By John Connor
It is famously said that if you can remember the 1960s, you were not there. Nevertheless, 50 years on in July more than 20 post-graduate and post-doctoral researchers from that era travelled to Cambridge from across the world to celebrate the time spent together in what was then the Department of Physical Chemistry.
At the start of the decade the legendary Nobel Prize Laureate Professor Norrish was at the helm, followed later by Professor Linnett. Not surprisingly the Department had great strength in photochemistry and kinetics but was also active in electrochemistry and theoretical chemistry. Each of these areas was represented in the July gathering.
The reunion began as it should in the Department. Professor Sanders’ address of welcome gave a vivid picture of the achievements of the Department and the challenges faced today in maintaining world class status. We then moved outside for the group photo where we were flanked by a section from the official lab photograph from 1967 on which many of us featured! Lunch followed at the Panton Arms, a favourite watering hole in the 1960s. Although now much changed, the pub does at least retain its name, unlike that other favourite, the Spread Eagle.
In the evening, we dined in style in the Old Library at Emmanuel College with Professor Brian Thrush as guest of honour. The Toasts were to Absent Friends and to the Department. We finally took our leave after lunch the following day at the Orchard in Grantchester with friendships renewed and promising to do this again soon!
After Cambridge, many of us assumed roles in academia or research institutes. Others took up new challenges in industry or the public sector as managers, administrators and policy makers. Some moved out of science altogether and we include in our number a management consultant, the publisher of a specialist Canadian newspaper and an Anglican priest. All, however, share affection for the time spent in Cambridge and will look back on this reunion as a very special celebration of that time. We left grateful to the Department for hosting us, and that its future looks to be assured.
Finally, if there are any readers from our time who we failed to contact but who would like to join our network, an electronic copy of the Reunion Publication, A Treasury of Short Memoirs, can be obtained from David Rand by emailing David.Rand@csiro.au
Image: Alumni of the (then) Department of Physical Chemistry reuniting in Cambridge in July 2017, fifty years on. Image courtesy of Department of Chemistry Photography.