Maeggreen
In the DarkThe Passage of Time
The start of this term has been so busy that I forgot that October 1st was the 40th anniversary of the day I officially started as a research student at the University of Sussex (1st October 1985). Reflecting on that event I realized with something approaching horror that 1985 is halfway between 1945 and 2025, so I started my PhD DPhil closer in time to the end of World War 2 than to today. Yikes!
Before travelling to the Sussex to embark on my research degree, I spent a couple of weeks at a summer school for all the new Astronomy PhD students. These are still held annually, although they are now just a week long instead of a fortnight. They are now sponsored by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) but the one I attended was before that came into being, and even before its predecessor, the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research PPARC. The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) summer school I went to was held at Durham University; we all stayed in St Maryβs College, just over the road from the Physics Department. I remember it well and indeed still have the notes I took during the lectures there.
Another difference in those days was that we got our stipends paid by cheque β every three months, if I remember correctly β directly from the Research Council. Nowadays STFC gives block grants to universities and other research institutions, who then pay the students.
Anyway, here is the summer school conference picture:
Unfortunately (for such a rare and valuable document) it is slightly damaged on the left -hand side. I leave it up to my readers to identify the people in this group who are still in the business 40 years later. I can see quite a few β Moira Jardine, Alan Fitzsimmons, Melvyn Hoare, Jon Loveday and Alastair Edge, among others! A more complete list can be found here.
I donβt think Iβm the only member of this group who is thinking of retiring fairly soon. This post was occasioned by the 40th anniversary of the start of my DPhil; my plan is to retire 40 years after the date of the completion of my thesis. Thatβs less than three years from nowβ¦
"What we call the beginning is often the endAnd to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from. "
from Little Gidding V, Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
#DurhamUniversity #PhDStudents #PPARC #SERC #STFC #SussexUniversity
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