fund asset/(liability) Funds General Fund Add: Pension reserve 19 Designated Funds Restricted Funds Total funds 20 21 623,886 9,405,721 1,953,065 11,982,672 758,237 7,698,610 1,919,338 10,376,185 623,886 758,237 23 11,982,672 10,376,185 18 17 (2,213,133) 457,025 12,113,552 (130,880) 11,982,672 (2,286,639) 709,886 10,594,035 (217,850) 10,376,185 1,124,283 109,181 96,343 1,637,362 29,356 2,996,525 2,115,452 6,064,793 1,703,904 9,884,149 2012 2011 2011
The accounts were approved by the Council on 3 September 2012 and signed on its behalf by: Ewan Brown, CBE Treasurer
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RSE statement of nancial activities (incorporating the income & expenditure account) for year ended 31 March 2012
Note
General Fund
Designated Funds
Restricted income
Restricted funds
2012 Total
2011 Total
Income Voluntary income Investment income 246,151 117,441 1,630,386 207,470 11,048 78,487 1,887,585 403,398 301,470 323,017
Incoming resources from generated funds Incoming resources from charitable activities Total incoming resources
363,592 141,799 505,391
1,837,856 3,689,372 1,837,856 3,689,372
89,535
2,290,983 3,831,171
624,487 4,679,622 5,304,109
89,535
6,122,154
Expenditure Cost of generating funds Charitable activities Exceptional FRS 17 pension credit Governance Total resources expended 12 (108,919) (673,385) (93,958) (3,689,372) (80,222) (108,919) (4,536,937) (163,066) (401,400) (25,356) (68,602) (3,689,372) (80,222) (188,422) (4,239,596) (216,024) (4,951,603) 240,000 (117,244) (5,044,871)
Net incoming/(outgoing) resources before transfers Transfers between funds Other recognised gains/(losses) Gains /(losses) on investment assets Realised gains Unrealised gains Actuarial (losses) gains on Lothian Pension Fund Net movement in funds Balance brought forward at 1 April 2011 Balance carried forward at 31 March 2012
(167,994) 101,818
1,743,898 (101,818)
9,313
1,585,217
259,238
406 6,419
3,869 61,162
1,452 22,962
5,727 90,543
44,045 215,611
23
(75,000) (134,351) 1,707,111 33,727
(75,000) 1,606,487
175,000 693,894
758,237
7,698,610
1,919,338
10,376,185
9,682,291
623,886
9,405,721
1,953,065
11,982,672
10,376,185
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Group cash ow statement for the year ended 31 March 2012

2012 Cash ow statement Net cash inow/(outow) from operating activities Returns on investments and servicing of nance: Interest received Dividends received 14,383 786,968 801,351 Capital expenditure and nancial investment: Purchase of tangible xed assets Proceeds from sale of investments Purchases of investments 4,000,480 (5,780,480) (1,780,000) Net cash ow before nancing: Appeal receipts Increase/(Decrease) in cash in the year Reconciliation of net cash ow to movement in net funds Increase/(Decrease) in cash in the year Net funds at beginning of year Net funds at end of year (note 27) Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cash outow from operating activities Net incoming resources before transfers Retirement benet scheme current service cost Retirement benet scheme contributions Retirement benet scheme nance cost Appeal receipts Dividends receivable Interest receivable Depreciation Decrease/(Increase) in debtors (Decrease)/Increase in creditors Movement on provision for liabilities Net cash outow from operating activities 1,771,405 117,000 (153,000) (39,000) (6,507) (777,966) (14,383) 119,517 297,565 (199,088) (86,970) 1,028,573 327,129 147,000 (144,000) (243,000) (6,027) (651,042) (24,097) 121,945 (437,368) 254,229 (172,142) (827,373) 56,431 1,893,112 1,949,543 (649,456) 2,542,568 1,893,112 49,924 6,507 56,431 (13,527) 2,968,391 (3,449,111) (494,247) (655,483) 6,027 (649,456) 24,097 642,040 666,137 1,028,573 (827,373) 2012 2011 2011
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notes to the nancial statements

1 Accounting basis
The accounts have been drawn up to comply with the provisions of the Charities & Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 as amended, and follow the recommendations of the Statement of Recommended Practice for Charities (SORP) approved by the Accounting Standards Board in February 2005 and applicable accounting standards. The accounts have been prepared under the historical cost accounting rules as modied to include the revaluation of investments. The accounts comprise ve primary nancial statements: the Group and RSE statement of nancial activities incorporating the income and expenditure account, the Group and RSE balance sheet and the Group cash ow statement. On the basis of the RSEs reserves and cash position and the secured and expected incoming resources for the next twelve months, the Council considers that it is appropriate to prepare the nancial statements on a going concern basis. The consolidated nancial statements include the nancial statements of the RSE and of entities which are under its control: RSE Scotland Foundation and BP Research Fellowship Trust. As the objectives of each of these entities are narrower than those of the RSE, they have been treated as restricted funds.
Capital Asset Reserve Fund representing the book cost of the buildings at 22-24 George Street and 26 George Street together with the building project loan to the RSE Scotland Foundation. Development Appeal Fund to provide development nance to implement the RSE Strategic Framework. Programme Fund a fund created to act as a source of funding for meetings activities. C H Kemball Fund income from this fund is used to provide hospitality for distinguished visitors from other learned societies and Academies. Dr James Heggie Fund income from this fund supports the RSEs activities with young people. Grants Fund a fund created by contributions and legacies from Fellows and used to provide grants to support research activities to Fellows. Restricted Income Fund income funds received for expenditure on current projects. Restricted Funds Robert Cormack Bequest to promote astronomical knowledge and research in Scotland. Lessells Trust to fund scholarships abroad for engineers. Auber Bequest to fund research in Scotland and England by naturalised British citizens over 60 years of age. Prizes Fund to fund various prizes. Dryerre Fund to fund postgraduate scholarships in medical or veterinary physiology. Fleck Bequest Fund to promote interest, knowledge and appreciation of science and its applications throughout Scotland. Piazzi Smyth Legacy Fund to fund high altitude astronomical research. Sillitto Fund to promote interest in physics among young people. CASS Fund to fund academic / industrial
liaison. Retailing Seminar Fund to fund a programme of seminars on retailing. Edinburgh Drug Absorption Foundation Fund to fund a series of conferences on the broad theme of Drugs Futures. RSE Scotland Foundation a trust to advance the education of the public in Scotland in science, engineering and technology, incorporating assets transferred from the Caledonian Research Fund (CRF). The CRF funds remain restricted until pre-existing awards and appointments are concluded. BP Research Fellowship Trust a trust to fund postdoctoral research fellowships in Scotland.
3 Accounting policies
Incoming resources Voluntary income Subscriptions are accounted for on the basis of the subscription year to October 2012 and include income tax recoverable on the subscriptions paid under Gift Aid. Revenue grants are credited to income in the period in which the RSE becomes entitled to the resources. Donations of a recurring nature from other charitable foundations and one-off gifts and legacies included in other income are taken to revenue in the period to which they relate. Investment income Interest and dividends are accounted for in the year in which they are received.
Incoming resources for charitable activities Incoming resources for activities are accounted for on an accruals basis.
2 Funds
The RSEs funds are classied in accordance with the denitions in SORP into Restricted Funds, where there are restrictions placed by a donor as to the use of income or capital, Designated Funds where the Society has set aside sums from its unrestricted funds for a particular purpose and the General (unrestricted) Fund. The classications made are as follows: General Fund A discretionary Fund available to the Council to meet the ordinary activities of the Society.
Designated Funds
368

Publication income receivable in foreign currencies is converted into sterling at rates of exchange ruling at the date of receipt. Incoming resources for research fellowships are accounted for in the period in which the RSE becomes entitled to the resources. Income received for specic projects, and received in advance of the commencement of the project, is deferred. If the project were not to proceed as planned, the RSE would not be entitled to retain the funds. For performance-related grants, where entitlement to the incoming resource only arises with the performance of the specic outputs agreed under the contracts, income is deferred. Resources expended Expenditure and support costs All resources expended are included on an accruals basis, having regard to any constructive obligations created by multi-year grant commitments. Where directly attributable, resources expended are allocated to the relevant functional category. Overhead and support costs are allocated to functional category on the basis of direct staff costs in each area of activity. Cost of generating funds The cost of generating funds includes expenditure incurred in supporting the Fellowship and incurred on fundraising and development initiatives. Charitable activities Grants payable are recognised as a liability when the RSE is under an actual or constructive obligation to make a transfer to a third party. Where grants are time related to future periods and are to be nanced by specic grants receivable in those future periods, they are treated as liabilities of those periods and not as liabilities at balance sheet date. Such grants are disclosed as future commitments. Governance costs Governance costs are those incurred in connection with the management of RSE assets, organisational administration and compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements. Tangible xed assets, depreciation and repairs The RSEs principal assets are its buildings in George Street, Edinburgh. Under FRS15 the Society depreciates the buildings assuming a 50-year life. It is the policy of the Council to maintain the buildings to a high standard. Any permanent diminutions in value are reected in the statement of nancial activities. Costs of repairs and maintenance are charged against revenue. Expenditure incurred by the RSE Scotland Foundation in the improvements to 26 George Street is being depreciated from the date of completion of the refurbishment over the period of the lease to the RSE Scotland Foundation to 30 June 2047.
Minor equipment is charged against revenue in the year of purchase. Computer and audio-visual is depreciated on a straight line basis over 320 years. Investments Investments are stated at their market value at the balance sheet date. Gains and losses on disposal and revaluation of investments are charged or credited in the statement of nancial activities and allocated to funds in accordance with their proportionate share of the investment portfolio. Pensions The RSE participates in dened benet pension schemes which are externally funded. The cost of providing pensions is allocated over employees working lives with the RSE and is included in staff costs. Pension fund assets arising from valuations under FRS 17 are recognised only to the extent that the asset is recoverable in the foreseeable future. Foreign exchange Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date, while transactions arising during the year are translated at the spot rate prevailing when the transaction arises. Exchange gains or losses arising in the year are recognised in the statement of nancial activities.
369

4 Incoming resources
Current year 2012 Voluntary income Activities for generating income Investment Promotion of research and innovation Other charitable activities 209,416 30,511 1,630,386 58,528 48,110 2,455,000 937,083 14,383 306,420 5,689,837 123,214 12,014 253,273 324,580 348,332 6,751,250 Total 2011 Total 2012
Fellows Individuals Legacies Companies Charitable trusts Scottish Government Public sector bodies Bank interest Dividends RSE BP Research Fellowship Trust dividends and interest RSE Scotland Foundation grants & donations rental income charitable activities dividends and interest
209,416 12,435 1,630,386 24,300 11,048
18,076 34,228 23,469 671,507 37,128
13,593 1,783,493 899,955 14,383 306,420
1,887,585
320,803 123,214
2,697,041
784,408
12,014 253,273 324,580 348,332 1,899,599 Voluntary income 253,273 Activities for generating income 792,349 Investment 2,697,041 Promotion of research and innovation 1,108,988 Other charitable activities
Prior year 2011 Fellows Individuals and legacies Companies Charitable trusts Scottish Government Public sector bodies Bank interest Dividends RSE BP Research Fellowship Trust dividends and interest RSE Scotland Foundation grant re SBF rental income charitable activities dividends and interest 208,823 70,148 16,250 6,249
208,823 87,814 91,518 184,687 2,895,550 1,090,240 24,097 214,454 4,797,183 122,113 107,822 253,487 354,517 314,475 5,949,597
123,533 2,214,640 1,068,472 24,097 214,454
17,666 75,268 54,905 680,910 21,768
301,470
238,551 122,113
3,406,645
850,517
107,822 253,487 354,517 314,475 409,292 253,487 675,139 3,406,645 1,205,034
370

4 Incoming resources (continued) 4a Voluntary income
Contributions from RSE Fellows Admission fees Annual subscriptions Income tax recoverable under Gift Aid Lessells Trust additional receipt Appeal receipts Legacies RSE Young Academy Friends of the Society corporate partners Other income 2012 11,200 172,300 25,916 209,416 11,048 6,507 1,630,386 5,100 24,300 828 1,887,585 2011 11,200 167,971 29,652 208,823 6,249 6,027 62,500 16,250 1,621 301,470
In addition to the donations set out above, the RSE receives donations made specically in support of activities which are included in activities income (see note 26(b)).
5 Incoming resources from charitable activities

2012 Scottish Government Grant research fellowships Scottish Government Grant Marie Curie COFUND Scottish Enterprise BBSRC Enterprise Fellowships STFC Enterprise Fellowships Gannochy Trust Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland Scottish Crucible 12,093 1,500 2,697,041 Scottish Government Grant engagement and innovation Scottish Government Grant International activities Wider outreach activities Meetings Policy and advice income IEEE / RSE / Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award Educational activities RSE Beltane Prize for Public Engagement Sale of sundry publications 354,408 317,099 15,049 30,135 43,843 21,106 2,500 268 784,408 RSE Scotland Foundation Journal publications RSE Scotland Foundation Conference facilities letting RSE Scotland Foundation Science and society 195,975 128,605 324,580 3,806,029 Further information relating to grants, donations and receipts and their application is set out in note 26. arts & humanities awards 1,648,861 134,632 80,030 547,114 199,554 73,257 2011 1,727,569 487,071 22,931 573,831 369,177 99,253 105,000 18,533 3,280 3,406,645 373,624 307,286 34,367 36,298 70,473 22,294 5,790 385 850,517 206,070 128,847 19,600 354,517 4,611,679
371

6 Resources expended
2012 Direct costs Costs of generating funds Fundraising Fellows subscriptions Appeal donations 3,127 Building management Investment fees Total costs of generating funds Charitable activities Enhancing World-Class Research Increasing International Research Connections Improving Connections Between Business and Academia
Increasing Numbers Taking Science as a Career
2011 Total 2012 97,367 91,055 Direct costs 9,596 Support costs (Note 12) 117,823 78,760 9,845 Total 2011 127,419 78,760 9,845 216,024 65,099 330 271,527 281,453
Support costs (Note 12) 94,240 91,055
3,127
185,295 65,768
188,422 65,768 940
9,596 330 9,926
206,428 65,099
940 4,067 251,063
255,130
2,158,498 207,560 712,916

30,601
203,078 115,881 109,374

66,831
2,361,576 323,441 822,290

97,432
2,627,491 195,361 1,001,380

32,349
277,571 116,626 102,698

51,772
2,905,062 311,987 1,104,078

84,121
Enhancing Public Appreciation of Science and Culture Informing and Inuencing Public Policy RSE Young Academy of Scotland
84,687 55,209 48,935 3,298,406
255,486 260,094 21,747 1,032,491
340,173 315,303 70,682 4,330,897
126,523 73,391
237,657 214,781
364,180 288,172
4,056,495
1,001,105
5,057,600
RSE Scotland Foundation Journal Publications Science and society SBF Conference facilities letting 81,504 2,573 4,932 6,000 95,009 Total cost of charitable activities Exeptional FRS 17 pension credit Governance (note 11) RSE RSE Scotland Foundation BP Research Fellowship Trust Total governance costs Resources expended 5,908 5,058 1,260 12,226 3,409,708 143,144 1,570,137 103,012 40,132 108,920 45,190 1,260 155,370 4,979,845 5,216 5,139 1,260 11,615 4,285,263 148,006 1,337,205 112,028 35,978 117,244 41,117 1,260 159,621 5,622,468 3,393,415 3,750 95,490 143,439 1,175,930 44,199 125,703 2,573 8,682 101,490 238,448 4,569,345 207,227 4,263,722 117,903 1,742 87,582 40,027 5,710 15,000 95,830 156,567 1,157,672 (240,000) 157,930 7,452 102,582 95,830 363,794 5,421,394 (240,000)
Central support costs as set out in note 12 have been allocated to activities in proportion to the employment cost in each area of activity.
372

7 Grants payable
2012 Promotion of research (note 8) Prizes and grants (note 8) Promotion of Innovation (Note 9) 2,315,558 46,018 822,290 3,183,866 2011 2,852,670 52,392 1,104,078 4,009,140
8 Enhancing World-Class Research

2012 Promotion of Research Scottish Government Fellowships Marie Curie COFUND actions Arts & Humanities Workshop Grants CRF European Fellowships CRF Personal Fellowships Robert Cormack Bequest John Moyes Lessells Scholarship Auber Bequest Awards Henry Dryerre Scholarship Other direct costs RSE BP Research Fellowship Trust RSE Scotland Foundation CRF 1,526,453 74,949 120,745 30,303 111,458 6,457 19,017 3,000 20,755 4,202 1,917,339 123,335 79,093 2,119,767 Support costs (note 6) 195,791 2,315,558 Prizes and Grants Support costs (note 6) 38,731 7,287 46,018 2,361,576 An analysis of institutions and individual awards made under this expenditure heading is included in the Societys Review 2011, obtainable from the address on the back cover. 2,338,500 149,274 95,933 2,583,707 268,963 2,852,670 43,784 8,608 52,392 2,905,062 20,333 1,601,001 23,467 460,071 18,191 180,180 5,640 29,617 2011
373

9 Improving connections between business and academia
2012 Scottish Enterprise Fellowships STFC Enterprise Fellowships BBSRC Enterprise Fellowships Gannochy Trust Business Innovation Forum 12,205 712,916 Support costs (Note 6) 109,374 822,290 1,001,380 102,698 1,104,078 460,313 65,183 175,215 2011 506,559 90,095 317,780 86,946
10 Enhancing public appreciation of science and culture

2012 Meetings Publications Support costs (Note 6) 31,801 52,886 84,687 255,486 340,173 The RSE Scotland Foundation became publisher of the RSEs journals and year book with effect from the 1997 volumes. The RSE retains copyright and incurs editorial costs in respect of these publications. The RSE has made a donation to the RSE Scotland Foundation equivalent to its net decit on publications. 2011 52,078 74,445 126,523 237,657 364,180
11 Governance
2012 Management and secretariat Audit fee Other professional advice from auditors 115,238 RSE Scotland Foundation Management and secretariat 40,132 155,370 123,643 35,978 159,621 103,012 12,226 2011 112,028 11,615
374

12 Support costs
2012 Staff costs (including secondments) (note 13) Staff training, agency and recruitment costs Other staff costs Non-cash pension cost adjustments (FRS 17) Other costs Establishment expenses Computer and equipment costs Communication, stationery and printing costs Travel and subsistence, hospitality Publicity Miscellaneous Professional fees and subscriptions Depreciation 181,699 40,079 49,165 19,143 9,453 1,644 12,937 119,517 433,637 Total central costs Exceptional FRS 17 pension credit 1,570,137 1,570,137 189,076 83,936 46,432 21,964 5,820 2,330 11,021 121,945 482,524 1,577,205 (240,000) 1,337,205 1,119,082 16,098 76,320 (75,000) 1,136,500 1,094,681 2011 1,065,562 29,119
Support costs have been allocated to activities in proportion to the employment cost in each area of activity as set out in note 6. The exceptional FRS 17 Pension Credit in 2010 11 was an adjustment to salary costs arising from the calculation of future pension increases being linked to the Consumer Prices Index and not the Retail Prices Index.
13 Employees
2012 Total Payroll Secondments RSE Project costs Wages and salaries Social security costs Other pension costs 855,286 60,630 171,199 1,087,115 74,739 (42,772) 74,739 (42,423) (349) Support costs 887,602 60,281 171,199 1,119,052 Funded by Foundation 118,114 7,851 24,783 150,748 Funded by RSE 2012 769,488 52,430 146,416 968,334
Employees
2011 Total Payroll Secondments RSE Project costs Wages and salaries Social security costs Other pension costs 839,354 63,157 161,363 1,063,814 12,395 12,395 (10,141) (465) (101) (10,707) Support costs 841,608 62,692 161,262 1,065,562 Funded by Foundation 112,126 7,573 21,652 141,351 Funded by RSE 2011 729,482 55,119 139,610 924,211
The average number of employees of the RSE including those employed under joint contracts with the RSE Scotland Foundation was 29 (2011:29). One member of staff earned over 60,000 per year and is a member of a dened benet pension scheme.
375

14 Tangible xed assets
Group Cost At 1 April 2011 Additions Disposals At 31 March 2012 Depreciation At 1 April 2011 On disposals Charge for the year At 31 March 2012 Net book value At 31 March 2012 At 31 March 2011 RSE Net book value At 31 March 2012 At 31 March 2011 22 24 George Street Purchase cost 1,103,038 26 George Street Purchase cost 1,647,468 Improvments Purchase cost 2,136,070 Computer & equipment 356,762 Total 5,243,338
1,103,038 264,730 22,061 286,791 816,247 838,308
1,647,468 395,392 32,949 428,341 1,219,127 1,252,076
2,136,070 527,172 44,467 571,639 1,564,431 1,608,898
356,762 283,973 20,040 304,013 52,749 72,789
5,243,338 1,471,267 119,517 1,590,784 3,652,554 3,772,071
816,247 838,308
1,219,127 1,252,076
22,994 25,068
2,058,368 2,115,452
15 Fixed asset investments

Value at 1 April 2011 (a) Fixed asset investments RSE Managed Funds Fixed interest UK equities Cash deposits BP Research Fellowship Trust Managed Funds Fixed interest UK equities Cash deposits RSESF Caledonian Research Fund Managed Funds Fixed interest UK equities Cash deposits 736,470 812,634 1,394,508 2,517 2,946,129 1,558,876 2,418,155 4,058,232 41,707 8,076,970 17,087,892 1,780,000 552,227 349,303 1,110,906 (2,012,436) (361,946) (977,181) (719,345) 2,058,472 148,094 189,027 393,085 (730,206) (246,616) (353,715) (161,526) 761,857 2,282 (45,356) 3,724 (39,350) 5,031 34,061 18,351 57,443 23,820 (1,532) 45,835 (8,574) 35,729 (29,026) 126,557 (15,523) 82,008 208,280 638,698 648,425 1,621,217 34,168 2,942,508 1,725,162 1,950,895 4,452,621 87,743 8,216,421 19,099,992 Investments made at cost Proceeds on sale of investments Gain / (Loss) Revaluation Market value at 31 March 2012
1,200,638 1,697,160 3,156,824 10,171 6,064,793
648,450 547,300 1,744,723 (1,160,473) 1,780,000
(149,253) (474,116) (556,782) 1,180,151
(4,981) (6,452) 17,160 5,727
(8,427) 121,669 (22,699) 90,543
1,686,427 1,885,561 4,339,226 29,849 7,941,063
The loss on sale of investments measured against their historical cost was 524,473 (2011: 678,408) The historical cost of investments was 17,125,455 (2011: 14,820,983). (RSE 7,415,150, 2011: 5,465,908). Investments comprising more than 5% of the market value of the portfolio were: European Investment Bank 4.75% (2018).
376

15 Fixed asset investments (continued)
(b) Loan by RSE to RSE Scotland Foundation 2012 Due within one year Due after one year 46,808 1,610,288 1,657,096 The loan bears interest at 4% per annum, capped at the amount of rent received by the Foundation and is repayable over the period to 30 June 2047, the expiration of the lease of 26 George Street. 2011 46,808 1,657,096 1,703,904
16 Debtors
2012 General debtors Prepayments and accrued income Income tax recoverable RSE RSE Scotland Foundation Debtors RSE Scotland Foundation Prepayments BP Research Fellowship Trust Group 859,704 35,779 12,488 2,624 910,595 1,124,283 76,374 10,897 5,608 1,217,162 849,852 9,852 2011 1,118,998 5,285
17 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year

2012 Group General creditors Accruals VAT payable Deferred income Event income deferred Advance receipts Publications 594,274 169,830 55,478 372,141 68,856 111,046 1,371,625 2011 870,246 98,260 30,873 433,224 51,341 86,769 1,570,713
377

17 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year (continued)
Deferred income and advance receipts analysis At 1 April 2011 Marie Curie COFUND Friends of the Society Climate Change Inquiry Computing Project 433,224 Journal receipts Event income RSE 86,769 51,341 409,224 4,000 20,000 42,250 97,855 220,252 36,665 Received in year 24,805 30,800 Recognised in year (74,949) (24,300) (20,000) (23,843) (143,092) (195,975) (19,150) 2012 General creditors RSE Scotland Foundation current account accruals Deferred income Symposia income deferred 667,817 1,104,319 372,141 68,856 2,213,133 (15,846) 18,407 372,141 111,046 68,856 2011 878,836 923,238 433,224 51,341 2,286,639 Exchange difference (15,846) At 31 March 2012 343,234 10,500
18 Provision for liabilities and charges

Commitments for research fellowships At 1 April 2011 Group & RSE New commitments: Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland Research Fellowships Grants paid in the year At 31 March 2012 The provision represents amounts payable under a constructive obligation in respect of research fellowships and studentships due as follows: 2012 13 71,362; 2013 14 21,350; 2014 15 8,500.
217,850
(86,970) 130,880
19 General Fund
At 1 April 2011 Net movement in funds for the year from statement of nancial activities At 31 March 2012
758,237 (134,351) 623,886
378

20 Designated Funds
At 1 April 2011 Capital Asset Reserve Development Appeal Fund Programme Fund CH Kemball Fund Grants Fund Dr James Heggie Fund 3,794,290 2,884,737 125,951 28,348 632,784 232,500 7,698,610 162,548 5,549 1,249 27,880 10,244 207,470 1,630,386 1,630,386 (74,291) (124) (378) (15,068) (4,097) (93,958) 50,919 1,743 392 8,759 3,218 65,031 (101,818) Investment income Other income Expenditure Gains/(Losses) Transfers (101,818)
At 31 March 2012
3,692,472 4,654,299 133,119 29,611 654,355 241,865 9,405,721
The transfers represent the release from the Capital Asset Reserve of a total of 101,818 to match the depreciation of buildings and the amount of capital repayment of the loan to the Foundation.
21 Restricted Funds
At 1 April 2011 Robert Cormack Bequest Lessells Trust Auber Bequest Prizes Fund Dryerre Fund Fleck Piazzi Smyth Sillitto Others Restricted Income Fund RSE RSE Scotland Foundation BP Research Fellowship Trust Total 1,919,338 8,853,019 2,952,470 13,724,827 78,486 348,332 123,214 550,032 3,993,068 112,288 459,521 465,155 69,042 509,089 106,074 14,406 34,216 28,172 Investment income 4,947 20,246 20,494 3,042 22,430 4,673 635 171 1,241 607 3,392,153 3,403,201 589,867 (3,392,153) (3,472,374) (731,028) (136,458) (4,339,860) 24,414 139,451 (3,621) 160,244 (7,739) (7,739) 1,953,065 9,191,902 2,935,605 14,080,572 11,048 Other income Expenditure (7,700) (27,049) (11,131) (1,219) (29,654) (1,854) (972) (150) (492) 390 Gains/(Losses) 1,554 6,361 6,439 956 7,047 1,468 199 Transfers
At 31 March 2012
111,089 470,127 480,957 71,821 508,912 110,361 14,268 34,237 29,311 121,982
Edinburgh Drug Absorption Foundation 121,375
379

21 Restricted funds (continued)
Prizes Fund comprises The Keith Fund, The Neill Fund, The Makdougall-Brisbane Fund, The Gunning-Victoria Fund, The James Scott Prize Fund, the Bruce-Preller Lecture Fund, The Dr DA Berry Fund, The Henry Duncan Prize Lecture Fund and The BP Prize Lecture in the Humanities Fund. Others comprise the Retailing Seminars Fund and The CASS Fund. The Restricted Income Fund represents restricted income received and expended in the year. Under the terms of the Lessells Trust the University of Glasgow is entitled to 10% of additional amounts received by the RSE from the Trust. The funds of the RSE Scotland Foundation are treated as restricted in respect of the consolidated accounts and comprise the endowment for the upkeep of the James Clerk Maxwell statue 37,524, the CRF fund of 8,333,150 and the balance of the Foundation general fund of 821,226.
22 Analysis of assets between funds

General Group Fund balances at 31 March 2012 are represented by: Tangible xed assets Investments Loan to RSE Scotland Foundation Current assets RSE Scotland Foundation current account Deposits Cash Current liabilities Provisions for liabilities and charges Pension fund liability 623,886 General RSE Fund balances at 31 March 2012 are represented by: Tangible xed assets Investments Loan to RSE Scotland Foundation Current assets RSE Scotland Foundation current account Deposits Cash Current liabilities Provisions for liabilities and charges Pension fund liability 623,886 9,405,721 1,953,065 11,982,672 10,376,185 859,704 (1,104,319) 295,112 295,351 (238,512) (870,302) (130,880) 96,825 1,123,166 22,994 493,556 2,035,374 5,616,426 1,657,096 1,831,081 2,058,368 7,941,063 1,657,096 859,704 (1,104,319) 1,515,103 295,351 (1,108,814) (130,880) 2,115,452 6,064,793 1,703,904 1,124,283 (923,238) 1,763,061 109,181 (1,363,401) (217,850) 9,405,721 Designated Funds 14,080,572 Restricted Funds 24,110,179 2012 22,181,674 2011 859,704 (1,104,319) 295,112 295,351 (238,512) (1,133,113) (130,880) 96,825 22,994 493,556 2,035,374 5,616,426 1,657,096 1,594,186 12,990,010 (1,657,096) 50,891 1,104,319 1,262,255 1,654,192 295,351 (1,371,625) (130,880) 1,763,061 130,051 (1,570,713) (217,850) 910,595 1,217,162 3,652,554 19,099,992 3,772,071 17,087,892 Designated Funds Restricted Funds 2012 2011
380

23 Pension costs
(a) Universities Superannuation Scheme The RSE participates in the Universities Superannuation Scheme, a dened benet pension scheme which is externally funded and contracted out of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme. The assets of the scheme are held in a separate trustee-administered fund. The fund is valued every three years by a professionally qualied independent actuary using the projected unit method, the rates of contribution payable being determined by the trustee on the advice of the actuaries. In the intervening years the actuaries review the progress of the scheme. Because of the mutual nature of the scheme, the scheme's assets are not hypothecated to individual institutions and a scheme-wide contribution rate is set. The RSE is therefore exposed to actuarial risks associated with other institutions' employees and is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis and therefore, as required by FRS 17 "Retirement benets", accounts for the scheme as if it were a dened contribution scheme. As a result, the amount charged to the income and expenditure account represents the contributions payable to the scheme in respect of the accounting period. At 31 March 2012, USS had over 145,000 active members and the RSE had two active members participating in the scheme. The latest actuarial valuation of the scheme was at 31 March 2011. The most signicant assumptions, those relating to the rate of return on investments and the increase in salary and pensions are as follows:
Past service liabilities Investment return Salary increase Pension increase 6.1 4.4 3.4
Future service liabilities 6.1 4.4 3.4
At the valuation date the market value of the schemes assets was 32,433.5 million and the value of the schemes technical provisions was 35,343.7 million on the schemes historical funding basis. The value of the assets represented 92% of the benets that had accrued to members, after allowing for expected future increases in earnings. As part of this valuation, the trustees have determined, after consultation with the employers, a recovery plan to pay off the shortfall by 31 March 2021. Since the previous valuation as at 31 March 2008, there have been a number of changes to the benets provided by the scheme, although these became effective from October 2011. These include: change to career revalued benets for new entrants, normal pension age increase to 65, increase in member contributions and cost sharing, in the ratio 65:35 employers to members, of the excess contribution over 23.5%.The contribution rate payable by the RSE in the year was 16.0% of pensionable salaries. The actuary has conrmed that it is appropriate to take the pension charge to be equal to the actual contribution paid during the year. The total pension cost payable to USS in the year was 17,427.
(b) Lothian Pension Fund The RSE also participates in the Lothian Pension Fund, a dened benet pension scheme established under Local Government Pension Fund Regulations. This scheme has determined that it is possible to ascertain the shares of assets and liabilities relating to individual admitted bodies. The assets of the scheme are held in a separate trustee-administered fund. The fund is valued every three years by a professionally qualied independent actuary using the projected unit method, the rates of contribution payable being determined by the trustee on the advice of the actuaries. In the intervening years the actuaries review the progress of the scheme. At the latest valuation date the market value of the schemes assets was 2,903 million and the value of past service liabilities was 3,427 million. The value of the assets represented 85% of the benets that had accrued to members, after allowing for expected future increases in earnings. The contribution rate payable by the RSE was: 22.7%. The actuary has conrmed that it is appropriate to take the pension charge to be equal to the actual contribution paid during the year.
381

23 Pension costs (continued) Pension fund asset / (liability)
The RSE pension fund asset at 31 March and the movements of its component parts comprise: 2012 000 Present value of funded liabilities (dened benet obligation) Fair value of employer assets Net asset at 31 March (2,209) 2,441 232 2011 000 (2,087) 2,174 87
In accordance with the accounting policy, this asset is not recognised in the balance sheet as it is not expected to be recoverable in the foreseeable future. 2012 000 2,087 117 119 45 (137) (22) 2,209 2011 000 2,299 147 (222) 123 46 (299) (7) 2,087
Movement in present value of dened benet obligation At 1 April Current service cost Past service costs Interest cost Contribution by members Actuarial losses/(gains) Benets paid At 31 March
Movement in fair value of employer assets At 1 April Expected return on assets Contributions by members Contributions by the employer Actuarial gains/(losses) Benets paid At 31 March
2012 000 2,174 158 45 153 (67) (22) 2,441
2011 000 1,884 144 46 144 (37) (7) 2,174
The net expense recognised in the statement of nancial activities after FRS17 adjustments was Current service cost Interest cost Expected return on employer assets Past service cost/(gain)
2012 000 117 119 (158)
2011 000 147 123 (144) (222)
78 The total amount recognised in the statement of nancial activities in respect of actuarial gains and losses is a loss of 75,000 (2011: gain of 175,000). This loss has been calculated to eliminate the net asset to reect the expectations in respect of its recovery at 31 March 2012.
(96)
382

23 Pension costs (continued)
The fair value of the employer assets at 31 March and the return on them in the year was: Value 2012 000 Equities Bonds Property Cash 1,929 195 268 49 2,441 Actual return on plan assets 48 Return 2012 % 6.2 4.0 4.4 3.5 Value 2011 000 1,718 174 217 65 2,174 109 Return 2011 % 7.5 4.9 5.5 4.6
The expected rates of return on plan assets are determined by reference to relevant indices. The overall expected rate of return is calculated by weighting the individual rates in accordance with the anticipated balance in the Plans investment portfolio.
Principal actuarial assumptions (expressed as weighted averages) at the year end were as follows: 2012 % Ination/pension increase rate Salary increase rate Expected return on assets Discount rate The salary increase assumption at 31 March 2012 is 1% per annum for the rst two years thereafter.
The assumptions relating to longevity underlying the pension liabilities at the balance sheet date as based on standard actuarial mortality tables and include an allowance for future improvements in longevity. The assumptions are equivalent to expecting a 65 year old to live for a number of years as follows: Males 2012 Females Males 2011 Females
2011 % 2.8 5.1 7.0 5.5
2.5 4.8 5.8 4.8
Current pensioners Future pensioners The history of the plan for the current and prior periods is as follows: Present value of dened benet obligation Fair value of employer assets Surplus/(decit) Experience gains and losses on assets and liabilities have been as follows: Experience gains/(losses) on liabilities Experience gains/(losses) on assets
20.4 years 22.6 years 2012 000 (2,209) 2,441 232 2012 000 180 (67)
22.8 years 25.4 years 2011 000 (2,087) 2,174 87 2011 000 (37) 2010 000 (2,299) 1,884 (415) 2010 000 374 2009 000 (1,128) 1,267 139 2009 000 28 (396)
20.8 years 22.3 years 2008 000 (1,145) 1,437 292 2008 000 (140) 2007 000 (1,298) 1,347 49 2007 000 (1) 8
24.1 years 25.7 years 2006 000 (1,250) 1,130 (120) 2006 000 (30) 171
The projected amount to be charged in respect of the Lothian Pension Fund dened benet scheme in the next nancial year is 93,000. (c) Pension charge The total pension charge for the year, before the FRS17 pension credit, was 171,199 (2011: 161,519 before FRS 17 pensions credit).
383

24 Transactions with Related parties
(a) Council members No member of Council received any payments other than reimbursements of expenditure on travel and subsistence costs actually and necessarily incurred in carrying out their duties as Councillors and Ofcers. The aggregate of such reimbursements to those Council members who charged expenses amounted to 1,185 (2011: 1,538). b) Other related parties The RSE Director of Finance is also a part-time employee of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, which administers postgraduate scholarships on behalf of the Foundation. In 2011 12 the Foundation made payments in support of the studentship scheme amounting to 79,093 (2011 95,933).
25 Connected charitable trusts

(a) RSE Scotland Foundation The RSE Scotland Foundation is a charitable trust, recognised in Scotland as Scottish charity number SCO24636. It was created in March 1996 with the object of advancing the education of the public in Scotland in science and engineering and in so doing to conserve the scientic and cultural heritage of Scotland. The President, General Secretary, Treasurer, Curator and a Vice-President of the RSE are ex ofciis Trustees of the Foundation, which draws on the resources of the RSE in carrying out its objects. The Foundation also has ve nominated Trustees. The Foundation became publisher of the RSEs journals under a Publications Rights License effective from 1 January 1997. On 1 July 1997 the RSE granted to the Foundation a 50-year lease over 26 George Street carrying an obligation to refurbish the building within a three-year period. The Council of the RSE agreed to make a loan of up to 2.3 million available to the Foundation in support of the refurbishment. The agreed terms of the loan are as described in note 15. (b) BP Research Fellowships Trust The BP Research Fellowships Trust funds a scheme of post doctoral research fellowships administered by the RSE.
26 Supplementary information: grants, donations and receipts

(a) Scottish Government Grants Income 2012 Promotion of research Arts and Humanities Award Generating & Communicating knowledge International activities 1,648,861 134,632 317,099 354,408 2,455,000 2011 1,727,569 487,071 373,624 307,286 2,895,550
The funding for 2011 12 was a grant under S23 Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1985 in support of the four programmes of activity: Research Fellowships, Arts & Humanities Awards; International grants & relations and Generating & Communicating knowledge. At 31 March 2012 the nancial commitment in respect of Personal and Support Fellowships awarded subject to Scottish Government funding in the years, 2012 13, 2013 14 and 2014 15 amounted to 1,528,422, 1,114,277 and 502,302 respectively. These amounts are treated as obligation of future years to be nanced by specic funding expected to be made available from the Scottish Government.
384

26 Supplementary information: grants, donations and receipts (continued)
(b) Recurring donations in support of activities The Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland supports postdoctoral fellowships, postgraduate studentships and lectures and conferences to fund and disseminate research aimed at improving the quality of life for an ageing population. Scottish Enterprise Income Promotion of research & innovation 547,114 Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland
Costs Promotion of research & innovation RSE @ Dumfries & Galloway Provision for future costs RSE administration and staff costs recovery 86,801 547,114 12,092 86,970 460,313 74,878
(c) Other donations in support of activities The RSE gratefully acknowledges all those who make donations in support of activities. The companies, trusts and other bodies which made donations of 1,000 or more in support of activities in the year ended 31 March 2012 were as follows:
Anonymous Arts & Humananities Research Council Brightsolid Online Innovation Ltd Chartered Institute for IT (CAS) Edinburgh Consortium for Rural Research Edinburgh Napier University Education Scotland French Embassy Heriot-Watt University James Weir Foundation
Microsoft Research National Telford Institute Ove Arup & Partners Scotland Ltd Royal Academy of Engineering Scotland IS Ltd Scottish Cancer Foundation Scottish Funding Council
University of Glasgow University of the West of Scotland WMD Awareness Group Wolfson Microelectronics plc
Scottish Information & Computer Science Alliance Society of Biology University of Edinburgh
385

26 Supplementary information: grants, donations and receipts (continued)
(d) Friends of the Society The Friends of the Society corporate partners of the RSE, during the year ended 31 March 2012 were as follows: Aberdeen Asset Management Arup Group BP plc FES Ltd Lloyds Banking Group Royal Bank of Scotland plc Scottish Resources Group Ltd Scottish Council for Development & Industry Shell UK Standard Life plc The Herald Toshiba Medical Visualisation Systems Europe Ltd Wood Group
27 Analysis of net funds

At 31 March 2012 Cash ows At 1 April 2011
Cash at bank Deposits general Deposits designated funds Deposits restricted funds
295,351 295,112 96,825 1,262,255 1,949,543
165,300 265,756 482 (375,107) 56,431
130,051 29,356 96,343 1,637,362 1,893,112
386

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The Royal Society of Edinburgh

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH REVIEW OF THE SESSION 2011-2012

PUBLISHED BY THE RSE SCOTLAND FOUNDATION ISSN 1476-4342

Printed in Great Britain by Henry Ling Limited, Dorchester, DT1 1HD

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH REVIEW OF THE SESSION 2011-2012

PUBLISHED BY THE RSE SCOTLAND FOUNDATION ISSN 1476-4342

Printed in Great Britain by Henry Ling Limited, Dorchester, DT1 1HD

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