A Personal Memoir -- Part 2

Transcription

Expressing it in
Numbers
A Personal Memoir – Part 2
Bill Trowbridge
...when you can measure what you are speaking about and express it in
numbers, you know something about it.
Lord Kelvin, 1895
In loving memory and gratitude to my dear wife
Rita (1929-2007)
and
with love to my daughter and son
Dinah and Simon
Published by D’Arcy Publications
The author acknowledges the many contributions made by his late wife Rita,
daughter Dinah and son Simon in the writing and preparation of these
memoirs. He is also greatly indebted to his very close colleague and friend of
over 50 years, Jim Diserens, for his encouragement and for the corrections,
editing and detailed suggestions he has made. Also, to my colleague at
Vector Fields for over twenty years, John Whitney, who has read the text
and corrected some of factual errors embedded in the author‘s memory. Any
errors that remain, after all the help and advice received, are the author‘s sole
responsibility.
Copyright © 2008 by C.W. Trowbridge
[email protected]
ISBN 978-0-9518248-1-8
Printed by Wessex Design Associates Ltd.
December 2008
On Line Version PDF December 2009
Contents
Contents ............................................................................................................. ii
Table of Plates .................................................................................................. iv
1.
Harwell........................................................................................................ 1
Training School .................................................................................................. 1
Accelerator Tubes .............................................................................................. 6
East Hagbourne and Didcot ............................................................................ 11
The Polytechnic in Regent Street and Family Life in Didcot ....................... 17
Ion Source Development and Life in Didcot ................................................. 34
2.
Rutherford Laboratory ..........................................................................52
High Field Bubble Chamber ........................................................................... 52
Family Matters 1965-1966 .............................................................................. 56
Growth in applications computing 1967-1970 .............................................. 59
Family matters 1967-1970 .............................................................................. 75
Notes culled from a Diary for 1971 ................................................................ 81
Integral Equations and Interactive Graphics 1970-72 ................................... 98
Moulsford & Camping 1971-1976 ............................................................... 103
Computing Applications Group 1972-1976................................................. 115
Compumag at St Catherine‘s College .......................................................... 122
3.
Computational Electromagnetics......................................................126
The Wider Community 1976-1984 .............................................................. 126
Compumag Grenoble..................................................................................... 136
Promoting the Rutherford Software.............................................................. 138
Compumag Crosses the Atlantic................................................................... 148
At Compumag in Chicago and afterwards at RAL ..................................... 153
At Compumag Genoa .................................................................................... 162
ISC visits the Rockies and New Projects at Home ...................................... 170
Family Life 1976-1984 .................................................................................. 177
Round the World to China 1984 ................................................................... 190
4.
Vector Fields Ltd ..................................................................................226
Overview of the early years - In the end is our beginning .......................... 226
1984 — A fateful year ............................................................................... 226
Towards forming Vector Fields ............................................................... 228
VF Product Background ........................................................................... 231
A Recap on early exploitation .................................................................. 232
The Formation of Vector Fields Ltd ........................................................ 232
Professional & Family Life 1984 to 1987 .................................................... 234
1984............................................................................................................ 234
1985............................................................................................................ 236
At the Compumag Conference in Fort Collins........................................ 237
1986............................................................................................................ 244
1987............................................................................................................ 251
Austrian Holiday and Compumag Graz .................................................. 259
Expansion of Vector Fields 1988 to 1993 .................................................... 264
1988............................................................................................................ 264
China Revisited - BISEF88 A Prospect for the Future? ......................... 268
Formation of Vector Fields Inc ................................................................ 287
1989 to 1990 .............................................................................................. 288
1990............................................................................................................ 293
A Journey to the United States and Canada............................................ 304
The Rest of the year 1990 ......................................................................... 340
Excerpts from my Diary 1991 .................................................................. 344
1992 Queen’s Award Year ....................................................................... 383
A Winter Journey to Finland .................................................................... 396
1993............................................................................................................ 407
5.
International Compumag Society (1994-1997) ................................419
The Creation of a Society 1994..................................................................... 419
Vector Fields and Personal Matters 1994-1995 ........................................... 422
Envoi ............................................................................................................... 436
Appendix I ......................................................................................................441
The King Roberts‘ Version of the Creation of GFUN ................................ 441
Appendix 2 .....................................................................................................443
Vector Fields Statistics .................................................................................. 443
Appendix 3 .....................................................................................................444
ICS Newsletter First Issue ............................................................................. 444
Index ................................................................................................................445
Table of Plates
Plate 1: AERE Main Gate c. 1956 ........................................................................................................................2
Plate 2: Harwell 5MV Van de Graaf Generator complete column .....................................................................8
Plate 3: Boot Cottage, East Hagbourne...............................................................................................................11
Plate 4: AERE Site c. 1970 ..................................................................................................................................13
Plate 5: No. 72 Abbott Rd Didcot .......................................................................................................................14
Plate 6: The Polytechnic Regent St London ......................................................................................................18
Plate 7: Rita and Bill at Penzance, 1959 .............................................................................................................23
Plate 8: Sennen Cove ...........................................................................................................................................24
Plate 9: The Tandem Generator...........................................................................................................................25
Plate 10: Schematic diagram of Van de Graaff Machines.................................................................................26
Plate 11: Proud Parents ........................................................................................................................................27
Plate 12: Simon with his Dad and new car (1962) .............................................................................................31
Plate 13: Experiments on Negative Ion Formation [ 42] ..................................................................................35
Plate 14: Oxford Electrostatic Generator (Artists Impression)..........................................................................38
Plate 15: Visiting the building site.......................................................................................................................46
Plate 16: Vertical Electrostatic Generator Terminal ..........................................................................................47
Plate 17: North End Moulsford (1966) ...............................................................................................................49
Plate 18: Douglas Allen (R) with Ted Pyrah (L)................................................................................................51
Plate 19: Artist‘s impression of proposed High Field Chamber .......................................................................52
Plate 20: Dinah & Simon in the garden at North End overlooking the cricket field .......................................56
Plate 21: Summit Party on Snowdon ..................................................................................................................57
Plate 22: The TRIM Program in ‗Interactive‘ Mode ........................................................................................61
Plate 23: Zermat March 1968 ..............................................................................................................................63
Plate 24: West Berlin 1970 ..................................................................................................................................65
Plate 25: The High Field Bubble Chamber Group relaxing after visiting Brookhaven National Lab. ..........67
Plate 26: Delegates at the Bubble Chamber Conference, ANL, 1970 ..............................................................69
Plate 27: (a) 200GeV accelerator under construction. (b) Boulder Colorado ..................................................70
Plate 28: (a) Central City (Old Mining Railway) (b) Williams Towers Hall of Residence ............................71
Plate 29: Estes Park & Author at Bear Lake.......................................................................................................72
Plate 30: Family on Holiday (a) Charmouth 1967, (b) Shell Island .................................................................75
Plate 31: Kerry August 1968 ...............................................................................................................................77
Plate 32: Rita in front of the wall tribute at Inch ................................................................................................78
Plate 33: Matterhorn, Dinah and Monte Rosa, 1970..........................................................................................79
Plate 34: Bert Creed with his daughter and grandchildren at Moulsford, 1971 ...............................................85
Plate 35: Simon & Dinah in Cwm Glas ..............................................................................................................87
Plate 36: On the Snowdon Horseshoe.................................................................................................................88
Plate 37: CAG Walk from Stonehenge to Avebury...........................................................................................91
Plate 38: GFUN in action...................................................................................................................................100
Plate 39: Camping in the Jura and Riviera, July 1972 .....................................................................................103
Plate 40: Ordesa National Park..........................................................................................................................108
Plate 41: Camping in the Wye Valley, 1975 ....................................................................................................110
Plate 42: Mick at Moulsford, 1975....................................................................................................................113
Plate 43: Zinal 1975 ...........................................................................................................................................114
Plate 44: Wye Valley Group Walk Start...........................................................................................................118
Plate 45: Engineering Board visit to RL Oct 1975...........................................................................................121
Plate 46: Compumag Oxford Announcement ..................................................................................................122
Plate 47: Peter Silvester gives the first invited lecture .....................................................................................124
Plate 48: CAG at the Crown & Horns (1976) ..................................................................................................125
Plate 49: J C Sabonnadiere with Bill Trowbridge & Peter Silvester ..............................................................127
Plate 50: Chari, Zoltan Cendes & Peter Lawrenson ........................................................................................127
Plate 51: Comparison of Differential & Integral Method ................................................................................129
Plate 52: From the House Journal Quest, Vol 10, No. 2, 1977 .......................................................................134
Plate 53: ISC & LOC Grenoble, April 1978 ....................................................................................................137
Plate 54: Olek Zienkiewicz on the beach near Monterey, 1979......................................................................140
Plate 55: Larry & Donna Turner (1979) ...........................................................................................................141
Plate 56: The Silvester‘s Retreat........................................................................................................................142
Plate 57: Empire State Building ........................................................................................................................143
Plate 58: CAG Computing Room .....................................................................................................................145
Plate 59: The Expanded Computing Applications Group ..............................................................................150
Plate 60: Bloomsday 1981 .................................................................................................................................151
Plate 61: Opening Compumag Chicago, Gail Pewitt & Larry Turner ...........................................................153
Plate 62: The Whitney Symposium, 1981 ........................................................................................................154
Plate 63: Compumag Genoa: Sandro Viviani with Bill Trowbridge after the ISC meeting in Genoa.........156
Plate 64: Close Friends at Cosenors House Abingdon ....................................................................................158
Plate 65: Some of the delegates on the Trail Ridge Rd. ..................................................................................160
Plate 66: Compumag moves to Italy .................................................................................................................162
Plate 67: Relaxing on the Miramare Terrace ....................................................................................................163
Plate 68: The author demonstrating the PERQ machine at the conference exhibition ..................................164
Plate 69: Dr Rikabi Inventing the 'Ligurian' .....................................................................................................165
Plate 70: Chari at Lymington 1983 ...................................................................................................................166
Plate 71: Bill Lord, Chairman Compumag Fort Collins ..................................................................................170
Plate 72: The Prize Winning Poster ..................................................................................................................171
Plate 73: The Fastest Pumpkin Carver in the West ..........................................................................................172
Plate 74: SIG-EM at Cosenors House Abingdon.............................................................................................173
Plate 75: EEC Semiconductor Modelling Project Meeting .............................................................................174
Plate 76: Chalet in Wales, 1976.........................................................................................................................177
Plate 77: Dinah in her room at College .............................................................................................................179
Plate 78: Wedding Anniversary Gathering 1979 .............................................................................................180
Plate 79: Rita and Bill at St Jean de Luz, 1980.................................................................................................181
Plate 80: Simon in the Basque Country and a modern monument to Roland................................................183
Plate 81: Dad at 80 and David and Peter at Misselfore....................................................................................184
Plate 82: Four Views of Wester Ross 1981/82.................................................................................................185
Plate 83: Dinah Graduates .................................................................................................................................186
Plate 84: My Dad Aged 82; his last photograph ..............................................................................................188
Plate 85: At Pt Claire to see Dave Lowther‘s Yacht (R to L Dave, Irene, Bill & Rita).................................191
Plate 86: Near Waikiki Beech ...........................................................................................................................197
Plate 87: Reception Committee: ........................................................................................................................202
Plate 88: Being briefed by Prof. Tang...............................................................................................................203
Plate 89: First Lecture ........................................................................................................................................205
Plate 90: Mr Fan-Yu, Rita‘s personal guide .....................................................................................................208
Plate 91: Some visitors to our apartment ..........................................................................................................212
Plate 92: Course Photograph .............................................................................................................................214
Plate 93: With Fan Min Wu arriving at Beijing Station ..................................................................................219
Plate 94: The Great wall.....................................................................................................................................223
Plate 95: Simon‘s Graduation ............................................................................................................................234
Plate 96: Compumag Colorado in Session .......................................................................................................237
Plate 97: Moving from Moulsford to Frilford ..................................................................................................239
Plate 98: Compumag Committee on Walkabout Tour of Graz.......................................................................242
Plate 99: Three members of the APPEAL project in Genoa 1985 .................................................................243
Plate 100: Small beginnings — The Home of VF at Osney Mead.................................................................244
Plate 101: ICP Award Ceremony ......................................................................................................................246
Plate 102: Tang Qui at D‘Arcy‘s Field .............................................................................................................248
Plate 103: Japan 1986.........................................................................................................................................249
Plate 104: Appeal Team on the steps of the Parthenon....................................................................................251
Plate 105: VF Stand at Intermag Tokyo ...........................................................................................................254
Plate 106: User Course at Sunshine City ..........................................................................................................255
Plate 107: Olek Zienkiewicz Opens the New VF Office at Kidlington .........................................................256
Plate 108: The Traditional ‗This Is Your Life Card‘ .......................................................................................258
Plate 109: Bill beside the Danube and Rita overlooking Salzburg .................................................................259
Plate 110: At Compumag Graz (a) Bill & Rita at the Wine-Strasse, (b) Poster, ...........................................260
Plate 111: Scenes from Semriach ......................................................................................................................262
Plate 112: The Staff at DIE Genoa 1988 ..........................................................................................................265
Plate 113: Rita retires from Cholsey School.....................................................................................................266
Plate 114: Family Reunion at Brenda‘s House ................................................................................................268
Plate 115: Our Hosts at Hebie Institute of Technology, Tianjin .....................................................................269
Plate 116: Xian City Wall ..................................................................................................................................279
Plate 117: Maoling Tomb-'three delightful girls ...‘ .........................................................................................280
Plate 118: One we could photograph ................................................................................................................282
Plate 119: The Official Photograph showing the actual Army .......................................................................283
Plate 120: Compumag Tokyo Poster ................................................................................................................290
Plate 121: After 3DMAG in Okayama visiting the new bridge connecting Honshu to Shikoku .................291
Plate 122: Lakes & Skye July 1989 ..................................................................................................................292
Plate 123: ...view of the city skyline..................................................................................................................305
Plate 124 : Bear Lake and Longs Peak .............................................................................................................310
Plate 125: ...this is the kingdom of the trucker .................................................................................................313
Plate 126: Temple Square-Salt Lake City.........................................................................................................317
Plate 127: Monument Valley ............................................................................................................................319
Plate 128: ...purchasing some more jewellery ..................................................................................................321
Plate 129: At our stand... ....................................................................................................................................323
Plate 130...Maroon lake, a superb morning,... ..................................................................................................325
Plate 131: ...Josh and Bob were very friendly ..................................................................................................331
Plate 132: Dinah at the Morton Arboretum ......................................................................................................334
Plate 133...they had a splendid day at Niagara.. ...............................................................................................337
Plate 134: ISC Meeting in Rome March 1991 .................................................................................................355
Plate 135: Cwm Idwal looking East, May 1991 ..............................................................................................363
Plate 136: Compumag Sorrento Poster .............................................................................................................368
Plate 137: VF Stand at Compumag Sorrento ...................................................................................................371
Plate 138: ISEF Conference, Southampton 1991.............................................................................................378
Plate 139 : Lauri defends his Thesis..................................................................................................................398
Plate 140: Presentation of the Queens Award ..................................................................................................401
Plate 141: The VF Staff with Sir Ashley Ponsonby.........................................................................................402
Plate 142: PC-OPERA at Kings College ..........................................................................................................403
Plate 143: IEE Achievement Award 199, 22 November 1992 .......................................................................406
Plate 144: At the Palace with the Family, 16 March 1993 ..............................................................................409
Plate 145: Scout Reunion on 18 April 1993 .....................................................................................................411
Plate 146: Compumag Miami Poster ................................................................................................................413
Plate 147: a. Qutb Minar Complex near Delhi, b. The Iron PillarTest ...........................................................414
Plate 148: The Taj Mahal & Fatepur Sikri .......................................................................................................417
Plate 149: Founding Board of ICS ....................................................................................................................421
Plate 150: 40th Wedding Anniversary Celebration at D‘Arcy‘s Field ............................................................423
Plate 151: Dinah & Ted Deeley at the party.....................................................................................................424
Plate 152: Mystic Seaport ..................................................................................................................................426
Plate 153: Compumag Berlin Poster .................................................................................................................431
Plate 154: Arnulf Kost (standing second from the left) and his team .............................................................432
Plate 155: With Lewis and Mary Gregory in their back garden .....................................................................432
Plate 156: Weimar and Eisenach, September 1995 .........................................................................................433
Plate 157: The Rector guides Rita to sign the register .....................................................................................437
Plate 158: Receiving the Honorary Doctorate from Prof Richter ...................................................................438
Plate 159: Celebratory Dinner ...........................................................................................................................439
Harwell
1
1. Harwell
Training School
My education as a scientist had already begun while I was still in the
Merchant Navy. My study intensified after my marriage to Rita in 1954
when I signed up for a correspondence course with the Seafarers
Education Service and they arranged tutors in mathematics and physics
for me. By late 1956 I had sat and passed the necessary examinations to
allow me to proceed to a degree course unfortunately we had no money
and so I needed to get a job. As has been related in Volume 1 of these
memoirs1 I managed to obtain a lowly post at the Atomic Energy
research laboratory at Harwell with a strong indication that I would be
allowed to take advantage of a day release scheme to study for a degree
part time.
I left Frome very early on Monday 21st February 1957 to travel to
Didcot to start my new life in science at Harwell. The journey involved
both train and bus; in those days a convenient bus service between
Newbury and Oxford deposited one outside the main gate and as I sat
upstairs in front seat, my imagination bordering on fantasy, I saw myself
becoming a famous atomic physicist. The prospect of working in a
laboratory where deep secrets were kept from ordinary mortals excited
me as much as the challenge of joining that selected band of British
researchers currently led by Sir John Cockcroft the founder and director
of the establishment, even if in the lowest capacity. Sir John was world
famous, he had before the war in Cambridge2 designed and built together
with his equally famous collaborator E T S Walton, a particle accelerator
to 'split' the atom thus initiating ‗big science'.
Arriving at Harwell once again I found myself as the 'lowest form of
animal life'. Just under 10 years previously when I joined the SS
Cerinthus as a new cadet in the Houlder Line I was certainly regarded as
a lowly creature and this time the Harwell Personnel officer told me at
my induction interview that a mere Scientific Assistant was just a
‗training‘ grade which, at my age (26 years), left me with a lot of
catching up to do. This did not depress me unduly as I fully intended to
try and close the gap between me and my more 'senior' colleagues as fast
1
‗So Long to Learn‘, Bill (CW) Trowbridge, D‘Arcy‘s Publications, Revised 2008
In 1932 the first artificial splitting of the atom by accelerating protons and bombarding
on to Lithium target
2
2
Training School
as I could but first I needed to bide my time and play myself in and,
furthermore acquire a higher education at the same time. This was a tall
order but my motivation was strong.
Plate 1: AERE Main Gate c. 1956
Although in those days the laboratory was still very security minded
the more sensitive weapons applications had moved to Aldermaston and
the laboratory's role had changed to concentrate on peaceful applications
of Atomic Energy as well as fundamental research in Atomic and
Nuclear Physics. On my arrival at the main gate (Plate 1), then situated
on the busy A 34 long before the bypass was constructed, I found myself
in the security 'guard house' waiting in line as the many visitors were
given temporary passes. The room had a long counter behind which
stood several security policemen who issued passes after much filling in
of forms. As a new employee I was directed to the personnel section in
the administrative building where I was given a security booklet and
invited to sign the official secrets act. I was told a permanent pass would
be issued to me in a day or so. I was then informed that arrangements had
been made for me to be billeted in Didcot at the house of a Harwell
employee who would meet me at 5 o'clock. In the meantime, as had been
agreed at my interview, I would be attending the 'Training School'.
Someone then escorted me to Hangar 7 to meet Mr Robins who directed
the courses on basic laboratory technology. Thus began a new and
strange experience.
Harwell
3
Mr Robins turned out to be an ex army man whom had served his
time with the Royal Engineers and we had an immediate rapport. He was
interested in my sea career and we enjoyed swapping reminiscences
about our travels at odd moments over the next few weeks. I think he
regarded me as a special case as most of the trainees were youngsters
fresh from school and had been recruited in the main to join the
laboratory‘s 'at this time' ever growing band of technicians. I lost no time
in telling Robbie that my aspirations were aimed much higher though, at
this stage, I had no clear idea how I was going to achieve my goal except
that I must, at all costs, learn as much as I could. I was apparently
earmarked to join Dr W D Allen's Electrostatic Generator group but I
soon discovered that Robbie knew only very little of what this involved
but that in the meantime I should learn some basic laboratory skills. This
it appeared mostly involved joining copper pipes together by brazing,
filing metal, and wiring electrical components by soldering. I was
introduced to two members of his staff, one a little older than me but the
other much younger. The older man, his name I have quite forgotten and
I will call him Colin, had been in the RAF and specialised in electronics
and told me they would guide me through the stages of building a simple
rectifier circuit as a sort of final project of the course but first I would be
shown by the other chap, who answered to the name of Mick, how to file
a small billet of duralumin into a prism. The only thing I can remember
about Colin was that he lived in an AERE owned house in Wantage and
he paved his garden with concrete to avoid grass cutting. I was issued
with a white coat and a film badge, which was collected each week to be
processed by the radiation protection department, but I hardly got started
on the filing job when a man in his late forties appeared who introduced
himself as Charlie and said he'd come to collect me as it was time to go
home.
Charlie Carter had a spare room in his house in Didcot and had
joined the scheme to provide new staff with temporary lodging until they
could find something more permanent. We walked to the bus stop and
here I had my first impression of the size of the lab's work force as over
70 buses, mostly double-deckers, conveyed the staff in all directions to
the surrounding towns and villages, some as far away as Swindon,
Reading and Witney. The out-muster, as this daily event was called, and
the procession of vehicles jammed up the A 34 for a good half hour every
evening as some 7000 people were taken home. Many more came from
homes very nearby and added to the confusion with cars and bicycles.
Charlie turned out to be one of the army of clerical workers on site but
was a man of few words whose main hobby was his work with the St
Johns Ambulance Brigade. He was friendly and helpfully told me some
of the practical details of the lab but said he knew little about the
4
Training School
scientific work. About half an hour later I found myself being introduced
to his wife Barbara at their house in Five Acres Rd. I had no enthusiasm
for living in 'digs' as they used to call it and though the Carters were nice
people I couldn't wait to get settled with Rita in a place of our own. As
soon as I could escape I went out to the telephone and told Rita how
miserable I felt in a strange house with people I appeared to have little in
common with, as always she reassured me and we discussed plans for the
weekend as I would be coming home to her. She had already been
studying the teaching job market in the Didcot area and would come up
to see for herself in a week or so.
My time in the Training School passed by quickly; a routine was a
quickly established, getting up at seven am to catch the bus at eight in
time to be busy filing and brazing by 8.30. On Friday I would catch the
train to Newbury, in these pre ' Beeching3 ' days the old branch lines still
flourished, stopping at several down land villages on the way. At
Newbury a faster train soon had me back in Frome for the weekend.
This was also a time of meeting and making new friends. One such
was Nick Allen who had recently completed his National Service with
the RAF and had now returned to Harwell to resume his career as a lab
technician. Nick was very helpful to me by ‗showing me the ropes‘
during his few weeks at the training school to refresh his own skills. He
was also destined for the Electrostatic generator Group and later we were
to cooperate together in an experiment, which led to my first publication.
Dr Allen turned up one day and welcomed me and said I would be
transferred as soon as Mr Robins said I was ready. I was so used to the
service life that I automatically said, ‗Yes Sir‘ in response to his
questions but I could see this irritated him and he soon said, ‗You‘re not
on a ship now Bill; my name is Douglas Allen and people usually call me
Doug‘. I did get the chance to remind him about our deal at the interview
that I could enrol for a day-release degree course and although he
admitted this he did, at first, attempt to talk me out of it. We walked up
and down the ‗Deck‘, the floor of huge hangar that housed the
experimental facilities of General Physics Division, discussing my
motives and he pointed out the difficulties of trying to do too much at
once, setting up house in a new area and maybe wanting to start a family,
as well as coming to grips in a new work environment etc. I must have
demonstrated my determination as he agreed that I should give it a try but
he said that he would have to review the situation depending how I got
on both with the study and in the new job. He explained that I would be
joining a section whose job was to build and test the high voltage
accelerator vacuum tubes for the new electrostatic accelerator that his
3
Richard Beeching, Chairman of British Railways (1960-65), his report ‗The Reshaping
of British Railways (1963)‘ changed the railways forever.
Harwell
5
group were to design and build. Shortly after this I was deemed
sufficiently ‗trained‘ to take up my duties with Doug Allen‘s group. The
final test was to assemble and solder connections for a small power
supply unit, which I did tolerably well, and to complete the filing of the
duralumin prism, in which I failed miserably.
6
Accelerator Tubes
Accelerator Tubes
Doug introduced me to Jack Partridge, the leader of the accelerator
tube section, whose little lab and office was in the adjacent Hangar 8
(Plate 4). Like its neighbour this vast space contained many experiments
and was a hive of activity of which our section formed but a small part.
Jack, a short and quite plump man, welcomed me warmly and my first
impression was of a lively and enthusiastic man, maybe just a few years
older than myself, who having been given a job to do was determined to
do things his way. It turned out that his grade was that of an EO
(Experimental Officer) and he had only recently been transferred to
Harwell coming ‗down south‘ from Cumbria where he had been working
at the notorious Atomic Plant at Windscale. He was evidently man of
much experience in laboratory technology and was selected for the new
job because of his skill in designing experiments. Though I soon realised
that Doug Allen was a man having a formidable reputation Jack was not
in the least bit in awe of him as I was. I recognised Jack as a ‗Geordie‘, in
fact he came from Sunderland and in voice spoke similar to my old
Shipmate David Walton4 whom I worked with on my first ship SS
Cerinthus in 1948 so once again I was beginning a new career closely
associated with a Geordie. Jack introduced me to the other member of
our small team and this was Gordon Baker a tall friendly man who had
only recently ended his National Service with the RAF but who had spent
a period at the lab before being called up. Gordon was a SA (Scientific
Assistant), the same grade as me though he had considerable advantage
owing to his experience. However, from the beginning both Jack and
Gordon treated me extremely well showing no sense of superiority. I
soon discovered that Gordon had no higher technical qualifications and
had drifted into lab work from school and seemed to have no ambition in
this direction; whereas Jack had a general degree in science and had been
planning for some years to achieve an honours degree in physics but the
conflict between family, career had continually got in the way. This
situation may have prompted Doug Allen‘s attempt to persuade me
against following a higher education for the best of reasons.
These two lost no time in telling me that I was expected to construct
and test a ‗high vacuum system‘, the components were piled up on the
floor and indeed all over Jack‘s desk. I knew that creating a high vacuum
space was the necessary environment in experiments involving atomic
particles but had no idea how this was achieved in practice but Jack had
planned the system, ordered the components and soon had me working. It
was explained to me that the two pumps were involved, first a
mechanical fore, or ‗backing‘ pump which reduces the pressure from
4
See ‗So Long To Learn‘, Volume 1 of these memoirs, page 126
Harwell
7
atmospheric (760 mm. of Hg - Mercury5) down to the order of a few
microns (10-3 mm. Hg)6 and secondly a diffusion pump which operates at
pressures below that obtained by the fore pump and further reduces the
pressure to a ‗High Vacuum‘ (< 10-6 mm. Hg). The useful concept of
‗mean free path‘, which characterises the behaviour of gases at low
pressures, was explained to me and is entirely different from that at
normal pressures. At low pressure the distances separating the molecules
of the gas on average are far greater making the possibility of collisions
between molecules rarer. The mean free path is defined as the average
distance a molecule travels at the prevailing pressure before it collides
with another. For example at a pressure of 1 micron it is of the order of 5
cm.
My job was to connect these components together by sections of
copper tubing, which had to be ‗brazed‘ together by use of standard
preformed brass connectors — a ‗plumbing‘ operation in fact, for which
my time in the training school had well prepared me. I learnt the arcane
techniques to be used with ‗flanges‘ milled to a very high standard of
flatness and smoothness, O-Ring grooves in these flanges machined to
close tolerances, the selection of the rubber O-rings themselves with
special greases to effect seals between the larger components and the use
of the two gauges, the Pirani gauge7 for measuring the fore pressure and
the Ion gauge8 for measuring the high vacuum. The watchword in all this
was the vapour pressure associated with these components that would
limit the degree of vacuum achievable and therefore only materials with
low ‗out-gassing‘ properties could be used, and, of course, a high
standard of cleanliness had to be employed in the assembly.
After fixing the major ‗leaks‘ we soon had the system up and
running but the multistage oil diffusion pump refused to bring the
pressure below 10-4 mm. Jack had me add liquid nitrogen ‗traps‘ into the
high vacuum end of the system which was the standard technique to
‗freeze‘ out residual gasses produced by out-gassing from the
components but to no avail. Doug Allen came round and gave the system
5
Atmospheric Pressure, as in the common barometer, supports a column of mercury 760
mm. high
6
Exponential notation for large and small numbers is used throughout, i.e. 10-3 = 1/1000
6
and 10 = 1000,000.
7
The Pirani gauge in the micron rage is based on the dependence of gas conductivity on
pressure. This conductivity determines the temperature of a heated filament and thus its
electrical receptivity, which can be measured.
8
The Ion gauge is similar to a ‗triode valve‘ the swarm of electrons emitted by the the
heated cathode are accelerated toward the anode and during their passage and by collisions
with the residual gas positive ions are formed and collected by the grid. The grid current varies
with the pressure and pressures as low as 10-10 can be recorded.
8
Accelerator Tubes
the once over, also to no avail though he did put me through the hoop to
see if I understood the scientific principles of the gauges. He was baffled
and later brought the Harwell vacuum expert to see our installation but
his only comment was that perhaps I‘d left my sandwiches inside. In the
end Jack decided that Ion Gauge calibration was at fault and so after
checking the electronics, redoubling our efforts in ensuring a ‗clean‘
system, also the passage of time we eventually achieved the goal of a
pressure below 10-6.
Plate 2: Harwell 5MV Van de Graaf Generator complete column9
9
years.
This ‗early‘ machine was situated in Hangar 8 and had been operational for many
Harwell
9
It soon became clear to me that this system was to be used to test
sections of accelerator tubes for a type of particle accelerator known as a
Van de Graaff machine10, see Plate 2 on page 8. The principle of the
machine depends on the possibility of spraying electric charge on to a
moving belt and subsequently to remove the charge from the belt at some
point further along in its travel, rather like getting on an ‗escalator‘ on
one floor and getting off at a higher one. In Van de Graaff‘s generator the
ground ‗floor‘ is the ‗earth‘ and the top a smooth surfaced conducting
terminal (sphere) supported by an insulating column. At the ground level
an electric motor drives a belt made from insulating material that
connects with a pulley inside the top terminal. A set of points arranged
like a metallic comb of needles spray charge from a low voltage
generator at the bottom, which is in turn collected by a similar set of
needles at the top connected to the terminal. In this manner charge could
be conveyed continually to the top terminal increasing its voltage. If the
whole machine is constructed within a large vessel containing insulating
gasses at high pressure very high voltages can be generated (~
10MVolts), see Plate 10 (a), page 26. Clearly the voltage obtained
depends on rate that charge is brought up less the rate at which charge
leaks away. Leakage arises in many ways, the insulation properties of the
belt itself, the quality of the surface of the terminal, and indeed
breakdown to neighbouring objects. The application of this type of
generator to nuclear research requires the construction of a vacuum tube
for accelerating particles which has proved to be a severe limitation on
the voltages achievable as additional ‗charge leaking‘ possibilities are
introduced.
In 1957 tube design was still an open question and according to
Doug Allen it was the Achilles heal of any electrostatic accelerator. In
the simplest situation these vacuum tubes are used to transport charged
particles (positive ions say) from an ion source situated within the field
free region inside the high voltage terminal to ground accelerated by the
electric field associated with the difference in Voltage between ground
and the terminal. Unfortunately there is the strong the possibility of
secondary particles, e.g. electrons, produced by collision with the
residual gas molecules that will load the tube by several parasitic
processes including X-Ray production that in turn produces ionisation in
the pressure vessel gas and thus leads to severe leakage. Doug was keen
to test several new ideas he had evolved to limit these effects and so
Jack‘s section had been set up to build and test a series of accelerator
tubes. A standard tube consisted of a stack of highly polished aluminium
10
Electrostatic Generator named after Robert Van de Graaff who demonstrated the first
practical device at Princeton, USA in 1931.
10
Accelerator Tubes
electrodes with a central hole, shaped rather like a medium sized (20 cm.)
shallow dish plate stamped from thin sheets (1 mm.), separated by
insulators made from good quality ‗oven ware‘. A completed tube which,
depending upon the terminal voltage could be as much as 12 feet in
length had to be constructed by first assembling shorter manageable
sections. The electrodes and insulators in each short section were bonded
together by using a thermal setting adhesive which required a high
standard of flatness on the electrode flanges and upper and lower and
upper surfaces of the insulators. This required that the glass mouldings
obtained from a well known ‗table ware‘ firm in the Midlands had to be
subsequently ground to a very high quality of flatness by a scientific
optical company in Somerset. So it was not long before I found myself
travelling to our suppliers to inspect the consignments of electrodes and
insulators and reject all items that did not satisfy Jack‘s specification.
In those far off days, a kind of golden age, when everyone voiced
enthusiasm for atomic power and the technical revolution was in full
swing and pure science, which needed more expensive equipment as each
new discovery was made, seemed to have adequate budgets. By 1957 the
Harwell laboratory had grown into a huge organisation and, it seemed to
me, to have unlimited resources. The size and sheer richness of content
of the stores I found astonishing where even lowly people like myself
had signing powers for modest (necessary of course but sometimes
wasteful) items. Also, the laboratory kept on standby a large car-pool,
each with smartly uniformed lady drivers which any group (with section
head or group leader authority) could book for their staff business trips
— it was easily argued that many firms were beyond public transport.
Harwell
11
East Hagbourne and Didcot
Plate 3: Boot Cottage, East Hagbourne11
Running in parallel with my first steps with the Electrostatic
Generator Group was our new life in Didcot. Rita had secured a teaching
job at the primary school in East Hagbourne a village on the edge of the
Berkshire downs, just one mile south of Didcot. This was a great boon to
us as we would be together again and both earning. We found temporary
accommodation on the edge of Hagbourne, near the end of the footpath
from Didcot, which pleasantly crossed open farmland, at Boot Cottage,
thatched and fairly basic, but charming in the spring (24 April) of 195712.
Our landlady was the formidable Miss Booth, the local probation officer
no less. We had a double room upstairs, a sitting room downstairs and
shared the kitchen but since Miss Booth was away a lot we were
relatively private. Rita started her new post at the beginning of the
summer term and I used the AERE bus each day. Rita seemed happy
with her new teaching post and soon made friends with the other staff
members. Our stay actually in Hagbourne was to be a short one as I had
our name down for AERE house in Didcot with a vacancy promised in
11
Photograph taken in 2001 but appearance much the same as in 1957 apart from new
road in the front and TV aerials etc.
12
The area has now been built on
12
East Hagbourne & Didcot
June. In the meantime we were content in our little cottage; especially
weekends spent lazing in the garden.
The spring weather that year was delightful and it also happened to
be the year of the Elgar (1857 – 1934) centenary with many
performances of works rarely heard these days to be broadcast on the
radio. These works included the two fine oratorios, The Apostles and The
Kingdom, which I had never heard. It seems strange today when
recordings and performance of nearly all Elgar‘s major works are
frequent and his reputation as a great composer seems almost secure. I
think the revival began in 1957 following the usual period of comparative
neglect bestowed on great artists following their deaths. There were other
forces at work in Elgar‘s case generated by the easy identification of his
music with ‗imperialism‘, which led to him being condemned by
association. Ever since I had first listened to the first symphony on my
little portable radio at sea in 1952 (Vol. 1 page 227) I knew that this
composer would always have central position in my heart. The Elgar
sound world reveals so many aspects of life that one can identify with,
for example, the feeling of aspiration tinged by melancholy, the feeling
of intoxication experienced in hill country with congenial companions
followed by the numbing sadness when coming back down to earth.
In response to my inquiries as to entry qualifications for a degree
course it appeared that I needed an O-level in Chemistry to go with the
Maths and Physics A-Levels already obtained. This was annoying but
there was just time to sit this in June which could still mean I could begin
the degree course in the autumn. I applied for permission to take a very
short course in Chemistry at the Abingdon Institute of Further Education
in Mayott‘s Road; at that time the AERE technical training officer was
Mac Snowden, a distinguished scientist and gentleman who was very
sympathetic to my cause and with I am sure, prompting from Doug
Allen, he agreed that if I was successful in obtaining the entry
qualifications I could start the degree course in September. I was so
confident that following Jack Partridge‘s13 recommendation I applied to
The Polytechnic in Regent Street, London and was offered a place to start
a projected four year course, one full day plus one evening a week, to
read for a London University external honours degree in Physics. But
first things first as I needed the Chemistry; so recalling that I had always
done moderately well in Chemistry at Brockenhurst Grammar School I
joined a small group of other late developers from AERE in bussing to
Abingdon every Wednesday in confident mood. In the group
coincidentally was a young woman, Susan, who was also an ex
13
Jack has attempted a Honours Course in Physics there himself but sadly had to
withdraw owing to family commitments.
Harwell
13
Brockenhurst pupil14 and so we swapped reminisces and it was fun to
learn that the admirable ‗Aggie‘15 was as formidable as ever. The lady
teaching the chemistry class (a Mrs Hall) turned out to be very competent
and we got on from the start. Most of the required syllabus could be
learnt easily almost by rote that was sufficient for my purpose of
obtaining a pass in the exam coming up in a matter of a few weeks. The
practical side was enjoyable bringing back memories of my early
attempts in playing with chemicals and studying simple reactions in my
father‘s garage. In the event I obtained 59% in the exam, a good enough
performance and this was backed up by a friendly testimonial from Mrs
Hall that helped me with my bosses at AERE16.
Plate 4: AERE Site c. 197017
14
I think her name then was Susan Allum.
Miss Agnes Graham, see volume 1, page 69
16
―This man has the makings of an Honours degree student. He should be given every
opportunity…‖, also the Institute‘s Superintendent, Mr G C Stewart wrote, ― ...he is a most
capable student and deserving of every opportunity …‖
17
Hangars 7 (left) & 8 (right) in the foreground with the main gate off the A34 on the
right and the Tandem Accelerator building can be seen on the left.
15
14
Plate 5: No. 72 Abbott Rd Didcot18
We moved to Didcot to occupy our new home in Abbott Rd on 24
June. This semi-detached house, owned by Didcot council but allocated
by AERE, was quite well appointed with three bedrooms, one of which
was quite tiny, and a bathroom upstairs with a sitting room, dining room
and kitchen below. At the rear we had a fair size garden that threatened
me with gardening and such like. We were delighted to have a place we
could call our ‗own‘ but with no furniture apart from a bed, which we
had bought from a local shop when we first moved into Boot Cottage.
We also had the radiogram that we also bought before moving to Didcot
so we had our priorities sorted — bed & music. To justify this purchase
we both stopped smoking and we kept this up for nearly a year. Rita set
about making the place liveable in and though we were on a very limited
budget we obtained credit on the essentials, a studio couch, some basic
bedroom furniture and some rugs. My old landlord Charlie Carter told us
about some second-hand dining room furniture going cheap which
though ugly served our purpose. The house was in quite a good state but
needed redecorating which occupied us nicely over the next few weeks.
The summer rolled by with the work on the house and garden taking up
most of our spare time. We established a weekly routine of shopping on
18
Not a contemporary photograph though the house has changed little apart from the
higher hedge. No. 72 is the left hand house of the pair.
Harwell
15
Saturday morning in Didcot; withdrawing the princely sum of £5 from
the bank enough to last us the week that included the rent of £2 and
groceries etc though in those balmy days most items could be delivered.
Didcot apart from its role as a railway junction was then an army town
with a substantial military depot. However as the military base declined it
was becoming a dormitory town to meet the needs of the expanding
scientific establishments in the area. Also, though one of the branch lines
was soon to be axed by the short-sighted plans of Mr Beeching, other
new projects would soon occupy the military site like the huge power
station, then under construction, which would change the skyline in the
Thames valley for ever. Didcot itself with its single long main street with
shops on one side remains.
During the summer Dad and Brenda came to see us and were
pleased to see us settled at last and for our part we were delighted that
they seemed to be happy and that Dad was in good health. We also had
Rita‘s sister Eva and brother Bernard to stay with us for a few days. This
presented us with a slight problem as we had no spare beds and as we
could not yet afford to buy anymore furniture they kindly bought two
beds in the town and left them with us for future use, though we
eventually paid them back. Bernard had hired a car for the trip and we
had several nice days touring the Cotswolds an area that was completely
unknown to us. So that Rita could get to Hagbourne each day she bought
a bicycle in Oxford. Later on I also acquired a motor assisted bicycle, one
of those machines with a two-stroke engine directly driving the rear
wheel. This meant I became independent of the bus and could easily get
about the area.
My work at the lab continued apace; we were now building
accelerator tubes to be tested in the Van de Graaf machine at
Aldermaston and I was now looking forward to starting my degree
course. About this time I sustained a minor accident which was a salutary
lesson in concentration. One day I left Hangar 8 to walk across to the
library and I met Susan, the girl who had been on the Chemistry course
with me, and whilst we were chatting about this and that a van came
round the corner and as I was actually standing in the road facing Susan,
who was on the pavement, I must have stepped back a little and suffered
a glancing blow to my left shoulder which knocked me down. The van
immediately took me to the site medical centre where upon a macho
doctor aggressively manipulated my shoulder and pronounced that there
was no serious damage. He kept me there lying on the bed for the rest of
the day and must have informed Doug Allen as within a few minutes
Doug appeared and after showing me sympathy he told me a story of a
bicycle accident he had sustained whilst working on Radar in Dorset
during WW2. Apparently he had been knocked down by a vehicle and
16
had cut his upper lip badly leaving a scar which explained why he grew a
moustache.
Harwell
17
The Polytechnic in Regent Street and Family Life in Didcot
Time had now come to begin my studies in London. I had had an
interview with John Yarwood the head of Physics and Mathematics at the
Poly just before the start of the academic year and he accepted me for the
Special physics degree course just beginning (17th September). Most of
the students he said were like me from industry on day release schemes.
John Yarwood, a rather tall spare man in his late fifties with a fine head
and somewhat severe expression, had had a successful career himself in
industry specialising in High Vacuum technology19. It was with a feeling
of much trepidation tempered with excitement that I travelled by train
from Didcot to Paddington to begin the first of over a hundred very long
days at the Poly in Regent Street — up at six AM, a walk to the station to
catch the train at seven then to join the rush hour crowds on the tube to
Oxford Street, a full day and early evening at study then back home at ten
tired out. Later I found that I needed an extra evening to take in all the
lectures which meant two journeys each week for the next four years.
I subsequently realised that the Poly was an organisation with an
exceptional history in the development of vocational and higher
education; indeed it was the very first institution of its type in Britain and
served as a prototype for Polytechnics in the English speaking world. It
opened in 1838 at 309 Regent Street in London (the site of its present
buildings) under the inspiring leadership of Sir George Cayley20. The
original purpose was to foster the application of science to industry by
research, demonstrations and training. Early visitors included Prince
Albert and a royal charter was granted on 23 August 1839. The
institution continued to flourish after Cayley‘s death in 1857 until it was
acquired in 1881 following a fire and financial difficulties by another
remarkable inspiring figure, Quintin Hogg21. Quintin Hogg's vision in
The Polytechnic was to educate "mind, body and spirit". He expanded the
established role in science to encompass arts and humanities into a full
19
His book, ―High Vacuum Technique‖, Chapman & Hall, 1943, was the standard work
on the subject.
20
Sir George Cayley, landowner and gentleman scientist, was a public figure well
known for his personal inventions and scientific publications — he established for the first
time the principles of heavier-than-air flight
21
Quintin Hogg (1845-1903) had been working amongst the poor and working people
of London for almost 20 years and running his Young Men's Christian Institute in Covent
Garden since 1871.Hogg's Polytechnic was a resounding success because it appealed to so
many sections of the community.
18
The Polytechnic and Family Life in Didcot
social mission. As a result, the Regent Street Poly developed an
international reputation and became a model for applied education across
London. By 1949 the Poly had 11,000 students in evening classes and
2,500 attending day classes and was known as the working man‘s
university22.
Plate 6: The Polytechnic Regent St London
As I entered the building in September 1957 I found myself in a
kind of ‗Tower of Babel‘ with hundreds of men and women moving in an
apparently never ending stream struggling their way up and down the
central staircase to access the various departments. Mathematics and
Physics occupied the rarefied atmosphere of top floor but before getting
there one passed through an entire encyclopaedia of other subjects. My
memory of this first day is vague except for meeting the man who was to
be our main guide and mentor over the next three years; this was John
Fewkes who began by advising us to purchase his new book on
22
The Polytechnic was formally rededicated as the University of Westminster
in Westminster Abbey on 1 December 1992
Harwell
19
Electricity, Magnetism and Modern Physics written jointly with the head
of department John Yarwood. Dr Fewkes made a strong impression on
me from the start as he had an engaging personality peppered with wit
and sympathy; he was indeed very sympathetic to us ‗part timers‘
understanding the competing problems of juggling, family work and
study. I do remember him saying, at one point during his detailed survey
of the syllabus, that there would not be time to cover everything but if we
were very keen we could attend his ‗religious‘ lectures on
‗Thermodynamics‘ on Sunday mornings— with much attendant laughter.
Two of my companions also made a strong impression, both men
from the Royal Military Establishment in Woolwich and like me anxious
to improve their chances in the promotion stakes by obtaining good
degrees. I got to know these two pretty well in the years ahead. One of
them, Laurie Leake, was a chemist, good natured and recently married,
who needed to develop his knowledge of physics. The other, Jim
Hawkins already a physics graduate with an ordinary degree but wanting
to improve his knowledge. Jim was a more dominant personality but also
very friendly with a fairly detailed knowledge of London, he lived at that
time in a flat, south of the river near Lewisham. What delighted me at the
time was that apart from their sensible approach to study, they knew the
best places to go for a quiet drink and chat at the middle and end of the
day. They seem to know all the local haunts and indeed both within the
Poly and nearby. They took me to the Cock Tavern, just a block away,
for a liquid lunch; this pub was one of many tied houses to the Younger
Brewery, of Scotch Ale fame, and in those days very numerous in
London. Jim had a map of their locations and an ambition to visit them
all. The pattern of our ‗day release‘ was set, lectures in the morning,
experimental work in the lab in the afternoon and then more lectures in
the evening interspersed with visits to the Cock Tavern, perhaps a game
of snooker in the fine billiards room on the first floor and much talk
about our aspirations. I ended my first day at the Poly, feeling very tired,
stimulated and just a little intoxicated.
Thus my life yet again was entering a new phase and over the next
three years I had to balance my job at Harwell, my life with Rita in
Didcot with this new and exciting academic career. I knew I was starting
a degree course very late but I had one advantage, I was well focussed
and very single minded. That I was able to get away with this is due to
two reasons: first the understanding and love of Rita and secondly owing
to the relatively routine nature of my job as accelerator tube-builder at
Harwell with the sensitive understanding shown by Jack Partridge and
Doug Allen. Indeed Doug kept his promise to enter me for promotion to
the grade of assistant experimental officer and I was successfully
interviewed in April 1958 which meant I was no longer at the bottom of
20
the ladder. The lectures given by Dr Fewkes were inspirational
particularly in atomic physics which I could relate to my work at
Harwell, the lecture room was on the top floor of the building and was
quite old fashioned in its furnishing with rows of hard narrow wooden
benches with sloping desk tops − Dickensian discomfort. One morning
whilst Dr Fewkes was in full flood the double doors at the front flew
open and in walked HRH Prince Philip on a visit to the Poly23
accompanied by John Yarwood and other officials; we all stood up of
course and listened respectfully as the Prince said a few words of
encouragement. My studies progressed well and I was beginning to soak
up knowledge on Physics in a more systematic way than before with
many gaps in my sketchy knowledge being filled; however it soon
became apparent to me that it was the use of mathematics, particularly
techniques of solving physical problems numerically that interested me
most. This interest probably stemmed from the thrill of computing a
ship‘s position that I always experienced as a young navigator in my
previous life. The careful measurements of angles of the sun above the
horizon at precise times and the extraction of the appropriate
astronomical data from the nautical almanac followed by the application
of basic spherical trigonometry to compute the ships position was kind of
template procedure for many of the problems I was now studying. I will
always remember my first encounter with an electromagnetic field
problem in the lab at the Poly; this was a set experiment to determine the
field distribution for a cylindrical electrostatic lens, the kind of device
that was used to focus charged particles in accelerators.
The experiment used the electrolytic tank method in which a scale
model of the electrodes, made from copper, were immersed in a weakly
conducting liquid. The ‗model‘ electrodes were attached to a low voltage
source and the voltage in the fluid at any position in the space between
could be measured by a using nickel probe, insulated except at its point,
attached to an instrument known as a potentiometer. The voltage
produced by the electric currents in the fluid is equivalent to the
electrostatic voltage in free space in the actual device. So I learnt that the
equations governing the two physical phenomena, i.e. the electric field in
free space as in the electron lens on the one hand and the electric field in
the conducting fluid on the other, were indeed the same and that I was
directly experiencing one of the most powerful paradigms used in
Science, that of analogy and incidentally an ‗analog‘ method to compute
the electric field. Later I was to become heavily involved in devising
methods for field computation and in some sense I had encountered what
was to be the major professional preoccupation of my life.
23
13 February, 1958
Harwell
21
After a distance in time of over 45 years the events of my study time
have tended to merge into a blurred cycle of bi-weekly journeys from
Didcot to Paddington, tube to Oxford Circus, lectures and experimental
work followed by more lectures in the evening. Though the second trip,
in the week, was just the evening only. On one awful occasion I fell
asleep on the train and missed getting out at Didcot and ended up in
Banbury; there was no way to let Rita know as we did not have a phone
at home. I eventually got back to Didcot at 4.00AM. All this was quite
stressful but I was determined to keep it up but on several occasions my
two friends from Woolwich, Jim and Laurie, would bunk off early; we
became members of a an afternoon drinking club in Soho; in those days
the pubs closed at three pm until six so this was a good way to fill the
gap. I remember we gave false names honouring our heroes, James Clerk
Maxwell, JJ Thomson and Lord Kelvin, a little harmless fun but we
found the evening lectures harder to take on those occasions. I found my
companions were also keen on music and we would debate our
prejudices and enthusiasm vehemently. Jim was a Beethoven man and
Laurie preferred Mozart but I was impressed when Laurie told me he was
rehearsing Elgar‘s ‗Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands‘ with his local
choral society. I was keen opera buff and managed to persuade them to
accompany me to Covent Garden for a matinee performance of Wagner‘s
Parsifal24 unfortunately the combination of the hard gallery seats and the
overwhelming length of Act 1 demanded that we left for refreshment in
the first interval. Whilst on the subject of music I vividly recall seeing the
newspaper stands in Regent St the previous year announcing the death of
Ralph Vaughan Williams at the end of August 1958. I have always
enjoyed VW‘s music but he has never replaced Elgar in my affections
though he could come very close sometimes, the fifth symphony being
my favourite. It seemed to us that the last of great figures of the English
Musical renaissance had now gone but thankfully we still had William
Walton (aged 56) who was now the pre-eminent English composer and of
course Benjamin Britten (aged 45) in his prime and becoming a major
international opera composer.
Whilst the exposure to computational physics was developing at the
Poly and also the routine work at Harwell on accelerator tube
construction my private life was changing. Rita was now well established
in Hagbourne but she felt that the time was also pressing if we were to
start a family whilst still relatively young. We still had no motor transport
so were totally dependent on the train for visits to relatives; we often
went to stay with Rita‘s family on the farm in Dorset and we were
fortunate that the branch line from Didcot to Newbury was still running.
24
ROH Covent Garden, Parsifal conducted by Rudolf Kempe, 16 June 1959
22
We made friends locally, especially with Frank and Mary Allen who
lived nearby. Frank and I enjoyed a Sunday pre-lunch drink in the local
pub for many years25.We had a surprise visit from Bill Seybold on the 15
March, 1958; Bill had been my best man and we had heard that he had
married a girl called Sylvia, a nurse whom he met whilst on the doomed
ship Empire Windrush in a lifeboat26. In June my first trials in
examinations for the degree began as before taking Part 1 in Physics next
year I had to pass an exam in Mathematics, known as ancillary
mathematics27, I found studying for this very interesting and I sat this in
June and was pleased to see my name on the pass list in August.
However, we also had to study and pass exams in scientific French and
German translation, now this could be done in any year before the finals
but since we had had some lectures in German at the Poly recently I
decided to sit it in June also. The use of dictionaries was permitted but on
the day of this exam as Laurie and I were having lunch in the Cock
Tavern I realised that I had forgotten to bring my German dictionary.
Laurie for some reason did not need to sit the language exams and, good
friend that he was, immediately went off to obtain one whilst I proceeded
to the hall for the exam in time to register. Somehow he managed to get
one and smuggle it in to me just before the exam was due to start. He told
me later on that he and Jim had a good laugh as they could observe me
through a window from the outside staring at the exam paper hard for a
very long time before, and with apparent reluctance, I picked up my pen
to start writing only almost immediately stop and stare at the paper again.
Needless to say I failed.
Also we exchanged visits with my two colleagues Jack Partridge
and Gordon Baker. Jack‘s wife Pat was very friendly; they lived in an old
cottage in Upton with a large wild garden with their two boys. Pat had a
reputation as a fine cook and we enjoyed visiting them. Gordon married
in 1959 to Ruth, a local girl in Wantage; we attended the wedding which
was quite big affair as both their families were members of long
established Wantage families. Their honeymoon was to be spent in
Penzance and by a coincidence Rita and I decided to have a proper
holiday for the first time since our marriage and had settled on Penzance.
Marjorie Payne, Rita‘s old friend and bridesmaid, recommended a BB
that was both reasonably priced and convenient. In the event the
convenience was somewhat exaggerated as the house was a good
distance away from the town. We decided however to do the journey in
some style, to make up for the somewhat Spartan accommodation we
25
He was an Engineer at Harwell who eventually got transferred to Winthrith Heath
Atomic Energy Establishment in Dorset.
26
See ‗So Long To Learn‘, Volume 1 of these memoirs, pages, 261, 273, 277
27
Ancillary in the sense of the mathematics needed for a proper study of Physics
Harwell
23
were booked in to in Penzance, by travelling first class from Paddington
on the Cornish Riviera Express. This was possibly our last long train
journey before British Rail was changed for ever, with superb restaurant
service and comfortable seating in stylish accommodation. We were even
able to purchase a book about the journey entitled, ‗Through the
Window‘ which described the route in fine detail and in those days not
changed much since the book was first written in the hey day of steam28.
I remember well rattling over Brunel‘s fine bridge, The Royal Albert
Bridge, which crosses the Tamar at Saltash.
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain:
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
From a railway carriage − Robert Louis Stevenson
Plate 7: Rita and Bill at Penzance, 1959
On arrival at Penzance we found that we had to struggle up quite a
steep hill to reach our destination but worse was to follow in the shape of
the other guests an elderly Scots couple with whom we had to share our
meals for two weeks; I must confess I am not good with strangers and in
this case we had nothing in common, not even the language, as the man‘s
accent was strong and hard to understand − he was also quite a loud
28
Through the Window: Paddington to Penzance, Great Western Railway, 1924
24
speaker. Rita as usual sorted me out and we made the best of a bad job.
The house was quite small with rooms to match and I cannot remember
our landlady very much and her husband not at all, though Rita said she
made the best scrambled eggs she ever had, they were a very discrete
pair. Nevertheless we enjoyed the area immensely; in those days much
less crowded than now and we used the local buses to travel everywhere
including Lands End, Sennen-Cove, Mousehole, Minack Theatre, St Ives
etc.
Plate 8: Sennen Cove
We were both impressed with the open air theatre at Minack with its
breathtaking views and would have loved to have seen a play performed
there but, apparently, no performances were going on at that time29. We
did some quite strenuous walks as well crossing the moors to the North
coast visiting some old tin mines on the way. Rita announced that she
was pregnant but this did not stop her from enjoying the marvellous
coastal beaches with occasional dips in the sea. At Sennen-Cove we
watched an artist painting, see Plate 8, and would have loved to have
bought the painting but alas we could not afford £5-5-0. We met up with
Gordon and Ruth Baker for lunch one day which was very pleasant as
they were in good spirits.
29
We came back in 2002 to see a performance of Cyrano de Begerac but we had to
leave early owing to the antics of the an ill mannered ‗holiday‘ audience; much taken with
booze and loutish behaviour
Harwell
25
Plate 9: The Tandem Generator30
Throughout this year the Tandem generator project was becoming a
reality. The new building was up and the tower was now a prominent
landmark on the Harwell site. The prototype accelerator tubes for the
new machine had been tested in the Van de Graaff machine at
Aldermaston and Jack, Gordon and I went there to carry out the
installation. All seemed well but Doug reported that when he asked the
people there how X-Ray emission was affecting the glass insulators he
was told by an outspoken technician that the glass had turned brown,
―brown as a beach bum‘s bottom at NTP‖31. At the end of the year Doug
Allen decided I should be transferred to the ion source section of Doug‘s
group to assist Dr Ralph Dawton who was responsible for developing the
ion source needed to create the charged particles to be injected into the
Tandem Accelerator. So it was goodbye to Gordon Baker32 who had been
a good companion and work colleague for me in my first two year at
Harwell but though I would no longer be working with Jack Partridge we
kept in touch as colleagues. It was also goodbye to Tube building but not
30
It was a prominent landmark on the A34 until 2005; when it was pulled down to make
way for new facilities.
31
A sanitized version of the remark; NTP is Normal Temperature and Pressure
32
Gordon left the lab shortly after to take up a career in banking tin which was a success
for him as he eventually became a branch manager.
26
to Tube design as I would become more involved in this in the years to
come. I moved to building 477, see plate 9, here I met Jim Diserens who
had recently joined the group as an EO33, Jim was to become a firm
friend and colleague for many years, Doug had recruited him to work on
the design of the stripper canal, see Plate 10 (b).
Plate 10: Schematic diagram of Van de Graaff Machines
The idea of the Tandem Accelerator is to extend the single-ended
machine to be double ended in the sense that the high voltage terminal is
now at the centre of the voltage graded column rather than at one end
(Plate 10(b)), both ends are at ‗earth‘ (zero volts) the charged conveyor
belt charges up the central terminal to a high voltage, 6 Million Volts say,
which is used to accelerate negatively charged ions (e.g. Hydrogen
33
The government grades for scientist were in two main strands, Experimental Officers
and Scientific Officers; AEO, EO, SEO, CEO ( Assistant Experimental Officer, Experimental
Officer, Senior 7 Chief) on the one hand, and SO, SSO, PSO, SPSO (Scientific Officer,
Senior, Principal, Senior Principal etc) on the other.
Harwell
27
minus) to an energy of 6MeV (Six Million Electron Volts). Now if the
particle can be converted to a positive charge then the electrostatic forces
will accelerate the particle back to ground to the other end and thus its
energy will be doubled, i.e. 12 MeV. The charge exchange can be
achieved by stripping off two electrons from the hydrogen minus ion to
become a positively charged proton by the use of a carbon foil or a gas
cell placed at the centre of the terminal. The machine became
operational in 1959 and by that time I had moved to building 477 where
Doug was building up his team for a new accelerator project to be built
for the Nuclear Physics faculty at Oxford University. In the mean time
family matters were progressing.
Plate 11: Proud Parents
The year 1960 was a momentous year for us as our daughter Dinah
Mary was born in Oxford in March. Rita had left her teaching job at the
end of 1959 and was well prepared. In the meantime I still continued
travelling up to the Poly each week and began to prepare myself for the
Part 1 examination in June. One musical memory at this time was our
visits to the HMV shop in Oxford Street during the lunch break. In those
days the shop still retained something of its former glory as a show case
for recorded music from the golden age of the gramophone. The spacious
ground floor area had listening rooms where you could lounge in padded
arm chairs and hear a disk complete. On one occasion I noticed a
28
recording of the Elgar Violin Sonata34, this was an exciting discovery as I
not at that time ever heard the piece. I was enchanted by the sound world
it conjured up, different from Elgar‘s usual style but recognisably him
nevertheless; I had read about his late chamber music composed toward
the end of WW1 with its evocation of the Sussex woodlands and deep
nostalgia and it gave me a real glow to hear it for the first time. Even my
classicist friends Laurie and Jim said they liked it; Jim was particularly
taken with the slow movement. Rita and I listened to this music a lot at
home and it has remained in my mind‘s ear ever since associated with the
coming birth of our first child.
The later stages of the pregnancy had been a little tedious for Rita as
the baby was a week late. In the event she was sent in some two or three
days before the birth to the Maternity Hospital wing of the Radcliffe
Infirmary and there was some discussion about inducing the baby. I had
accompanied Rita in the ambulance from Didcot and after leaving her in
safe hands I reluctantly returned home. Nothing happened until
Wednesday 30 March when I came in to visit in the afternoon. I was told
that the birth was imminent so I repaired to the Randolph Hotel35 to await
news and after a good dinner I forced myself to sleep. I was actually
feeling very anxious, somewhat worried about the future as my career
had not yet crystallised; I was halfway through my degree course and
working at the same time and I was unsure about how things would turn
out, and of course our income had dropped to half as Rita had to leave
her job some three months before. The next morning I returned to
Radcliffe to be greeted with the splendid news of the successful birth and
to see my dear wife with our new baby daughter. Dinah was born at 6am
weighing 5lb 8½ oz on Thursday 31 March.
I called my father and Rita‘s father & mother to tell them the news
of the arrival of their first grandchild and they were delighted. Rita told
me that she was being transferred to the local maternity convalescent
home in Wallingford for a week just to make sure that all was well. I
remember taking a taxi to Wallingford to collect them and as one of the
nurses handed Dinah to me she said, ‗ you make sure you look after them
now..‘, On arrival at No 72 Abbott Rd Rita noticed that the daffodils
bulbs she had planted were now all out in full flower. We were home for
Easter. Our lives had changed and I felt the imperative to succeed more
strongly than ever. Living across the road were the Turners, Maureen and
Fred whose second daughter, Pauline, arrived at the same time and also a
few doors away the Perkins family, Jack & Jackie who also had a young
34
Played by Max Rostal & Colin Horsely, 10 Inch LP TM49 1957
Oxford‘s top hotel- a needless expense considering our circumstances which must
have been a perverse ‗hang-over‘ from my carefree sea-going days!
35
Harwell
29
boy, Nicholas. So ideas and experiences could be exchanged and mutual
help provided when needed.
The Christening took place in Mosterton at the church where we
were married on the 5th of June. Our original intention had been to have
the baptism in Didcot but the local Vicar refused as we were not church
members; not very welcoming and perhaps a misjudgement on his part as
his attitude did not encourage us to join. Rita wrote to the vicar who had
married us and he readily agreed to carry out the service. In many ways
this was a better solution as it meant Rita‘s mother would not have to
travel up to us as the onset of crippling rheumatism was beginning to
make physical movement very difficult for her. Our journey to Dorset on
the train was a new experience as we had to bundle Dinah into a carrycot as well as our luggage with several changes of train on route. My
father, Brenda, Peter and David came so together with Eva, now living at
home, and Bernard we had a family reunion to welcome the new addition
to the family. Rita chose the name Dinah36 to fulfil a childhood dream
and her second name, Mary, after Rita‘s mother to fulfil a family
tradition.
On returning home I was immediately required to sit the exams for
Part 1 of the degree course. The examinations were held in a large hall
somewhere along Tottenham Court Rd. on June 9 & 10th. I only
remember one of the questions and that was to derive Maxwell‘s
equations and prove some elementary consequences; I already felt then
that these equations would occupy me for years to come. The results for
Part 1 were posted up some weeks later and I was delighted to see my
name among the successful candidates. We invited Laurie to visit us for
the week end and they came on August 5th. Laurie‘s wife‘s name was
Georgie, whom I remember as being rather pretty with very dark hair;
they had a young daughter called Mandy and I recollect the care Laurie
devoted to her and the pleasure she showed on being read bedtime
stories. Their mode of transport was frightening though, a motor bike and
side-car which looked lethal to us. Laurie often spoke of doing the ‗ton‘
but not with the side car attached we hoped. Their visit coincided with
the delivery of our first refrigerator; it was a very hot summer and we felt
that a fridge was now essential equipment for the home with the ever
growing availability of frozen food products; besides it kept the beer cool
and Laurie and I had a very deep scientific discussion on how long it
would take to make ice.
13 October is a date I prefer not to recall too often; Doug Allen had
put me up for promotion to Experimental Officer and the Panel
36
Contrary to what became family hearsay Dinah was not named after my own Aunt
Dinah Sherrell my mother‘s youngest sister, despite the fact that her grandmother was also
named Dinah?
30
interviewed me on that day at the London HQ of Atomic Energy
Authority in King Charles II St. The members of the panel had been
communicated to me via Doug from L B Mullett the head of Accelerator
Division and in his note he had listed the panel members with helpful
comments about them. His overall impression was that they were a
reasonable bunch and pleasant ‗fellows‘. It‘s all a matter of perspective I
suppose so what was reasonable and pleasant to Les Mullett in the event
appeared to me to somewhat hostile and unsympathetic. The chairman
only allowed me a little time to explain my work, as was mandatory on
these occasions, but then I was asked a series of ‗smart‘ questions and it
appeared to me that these were aimed at undermining my confidence. I
was far too inexperienced to deal with such questions adequately and for
the most part they are blotted from my memory, two I do remember
though and the first of these went something like this;
Now why is it that mirror images are transposed from to Left to
Right and not from Top to Bottom?
My answer with the aid of a crude sketch quickly showed by the
laws of reflection why this was so and I added that physiological
positions of our eyes in relation to downward gravity explains the TopBottom paradox, mumbling something that if you laid down on your side
then indeed top to bottom inversion would result. My explanation didn‘t
seem to satisfy them. The other question I remember was:
You are in an empty room apart from a pipe running horizontally
across the room from one wall to the wall opposite; if a fluid is flowing in
the pipe then how would you determine the direction of flow?; you have
no instruments.
This one floored me and what I should have said, as I thought later
was:
I should remove my trousers and wrap them round the pipe, set light
to them and see which end got warmer.
Nearly everybody smoked in those days and it could be assumed
that matches were to hand! At the painful end of the interview I was
asked if I had any questions for the panel; I replied by asking them the
answer to the mirror problem but received no answer. Needless to say I
Harwell
31
failed. Doug had more faith though and re submitted my bid for
promotion the following year at which time I was successful37.
Plate 12: Simon with his Dad and new car (1962)
The following January (1961) we felt we had scraped up enough
money to buy a car and I asked Jack Partridge to help; we went to the
nearby Garage at Rowstock a mile or so from the lab where an Austin
A35 (Registered 1958) was up for sale. Jack, who had considerable
experience in these matters pronounced the vehicle ‗fit‘ after a very
thorough examination. He then negotiated a good and fair price, £300,
and the deal was done. I had no experience with cars and could not even
drive as most of my youth was spent on ships so without Jack I should
have been all at sea again! We took the car back home to Didcot and
Rita, who had had car of her own in her youth, was immediately
persuaded by Jack to take us all out for a short drive. She needed a little
reassurance from Jack as she had not sat behind the wheel for seven years
but he said it was like riding a bike, you don‘t forget and so it proved.
Next it was my turn, I had just got a provisional license so I was legal
with a qualified driver in attendance., and I gingerly backed the car on to
road after being told by Jack, ‗…put it in reverse and release the break
37
30th November 1961
32
lad‘, and to my surprise we moved gently back without me depressing
the accelerator pedal. My first lesson; it now seems strange to have
reached the age of 31 and never have driven a car, as it was; it took me
two attempts at the driving test before I finally passed on the third.
I celebrated being able to drive on my own by motoring to Totton,
the place where I was born on the edge of the New Forest. My very old
friend Brian Greenhalgh was now living nearby in Bartley with his wife
Rolande. Since qualifying as a teacher he had taken a teaching post in
Southampton and had married also, to a French girl also a teacher in the
Southampton area. They had bought a little cottage overlooking the
village green, in those days an idyllic place. I arrived unannounced but
they seemed pleased to see me and gave me lunch; a succulent omelette
served under a large beech tree in the garden. It was good to renew our
friendship after nearly five years and we promised to meet again soon.
It was in January, 1961, that the whole of Accelerator Division was
transferred to the newly formed Rutherford Laboratory under the
auspices of NIRNS38. Jack, for reasons I never understood at the time
decided not to transfer and opted to stay with the Atomic Energy
Authority. He later left and formed his own company designing and
manufacturing electronic instruments. Both Jack and his wife Pat had
been very kind to us and helped us to find our feet in a new environment.
In November I was successfully interviewed for promotion to the
Experimental Officer Grade at a salary of £1165 pa and was beginning to
feel established in my new career.
Another event in 1962 (16th June) was the occasion of the
Rutherford Laboratory visitors day and we had invited four old friends
from our past, Gerald & Eileen Holloway and Tony & Marcelle Haslett.
I had been at school with Gerald and Tony and we had kept in touch, in
fact it was Gerald and Eileen who had first introduced me to Rita in
195239. During the course of the visit to the lab Eileen spotted a friend
from her old home town, Crewkerne who was now involved in the design
and construction of the Nimrod particle accelerator, the principal
attraction for visitors as the UK‘s number one machine for research.
Our son was born on December 20 at the Radcliffe Maternity
Hospital. This time I had to look after Dinah so I needed to remain at
home and could not visit Rita so often. I only remember one incident of
stress and that occurred in the telephone box outside the Didcot Post
Office where I had gone with Dinah to call the Radcliffe to get a progress
38
National Institute for Research into Nuclear Science, originally set up in 1957 and
receiving a Royal Charter on 23 June 1958. The main object was to provide large scale
resources for common use by universities. Rutherford High Energy Laboratory was the first
laboratory of the National Institute and was transferred from AERE Harwell in 1959.
39
See Volume 1
Harwell
33
report. Dinah got frightened in the small confines of the booth; I had to
put her on the floor whilst I made the call and she started to scream
which was rather embarrassing and attracted some attention from passers
by. However we extricated ourselves and returned home; I also
remember how kind were our neighbours opposite, Maureen & Fred,
who invited us in for a meal. Fortunately, the next day, Eva arrived to
take over looking after Dinah so I was able to go to Oxford to visit Rita
and also go back to work. In those days we had no telephone and so I
could keep a closer watch on things from the lab and it was on
Wednesday 20 December that I called and was told that our son was born
and both mother and baby were doing well. We decided to name him
Simon Albert, the second name after his grandfather, Albert Barnard
Creed.
Now we had a car we could travel with some ease and take our
family to see their grandparents. Then in May 1962, Rita‘s sister married
William Bruce Boucher, a farmer in Little Windsor, Dorset, a small
hamlet near Mosterton. Unfortunately I could not spare more than one
day away as my finals were nearly upon me and we decided that Simon
was too young to travel both there and back in the one day so we left him
with Jackie Perkins our neighbour two doors away. Dinah at two years of
age was well able to cope and she did this in fine style presenting her
Aunt with a horseshoe after the ceremony in Broad Windsor Church.
Then in September we all went to stay with Eva & Bill at Manor
Farm Little Windsor as we had arranged for Simon to be christened in
Mosterton church40 so that Rita‘s mother could be there; her Rheumatoid
Arthritis had been getting steadily worse and she was now chair bound
and too disabled to make the journey to Didcot. We invited my very old
friend Brian Greenhalgh to be a Godfather, for the other one we asked
Bernard who reluctantly agreed, because going to church was not
something he did very often but I knew he was very pleased to act. My
father and Brenda came so it was an enjoyable family occasion. At that
time, to help look after Rita‘s mother since Eva had now left, a Spanish
girl was living-in as a sort of helper, this was an odd choice as the poor
girl could not speak English, I asked Brian to talk to her as he spoke
Spanish stemming from his days in Argentina, but though she was not
very happy there was nothing obvious that Brian could do to help and we
realised this arrangement could not last much longer.
The day ended with Dad having a problem with his car and
unfortunately it had to be taken to a garage; he and Brenda decided to
hire a car as they needed to get back to their business the next day. I
agreed with Bill Boucher‘s help, to drive Dad‘s car back to Boscombe in
40
The most likely date is Sunday 23 September, 1962
34
a day or so after it had been fixed. Bill followed me in his car to bring me
back; all this appears pretty mundane today but for a recently qualified
driver in a strange car it was not without anxiety. I heard later from Brian
that Dad had given him a lift back to Bartley.
Ion Source Development and Life in Didcot
In the meantime I was finding my feet with my new colleagues in
Ion ‗Sorcery‘, as we named this discipline of plasma physics. Ralph
Dawton, the leader of the ion-source group, was another prominent
member of the new generation of scientists concerned with atomic
physics that blossomed in the years immediately after WW2. In fact both
Doug Allen and Ralph had spent time in North America and were
pioneers in accelerator physics. Ralph was born in St Albans in 1911 and
had been on the staff of the famous Davy-Faraday Laboratory at the
Royal Institution where, before the war, he carried out important research
on improvements in the integrating photometer for X-ray crystal analysis.
It was said that he began his scientific career in the workshops there as a
technician, rather like his great predecessor Michael Faraday, he picked
up a PhD somewhere on the way and had many publications to his name.
A very spare man of medium height who appeared exactly the same
throughout his long life − some colleagues thought he looked as if he
would waste away and must have a serious health problem but this was
pure illusion as he was in fact very robust and active. I found him a
delightful man full of a dry and ironic humour and considerate of his
colleagues; his skill with his hands was legendry and his instinct for what
would work physically unerring. The other members of his team were
Nick Allen, whom I knew from the training school and Ernest Medway.
That Nick was a first class technician I knew, but Ernie Medway was an
unknown quantity to me, an ex baker with a colourful vocabulary. He
had been working with Ralph for many years and though set in his ways
he and Ralph had a good understanding. In fact Ernie had little
understanding of the science behind the apparatus he constructed but the
end result was usually effective. Nick Allen had a far better technical
grasp and could be left to devise apparatus with only minimal guidance.
Though as an AEO I was senior to them I still had a lot to learn and I
shall always be grateful to them both for the help they gave me.
My first job involved measuring the scattering of a low energy beam
of particles arising from a charge exchange process. Ralph‘s ion source
produced positively charged particles e.g. the nucleus of the hydrogen
atom or proton which were then accelerated to a few thousand electron
volts. Furthermore if this beam is then transported through a gas such as
mercury vapour the process known as charge exchange can take place. In
this process there is a probability that negatively charged electrons are
Harwell
35
donated to the fast moving beam producing beams of neutral particles,
i.e. in this case a hydrogen neutral beam, or more usefully in the present
context, a beam of negatively charge hydrogen ions. The resulting
negative ions could then be accelerated to high energy by means of a
single ended Van de Graaff machine, see page 26. A device of this class
is known as an injector as the resulting beam can then be further
accelerated by a Tandem Machine giving the possibility of a three stage
accelerator; this was to be the basis of Doug Allen‘s next project, the so
called Oxford project more of which later. In the meantime we had to
establish if the low energy particles travelling through the donor would
experience a large mean scattering angle thus causing severe beam loss. I
inherited most of the apparatus for this experiment which had been
designed by Ralph and Eric Maunders41 and constructed by Nick &
Ernie. The scattering was determined by the use of a paddle moving
across the beam and by measuring the beam current transported detected
by an electrode. The differing charged species were separated by a
magnetic field (spectrometer).
Plate 13: Experiments on Negative Ion Formation [ 42]
41
Eric Maunders was a SO who worked with Ralph Dawton just prior to my joining but
left soon after.
36
Ion Source Development and life in Didcot
Over several weeks a vast amount of data was recorded and though
the main result of the mean scattering angle was easily deduced,
demonstrating that the idea of producing negative ions in this way was
feasible for acceleration by a Van de Graaff machine, Ralph encouraged
me to relate our results to scattering theory. This proved a difficult task
for me as our results were for lateral scattering only and to make a
comparison with theory one needed the current scattered into annular
rings rather, as in our case lateral strips, as the scattering problem was
essentially cylindrically symmetric. After some discussion with a
theoretical physicist it became clear that I needed to apply a
transformation that involved solving an integral equation numerically.
Eventually, I was able to do this and produced a number of scattering
curves. Sometime later I realised that our results involved multiple
collisions with the gas particles but in fact our data was unique at that
time; unfortunately, pressure to move on did not allow a complete
investigation but an internal report on the experiments was written42. This
work was noteworthy for me in another way also as I wrote my very first
computer program in order to calculate the differential cross-sections43. I
used the Ferranti ‗Mercury‘ computer at Harwell using the Auto-code
language but much more of this later.
Doug had acquired a large part of Hangar 10, building 10.3 for the
research and development work for the Oxford project and for this he
assembled a fairly large team of about 40 personnel. I was allocated an
office next to Ralph‘s which later I would share with a visiting scientist
from India. A mezzanine area along the side of the hangar was set aside
for our ion source and beam experiments. The large area in the central
part of the hanger was reserved for the construction of the prototype test
Van de Graaff machine. My work on neutral beam scattering was timely
as it prepared me well for Part 2 of the degree course at the Poly. I
elected to take the theoretical physics option which would involve a six
hour problem paper as well as two three hour papers on Physics. In fact
my crude attempts at fitting the scattering data to theory had led me into
the study of classical atomic scattering and the models of atomic
structure based on Quantum Physics which supplemented the formal
lectures at the Poly in a fortuitous way. I noticed that often the questions
set in the problem paper in the past years were exercises involving the
solutions of the wave equation to determine the energy levels of the
42
R H V M Dawton, E J Maunders and C W Trowbridge, ―A Convergent Neutral Beam
and the Scattering Involved in its Production‖, Unpublished 1961, MS in possession of author.
43
On 5th January, 1961
Harwell
37
hydrogen atom and closely related topics. So when my time came, on
that proverbial ‗steamy afternoon in June‘44, I discovered to my delight
that among the choices of problems to be solved there were at least two
on topics that were fairly familiar to me.
The examiner proved to be P T Matthews, the current professor of
theoretical Physics at Imperial College, London and to my surprise I
found that I was the only candidate that had selected the theoretical
option; he treated me extremely well, sitting me in a small annex room
near his office and handing me the paper he immediately corrected a
spelling mistake on the front page. Dr Matthews provided me with a
mechanical calculator and made sure I had everything I needed. I
selected a problem on heat conduction which was an area that I had
practiced so, all in all, it was a good experience for me. It felt strange to
be given such personal treatment as normally one sits in a crowded hall
lost among a sea of desks and feverish scribbling and sweating bodies. It
was back to normal though the following week when I had to sit the
written papers in Physics, an all day affair with three hours in the
morning and a further three hours in the afternoon. Again the Gods
smiled on me as at least two questions were on topics related to my work
at Harwell including an essay on particle accelerators. I felt I had done
reasonably well which was confirmed in August when the results were
announced and I was awarded an upper second class honours degree.
This, I was told, was a good achievement for a part time student and in
fact I was the only student from the Poly that year to gain a 2a degree
which was reflected in the award of the annual Robert Mitchell Medal,
which would be presented to me at the annual Polytechnic dinner.
I duly presented myself at the Annual Dinner at the Café Royal
(Monday 15th October 1962) and found that I didn‘t know a single
person, hardly surprising. At my table was sat the other winner from the
Arts side45 but I think we were both felt like ‗fishes out of water‘ and
hardly communicated. We were indeed a minor part of the event as
several awards were to be bestowed as it was the occasion for the Poly to
celebrate its year‘s achievements. I remember little about the dinner
itself apart from a lively speech by the then Minister of Education, Sir
Edward Boyle and the response by Lord Hailsham the Minister for
Science who was, of course, the descendent of the Poly‘s founder,
Quinton Hogg, see page 17. It was Lord Hailsham who presented the
medals and I felt quite uptight and not a little proud as I stumbled
through the closely packed tables to receive my ‗gong‘. I realised that my
name would be carved on the honours wall over looking the main
44
Actually late May, Physics I & II was 29th May, 1962 morning and afternoon and the
Problem paper the following Saturday 2nd June.
45
George Denis Sands, an architect
38
staircase at the Poly in Regent St. which was very vain of me but I did
feel that this was a climax of a long haul which began many years earlier
when I was ‗all at sea‘, trying to master elementary physics and
mathematics during long voyages.
Plate 14: Oxford Electrostatic Generator (Artists Impression)
The award of a degree in physics consolidated my position in the
ion-source group and I began work on design problems associated with
beam optics which, of course, involved field computation. I was soon
struggling with the problems of how to predict fields and field gradients
to help with the design of lenses, bending magnets, and quadrupoles and
in the first instance by use of conducting paper and electrolytic tanks,
though some useful results could be obtained with conducting paper the
technique was at best only an indicator of field behaviour. The
conducting paper itself was very anisotropic and a steady hand was
required with the paint brush when drawing the electrodes. We had
many an argument about how to correct the essentially XY symmetry
results to axial-symmetry for round lenses. Never-the-less one learnt a
great deal particularly about boundary conditions and orthogonality. For
instance when moving to magnetic problems instead of painting the
Harwell
39
conductor boundary, as in the electrostatic case, scissors were used to cut
the boundaries for the magnetic poles. In this way the basic art of field
computation could be mastered with simple materials.
As I have already mentioned, on the completion of the Harwell
tandem generator the team was asked to design and build a larger nuclear
structure facility for the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford. This was
begun in 1960 by building a prototype machine at Harwell to investigate
critical components to generate a voltage of 10 MV on the terminal. In
the Oxford Project, it was decided to seek increased energy by
developing a compound system. A standard tandem; a horizontal
machine guaranteed to operate at 6 MV on the centre terminal would be
procured from The High Voltage Corporation of Burlington, Mass.,
U.S.A., for which our team would provide the ion source and beam
bending magnets at earth potential. However, in addition it was decided
to inject negative Ions from an ion source installed at the top terminal of
the large vertical machine, mentioned above, running negative and
designed, constructed and commissioned by us under the auspices of
NIRNS38. Since the Ion source of this machine needed to have
considerable flexibility, it was necessary to allow an ample volume (5 ft.
diameter by 9ft. high) to house it, see artist impression Plate 14. The
pressure vessel of the vertical machine (40ft. long by 13ft. diameter)
would be housed in a tower. Negative Ions from the top terminal would
be accelerated through voltages or 8-10 MV deflected through 900 by a 6
ft. radius magnet and injected into the tandem. By these means, beams of
protons with 20 MeV of energy and of oxygen and sulphur ions with 60
to 80 MeV of energy could be realized.
To achieve the above design Doug Allen‘s team was expanded to
include a number of researchers who would be using the finished
accelerator and the principal member of this group was Richard Hyder
(Dick) a former Harwell physicist who had been designated to lead the
technical team at Oxford and would work alongside us in the design and
development phase. To achieve better results we naturally moved on to
the electrolytic tank and it was with some excitement that we took a kit
of specially machined half-models of our electrostatic lens system to
Cambridge to use the new tank at the Cavendish Laboratory. In this work
we were also joined by Denys Nicholas, an ex pupil of Professor
Llewellyn-Jones from Swansea University who had recently been
recruited by Doug Allen to strengthen our expertise in high voltage
physics. Dick arranged the visit as he was a former Cambridge graduate
and had good contacts with the Cavendish Laboratory.
Although the Cambridge ―Electrolytic Tank‖ allowed good
precision on fields using the latest electronics in the potentiometer
circuits it also claimed to be able to compute particle trajectories as well
40
by measuring current paths. Indeed good fields were obtained and we
were able to achieve some degree of optimization but unfortunately the
trajectories were not reliable. Our first test was to validate the symmetry
by firing a ray straight down the axis and to our dismay, instead of a
straight path along the axis, the ray shot off to the tank edge! Although
by many adjustments we were able to get some improvement, hand
calculations from the field values proved to be the only reliable method.
One Analog method for predicting particle trajectories that was
successful for beam bending magnets was the use of alpha particles from
a Thorium-90 source. In this technique the entrance and exit positions of
a beam could be checked against the first order optics theory for inclined
pole edges. However it rapidly became clear that the lens and magnet
system required for the Oxford project would not be amenable to Analog
methods. This meant the construction of costly models and prototypes to
an extent not done by us before. Fortunately digital computing was
becoming available and I was lucky and privileged to be in near the
beginning of this evolution.
I have already referred to my first experience with a digital
computer which was with the Ferranti Mercury newly sited in a hut on
the Harwell campus, see page 36. It is quite astonishing to compare this
device which exceeded a millisecond for a floating point operation and
required a large room to house it with our modern Pentium 4 PC in a
small box46. We had to use Mercury Autocode as a programming
language with the paper tape as the media. The team running this
machine was led by Jack Howlett who later created the Atlas Computing
laboratory nearby. This was a formidable team pioneering the use of
numerical methods in science and engineering. Current expertise and
resources in computing in the UK owes much to the work of Jack
Howlett and his colleagues. In order to make sense of results the paper
tape was fed into a printer but it was remarkable how well the user
support team could diagnose errors. On one occasion when I was trying
to identify a bug I was told by an expert who read my tape by touch, as if
it were Braille, that I had violated the basic law of division by attempting
to divide a quantity by zero.
One application I remember with pleasure arose in connection with
the design of a magnetic spectrometer and in the analysis of ion beams
from the Dawton Mercury Pool arc source47. We needed to identify the
impurity ions in the beam and the computer was used to tabulate the
46
At the time of writing this was state of the art
Ralph Dawton devised a new type of source which exploited striking an intense arc
using a pool of mercury as cathode. The copious electrons produced were then able to initiate a
plasma arc in the low pressure gas, e.g. of Hydrogen Ions to create a source of protons.
47
Harwell
41
number of different species expected. This work led to my second paper
in which Nick Allen and I wrote up the results of our beam analysis
which was later published by Rutherford Laboratory48.
In parallel with all these activities I joined with Doug Allen and
Denys Nicholas in an experiment to measure the life time of a Negative
Helium ion, He- . This was interesting as, in addition to other species of
ions already referred to, it was proposed to inject negative Helium ions
into the vertical electrostatic generator. The Helium negative ion, unlike
the negative Hydrogen ion, is not stable and can only exist in a metastable state for a finite time. So the question arose as to whether
sufficient beam current, to carry out useful nuclear experiments, could be
achieved. Although simple calculations showed, based on the theoretical
lower limit for the life time (10 microseconds), that the losses in our
situation would be small an experimental measurement had yet to be
carried out. This was quite challenging as the decay of the negative
helium ion would be small (~10%) so the ‗daughter‘ products, the fast
neutral atoms, must be observed directly, and furthermore, the larger
decay due to interactions with the residual gas needed to be taken into
account. We worked intensively for some weeks constructing the
apparatus, mostly in the evenings and weekends as the time table for
constructing the Oxford Machines could not be jeopardised. The
apparatus was based on the same Ion source that was used for the charge
exchange experiment (Plate 13). The critical measurements were carried
out late in 1965 and after some adjustments we were able to establish a
mean lifetime of 18.2 microseconds. This work was written up and later
published in ‗The Physical Review‘ 49
In 1964 I experienced my first aircraft flight. Doug Allen organised
a visit to the Chadwick Laboratory at Liverpool University for members
of his group. We mustered early in the morning at Abingdon Airfield and
boarded a twin screw De Havilland Heron on route for Manchester from
Bournemouth. A new experience accompanied by some slight feelings of
nervousness but apart from being able to see the ground between ones
legs through a fine gap in the bottom of the fuselage all went well and we
had a interesting day out. After a coach trip from Ringway airport to
Liverpool we were shown the newly installed 12 MeV Tandem Van de
Graaff by Professor Leslie Green which was of particular interest to us as
this machine is similar to the horizontal machine currently being installed
at Oxford. I must have made some sort of impression as Leslie Green
offered me a job later to join his staff.
48
‗Analysis of Ion Beams from a Mercury Pool Arc Source‘, C.W Trowbridge & N
Allan, RHEL/R115 1965.
49
―Lifetime of a Negative Helium Ion‖, D J Nicholas, C W Trowbridge and W D Allen,
Phys Rev, Vol. 167, No. 1, 1968.
42
Our day job continued as the finishing touches to the assembling
and testing of the ion source proceeded. Ralph asked me to carry out
more detailed calculations on the optical system and for this the new
computer resources were used to develop tables for magnetic fields in
solenoids and other primitive coils by evaluating integrals and
furthermore we started to compute specific solutions to Laplace Equation
by using both finite difference and Monte-Carlo methods. Our results
were not always believed of course, a healthy scepticism of numerical
results was essential then as it should be today. However an experiment
usually confirmed the predictions and we began to benefit and spend less
money on costly prototypes. In order to carry out the design of the lenses
for the ion beam focusing I developed a general purpose software
package which we called PATHFINDER which was based on a general
two dimensional Poisson50 code first developed at CERN(1963)51 by
John Hornsby but later extended by us to include general boundaries and
particle ray tracing. Using this code we were able to design the ion
optical system for the new accelerator. In this latter work I collaborated
with Jim Diserens who was a notable pioneer in the use of computers in
field computation as well as an inventive experimenter. Although his
main job for the Oxford Project was to develop a bonding technique for
joining the glass insulators in the high voltage stack he became interested
in programming and together we acquired a working knowledge of the
Fortran programming language; Jim modified the CERN program for
general boundaries and I wrote a series of subroutines for tracking ions in
electric and magnetic fields.
Meanwhile our family life was progressing in Didcot with several
happy and some sad events. In January 1963 my younger brother David
was married. David had embarked on a career as a party political agent.
He had been a prominent member of the young conservatives in
Bournemouth which was how he came to meet Pamela Lovell. The
wedding was in Poole and, despite the very cold weather which had
prevented many people from attending, was a stylish affair with everyone
dressed formally; the only occasion when our father and his three sons
appeared together in ‗morning suits‘. Later in the year my elder brother
Peter married Hilda Greenwell, an elegant lady whom he had known for
50
Poisson's equation is a partial differential equation with broad utility in electrostatics,
electromagnetics, mechanical engineering and theoretical physics. It is named after the French
mathematician, geometer and physicist Siméon-Denis Poisson (1781-1840). In the limiting
case where there are no sources (charges etc) the equation is known as Laplace‘s equation
named after Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827)
51
Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European Council for Nuclear
Research)
Harwell
43
very many years. This was a quiet family wedding in Bournemouth
Registry Office in June. Peter and Hilda had been to stay with us in
Didcot a few months before and I remember just two things about their
visit, first, some embarrassment on my part about the sleeping
arrangements which, after a clumsy enquiry on my part, it became clear
the old fashioned arrangements were to be observed and, secondly the
obvious pleasure Hilda experienced when she helped Rita in bathing
Dinah.
Sometime in 1962 Lionel Fell joined the group to take over the tube
building section after Jack Partridge & Gordon Baker left (see page 25).
Lionel had had a varied background in manufacturing & business and a
flair for production engineering and was just the right man to take charge
of the tube building activities as we were now into the production stage.
We became friends and when he moved to East Hagbourne he persuaded
me to help him concrete his drive but I only agreed provided he helped
me do the same in Didcot as a base for a new garage I wanted to erect
next to our house. He master-minded both projects and I was amazed
how efficiently he organized the preparation and the handling of the premix concrete when it arrived. Lionel did all the work and I mostly
watched and occasionally ‗obeyed orders‘ to smooth the surface with my
spade.
As a hobby activity Jim Diserens and I together with Lionel decided
it would be fun to make a reflecting telescope in our spare time52. Lionel
soon demonstrated that he knew exactly how to grind a concave surface
on to an 8 inch diameter circular glass block using two blocks with
grinding paste of decreasing granularity. Jim and I devised a simple
optical test bench to check the curvatures achieved. Grinding the mirrors
turned out to be the easy part as we soon discovered that to make a
decent mounting and all the mechanisms needed to rotate and control the
instrument would require more resourses than we could afford. Thus our
beautiful mirrors languished in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet for
years and I suppose were finally dumped53.
Early in 1963 an event occurred in Hangar 10 which caused some
distress; one day a notice was pinned up in the coffee room which bore
the legend ‗Juden Raus‘ which was very offensive particularly to one our
staff members a man whose surname was Rouse, a very helpful man,
who worked in a support capacity, drove the group van and was a general
factotum54 . When Doug saw the notice he was very angry and issued a
stern warning to the effect he did not want see any further notices of this
52
March 1963
In fact Jim told me recently that he rescued the mirrors and has them still.
54
Out with the Jews
53
44
kind. I think the notice was meant as a joke rather than a racist slur on a
colleague, but if the former then it was, at best, in extremely poor taste.
However Lionel‘s next project did get off the ground. His
entrepreneurial appetites had been wetted by the growing demand for
accelerator tubes around the world and he had carried out some market
research that suggested to him that the time was right to start a company
to manufacture tubes. So on 23 September 1963 we met at my house to
discuss this idea. In addition to Jim and Lionel we had invited John
Ayres to participate, John was also a member of the Electrostatic
generator group working on the engineering aspects of ion source and
tube construction. At that meeting we drafted a brief business plan for a
company to be known as MegaVolt Ltd with the view of floating the idea
to Doug Allen for his advice and comments. Doug was supportive and
even arranged a meeting with the Deputy Director who encouraged us to
investigate the potential market further and make an assessment of the
cost savings to the Laboratory. Unfortunately, though we established
good grounds for the costs and market, some private capital would be
needed. Lionel remained completely confident and even suggested that
the four of us take out second mortgages on our houses, this, of course,
was untenable55 and we were forced to give up the project. Lionel
however decided to go ahead on his own and was able to persuade the
company in Taunton56 that we had used for many years to grind the glass
insulators to optical flatness to partner Lionel in a venture to be carried
out in Taunton, thus MegaVolt was formed in 196457.
It was in November 1963 that the 50th Anniversary of the birth of
Benjamin Britten was celebrated58 and it was while Rita and I were
watching a birthday tribute on TV that the shocking news of President
Kennedy‘s assassination in Dallas was announced. He next day the
BBC‘s satirical show ‗That Was The Week That Was‘ paid an eloquent
tribute to John Kennedy which most movingly included a piece by Dame
Sybil Thorndyke the great and much loved actress. The world seemed
different after this with many illusions shattered and the subsequent
doubts about what actually happened raising forever a profound mistrust
in the reporting of public events.
55
At this stage I didn‘t even own a house!
Gooch & Housego Ltd
57
Sometime later Lionel broke away from Gooch & Housego to start up his own
company, Dowlish Developments Ltd which eventually prospered by manufacturing an
improved version of the Inclined Tube designed based on principles researched by Dick
Hyder.
58
Born St Cecilia‘s day 22nd November 1913.
56
Harwell
45
Meanwhile our young family was developing and Dinah started her
first school in Didcot, also Rita was pressed back to part-time teaching at
East Hagbourne School which she accepted provided she could take
Simon along. This was agreed and she transported him in a child carrier
basket on her bicycle. Rita and I made a determined effort to give up
smoking and I was helped in this by a challenge made by John Ayres in
the Harwell canteen at lunch one day to refrain from smoking for three
weeks. In October sadness came to us as Rita‘s mother died after short
illness but the real cause, I believe, came about because of the
debilitating effect of the Rheumatoid Arthritis which she had been
suffering for many years. Rita‘s sister Eva gave us the news as we
arrived for a week-end visit to Little Windsor, we were not expecting bad
news and indeed my first word to Eva & Bill were ‗have you stopped
smoking yet?, we have!‘59. The funeral took place a week later at
Weymouth Crematorium with only close relatives present; Bernard
insisted on taking the coast road home a route his mother always enjoyed,
overlooking the Chesil Beach and Abbotsbury. She was a lovely lady and
the centre piece of Rita‘s family. My memories of her go back to the time
Rita and I were getting to know each other twelve years before and her
many kindnesses to me; an effective ally in my pursuit of Rita. She was a
remarkable lady who showed quiet stoicism in her battle against her
illness.
For some time Rita and I had been thinking it was time to move. My
career was developing and we felt we could afford to join the ‗housing
ladder‘. In the summer of 1964 we read in the local paper news of a small
development estate of houses in Harwell village which we initially began
negotiations but soon abandoned them because of the open-plan nature
which we felt would not be a good environment for the children. Then
sometime in the latter months of 1964 whilst walking home from the
station in Didcot I passed a house-agents office which advertised three
bungalows for sale currently being built next to the recreation ground in
Moulsford near Wallingford; we drove over and Rita thought this would
be an ideal place for us as there was an infant‘s school in the village, just
a hundred yards away and open down land country nearby. The property
was in the process of being built by a local man from Streatley and was
due for completion sometime in 1965. The price was £5,060 and I was
able to obtain a mortgage from the Abbey National and a contribution to
the down payment (£300) as a long term loan from the Laboratory60. My
father visited us early in 1965 and I took him see the work in progress at
Moulsford (
59
John Ayres‘ challenge worked and we have never smoked since
This was under an enlightened scheme to help first time buyers and also relieved the
pressure on ‗Authority Let‘ properties for AERE staff which was still expanding.
60
46
Plate 15). The house was basically a two bedroom bungalow
overlooking the village recreation ground and the builder suggested that
we could add a room with dormer windows in the ample roof space
above. Someone suggested that we asked Michael Ayris a young
solicitor newly established in Didcot to organize the legal side of the
purchase and we were soon on track for completion later in the year.
Plate 15: Visiting the building site
At the beginning of 1965 a great national event occurred following
the death of Sir Winston Churchill (25 January) which was his funeral.
This was to be seen by millions on television and afforded day of rich
spectacle, particularly for those of my generation and older, who
remembered him with gratitude for his inspirational leadership during the
war.
Back at the lab preparations to install our ion source for the Oxford
project were now advanced. The main insulator column was constructed
within the vertical pressure vessel (Plate 14-2.) and it was now time to
install the ion source. An important feature of this project was that the
ion source was at a high potential (~10 MV) in a vessel containing 3 tons
of gas: it can therefore be described as somewhat inaccessible with
Harwell
47
reliability at a premium. According to Doug‘s report61, ‗… life tests on
the source for different ions generally ended after several hundred hours
because of the boredom/or exhaustion of the operator, rather than
because of the failure of any component‘. Being the person responsible
for these tests I can confirm Doug‘s remarks as the many entries of late
working in my diary testify.
Plate 16: Vertical Electrostatic Generator Terminal
So, sometime towards the end of the summer in 1964, we loaded all
the equipment on to a lorry complete with Ernie Medway and Nick Allen
to make sure the delicate glassware involved was protected. It had been
decided that members of the group involved in the installation and
commissioning of the accelerator would move to Oxford. So accordingly
I found myself sharing an office in Keble Road with Dick Hyder. Doug
61
W.D. Allen, Electrostatic Generators at Oxford, Orbit, Journal of the Rutherford High
Energy Laboratory, No. 45 April 1966.
48
Allen organized a celebration lunch62 at a restaurant in George St. Oxford
for all those involved in the project, this may have been a little premature
as the vertical machine installation and final commissioning was not
quite complete. However our confidence in ultimate success was total.
The lunch proved convivial and after various tours around the installation
some of us gravitated to the Eagle & Child public house in St Giles for
further refreshment. I look back in horror at the casual way we had in
those days of driving after drinking. However we all got home safely but
our wives were not impressed.
The actual installation of the ion source proceeded in the early
months of 1965 and went mainly according to plan with the maximum
voltages recorded for the acceleration of individual ions in the machine
of 10.2 MV for negative hydrogen ions and ~9.5 MV for other ion
beams. In order to achieve good performance it was necessary to ensure
that the surfaces of the terminal in inter-shield was smooth and, to this
end, Doug had all of us working in shifts rubbing the surfaces with fine
Emery cloth for several days! Coupling the injector to the Tandem (Plate
14-6) proved straightforward yielding an acceptable performance.
Several months were required for the final installation of the beam
handling components, the multi-gap spectrometers and computers and to
carry out the complete commissioning tests for the entire system. The
machine was handed over to the Department of Nuclear Structure on 31
March 1966.
I was promoted to the Senior Experimental Officer grade in July,
1965 with an annual salary of £2045 which, whilst sounding miniscule
by today‘s rates, was in fact roughly one third of the house we were
buying, which was borrowing ‗rule of thumb‘ customary in those days.
We moved to Moulsford on Monday 8th November, 1965, this was our first
experience of major house move and I had saved my annual leave to be able
to cope. We had lived in Didcot for nine years and had accumulated a fair
amount of goods and chattels. As far as I can remember the move went well
enough but we soon found ourselves in a new house surrounded by piles of
boxes and various bits of furniture wondering how we would ever get
straight. But I needn‘t have worried as Rita was more than up to the
challenge and we soon had a livable environment and set about enjoying our
new homeIt was lovely to be near the countryside with good walks
beginning at out back gate and then on up to the Ridgeway. Plate 17
shows the bungalow pretty much as it was when we first moved in, we
decided to name the property ‗North End‘ as it was on the northern edge of
62
21 October 1964
Harwell
49
the estate63. Members of our family came to visit and inspect the property
and liked what they saw. My father (Grandad) and Brenda came up just
before Christmas with presents for the kids, including a pedal car for Simon.
We also had a visit from Rita‘s cousin Dot and her husband Alan, teachers
both, at a village school near Hungerford. They had two girls only a little
older than Dinah & Simon and we thought it would a good scheme to join up
for a holiday next year in North Wales. So plans were made and even menus
devised and Dot said ‗not many people will know months in advance what
they would eat for Sunday lunch on 14 August 1966‘.
Plate 17: North End Moulsford (1966)
Early in the New Year I noticed that I had an infected thumb so I
took it to the A&E department of the Radcliffe Infirmary; the young
doctor who examined it frightened me rigid when he started to describe
the treatment to some of his colleagues, completely oblivious to me, that
he would have to make an incision immediately. Then he smiled at me
and said but perhaps on second thoughts we will try penicillin first. I am
glad to say that this worked. We also decided to change our car, this time
we would get a new one to replace the old banger Austin A55 which I
acquired from a dubious second hand car salesman in Didcot and was
giving me a lot of trouble. We decided on a new Morris 1100 which I
collected on 1st February; it was a joy to have a car which showed no
signs of breakdown.
63
Our first apartment in Frome was in a road called West End so no doubt the memory
of this prompted the name also.
50
During the early months of 1966, see page 41, I was heavily
involved in measuring the life-time of the negative helium ion at our base
in Hangar 10 and the testing of the ion source at Oxford. This often
meant late nights and on more than one occasion I left my car outside the
building in the Banbury Rd but eventually I was caught and done for
illegal parking – my impassioned plea for ‗special‘ circumstances, I have
forgotten the grounds, was completely ignored.
I was now coming to the end of my time with Douglas Allen as the
Oxford project would soon be completed and he was to take up a joint
appointment with Reading University as a Professor of Physics64. For
reasons beyond his control he had missed the opportunity to become head
of the new synchrotron accelerator (7 GeV) at Rutherford. He had been
appointed the designated head but decided to see the Oxford Project
through to completion despite the unfortunate delays. I owe my new
career in Physics mainly to him; first he recruited me from the Merchant
Navy on the strength of my performance at the interview in 1956 with
only minimal qualifications, secondly he encouraged me to study and
obtain a university degree in physics and thirdly he gave me projects
which wetted my appetite for computational electromagnetics. I had not
had the last of Doug‘s guidance however as we were to collaborate again
in my next phase.
Others were, of course, involved as I received tremendous tutelage
from Ralph Dawton a true inheritor of the experimental physics of the
Michael Faraday School, and Jack Partridge who taught me how to
become a member of a laboratory team. It was also time for good-byes to
colleagues like Nick Allan and Ernie Medway. For others like Jim
Diserens and Dick Hyder our fate decreed that we should work closely
again in the future65. The electrostatic generator group had its fair share
of remarkable characters, Lionel Fell who I have already mentioned now
building a new company and ‗tubes‘ down in Dowlish Wake and Ted
Pyrah who had been responsible for much of the engineering of Doug
Allen‘s projects. Ted indeed was a remarkable character who pulled me
aside once near the beginning of my scientific career and walked me
around the old airfield at Harwell and outlined how I could progress up
the ladder. But I really felt he was somewhat lonely and liked to talk to
good listeners. I believed he was separated from his family and now lived
alone; we shared an interest in music, he told me he had a grand piano
64
Doug was also head of the Proton Linear Accelerator at Harwell in its final phase
from 1966-68
65
Jim became a very close colleague in the years to come whilst Dick and I got together
again in 2002, in our retirement , to work once again on accelerator tube optics benefiting from
the advances in the intervening years on computer based technology.
Harwell
51
and had even composed a piano concerto and that his favorite composer
was Hindemith. He retired in 1967.
Plate 18: Douglas Allen (R) with Ted Pyrah (L)
52
High Field Bubble Chamber
.
2. Rutherford Laboratory
Plate 19: Artist’s impression of proposed High Field Chamber
The machine at Oxford was in operation by 1966 and had achieved
its design voltage of 10 MV and to a minor extent was a successful
example of applied computing. However computers from now on were to
Rutherford Laboratory
53
play an increasingly important part in the design of accelerators and
everything else.
For me a number of important events happened in 1966/67. Doug
Allen recognising my strong interest in applying computing techniques to
problems arising in Technology arranged for me to be interviewed by
Bill Walkinshaw the division head of Technology at Rutherford
Laboratory (RL). Bill thought I would fit in very well with the newly
created High Field Bubble Chamber Group, under the leadership of
David Thomas. This seemed a good opportunity so I accepted and
started work in June, David‘s team were designing a 7 Tesla (70
Kilogauss in old money) superconducting magnet to provide the main
magnetic field for a very large hydrogen bubble chamber (1.5m) detector
envisaged for the new 300 GeV accelerator, to be built at CERN (see
Plate 19). A bubble chamber works on the principle that a sudden
reduction in pressure above a liquid close to its boiling point (e.g. liquid
hydrogen) lowers the boiling point of the liquid and a situation of ‗superheating‘ is created66. If an ionizing particle passes through the liquid at
this instant, bubbles of gas form round the ions, thus marking the path of
the particle which in the presence of a strong magnetic field is curved.
Several carefully located cameras are then used to produce photographs
of the tracks which can then be measured to yield information about the
physical nature of the ionizing particles and nuclear events that occur
during collision processes. This exciting project which began with great
enthusiasm but unfortunately, for many reasons, political, financial etc.
turned out in the end to be a paper study only; however, it spawned a
number of activities and great deal of research into the design of
superconducting magnets which was of great importance to future
devices that were built. All of these factors were to become very
significant for me.
My job was to develop computer algorithms for calculating the
magnetic field distribution, the forces, and the mechanical stresses in the
coils. A well established technique to calculate the fields produced by a
rectangular solenoid is to simply model the helical conductors as an
assembly of current filamentary loops of small area. The magnetic field
at a particular point in the space surrounding the loop is then calculated
by an analytic formula; whence the field for the whole solenoid is merely
a matter of summing the contributions from each of the loops. Indeed
since the current density is essentially constant over the whole
rectangular cross-section of the solenoid, these elementary filaments do
not have to coincide with the actual number of turns and can be fewer in
number (larger elementary area) depending upon how close the field
66
First proposed by D Glaser in 1952; a legend has it that he was inspired by the bubbles
forming when opening a bottle of beer.
54
point is to the winding region. This suggests an algorithm for calculating
fields within the conductor windings, which are needed to estimate the
high stresses acting on them and to establish whether or not the materials
used in fabricating the coil are sufficiently strong. Thus the solenoid is
divided into a number of uniformly spaced filamentary conductors and
then each is the sub-divided by four repeatedly until the sum of the fields
of the sub-divisions is equal to the field of the filament within a
prescribed tolerance. For points within the conductor space itself the
relevant filament is deleted to achieve convergence. In fact we were
given a head start by having the use of a simple computer code developed
at Brookhaven National Laboratory which uses the above algorithm. I
was then able to extend the code to produce the forces and stresses within
the coils. In this work I collaborated with Alan Middleton a gifted
engineer67 who derived excellent empirical methods to check my
computations and together we produced a paper which was subsequently
published in the proceedings of the forth coming Magnet Technology
Conference to be held in Oxford in 196768. Alan was a near ideal
collaborator and I certainly learnt some structural engineering from him.
He even wrote me a letter whilst we were North Wales on holiday in
August pointing out that if I studied the two bridges across the Menai
Straits I should discover two of the main methods of bridge construction,
i.e. suspension and box girder. In my Conway days, see Volume 1, I used
these bridges on many occasions but hardly noticed how they were built!
I was getting to know the main players in David Thomas‘s group,
two of them, Ron Newport and Paul Williams had been at Liverpool and
had worked on Bubble Chambers for a number of years and were leading
exponents in the multi-technical aspects of bubble chamber physics. Ron
excelled in cryogenics as well as the thermodynamics of bubble growth,
whilst Paul, it seemed to me at the time, was already developing people
skills which would ultimately lead him to scientific management. They
had both previously collaborated with David Thomas on the National
Hydrogen Bubble Chamber which was a joint Liverpool and Imperial
college project. As Bill Walkinshaw told me at my interview David was a
very energetic person who led from the front. But as I soon discovered he
also had a vision of how the growth of technology should develop by
embracing the emerging new developments in microelectronics,
superconductivity and in the use of computers for design, which matched
my aspirations completely. In November 1966 I was invited to
67
Alan had started his career in Electrical Engineering but later moved over to
Mechanical. He had been a flyer in his youth and still kept his Pilots licence up to date.
68
Mechanical Stress in Large High Field Magnet Coils, A. J. Middleton and C.W.
Trowbridge, Proc. Second Int. Conf. on Magnet Technology, Oxford, 1967
55
accompany David and Ron on a visit to CERN69 near Geneva to have a
series of discussions with the bubble chamber group there about our
proposals for a High Field Superconducting device. I met several
scientists and technicians involved in the provision of particle detectors
and as expected they came from many parts of Europe; but fortunately
for us, the meetings were conducted in English though there were some
lively exchanges concerning our proposal, particularly from the French
speaking participants. I thought then, and do still now, that the apparent
advantage of English being the de facto standard language often induces
a careless approach and a lack of precision, which the non-English
speakers, who are on their mettle, often avoid and gain advantage in
agreement making.
One matter of interest to me was that it became clear that the actual
appearance of particle interactions in the proposed chamber on the
photographic plates needed to be investigated, in order to establish the
degree of distortion introduced by the chamber optics; David asked me to
develop suitable method and software to do this. It was also obvious that
my work for the HFBC was expanding and I needed help so, accordingly,
David arranged for John Collie, who had recently joined the laboratory
after graduating from Oxford, to be seconded to help me. John and I were
to work closely together for many years and indeed he was the first
member of the group I was to subsequently to lead and I soon discovered
that he was a man of considerable talent with a fine brain and good
knowledge of Physics with a flair for theoretical concepts; he also needed
gentle leadership from time to time but, once motivated he would usually
deliver. We decided that I would develop the methods for tracking the
events based on my TOPIC program70 and John the effect of the
proposed optics. Our results were published as an internal report71in
which we showed simulated tracks ‗photographed‘ by a computer model
of the four cameras and gave all concerned confidence that the system
would prove effective in practise.
69
European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), an international research
centre straddling the French-Swiss border west of Geneva. It was founded in 1954 by the
Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European Council for Nuclear Research).
70
TOPIC – Trajectories Of Particles in Coils, C.W.Trowbridge, 1965
71
On the Appearance and Reconstruction of Tracks in the Proposed High Field Bubble
Chamber, C.J. Collie & C.W. Trowbridge, Applied Physics Division, Rutherford Laboratory,
TCP/9, 1967
56
Family Matters 1965-1966
At home in Moulsford we had settled in and it soon came to the
notice of the Local Education Authority that Rita might like to return to
teaching so with Dinah safely ensconced in the village School under the
watchful eye of Miss Weight, she was asked to do supply teaching in
neighbouring Streatley which she was pleased to help out. This meant
taking Simon in with her because he was not quite old enough to attend
Moulsford School; it also meant acquiring transport for her and almost
straight away we saw an advert for a second hand Hillman Imp car which
she liked and we bought it. She had ultimately planned to resume her
teaching career and intended to secure a permanent post. The little village
school in Moulsford had gained some publicity when in 1964 an ex pupil,
Anne Packer, won a gold medal in 800m in Tokyo. Rita became quite
involved with the church and other local events in the village but I fear I
tended to opt out as my work was all consuming. Both Dinah & Simon
made friends with other children in the village and we all enjoyed the
open space behind, cricket on Sundays could be watched from our back
garden and the downs nearby were always inviting for fine walks.
Plate 20: Dinah & Simon in the garden at North End overlooking the cricket field
In August we all set off for a two week holiday in North Wales, this
had been planned several months ago when it was decided to combine
with Dot & Alan (Rita‘s cousin) and share a farm house on the
Portmadoc to Caernarvon road opposite the entrance to the Pennant
Valley, an area well known to me from my HMS Conway days. Rita was
57
concerned that the long car journey would be tiresome for Dinah &
Simon so we set out one day early (Friday August 18) and booked a
room for the night at Tenbury Wells (Worcestershire) which was
halfway. I remember the weather was awful with heavy rain most of the
way and we feared that the holiday would prove to be a washout. We
arrived at the cottage (Called Ymlch Bach) late afternoon on the Saturday
and met Dot and Allan with their two girls. Alan said he couldn‘t see any
of the hills nearby but when Mrs Jones the cottage owner saw all our
gum boots, 8 pairs in all she said it was a good omen as they would ward
off the rain and she was proved correct as the next day the whole area
was bathed in glorious sunlight. It was a delightful spot and the kids
loved it, especially the trips to seaside where we all played beach cricket,
Alan had been a sports master and even managed to teach me some
minimal skill. I wanted to renew my acquaintance with the hills so I hit
on the plan of getting up very early (5 AM) and climb one of the nearby
hills surrounding the Pennant Valley hills, and still be back in time for
breakfast and then drive the family out for the rest of the day. I even
managed to get to the top of Moel Hebog in the second week. In the
evenings Alan and I escaped to one of the nearby pubs to yarn and
sample the local ale – days of bliss. The climax for the whole family was
our ascent of Snowdon. Since we had small children we took the train!
Plate 21: Summit Party on Snowdon
L to R: Anne, Dot, Gillian, Bill, Dinah, Rita, Simon (Alan took the photo)
58
Whilst we were away Bernard, Rita‘s brother was married, and they
spent their honeymoon at our house in Moulsford. Bernard married a
Margaret a single mother with a small child, Denise. Margaret had
originally come to live with the family to look after Rita‘s mother when
she was incapacitated with Rheumatoid Arthritis and also to keep house
for Bernard and Rita‘s father, Bert Creed. After Rita‘s mum died in 1964
Margaret stayed on and a romance soon developed between Margaret and
Bernard though I know that Bert was very fond of her as well and he
adored Denise who followed him around the farm everywhere. By the
end of year Simon was old enough for the Moulsford School and Rita
applied for a full time teaching post at Cholsey Junior School, she was
interviewed by Bill Campbell who, as well as being the headmaster, was
a will known naturalist and ornithologist writing regular ‗nature notes‘
articles in local and national newspapers. She was offered a job to start in
the new year (1967). This was part time at first to teach a small remedial
class of the slower learners, but Bill soon offered he a full time job in
which she stayed for over twenty years. Also, when Dinah and Simon
reached junior school age they moved to Cholsey as well.
59
Growth in applications computing 1967-1970
I returned to work much refreshed and we set about installing the
TRIM computer program from LRL Livermore. TRIM was written by
Alan Winslow and was a tour de force in those days72. He derived a
numerical algorithm for solving Poisons Equation over an irregular
triangular mesh in three ways (a) using a resistor network analogy, (b) a
finite difference scheme and (c) a variational method. This last approach
was in fact the finite element method in a different guise! So I think Alan
Winslow was the first to develop a Finite Element (FE) package for nonlinear electromagnetics applications. Early in 1968 Jim Diserens joined
us. Following the completion of the Oxford Project Jim had been
working on the design of the Polarised Proton Source with the Proton
Linear Accelerator Group. Jim was a most valuable addition to our small
section devoted to developing software for solving electromagnetic
problems for the High Field Bubble chamber. We had worked together
on the Pathfinder code, see page 42, and were good friends. His first job
with us was to implement the TRIM program on the new IBM 360
mainframe computer at RAL.
We originally used the Atlas Computer73which when it was first
established was state of the art with 48K core store operating with a 2µs
cycle time, in 1964, it was said, to be the most powerful computer in the
world. It is amazing now to look back on those days and marvel at the
good results we achieved with such limited power. We had to prepare
both code and data using the Hollerith Punched Card system and then
walk a few hundred yards carrying the cards in a tray to the Atlas centre,
keeping firmly in mind that if the stack was accidentally shuffled disaster
would inevitably follow. The main computing reception area housed an
army of young women operating punched card machines, which was part
of the excellent service Jack Howlett and his staff offered to clients if,
unlike us, they preferred to have this chore done for them. You would
submit your stack of cards to the reception person on duty for processing.
If you were lucky then your results would appear on line printer output
within an hour or so but often next day depending on their work load— it
was rather like visiting the laundry. However the debugging cycle could
take many days, if not weeks. I often preferred to work at the centre but
72
A.M. Winslow, ―Numerical Calculation of Static Magnetic Fields in an irregular
triangle mesh,‖ University of California Report, UCRL-7784, 1964, J Comput Phys 1, p. 149,
1966.
73
The Atlas Computer Laboratory was set up by the British Government in 1961. It was
originally administered by the former National Institute for Research in Nuclear Science and
came under the Science Research Council in April 1965.
60
Growth in Applications Computing 1967-1970
always punching my own cards to retain responsibility. The centre
offered good facilities for visitors. Over the next few years everything
would change dramatically with Rutherford Lab acquiring a series of
IBM machines with increasing storage and power, ranging from
360/75(1968) to 360/195 (1971) and later there were online terminals for
users to submit data.
My old mentor and boss Doug Allen came to see me in his capacity
as a professor at Reading University and asked me about the status of the
Pathfinder program, see page 42, and I told him it could be used to
investigate problems arising in ion optics for electrostatic accelerators but
unfortunately we didn‘t have the manpower needed to carry out such a
study. Doug then suggested that he had good student who was looking
for a MSc project and would I be interested in supervising him at
Rutherford. I thought this was a good scheme and so Pat Stenning joined
me for a few months and we worked together and produced a very
detailed study for whole range of electrostatic lenses74, we also applied
Pathfinder to the problem of beam focussing by the entrance aperture of
accelerator tubes and developed an empirical formula for the focal length
which I discovered years later had been widely used by the accelerator
tube designers. This was only the first of several collaborations with
Doug at Reading as he later asked me if I could give a series lectures to
his students on field computation, I was pleased to be asked and said I
would write up some of our recent work in a suitable lecture-format. For
all sorts of reasons this got delayed until 1970.
Another event which in retrospect I feel was seminal for me was the
2nd International Conference on Magnet Technology at Oxford in 1967. I
was strongly influenced by three papers given by pioneers from the USA.
Firstly there was Andrew Halacsy, professor of electrical engineering at
Reno, who described his work using integral equations for solving three
dimensional field problems, next John Colonias, of LRL Berkeley, who
using a CDC 6600 together with a CRT display showed user interaction
with the boundaries and meshes produced by the field program TRIM,
and finally Klaus Halbach, also from LRL, who amazingly presented
inverse problem solutions using a ‗least squares technique‘ with the
TRIM program which he named MIRT (TRIM backwards). I was sitting
next to Bill Walkinshaw, our division head, during the lecture on the
interactive use of the TRIM progam and he and I had a mild argument
when I suggested we should be doing similar work but he was reluctant
to accept the idea that was where the future lay; I suspect he thought the
heuristic approach to achieve a design by interactive placement of
74
P. Stenning and C. W. Trowbridge, ―The Pathfinder Programme and its Application to
Ion Optics‖, Rutherford Laboratory/Reading University Report, RU/RL-1, 1968.
http://www.trowbridge.org.uk/downloads.htm
61
materials and boundaries in itself lacked a proper scientific basis albeit
the priceless knowledge of the designer; whereas the alternative approach
proposed by Klaus Halbach used optimisation theory. Of course both
approaches are useful and so it proved in the future.
Plate 22: The TRIM Program in ‘Interactive’ Mode
As presented by John Colonias at the Oxford Magnet Technology Conference, July 1967
At this same conference Alan Middleton and I presented our work
on computing fields and mechanical stresses in high field
superconducting coils and we needed to extend these calculations to
include three dimensional geometries and I enjoyed lengthy discussions
with John Colonias on how to modify the TRIM program to do this, but
the problems of 3D meshes seemed too daunting at that time. However
work was proceeding for the design study of the proposed bubble
chamber with the superconducting magnet parameters more or less
decided, the mechanical engineering design was undertaken by Peter
Clee who had recently returned from an extended visit to the US and had
considerable expertise there. We produced a report for David to present
at the forthcoming summer study to be held at Brookhaven National Lab
62
in 196875. At this time John Collie, Jim Diserens and I moved to R50 a
temporary building adjacent to the car park; this block of offices housed
most of the members of David Thomas‘s group which enabled us to
enjoy a much closer integration with the various elements of the project.
In fact the team was growing in size and within a year we were all to
move again to R25, a two story building connected to R1 the main
building via a bridge-building connecting the 2nd floors, which was to
house a new library.
It is often said that ‗In the Kingdom of the Blind the one-eyed man
is king‘ and I soon discovered that with a little knowledge of
mathematics and computing my growing expertise was in demand from
engineers who lacked these skills. One such, and a very colourful figure,
was John Fox a electrical engineer with imaginative and intuitive gifts
which led him to propose a ‗Static Power Supply‘ for generating the
large power pulses for the cyclic excitation of the magnets required by
the new generation of particle accelerators like the 300 GeV machine
under construction at CERN. The normal method used was the large
scale rotating ‗motor generator sets‘ which had proved unreliable with
long outage times. John‘s idea was to exploit, by direct connection, the
high energy available from a modern public electricity power system in
such away as not to induce a corresponding system disturbance of
unacceptable dimensions. He had successfully applied this idea to the
modest 4 GeV electron synchrotron at Daresbury (NINA) and had been
awarded a prize by the IEE in 1966. John approached me and said that as
he was mathematically and computer illiterate would I help? Well,
flattery does work, especially when you are trying to make your way in
the world. So I buckled down and after some weeks of intensive ‗nightwork‘ at the Atlas Computer Lab we produced a computer code to
analyse the effect of such a device on the grid76 . This demonstrated, in
John‘s view, an acceptable disturbance if used for the forthcoming 300
GeV proton machine at CERN. John later joined the group at CERN to
design the power system. The man himself, as I have said, was a
colourful character, outspoken to a degree that bordered on the offensive
and indeed I had the reputation of being the only person at the lab that he
hadn‘t insulted. He had a very quick wit and was highly intelligent,
however he had very right wing views which I remembering him
vehemently voicing at the time of the Rhodesian crisis. He would repay
75
A 70 Kilogauss Magnet for the Proposed Rutherford Laboratory 1.5 Metre Diameter
Hydrogen Bubble Chamber, P Clee, D B Thomas, C W Trowbridge, Proc 1968 Study on
Superconducting Devices and Accelerators, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island,
New York
76
The Mathematical Representation used in the Static Power Supply Computer
Programmes, J A Fox & C W Trowbridge, RL E/PS-DS/300 GeV/JAF-5, 1968
63
favours by entertaining the donor with scurrilous comments about
colleagues; he had an egg timer on his desk which when I mentioned
someone I had admired who had recently died said, ‗here are his ashes‘,
grabbing the timer and twisting it, ‗he did nothing when he was alive but
he is bloody well going to work now‘. He was always critical of the lab
management and he said to me one day that he had coined a new unit; the
unit of organisational competence which shall be the ‗Vance‘. Now our
director at that time was the eminent and much admired physicist Gerry
Pickavance77 and ‗Pico‘ anything is a very small quantity indeed (one
million millionth). However John‘s jibe misfired as a ‗Pica‘ is the
measure of type size 12 points, a large font for reading purposes.
Plate 23: Zermat March 1968
In1968 Jim and I went to CERN to visit the magnet design group on
the 6th March; I can only remember few things about this trip. One was
whilst waiting in the departure lounge to board our flight I bumped into
an old Conway Boy, he was wearing the tie, and we started reminiscing
and this caused us to miss our flight but fortunately we were rescheduled
on to the next one so our luggage got to Geneva before we did. After our
technical meetings had finished on the Friday we went to hear a concert
at the Victoria Hall given by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
conducted by Sir John Pritchard, a fine English conductor, in works by
Purcell (Funeral Music for Queen Mary), Dvorak (Cello concerto, Zara
Nelsova) and Stravinsky (Divertimento and the circus polka). On the
Saturday I had my first sight of the Matterhorn. Our host at CERN a
charming Frenchman, Alain Riche, offered to drive us there via the
Rhone Valley. Alain‘s wife came too and we had a splendid but very
long day. As there are no public roads to Zermatt we had to take the train
77
Thomas Gerald Pickavance, FRS (1915-1991)
64
from St Nicholas and I was delighted to see the horse drawn taxi sledges
waiting at the station — we were still just about in the winter season. We
enjoyed our brief visit with just enough time to ascend by cable car to the
great glacier and see a fine view of the Matterhorn.
In the spring I had a successful interview to the PSO (Principal
Scientific Officer) grade and was formally promoted in July — I now felt
my scientific career had matured as I had transformed myself from
Merchant Navy Officer to Scientist. My little group was expanding with
two new members Mike Newman and Alan Armstrong who were both
transferred from the Nimrod78 division as they had expressed interest in
applied technical computing. With the addition of David Barlow, a
scientific assistant, we were now six and I was confirmed in the status of
group leader in September.
In parallel with our own in-house developments on methods for
computing electromagnetic fields we began to look into the Finite
Element Method as a systematic methodology for extending the TRIM
code to three dimensions as well as providing a generic technique for
handling other physical problems such as heat conduction and stress
analysis. I wrote a simple program using Finite Elements but soon
realised that we had to master the huge literature of this subject and
needed guidance. I had been reading a number of books written by Prof.
Olek Zienkiewicz, the professor of civil engineering at the University of
Swansea, which showed how the method could be used for all the
standard problems arising in Physics and Engineering79 and I decided to
contact him and ask for his advice. He immediately invited me to come
to Swansea for discussions and so the first of many such journeys took
place on 17th October, 1969. I found him a most friendly and encouraging
character; he was half Polish, having an English mother. They had just
managed to escape from Poland at the outbreak of WW2 when the family
moved to England. He attended Imperial College and studied under one
of the great pioneers of numerical analysis, R V Southwell. He was
interested in our Magnetics problem and offered to help. I agreed to write
a short note to define the problem mathematically and to further cement
the relationship between RL/SRC with Swansea I persuaded David
Thomas to seek an ongoing consultancy with Olek, which he did and
which ran for over ten years. I invited Olek to come to the lab and give a
lecture on Finite Elements which took place on 7th April 1970 which was
well attended and made a strong impression. I will have a more to write
about our very fruitful collaboration later.
78
The name given to the 7 GeV accelerator designed and built by Gerry Pickavance and
his team which was the core facility at RL
79
The Finite Element Method on Structural and Continuum Mechanics, O.C.
Zienkiewicz, McGraw Hill, 1967
65
Plate 24: West Berlin 1970
The author outside the Kongresshalle
(b) Overlooking the ‗Wall‘
Early in 1970 we were asked to help investigate induced current
effect in the composite superconducting cables that were to be used in the
High Field Bubble Chamber magnet. Pioneering research and
development had been carried within Technology Division by the
Superconducting Magnet Group under the leader ship of Peter Smith and
Martin Wilson. Initially they had developed a composite conductor
consisting of parallel superconducting filaments embedded in a copper
66
matrix. However when the current changes with time (at start up say),
associated magnetisation currents are formed which decay slowly
producing a perturbation of the magnetic field amounting to several
percent. The group realised that these difficulties could be minimised by
‗twisting the filaments‘ and from these ideas the famous Rutherford
Cable was developed and subsequently was to be used throughout the
world. To assess the degree of these parasitic magnetisation currents I
was asked to calculate the effect for a number of configurations that
could be used for the bubble chamber magnet. Our results, both
experimental and by calculation showed that the use of twisted filament
conductor was essential and they were published in the proceedings of
the forth coming Cryogenics Conference in West Berlin80. I was asked to
present the work at the conference in May. The laboratory had several
papers in this conference and quite a crowd of us descended into this
divided city on the 12 May. West Berlin appeared full of life and
colourful with many new buildings, parks and night life, the conference
was to be held at the spanking new conference centre. The hotels
allocated to the delegates were scattered around the city and I found
myself some way from the centre; it proved to be rather a rundown place
presided over by a rather tiresome individual who seemed to be still
fighting the war and furthermore during the night someone, very
intoxicated I supposed, came crashing through the glass fronted door of
my room: no apology and no reaction from the manager.
The conference however went very well and was enjoyable; the
Kongresshalle was situated in the Tier Gardens overlooking the river
where one could enjoy pleasant walks. The social events were generous;
we went to a staged performance of Catulli Carmina & Carmina Burana
(Carl Orff) at the ‗Deutsch Oper‘, a fairly new modern opera house, the
rhythmic drive from the orchestra under Eugen Jochum, the animated
dancing and singing particularly in Carmina Burana were marvellous.It
brought back memories for me of a concert I attended in Buenos Aires in
1950 when this piece was given its first performance at the Teatro Colon.
However in this Berlin performance a huge photograph of Marilyn
Monroe was displayed at the rear during the final climactic moments.
Hail, most beautiful one,
Precious jewel
Another notable event was the dinner and the seemingly endless
supply of drinks, hosted by the giant company Siemens on the last night.
80
The Diamagnetic Behaviour of Coils wound from Multifilament Stabilised
Superconductor, P T M Clee, P Gottfeldt, D B Thomas, C W Trowbridge. Proc ICEC-3,
Berlin, pp. 450-455, 1970
67
Many delegates found themselves enjoying late night entertainment
afterwards at a night club nearby. We also had a chance to climb up on
one the platforms provided to gaze over a section of the Berlin Wall;
rather depressing as the landscape in the east was dismal in stark contrast
to the high-life in the West. Some of us also went to see the 1936
Olympic Stadium with its concrete monolithic statues built by Albert
Speer and co during the ‗Hitler‘ era. My talk went well enough; I was
quite nervous as this was my first time giving a technical presentation at
a conference; I stumbled through the material adequately but during one
of questions in the discussion afterwards I dried up and Peter Clee kindly
had to rescue me.
Plate 25: The High Field Bubble Chamber Group relaxing after visiting Brookhaven
National Lab.
Top Row L to R: Brian Diplock, Ron Newport, Author, Joe Swain. Bottom Row L to R:
Author and the three bubble chamber kings, Ron, Paul Williams and David Thomas
68
The following month David organised a visit to the US to attend the
bubble chamber conference in Chicago with a pre-visit to Brookhaven
National Lab at Long Island New York. I was scheduled to give a repeat
of the paper we had given in Berlin. After Chicago I went on with Ron
Newport and Martin Wilson to Boulder Colorado to attend the applied
superconductivity conference and finally to California to visit Berkeley
University‘s Lawrence Laboratory. Also in the party were the engineers
Brian Diplock and Joe Swain and the physicists Paul Williams and Colin
Fisher.
We flew to New York (Sunday June 7) on a Super VC-10 aircraft
and as this was my first ‗log-haul‘ flight I became somewhat nervous
when after we had boarded we were ordered off as engine faults had been
discovered. We then had a free lunch in the terminal cafeteria and
boarded another plane some two hours later. I should have been
reassured as it was far better to discover the fault before we took off than
after! The flight was uneventful and it was a thrill to fly in to New York
and see that fabulous sky-line last seen by me from the bridge of a ship in
1949 (See Volume 1). Our first visit was to be to Brookhaven National
Laboratory situated on Long Island some 60 miles to the west. David &
Ron picked up rental cars and we arrived at the visitor centre early
evening local time. We spent the next day being shown the lab facilities,
especially the 7 foot Hydrogen Bubble Chamber, as well as having a
series of ad hoc discussions on magnet design and computing techniques.
There was still enough time for a short trip to the nearby beach before Jet
Lag compelled me at least to seek an early bed.
The next day we proceeded to Chicago via La Guardia airport and
American Airlines. We were booked in to the Conrad Hilton Hotel on
Michigan avenue. This, the original Hilton, was a massive building
stretching one block and I was impressed by the complex network of fire
escapes snaking down the building. A coach had been arranged to convey
us to Argonne National Lab each day for the conference, a journey of
about 26 miles taking about one hour. The Bubble Chamber conference
got underway the next day and apart from the technical sessions we saw
the impressive 12 foot bubble chamber recently operational. This device
was huge but its superconducting solenoids were limited to a field of
order 2 Tesla as compared to the smaller but far higher field device, 7
Tesla, we were designing at Rutherford for CERN. However the Argonne
chamber was a reality and state of the art whereas ours was still a paper
study. We also taken to see the construction work (Plate 27a), now
underway, of the new 200GeV superconducting accelerator at the
laboratory81 out at Batavia, some 30 miles further west, this was to be the
81
Later to be named Fermi Laboratory after the great Italian Physicist
69
largest particle accelerator in the world for many years and several
important discoveries were made using it.
Plate 26: Delegates at the Bubble Chamber Conference, ANL, 1970
By far the most important event for me was to meet Larry Turner
who, at that time, was a Physicist academic at Muskingum College, New
Concord Ohio, but a frequent visitor to Argonne where he had been a
summer visitor and worked on problems associated with Bubble
Chamber Technology. He told me that he had shared an office for a short
while with Andrew Halacsy whom I had met at the Oxford Magnet
Technology conference in 1967 (see page 60). Larry said he was trying to
extend Halacsy‘s simple ‗dipole method‘ to model the non-linear iron
components in magnets, this was exactly what I had been searching for –
a method that would generalise to three dimensions without having to
model free space as in the TRIM program (page 59). He also said that he
had applied to RL for a one year visit to work alongside us on techniques
for bubble chamber design. Afterwards, David said he already had been
introduced to Larry via the good offices of Prof. Walter Welford of
Imperial College, who had worked with Larry at Argonne on Bubble
Chamber optics a year ago, and he now asked me what I thought about
Larry coming to RL to work alongside me — I was delighted.
70
Plate 27: (a) 200GeV accelerator under construction. (b) Boulder Colorado
I decided to go to hear the Chicago Symphony under its new
permanent conductor Georg Solti on the Friday evening. Most of the
delegates were going to see the new musical ‗Hair‘ with its swinging
sixties youth and nudity theme but I enjoyed a great evening of music
instead. Haydn, Richard Strauss and a new work by a William Thomas
McKinley, his triple concerto for Piano, Bass, Drums and Orchestra, was
a work just as modern as ‗Hair‘ in its way and quite as outrageous with a
71
series of free improvisational cadenzas. I had earlier suggested to Ron we
should go to the concert together but he said he had already promised
Paul Williams to go to a Baseball game.
Plate 28: (a) Central City (Old Mining Railway) (b) Williams Towers Hall of Residence
(Over 6 Million Hamburgers sold)
The next day Ron and I flew to Denver en route for Boulder to
attend the Applied Superconductivity Conference. At Denver we rented a
car and had a leisurely drive through the foot hills of the Rockies and a
72
brief stop at Central City a former mining town but now a theme park.
We were staying at the Williams Towers, the University of Colorado
Residence Hall, on the edge of the city which is situated at the foot of the
Rocky Mountains. The next day being Sunday we decided to go to Estes
Park a 36 mile drive up into the heart of the mountains; we met up with
Martin Wilson and invited him along. This was the first of many visits to
this stunning place I was to make over the years to come and in particular
to Bear Lake and the high mountains that form the breathtaking
backdrop.
Plate 29: Estes Park & Author at Bear Lake
On Monday the conference started and as I was not giving a paper I
could relax and just enjoy the occasion. We were invited for a reception
at the home of the head of the National Bureau of Standards Laboratory
in Boulder a very amiable man with the imposing name of Boston Wayne
Birmingham (accent on the ‗ham‘ in the American manner); it appeared
that he had invited the whole conference judging by the large number of
delegates that filled his large house. I have several vague memories of the
evening; plenty to eat and drink, an agitated Japanese professor
demonstrating origami with paper napkins filling a large table with
incomplete attempts to make a paper helicopter - BWB whispered in my
ear, ‗ he won‘t manage it, he never does‘. Also an English delegate (of
Jewish descent) murmured to me, ‗look at that German chap with the
73
blond hair, can‘t you imagine him in an SS uniform‘, I knew the man he
was referring to, in fact a pleasant kindly fellow and far too young to
have known much about WW2. Just before we left BWB said to me ‗we
are having a terrific party up at Central City after the conference so be
sure to come‘, I had to tell him that I was leaving a day early to go to
California, he was not impressed.
The next day there was a session on superconducting materials and a
famous pioneer, Charlie Laverick, known the world over for his work
with superconductivity, was to give a lecture. An extraordinary
charismatic character both on and off the ‗stage‘ and his performance
today was unexpected to say the least. He was going to use a 35mm slide
projector to illustrate his talk but as soon as he began the machine broke
down and instead of improvising his talk (each talk was strictly time
limited) he asked for a screwdriver and then proceeded to take the
machine apart, carefully lining up each component on the speakers‘ table;
the audience sat patiently watching as Charlie, a born DIY man and
practical engineer, diagnosed the problem and reassemble the machine.
All this took twenty minutes and finally as he switched it on in triumph
to much applause the chairman said, ‗your time is up Charlie‘.
On Thursday I left for San Francisco, I travelled with Roger Hancox
from Culham Lab who was going to visit Livermore and had arranged to
pick up a rental car, this was a benefit to me as he offered to drop me off
at Berkeley. I spent Friday visiting the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
and in particular to see Klaus Halbach and John Colonias (see page 60)
for discussions on field computation. Klaus was a leading theoretician in
the magnet design business with many years experience and John had
also established himself as a pioneer in interactive computing but had an
electronics background. My meeting with Klaus was quite memorable, he
‗held court‘ in a terrapin wooden building and sitting in an imposing arm
chair on gimbals which he swivelled round rapidly from blackboard to
his audience as he made technical point after technical point speaking
English (not American) with a German accent. I found him quite
overpowering; he appeared to know everything and when I ventured to
speak about my own work he was somewhat dismissive about the role of
computing. I was to discover later that this manner was something of a
mask after I got to know him better in future years. On the other hand
John was Greek and altogether different and we discussed matters on
more equal terms. He asked me if I could write a section on a new book
he was writing on computational magnetics; in fact what he needed was a
survey of available computer codes and methods and I said I would think
about doing this82.
82
The opportunity to do this arose later when I was able to extract the information from
a paper I was to write for the next Magnet Technology conference in 1972.
74
I was able to explore the beautiful Berkeley Campus which
overlooks the Bay Area and later have a trip into downtown San
Francisco. I remember that the cab driver said to me as he dropped me in
Market Street, ‗ you are bound to meet someone you know before you
get to the end of the street‘, what he didn‘t tell me was that the street was
so long (over 3 miles) that you soon gave up, as I discovered. I did the
usual things though; the Golden Gate Bridge, visited Fisherman‘s Warf
and gazed at Alcatraz. Yesterday (Thursday) was Election Day in the
UK and when I switched on the TV in my room I discovered that Edward
Heath had won, and the conservatives were back in power. The next day
I returned to Chicago and met up with Ron on the Saturday evening at
O‘Hare Airport to fly overnight back home. It was good to see Rita and
my family again and also to be greeted by Mick Montgomery our brand
new Springer Spaniel who showed his delight at greeting a stranger by
gently biting my leg (see page79).
In November Jim and I went to see Olek Zienkiewicz in Swansea
for further discussions on the use of Finite Elements for magnetic field
problems; we also met Bruce Irons, Olek‘s very famous collaborator,
who has been regarded very highly indeed as an important innovator with
many publications to his name including the development of the Finesse
computer software for structural analysis. This visit was also noteworthy
because of the decent lunch we had at The Osbourne Hotel (Caswell
Bay), not because of the food but as we went in we noticed a Rolls Royce
car out side with the number plate HS1 and then we heard lots of laughter
coming from a table on far side of the dining room; it was Harry
Seacombe83 a local lad having a nostalgic day out with his relatives.
After lunch whilst we were drinking our coffee a voiced boomed out
behind us, ‗How are things at the University then?‘, it was the man
himself who promptly sat down with us and chatted away for 30 minutes
or more entertaining us with tales from show business and he also
showed a keen interest in what we doing — a lovely man.
83
Sir Harry Seacombe, famous Welsh comedian and singer
75
Family matters 1967-1970
Plate 30: Family on Holiday (a) Charmouth 1967, (b) Shell Island
These were years of consolidation in Moulsford; building fences
around our property, a patio area, and gradually developing the room in
the loft which was to become our bedroom eventually. We also made
plans for various extensions, a conservatory at the rear and an additional
76
Family Matters-1967-1970
room at the side for a study. When Rita started her full time appointment
at Cholsey School in September 1967 she began to arrange for Dinah and
Simon to be transferred to Cholsey School as well as the Moulsford
Village School was soon to be closed. We also made regular visits to
Dorset to see Eva and Bill as well as Rita‘s father who, at least once a
year, came to stay with us.
We tried to get away as a family as often as we could in the school
holidays; we joined my father and Brenda in 1967 for two weeks in May
at a self catering old farm cottage near Penmorfa in North Wales; an
idyllic spot nestling under the Alt Wen, a long ridge just near the main
Caernarvon road. The weather turned wet and after a week Dad and
Brenda decided that they had had enough so they went home, or maybe
we were rather too noisy for them? In the second week the weather
improved so we had good days at Shell Island, Black Rock sands and
walking the hills.
In 1968 we went further a field, to Killarney in South West Ireland,
which we enjoyed immensely. It was Rita‘s idea as she had been to
Dublin and toured round Ireland whilst she was at College and had long
wanted to revisit. We were recommended a farm house holiday which
catered for families with young children, full board and lots of farm
animals etc, and I was attracted to the mountains in the region which
included the highest peak in Ireland, Carrantuohill (1041 m). We decided
to go by road and take the ferry to Dublin from Holyhead; I remember
getting lost in the suburbs of Dublin and Rita went into a nearby shop to
ask the way to Limerick. The shopkeeper said to her, ‗do you be having a
husband out there?‘, so he came out to tell me the way. We felt we were
in a ‗time warp‘ which had stayed still since 1930, and the roads were
like that too. However we found our way west to Limerick then South
West to Killarney and all was well. There were quite a number of guests
staying at the Farm House and the accommodation proved somewhat
primitive but the food was good and the people very friendly. The next
two weeks were a delight with plenty of walking, swimming and just
generally relaxing; they ran a child minding system as well so Rita and I
could go out and enjoy the folk singing in the local pubs; no sign of the
Irish troubles in the North just about to break out. The climax for the
kids, I think, was the pony trekking through the famous Gap of Dunloe,
see Plate 31
For me it was climbing Carrantuohill; the family came part way and
wandered around the ‗Hags Glen‘, playing in the stream and sketching
whilst I did the climb; the lady back at the farm house though I was mad.
For Rita it was the Dingle peninsular and the tiny seaside village of Inch
which was so peaceful, I see it in my minds eye yet. We came home via
Cork and Wexford using the ferry to Fishguard in South Wales
Plate 31: Kerry August 1968
Farm House near Killarney, Gap of Dunloe Ride, Contemplating Carrantuohill
77
78
Plate 32: Rita in front of the wall tribute at Inch
The following year I bought a new car, a Ford Focus and we went to
the New Forest for a short visit in May and to North Wales in August.
We hired a cottage at Gyfyng Pont in the Pennant Valley alongside the
Dwyfor river in which the children had a great time swimming and
playing with model sailing boats, Eva and Bill came for one week and we
took them to the top of Snowdon on the train, though I walked down.
Then in July 1970 we got really brave and flew to Switzerland to
stay in Zurich then by train to Zermatt. This was the children‘s first flight
and indeed their first trip abroad; we stayed just two nights in Zurich with
only a brief opportunity to visit the Zoo and see a little of the city. After
Zurich we took the train to Berne where we changed trains to go south
over the Bernese Oberland to the Rhone Valley and thence to Visp and
Zermatt. I had booked us in for two weeks at the ‗Sport Hotel‘ a small
modest dwelling – it did not rate a horse drawn courtesy carriage as the
posher hotels boasted with smartly dressed liveried footmen; we had a
hand cart pulled along by a strong young man. Zermatt looks quite
different in the summer months to what it did when I came here a couple
years ago toward the end of winter, the high pastures were in full use
with cattle and covered with alpine flora as the snow had receded to the
very high passes. The town had a kind of unreal aspect, an old fashioned
fairy land out of books. We had a lovely time exploring the high
79
meadows, ascending by cable car and rack railway to see the great
glaciers and alpine lakes.
Some months previously Rita‘s father said we ought to get a dog,
especially for the children, initially I was reluctant but he persuaded me
and we went ahead to buy a Springer spaniel, father also bought one from
the same breeder. Ours was born on 19 April and we took delivery in
June and we named him Mick Montgomery.
Plate 33: Matterhorn, Dinah and Monte Rosa, 1970
Also things were changing at Cholsey School, Bill Campbell with
his wife retired on August 31, 1970 and went to live in Charlbury; this
80
was a major change in more ways than one as his successor, John
Haworth, was a rather different believing in more ‗modern‘ teaching
methods. One of his innovations was to scrap the old system of classes
for each year and adopt an open plan approach by dividing the school
into three teams each with three teachers covering the entire age range.
So Rita found herself the team leader of Green Team working under a
new headmaster with an entirely different approach. As we got to know
John we realised he was an exceptional man with wide ranging interests
from left of centre politics with a deep conviction for fairness in all his
dealings, a likeness for countryside rambles and to all forms of music. He
arranged walking and musical appreciation clubs, my son Simon
remembers that he collected a group of boys in his house after school to
listen to music, Mahler being a particular favourite. Rita got on with him
from the start and, though sometimes she did not always agree with his
‗advanced‘ ideas for the children when taken beyond what was practical,
she supported him strongly for the next twenty years as his ‗heart was
always in the right place‘. We became friends with his wife Dorothy and
sometimes went to concerts together.
81
Notes culled from a Diary for 1971
The year 1971 can be seen as a crucial period in my career as we
nudged toward the creation of the so called GFUN software system for
electromagnetic design. I had the honour of leading a small team of
physicists active at a time when digital computing was becoming
available but still well before the explosion of personal computing
systems. We were still using large main frame machines normally by
‗batch processing‘ in which computer programs were submitted one day
and the results, if one was lucky, were collected the next. However online
interactive technology was on the point of becoming a reality and the
notion of interactive graphics was in the air. Our group was fortunate in
that we had the perfect application for interactive graphics in the design
of magnets for particle accelerators. The climax of this work came the
following year, 1972, and the use of the system rapidly spread84. The
year 1971 was also a year that I kept a regular diary so my account of the
events from this most seminal of years for me is less prone to memory
lapses than usual. Some of the events mentioned in this section are
further amplified in the next section, particularly our technical progress
with the GFUN system.
The year began with a family event as on the first of January we
went to the New Theatre, Oxford, to see ‗The Sleeping Beauty‘
pantomime with the family and Mrs Roger our neighbour. Jimmy
Edwards85, a popular comedian of the day, improvised his way through
the show in his usual manner. Simon had to go to out during his first solo
act. Jim said ‗Someone‘s leaving‘, all eyes were on us as I took Simon
out to find a lavatory. As we reached the back of the auditorium Jim said,
‗It must be the vibrations‘, he was playing the Euphonium at the time.
The children enjoyed the show. Also in January I gave my first lecture at
Reading University ‗Field Theory: some computational aspects‘. I had a
warm welcome by Doug Allen who seemed reasonably pleased with the
talk and the discussion afterwards; I was somewhat relieved as this was
my first experience of giving a didactic talk at a university.
The following month I recorded that on Saturday February 6th I
spent the entire day at the lab developing a new on-line graphics program
to aid the design of magnets, and made significant progress. This became
84
GFUN: An Interactive Program as an Aid to Magnet Design. M J Newman, L R
Turner, C W Trowbridge. In Proceedings International Conference on Magnet Technology
(MT4), pp 617-626, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1972.
85
His speciality was that of a comic school master whose bark was worse than his bite,
he was the star of a BBC TV series called ‗Whacko‘, he also played the trombone.
82
Notes from a Diary for 1971
the GFUN program already referred to above. I named it GFUN because
all interactive codes at RAL had to have a name beginning with the two
letter personal identifier of the author, which in my case was GF and it is
hard to find a four letter word beginning GF! Also in February we began
a series of walks across the downs encouraged by the need to give our
new dog Mick (and me) some exercise. The Gamekeeper of Well Barn
estate near Warren Farm was impressed with Mick, said ‗I could make
something of you‘– he gave Mick a lesson by making him retrieve and
drop a ‗dead‘ pigeon. We had a chat about people who don‘t follow the
‗code‘. He said we could walk through the estate provide we kept Mick
on his lead. Also this month we had a long weekend in Dorset visiting
Rita‘s sister Eva and on the Sunday I persuaded them to drive me to West
Milton so I could walk back to Broadwindsor, about 7 miles cross
country. The object was to avoid roads as much as possible. I took the
footpath across hills in westerly direction and reached Stoke Abbott in
two hours. It was a great relief to find the pub still open full of the
Sunday lunch drinking crowd. Had a chat with a Mr & Mrs Pinny86 and
after a pint of best bitter I left Stoke to walk along the road to Stoke
Knapp. I saw the Edward VII commemoration tree in Stoke Abbott
planted in 1901, my father‘s birth year – he is in better shape than the
tree. The Pinnys caught me up and gave me a lift for the last ½ mile into
Broadwindsor. They had a Springer called ‗Spice‘; not a pure breed like
Mick.
During March the first version of GFUN was in use by members of
the magnet design teams. This first version was limited to two
dimensions and could not yet compute systems with iron, however the
interactive graphics were up and running which gave us good publicity.
Furthermore Larry Turner was fast developing his extension of both a
two and three dimensional and algorithm to the class of method we
discussed in Chicago87, see page 69, last year. On the interactive graphics
modelling side we also needed a major extension to be able to model real
three dimensional objects and as Mike Newman had been researching the
current status of this topic he agreed to develop the necessary new
software. At this time there were many projects underway in the Oxford
Area and we were asked to provide support for magnet design at the
nearby Culham laboratory for the controlled fusion experiments as well
as local industries like Oxford Instruments. The Culham project involved
a design study to examine the possibility of using superconducting coils.
This was team effort involving both computational expertise and
engineering. The engineering aspects were provided by Peter Klee and
86
87
I found out from Bill Boucher later that Mr Pinny was the local liberal candidate
Dipole magnetisation
83
his team; we enjoyed a good relationship with Don Cornish a senior
design engineer at Culham who became a strong supporter of our work.
The design study report was published in October 197188 and led to
further work sponsored by Culham, notably, for the Joint European Torus
(JET) project. The Oxford Instrument collaborations led eventually to
further joint projects for the computing of superconducting coils to be
used for MRI magnets89.
My abiding interest in the music of Edward Elgar received a nudge
when on the 6th of March I read a piece in the Daily Mail about an Elgar
Society. Apparently formed last year but no publicity given. According
to the article the patrons, including the Prime Minister (Edward Heath)
and several leading musicians are withdrawing support. The reasons
appear to be somewhat obscure but hinted that had been a quarrel
between the society and the Elgar Trust. I thought it odd that there had
been no effort to recruit members90. Early spring was in the air and the
following Sunday I awoke to a clear frosty mornings with bright sunshine
and I took Mick on a long walk across the downs to Compton, 12 ¼
miles; probably equivalent to 24 dog miles.
We began by going to the top of Halfpenny Lane via PNEU School
path and then on to Lowbury via the Fair Mile – it was indeed a ‗fair
mile‘ today with perfect walking weather. It took exactly one hour to the
top of the hill and we met many people out enjoying the day, also a
Dalmatian Dog much appreciated by Mick. I had some coffee at
Lowbury then walked SW toward Compton. At Stocks Meadow Farm we
joined the old railway track and then walked towards the old station. It
seemed only yesterday (14 years ago) that Rita and I frequently used this
line to travel from Didcot to Newbury on the first leg of the journey to
visits Rita‘s family in Dorset. We passed the church and the beautifully
kept churchyard and walked a little way toward Aldworth. At the Red
Lion we turned up the downs road and had lunch before crossing the
downs to Well Barn and the A417 and so to Moulsford. We arrived home
much refreshed in body and mind —a superb walk.
About this time David Thomas told me that I should aim for a
special merit promotion but I wondered if I should subject myself to this
88
Design Study of a Tokamak Fusion Device with Superconducting B Coils. P T M
Clee, C W Trowbridge, RL-73-067 1971
89
Magnetic Resonance Imaging used for medical diagnostic scanning
90
I discovered later that a society had been created several years ago as Worcester
activity in a low key manner and the national society proposed by Heath and others appears to
have been a rather clumsy affair. The original society prospered soon after widening its scope
and after contacting the curator, Allen Webb of the Elgar Birth-Place museum I joined the
London branch.
84
strain91. I perceived that there were changes to the structure pending and
that David was in the thick of the politics involved. There was also news
of a tragic event in Northern Ireland; 3 British soldiers killed by IRA
terrorists – we in the rest of the UK have security which is being denied
to the people of Northern Ireland, but not for long for this was the
beginning of the latest and most terrible round of ‗troubles‘ in Ulster.
April came and with it the completion of the first GFUN program
manual92 and had one dozen copies distributed. I Read in the paper that
James Mossman93 had taken an overdose - why? What a tragedy when a
man like him with lots of his life left suddenly commits suicide. Easter
was upon us and we decided to have holiday at home. It was a happy
time with many long walks and family games in the garden. On Easter
Day Rita went to church at eight o'clock and I made breakfast – boiled
eggs and we enjoyed beautiful weather all day. At four o'clock we all
went for a walk; we did the Cholsey Round, the first mile was along the
road, which was very boring. Oh those dreadful internal combustion
engines — well named infernal. At the Bull‘s Hole the children lag
behind and we played the game of going on ahead. Simon gets quite
worried. When we reached Lollingdon farm we split up, Rita and I go
round the hill and we told the children to go the direct way, and we must
all meet on the other side. It was very pleasant in the evening sun, and
we saw many hares in the green cornfields. Unfortunately the kids didn't
follow orders, so we had trouble locating them. Simon was very upset,
apparently, they took off to the right and lost themselves. All is well that
ends well.
The following week we collected Rita‘s father who was to stay with
us for a week. We persuaded father to make us a small gate for the side
path and so the next day father and I (mostly father) made the gate,
perhaps Mick will now be constrained and be prevented from running
right round the house. Father has a tot of gin just before bed to cure his
wind, one is tempted to remark that this is one of the least convincing
excuses for a drink ever. 1971 is census year and the form was delivered
that evening. I have no objections to filling it in, but I do rather object to
people who get all steamed up about it at the last moment. The questions
have been on public display for over a year — why the Liberals wait for
the last moment to stage a protest I can't think. I have made use of the
1851 and 1861 census in my researches into family history. The fact of
the matter is that these questions do not really add new private
91 A senior appointment which allows a scientist freedom to develop ideas and lead a
team to implement them. This indeed happened a few years later.
92
GFUN Interactive Graphics Magnet Design Program, C.W.Trowbridge, Applied
Physics Div, Rutherford Laboratory, Internal report, 6 April, 1971
93
Well known TV Journalist
85
information of a personal nature as all such information already exists
under other headings e.g. registration of births and marriages and deaths
etc income tax returns and, in any case, the personal details in the returns
are denied public access for 100 years.
Plate 34: Bert Creed with his daughter and grandchildren at Moulsford, 1971
Watched a programme on Colin Davis94 on television and later went
to the Waterloo pub with father who won 50p on the one armed bandit
machine. The next day we erected a trellis work fence which was very
enjoyable to do and made the garden more interesting. Physical exertion
is the best antidote to mental inertia. The evening ended with a trip to the
Waterloo Pub for beer and the wretched one armed bandit — my fatherin-law is an addict.
May began with football as I took Simon to the match between
Arsenal and Stoke city on Saturday May 1st. The Cholsey bluebirds95 had
arranged a coach and tickets for the match. I bought Simon an Arsenal
94
95
35 years later he is still conducting, better than ever.
The Cholsey football club for youngsters that Simon belonged to.
86
rosette and we took our seats at 2 pm. We had a superb view and we
were impressed by the crowd. Vocal supporters on our right were
entertaining the 60,000 crowd. A match was under way between the
Arsenal reserves and a junior team from Zürich which ended without
score. Before the main match Pete Murray and Cardew Robinson96 came
onto the pitch and rehearsed the crowd in cheering Arsenal especially for
the cup final next Saturday. The match itself was dull in the first-half but
after the interval Arsenal applied pressure and the substitute scored the
only goal of the game. I cannot remember his name. I admired the
Arsenal keeper Wilson; he kicked the ball beautifully long and high. We
arrived back home after a noisy journey feeling very tired97.
My diary for May 20th records a tragic event close to work. The
morning papers carried a report of a murder of a family of three killed at
Thatcham. The young mother was a Mrs Flack — Jill Flack a blonde
rather ‗tasty‘ girl who was a tracer at the Rutherford lab until two weeks
ago whom we knew fairly well. A sad story, she was separated from her
husband and had been living with a man called Thompson, who also
worked for a while at the lab as a contract draughtsman. The rumour is
that she returned home to her husband taking her five year old boy with
her and the man Thompson followed her back and killed both her and the
child and the husband as well. She had had a very sad life and it was said
was the type to attract trouble. She lived in some fear of this man and
was scared he might harm her. One reads of such cases fairly regularly
but the reality is stronger when you know the people involved.
On Saturday 29th of May we began our week‘s holiday in Beddgelert
staying at the Saracens head Hotel. We had arranged for Mick to go to a
kennel and for the sitting room to be decorated whilst we were away. On
the way there we stopped near Llangynog to have picnic lunch at a place
high on the Berwyn‘s , Our first view this year of Snowdonia was at the
top of the pass. A marvellous panorama; I have not seen it before as the
weather in previous years has always been hazy. But this day one could
see the entire range from the Carnedds, Glyders, Snowdon itself and the
Nantle Hills, not forgetting the outlying Moelwyns, the Arrenigs, and the
Arrans above Bala. We arrived at Beddgelert well before 2 p.m. After
booking in we spent a lovely lazy afternoon in the sun by the River
Glaslyn. I climbed up a few hundred feet to the top of the hill above the
river and could survey the village and the mountains all round. The week
as a whole was mixed for weather but we managed several excursions to
favourite places. This included climbs in and around Cwm Glas and the
96
Popular Entertainers of the time
Later we heard that Arsenal won their match against Spurs so they now led the first
division. They also won the cup final against Liverpool on Saturday 8th and as a result Simon
became life long supporters.
97
87
Snowdon Horseshoe, Shell Island, Ogwen Valley, Cwm Idwal and
Tryfan. Tuesday 1st of June was a glorious day for our visit to Shell
Island, an enchanting place, and we also had fine weather over the next
two days as well.
Plate 35: Simon & Dinah in Cwm Glas
On Wednesday we went to the Ogwen valley and I climbed Tryfan
but first we drove to Caernarfon via Colwyd, parked at the castle and did
some shopping. Rita bought sketching pads and pencils for the children
and herself. We then proceeded to Ogwen via Bangor but there was no
parking space at the Youth Hostel so we drove along to the milestone
buttress which suited me better. I left the family there to sketch. The
guidebook said that the old North Ridge of Tryfan was the most sporting
climb in the district. It turned out to be delightful, plenty of rock
scrambling. A lady with two large Alsatian dogs overtook me and
literally shot up the ridge, I was astounded. It took me 90 minutes to
reach the summit. I had a lovely lunch sitting on a boulder. There were
many parties on the mountain today. I descended by the South ridge to
Bwlch Tryfan and then to Llynn Bochlywd. From the lake I made a line
straight back to the milestone. It was four miles for the round trip and
very enjoyable. After a welcome cup of tea we returned to Beddgelert
and collected bathing things and proceeded to Black Rock Sands for a
swim, Rita bought a new bathing suit and she looked charming. After a
dip we returned to the hotel for dinner.
88
Plate 36: On the Snowdon Horseshoe
The next day we went to Capel Curig to start a walk to Llyn
Crafnant.. This was a very attractive walk starting through woods then
through a a wild valley, part of the Crag Clogwyn Mawr. It took just
under 1 1/2 hours to cover the 3 miles. The children played Stagecoach
hold-ups. We stopped by the stream near the head of the lake and
enjoyed our picnic lunch and afterwards we walked over to the other side
of the valley to a farm which sold tea and lemonade. The journey back
proved interesting, I led the family back along the other side of the
valley, opposite side to the path that we came in along. The path
meandered through a lovely pinewood. At the edge of the wood the only
way was to climb up and over the heights of a crag (1700 feet). This
proved unpopular and I had to suffer much verbal abuse!
We returned home on Saturday and the weather was dull and
overcast all the way. England were batting in the test match, Pakistan
had made 600 runs in the first two days. The England‘s innings was
described by John Arlott and Co (on my car radio) and their failure kept
us company all the way through Shropshire, Herefordshire and
Gloucestershire. We stopped for tea at Ledbury at the same cafe as on
the way out. England were 145 for six when we left the car – Knott was
89
on about 10, but when we came back he had scored a hundred98 We
arrived home tired and set about putting the sitting room to rights. The
wallpapering was finished and my first impression was a little
disappointing.
On Saturday 19th of June it was our wedding anniversary and we had
been married for 17 years. Rita had agreed that Simon and I should go to
London today to see part of the second test match against Pakistan at
Lords. It had rained most of day before and there had only been little
play but we were hopeful. We arrived at Paddington by 10 and I first
took Simon to Baker Street to have a quick look at Madame Tussauds.
We both enjoyed this — especially the Trafalgar exhibition. The model,
full-size, of the gun deck was complete with cannon and sound effects
and also the smell.
We then went on to Lord's and found that the wicket was to be
inspected at 1.30. Very disappointing but we sat in the grandstand for
two hours, the weather, ironically, was fine and even sunny at times and
it was difficult to understand why they couldn't start. Finally the umpires
inspected and declared that the pitch was unplayable! So we left; to
avoid the complete frustration we decided to go to the cinema and chose
a new film ‗Waterloo‘, very spectacular and colourful. Two hours of
carnage even Simon (nine years old) thought that war was a nasty
business at the end. We walked through Soho and visited my old college,
the Polytechnic in Regent Street. We saw the plaque on the wall with the
prize winners, I must confess to showing off in front of Simon. We then
had an enormous ice cream (Knickerbocker Glory) before catching the
train home, we arrived home by seven. Rita greeted me with a sight of
£170 in notes, she had sold her a car! The next week she bought a new
one, a bright yellow mini.
The following week was an intense period working on GFUN and
on the Thursday I worked very late with Mike Newman, leaving well
after midnight. Disaster on the way home, my car ran out of petrol
between Upton and Blewbury. There was nowhere safe to leave the
vehicle so I had to push the car for a mile to find a suitable place just
outside the village at a road junction. I then walked through the village
to find a telephone box, it was very dark and I had great difficulty in
finding a number for a taxi in Didcot. I could not see to dial in any case.
I managed to dial 100 and get the Oxford exchange. After being
transferred to directory enquiries and back to Oxford I got them to place
a reverse charges call to Pryors Taxis. I spoke to an Irishman who told
me that it would be double after one o'clock. I agreed and waited for 15
minutes. The Irishman turned out to be Mr Oare from Abbott Road,
98
The match was ultimately drawn
90
whom we used to know. He got me home around two o'clock and I
collapsed in bed, very done in. The next day Rita took me into Blewbury
to collect my car. I went to work for the morning but came home in the
afternoon and after cooking myself an omelette I went to bed. Heard the
news of the three Russian cosmonauts found dead on arrival back to
earth.
The following Friday during our usual group lunchtime meeting at
the Hare & Hounds we decided to have a group walk across Salisbury
plain. On Sunday Dad and Brenda came, Brenda left Dad with us and
went on to Bedford to collect her mother for a short holiday. We had a
pleasant day mostly in the garden. We played some tennis and showed
dad Rita‘s new car and the newly decorated lounge. We always enjoy his
visits. After a traditional lunch (he correctly identified the distiller of the
whisky) and later we watched the cricket. Two local teams gave an
entertaining display, Mick was very interested in Judy, Dad‘s dog and he
wouldn't leave her alone. Dad said it was an example of sex raising its
ugly head! Brenda turned up with Mum (her mother) at 5 p.m. They
didn't stay long — Brenda is very restless if she stays in one place too
long. Dad, I thought, looked well and we were sorry when they left.
Monday 12 July was the day of the Stonehenge Avebury walk. I
estimated 22 miles by the map plus 10% for detours giving nearly 25
miles. We left the lab at 9:30 a.m. John Collie, Larry Turner, Alan
Armstrong and Mike Newman in Mike's car. We met Jim Diserens in
Avebury. Leaving Mike's car at Avebury we all six left in Jim's car to
travel to Stonehenge, arriving there at 1140.
Alan became agitated at the thought of not being home by 6 p.m.
and cried off. In fact he rang his wife who wanted him to come home
because of a broken tooth! The rest of us, after inspecting the stones, set
off at just after noon along the track road to Larkhill. The Salisbury Plain
military zone apparently was closed this day for artillery practice on the
ranges, but fortunately we were able to persuade the army to allow us to
pass to the east of the Larkhill ranges. We followed the boundary by
walking always toward the red flags; we stopped at a small wood near a
place marked as Lavington's folly for lunch. We left at just before 3:00
PM. at somewhat brisker place, the weather was superb for walking, as
the cool northerly breeze kept the temperatures down. We had been
warned to keep clear of a small unit firing mortars. We heard the bangs
but decided to carry on. The soldiers saw us and allowed us to pass.
We left the Plain at Wilsford on the edge of Pewsey Vale. The Vale
is a delightful area. We arrived at the small footbridge across the Avon
River and rested while enjoying the pleasant afternoon. It was now 5
p.m. and we had come some 12 miles, still only halfway. We stopped at
the barge Inn on the Kennet and Avon canal and enjoyed immensely a
91
quart of ice-cold lager. We arrived there at 6 PM, (17 miles from
Stonehenge) and left the Inn at 10 minutes to seven crossing the Pewsey
Downs climbing up to Walker hill some 900 feet. Alton Barns
Whitehorse had been prominent and a good marker for some miles
however we decided it was in need of scouring.
Plate 37: CAG Walk from Stonehenge to Avebury
92
We struck out to the North from the summit and traced our way
around the fields of barley and finally came to High Mound from where
we could see Silbury hill in the distance. We set out toward this
landmark and by 8:45 p.m. reached Long Barrow. After a quick look
round we dropped down to West Kennet and headed over the last hill to
meet the avenue to Avebury. We walked through the ancient stone wall
at 9:45pm. We all enjoyed this walk and climbed into Mike's car and
proceeded back to Stonehenge. Jim went straight home but the rest of us
had a meal in Amesbury and we eventually arrived back at Rutherford
lab at half past midnight. I arrived home tired at 1 AM and had a good
night's sleep.
On the 14 July we went into school to Cholsey, to see the school
play, School children's version of a Midsummer Night's Dream. Simon
had the part of Peter Quince and Dinah, one of the fairies. The play went
very well and was watched by a large audience of parents and children.
The play was helped along by two narrators who told the complications
of the story with great animation. The fairies were very pretty and sang
and danced beautifully. The tradesmen were funny and the lovers were
suitably confused and charming. The play was simply presented with a
minimum of props and altogether a very creditable effort. The producer
Carol Lomax was given a good round of applause. I was due to take my
annual leave at the end of the month, so it was a busy time and I stayed
late in the evenings working on the new software. It is always a rush
before a holiday and I have a rotten cold as well which refuses to get
better.
We decided on impulse to go camping for our holiday this year.
Therefore, after consulting Jim who had up-to-date experience in these
matters, we went to Reading and bought a tent, sleeping bags etc a toilet
tent & toilet equipment etc. The tent slept 4, a blue frame tent. We came
home and spent the afternoon erecting the tent in the garden.
On the following Monday we left for the New Forest after
breakfast. We obtained the camping permit in Lyndhurst. Our camping
site was to be in the Queen‘s Bower area, near Brockenhurst, where I
camped as a boy scout and close to where I went to school. There were
lots of campers in the area but we managed to find a site near the bridge
over Ober water in a small clearing in the trees; we spent a pleasant night
apart from Dinah who had trouble sleeping. The next day because of the
dirty ground we decided to move. It was a race against the rain. Could
we strike camp and re-pitched the tent before the rain came? We did. We
moved to a place near Boldreford Bridge. It was quieter and on grass.
We foolishly pitched the tent facing southwest, the prevailing wind
direction. We won't make the same mistake again. Our favourite meal
93
proved to be bangers and bread. I walked into Brockenhurst after lunch
and bought some food. It rained in the evening, off and on. Mick settled
well but barked at night whenever wild ponies came close. On
Wednesday we went into Lymington and spent time walking the town in
the morning. We had lunch down that the Quay. It is rather curious, as I
spent the first 16 years of my life in Lymington, but today I only spotted
one person I could recognize positively. A girl riding a bicycle down the
Town Hill, I thought for a moment that her name was? But I'd forgotten
already, she always was to be seen riding her bicycle down the Town Hill
in my memory.
The next day the weather was fine and we walked in the woods
during the morning but decided to visit my father in the afternoon. We
had lunch in the pub at Emery down, bread cheese and pickle and visited
Dad & Brenda in Damerham in the afternoon. The garden looked pretty.
The following day was our last day in the New Forest; I would have
loved to have stayed longer as I was just beginning to feel refreshed and
pleased with life but we had agreed to visit Eva the following week. Rita
went into Brockenhurst in the morning and after a good lunch of bangers
and rissoles we struck camp and came home.
After the week in Dorset it was back to the Lab in glorious weather
of course. One evening the brigadier from next door99 and entourage
came out into the recreation ground and played a knockabout cricket
match. Since he has returned from Northern Ireland where he was the
army commander of land forces he has been guarded by police and dogs.
On Friday we said a temporary farewell to Larry Turner and we took him
out to lunch at The Plough (East Hendred). Larry goes back to USA on
Monday, though as he has made a notable contribution to our work, I do
so hope he returns in October.
On September 7th we took Dinah to school in Didcot, St Frideswide.
We decided not to let her attend the school in Wallingford as we believed
the standards at the Didcot School were higher. I left her at the gate and
although she seemed quite pleased she was a probably very nervous
inside —an experience we've all had.
The following Saturday I went to Windsor after lunch. I had looked
forward for sometime to a very rare complete performance of Elgar's
early oratorio "The Light of Life" Opus 29100, which was to be given at
Windsor Parish Church. The performance was conducted by a young
man called Robert Tucker with the Broadheath singers and the Windsor
Sinfonia. It was an amateur performance which went very well. It was
99
Brigadier Anthony Farrar-Hockley
The beautiful meditation that begins the work and the final chorus are well known
but I had not heard anything else from the piece; this was probably its first performance since
before the war.
100
94
notable for the two attractive young soloists singing the soprano and
contralto roles and two brothers for the tenor and baritone. I enjoyed it
immensely—a lot of good things in it. It will be splendid to judge the
work with top-class artists, but they did more than justice. The choir sang
marvellously in "A light out of darkness". On Thursday I received Tom
Browne's101 book "The skyline is a promise" from the author nicely
inscribed with a quotation from Richard II,:
‘I count myself in nothing else so happy
As in a soul rememb’ring my good friends’ Act II, Sc 3, L. 46
Not entirely apt as Bolingbroke says this to Percy whereas by the
next play (Hen IV Pt1) he wants to kill him!
In the evening we went to AERE drama Society production. They
did two plays, Ionesco‘s ‗The Lesson‘ and ‗Black Comedy‘ by Peter
Shaffer. The children were looking forward to this as one of their
teachers, Mrs Carol Lomax, was in it. We all thoroughly enjoyed the
performance. I think amateur dramatics has improved since I indulged in
it 20 years ago. On Friday I went to North Wales for camping climbing
weekend today with Mike Newman. I picked up Mike in Oxford at 9:15
a.m. after taking Dinah to school. We went via the A42 to Cheltenham
and thence to Ledbury and from there the usual way via Welshpool and
Bala. We stopped in Ludlow for lunch. Mike drove from here on.
Weather was fine and beautiful until Wales when it clouded over. We
arrived at Beddgelert around 4 p.m. We ended up in a fine camping site
just above Llyn Gwynant and alongside the Glaslyn River (247 feet). We
pitched a tent by the river and decided we had a very pleasant
situation102. The water was very clear. There were a group of soldiers
camping nearby, we collected wood then had some supper. I went to
phone Rita. Wood was in short supply and we only could collect enough
for a small fire. We went to bed around nine o'clock. Some newer rivals
disturbed our first sleep; sound does carry as the next morning it only
appeared to be a very small group.
After an early breakfast we left to traverse the Snowdon horseshoe.
The weather was very dull and Crib Goch was just visible as we left
Penny Pass at 8:45 a.m. We arrived at Bwlch Moch at 9:35 and started
up the crib Goch ridge soon after. Mist descended to meet us and we saw
no views once we were above 2000 feet. The summit of Crib Goch was
reached by 10:40 a.m. and we were pleased with our progress. On the
101
My old Headmaster from HMS Conway
The Family and I came back to this site to camp a year or so later and I got my new
car stuck fast in the mud! We had to be hauled out by tractor and my reputation nose-dived.
We had to find another site!
102
95
summit we were joined by an army party consisting of about eight
privates and one officer. We left Crib Goch after eating an orange. It
was now getting quite damp. Mike had a nylon waterproof and managed
to keep fairly dry. We gently traversed the knife edge and climbed the
pinnacles, which was great fun. We arrived at Bwlch Goch at 11:40 a.m.
and reached the summit of Crib-y-dsgl by 1230. Very thick weather, but
we were delighted by the sudden appearance of ‗Eryri‘ ghost train at
Bwlch Glaslyn. We soon after found ourselves at the Snowdon hotel and
had a quick bite. The rain was very heavy here and we were forced to
stay outside the hotel as it was closed. We made a quick visit to the
summit cairn and headed on down to the Bwlch Satheau by the direct
descent and arrived at half past 1 p.m., the way was difficult to find but
we found the slopes of Llywydd and enjoyed the airy climb to the peaks
and had some fine views of the sheer rocks. We then descended to
Llyddaw and got back to the car by four o'clock. The weather had
improved and I enjoyed a dip in the river by the camp and later a pleasant
evening in the Llewellyn Arms at Beddgelert.
The next day we decided to climb the North Ridge of Tryfan. We
left the car at the milestone buttress after a journey via Capel Curig. It
was very windy, but we managed to climb up to Adam and Eve on the
summit of Tryfan in about two hours. We returned by the south ridge
and Cwm Bochllewydd. After a cleanup we had a pleasant evening in
Beddgelert. We had good dinner in the Prince Llewellyn Arms. The
wind was so strong that the stove blew over. We awoke to find the tent
surrounded by pools of water. All things considered we struck camp
quickly and soon we were on our way home. We literally dumped
everything into the boot ringing wet. We arrived home by 6 p.m.: after a
damp but successful weekend. Helen Diserens called to say that Jim had
Kidney pains and would be off work for a while.
The next eight days at busy at the Lab but working on the room
upstairs in the evenings. The carpet was laid and curtains hung. Finally
we were able to move into a new bedroom upstairs. Bill and Eva arrived
on Thursday evening. Helen rang to say that Jim‘s X-ray showed that one
of his kidneys had stopped working. I felt worried. A few days later we
went to see Jim at the Royal Berks Hospital and found him fairly cheerful
all things considered. Helen left with the two boys soon after I arrived.
She has a lot to cope with. Rita came with me and said she thought
Helen was upset. We went to see him again on following Saturday. I
found him rather depressed and in pain. Helen was with him and I spent
about an hour chatting. He is due to have his operation next Tuesday.
I visited Jim at the Royal Berks on Monday; he is due to have his
operation tomorrow. He was very cheerful and I hoped I would behave
as well. Some good news was that Larry Turner had returned to spend
96
another year with us. On Wednesday I rang the hospital but they would
not tell me any thing concerning Jim's operation. Later Helen rang to say
that they had told her that one of Jim's kidneys had been removed. She
said it was a tumour and not a stone. She said it was a complete success
and that the other kidney is safe. Poor Jim he‘s had such a rough time. I
visited Jim at the Royal Berks after lunch, John Collie and Larry Turner
accompanied me. Jim told us about his kidney and the tumour. A week
later I saw Jim again I found him found him sitting up and quite cheerful.
He hopes to be home within a week. Another British soldier killed in
Ulster that makes 37 so far this year. That evening we watched Pinter's
play "The Caretaker" and we didn't understand any of it.
The Work on the new software for GFUN Mark II was now well
under way and I was informed that the new IBM 195 computer would be
operational next Monday. Harry Hurst asked me if I would test our oinline magnet design facility soon after start-up as a check that the system
was working properly. We were very impressed by the improved
performance of the new machine which would allow larger and more
realistic problems to be solved,
On Sunday next Dad and Brenda came to lunch. I recorded Dad
talking about his old days in a Bowerchalk, when he was quite young;
especially memories of his mother and grandfather Frank Vincent. We
had the group Christmas celebration on 21st of December. This year we
combined with the ‗Fast Cycling‘ group and had a buffet lunch. We
went to the Crown and Horns at East Ilsley. Jim and I walked back (3
miles) and walked off 3 pints of beer plus a double whisky! It was very
pleasant to walk with him again; you would never know that he'd just had
a kidney removed.
The next day I begin my Christmas leave and Rita gave a party for
some of my colleagues. We had eight guests, Jim and Helen Diserens,
Larry and Donna Turner, Mike and Jenny Newman and Alan and Brenda
Armstrong. We had food and a chat and the children stayed up late and
were entertained by Alan who consumed 4 pints of beer. Mike brought us
all a computer generated calendar. The evening was a success I think.
Rita and I washed up at half past midnight. We went to Dorset for a few
says after Christmas and I managed some long winter walks. On one
occasion I did the coastal route from Charmouth to West Bay, about 7
1/2 miles with many ups and downs. I had done this walk before but the
other way starting at West Bay. I left the car at Charmouth at and set off
up the East Cliff. The cliffs along here are falling away and will one day
crash down to the beach. There were very few people about, only the
odd fossil collector. I made good time and topped the first rise 500 feet
in well under one half hour. Stanton Gabriel by 45 minutes. A long pull
from sea level at Stanton Creek to the summit of Golden Cap took a
97
further 40 minutes. I had a conversation with a fellow traveller at the top
doing the reverse of my walk. He had lived in West Bay all his life but
never before had stood on the Cap. The sea views were really sharp and
splendid; the cliffs to the West as far as beer head with fairytale Lyme
Regis in between appeared to be empty of folk. I descended into
Seatown and sat down to lunch and a well-deserved pint. I next climbed
up the East Cliffs at Seatown which are a very extensive with several
‗ups and downs‘ and most remarkable views both the West and East.
The harbour of West Bay soon appeared ahead plus the vertical cliff of
Burton Bradstock. The hills inland, "cow with calf" stood clear on the
northern horizon. At Eype I left the cliff and completed the walk along
the beach — this I regretted a little but I wanted to be near the sea for a
little while. The sound of the sea is such sweet music. I arrived at West
Bay at 2:45 p.m. taking just over three hours for the walk. The walking
was not over as I had to go a further 1 1/2 miles into Bridport to get the
bus back to Charmouth. I arrived back at Wild West at 5:30 p.m. A fine
day
Earlier that day whilst I was out walking Eva and Rita had an
accident. Whilst driving to Crewkerne to the hairdressers they swerved
off the road into the hedge on the right, it happened just before the South
Parrott turning. A dark mini overtook them and, as it pulled in front a
baby carriage fell off the roof rack and bounced in front of them. The
mini did not stop. The girls were unhurt, thanks be to God.
98
Interactive Graphics 1970-1972
Integral Equations and Interactive Graphics 1970-72
In 1969 despite some opposition103 we acquired a device known as a
COMPUTEK 400/15 Storage tube display which could be connected via
a satellite computer (Honeywell DDP224) to an IBM 360/75 main frame
to allow single user interactive computing. Using this environment the
first version of GFUN was developed which allowed the modelling of
graphical primitives representing conductors and other materials in two
dimensions for the design of electro-magnets. In the first version semi
analytic techniques were used to compute the fields which could be
displayed on the screen. The geometric shapes could be modified
interactively and new solutions obtained. To day of course this is routine
but then it was considered rather novel and we received much
encouragement. The interaction was achieved by using a new command
language processor written by Mike Newman and subsequently this
work, in itself, proved to be a rich development and the principles are
still relevant today.
As already mentioned in 1970 I met Larry Turner for the first time
at Argonne National Lab (see page 69) during the Bubble chamber
conference. There I discovered that he had been investigating field
solutions using magnetization integrals independently of Professor
Halacsy and in fact had some original ideas on how to extend this
formulation. This was just what we needed in order to re-design GFUN
to have, firstly a full non-linear algorithm for saturable materials in both
2D and axisymmetry and secondly a possibility of solving three
dimensional problems without the burden of generating complex meshes.
I realised that the magnetization method is an integral equation approach
which only requires meshes in the active parts of the model unlike the
classical methods based on Differential Formulations (e.g. TRIM, Finite
Differences or Elements) which require meshes over the entire problem
domain which is usually empty space.
The next two years were very productive. Larry came to Oxfordshire
to work with us and together we developed what we believed to be one of
the first examples of a three dimensional non linear code using an
interactive environment. We presented our results at the third Magnet
Technology Conference at Brookhaven in 1972104 and, as many
principles that we used in the design are still relevant to day, they are
worth quoting despite the somewhat dated terminology.
103
We had crucial support from Percy Bowles the Chief Engineer at the lab at that time
to whom I shall always be grateful for his faith in what we were doing.
104
M J Newman, L R Turner, C W Trowbridge, GFUN: An Interactive Program as an
Aid to Magnet Design. In Proceedings International Conference on Magnet Technology (MT4
(Y Winterbottom, ed), pp 617-626, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1972
99
―We used three criteria in deciding how to develop it.
 It should be easy for the magnet designer to use. Most of the
work of data input should be done by the computer. The input data
should be displayed for checking. Results should be displayed in a way to
make interpretation simpler.
 It should be interactive. Calculating interactively saves the
magnet designer time. His train of thought is not broken as it is when he
must submit a job and wait minutes or days for the results. His ideas and
doubts can be checked immediately. For example he can see from the
picture if he has set up the problem incorrectly or awkwardly, or he can
follow up anything interesting the graph of the field reveals. He can stop
when a line of thought proves unprofitable…
 It should be available in both two-dimensional and three
dimensional versions, which the user operates with similar commands.
This criterion led to a choice of a direct calculation approach… "
The third criterion goes on to emphasize the advantages of an
integral equation approach for 3D problems. The alternative approach to
extend the finite element method to 3D which had recently been applied
to electrical machine design by M V Chari and P. P Silvester105 would
entail the difficult problem of generating 3D meshes for both the active
(iron, conductors) and free space (air) regions. Furthermore even in 2D
the necessity for far field discretizations in an FE approach made the
integral equation method more attractive at this time. However, as
methods in geometric modelling and graphics advanced the FE method
became far more competitive and so the collaboration initiated with the
Swansea group and Olek Zienkiewicz would eventually bare fruit.
For the time being the group concentrated on improving the GFUN
algorithm, Jim Diserens added a new axisymmetry option and presented
our results at the last of the Reno conferences presided over by Andrew
Halacsy with attendees from most of the North American groups. This
gave me the idea of trying to start an international forum for field
computation which would bring together researchers from Academia,
National Laboratories and Industry. Many other extensions to GFUN
including eddy currents and the introduction of higher order basis
functions were planned and it was at this stage that John Collie
developed his methods for evaluating fields and potentials of linearly
varying current or magnetization in a plane bounded region.
105
M Chari and P Silvester, Finite element analysis of magnetically saturated dc
machines, IEEE Trans. PAS, 90, 2362 1971
100
Plate 38: GFUN in action
Early in 1972 I was invited to give a lecture on Field Computation at
the 4th Magnet Technology Conference to be held at Brookhaven
National Laboratory in September which meant we would have two
papers to present at this conference, the GFUN paper with Larry & Mike
and the invited paper which was to be a survey of methods and codes for
magnet design106. Thus I flew to New York for the conference on 16th of
September and met Larry there who had now finished his tour of two
years with us and had returned to Muskingum College. Larry was to
106
Progress in Magnet Design by Computer. C W Trowbridge. Proc 4th Int Conf on
Magnet Technology, Brookhaven, pp. 555-565 1972
101
present the GFUN paper, see footnote on page 81, but my survey
contained supplementary information on GFUN. We were very pleased
with the reception of our work and we were soon to be inundated with
requests for GFUN at many of the US Department of Energy Labs
(DOE).
With the new conservative government of 1970 Margaret Thatcher
was appointed Minister for Science and for a variety of reasons her
various priorities prevented the High Field Bubble Chamber from being
funded. Nevertheless the sub projects spawned by David Thomas‘s group
were important, for example the work on superconducting magnets and
field computation. On the retirement of Bill Walkinshaw the lab was
reorganised and David became our division head with a number of
groups reporting to him including Superconductivity, Electron Beam
Lithography and my group on Applications computing. Design of
Magnets for particle accelerators, detectors and eventually MRI devices
were well underway at Rutherford by this time and a number of young
graduates joined the lab to work in this area. One of these was John
Simkin who began by using our techniques but he quickly established
himself and was soon making developments himself and he eventually
joined our Computing Applications Group (CAG).
We were also beginning to attract the attention of Colleges looking
for suitable placements for the students needing industrial or laboratory
experience, one such was Paul Thompson from Woolwich Polytechnic
whom I agreed to supervise for a year. Paul turned out to be very keen
and naturally talented in computing and he was one of the first of the
batch of students that had used computers as part of their everyday
learning experience, a new breed that would dominate in years to come. I
set him the task of writing a code for Ron Newport who was interested in
the rate of bubble growth to be expected in the High Field Chamber. He
soon produced a working code based on Ron‘s theory of growth which
subsequently proved to be a useful tool in bubble chamber design. His
time over all with me was very productive, working on magnetic field
computation as well but his main strengths were soon identified as being
in the area of computer management and in operating systems so later,
after his year with us had been completed, he joined the Rutherford
Laboratory and became a key player in computer management.
Another ‗sandwich‘ student was Peter Perring who was attached to
the High Field Bubble Chamber group, but as he showed a strong interest
in computing and Magnetics he gravitated toward us and he and I became
good friends because of his strong interest in music; he worked
principally on the code I had devised for computing the self and mutual
102
inductances of sets of coils107, we named this code HENRY. On more
than one occasion I persuaded Peter to escape with me to hear a concert,
once we dashed into Reading (3 Dec 1970) to hear a lunch time organ
recital by a distinguished local organist, Albert Barkus who thrilled us
with his performance of Liszt‘s Fantasia and Fugue on B.A.C.H. After a
year Peter left us to take up an appointment with ICL, the leading UK
computer manufacturer but we kept in touch and he remained interested
in HENRY.
Doug Allen and I were seeking to employ a research student to be
based at Rutherford under the auspices of Reading University and in
response to our advert a bright chap, Harvey Rosten, had applied and had
been appointed. He was to read for a higher degree at Reading but I was
to be his supervisor and he would be based at Rutherford. Thus Harvey
joined the group in 1972 and stayed with us for two years. His project
was to develop a software library of routines to compute the magnetic
fields for a range of conductors shapes used in the design of
Superconducting Magnets including Solenoids, Race Track Coils, and
other commonly used configurations. This library was originally
designed to be used in conjunction with the GFUN code but we realised
that it actually formed an essential component that could be used in our
future developments.
107
A transient change in the current in a coil changes the magnetic flux linking
neighbouring coils with a consequence that electric currents are induced in those coils. The
coefficient for this effect is termed the mutual inductance between two neighbouring coils and
is measured in a unit named the ‗Henry‘ after the American scientist who first investigated this
effect.
103
Moulsford & Camping 1971-1976
Dinah had started at Didcot Girls School and for the first two years I
took her whenever possible on my way to work. In the evening she
caught the train to Cholsey in time for Rita to collect her on her way
home from Cholsey School. Didcot girl‘s school became a secondary
modern school in 1973 and a regular bus service was provided.
Plate 39: Camping in the Jura and Riviera, July 1972
104
As already mentioned (see page 92) we had begun to go camping
and already in 1971 we had made two very enjoyable visits to the New
Forest complete with our new dog, Mick, who enjoyed himself as did the
kids splashing about in the stream near Queens Bower. In those days you
could camp almost anywhere and fires appeared to be allowed. A group
of young men camping near us spent the entire week-end cutting down
small trees and lopping branches from larger ones and feeding them to
their fire; quite thoughtless and if they had continued at the same rate I
feel they would have cleared the entire Boldrewood Enclosure. Strict
controls were brought in soon after.
In July 1972 we set off on our longest and most extensive camping
holiday yet; I needed to make a brief visit to CERN to see Ch Iselin and
others to obtain some information on their work on field computation to
be included in my survey paper to be presented in Brookhaven in
September so we planned to go to Switzerland first and Camp in the Jura
near to CERN. I had bought a new car just before we left, a bright yellow
Volvo to give us more space for our ever growing amount of Camping
Equipment and to replace the Ford which had been a most unsatisfactory
vehicle (the metallic finish had peeled off when I ‗hosed‘ it for the first
time and it had never looked at all decent afterwards). We drove to
Dover, then car ferry to Calais followed by our first leg across France
stopping for the night in the municipal camp site in Beaune. I had a silly
encounter with a French Doctor in the camp wash house when I asked if
the water was safe to drink; this man rudely butted in and said, ‗where
did I think I was?, up country in India perhaps‘, he implied that the water
in France was just as good as in England, if not better but I told him it
was common sense to ask just to be sure, and in any case I would use the
water purifying tablets recommended for use by campers. In a restaurant
in the town later, after waiting for ages to be served, I said we would like
a few more ‗pommes frites‘ with our rather tough steak and the waiter
(conscious no doubt that we were dining in the gastronomic capital of the
world!), ignored me but Rita was more pressing and he reluctantly went
to get some and to teach us a lesson he brought back a mountainous pile,
and said, ‗ees thees enuf‘?.
We camped at a village called Saint Cirque amidst the Jura
Mountains a most delectable spot; our camping neighbours also with two
children came from Montelimar and were very pleasant and Dinah
became friends with a girl of a similar age. I had to drive down to CERN
via a long winding road with many sharp bends to negotiate but the
Volvo handled very well. I met Christoff and some of his colleagues and
got the information I needed and I also bumped into John Fox now
105
established as part of the design team under John Adams that were
working on the new 300GeV accelerator; John was full of himself as
usual making outrageous comments about his colleagues; I had to resist
hard as he wanted me to help him with some further ‗sums‘. I managed to
escape back to our Camp site unscathed. After a delightful time in the
Jura we proceeded on our way to Switzerland and drove around the
northern shore of Lake Geneva and then up the Rhone Valley to Visp.
The weather and the views were simply gorgeous and we were
tempted to stop too often, at Sion we did stop for lunch and admired the
splendid hill castle. We planned to camp next at Saas Grund and explore
the Saas Fee area to the east of the great massive of Dom (4545 m); Saas
Grund was accessible by road and there were good camping facilities to
be had. We spent several days there enjoying gentle walks and alpine
scenery before moving on to Italy via the Simplon Pass. On the Italian
side we descended to the shores of Lake Maggiore and found a small
camping site near the edge of the lake just a mile north of the town of
Stresa. It appeared quiet and spacious and we wondered why there were
so few campers, not even the people from the Netherlands who in our
limited experience were so friendly that they would camp right next to
you to an extent we called them ‗Nearlanders‘. We didn‘t wonder for
long as soon as we went to bed the noise began, there was a marble
quarry nearby that only seemed to operate at night. We stuck it out and
had a few days of sight-seeing, the best excursion was a short boat trip to
the beautiful Borromeo Islands, though not to everyone‘s taste. Isola
Bela for example has been described as a layered wedding cake.
After Stresa we departed for the South of France crossing part of
Lombardy and into Piedmont; by mistake I drove into Turin which
slowed us down a little but then picked up the road to Cuneo and thence
over the Alpes Maritime down to Nice via the Route del Pointe. At one
point I had let Rita rest by the roadside as she got quite giddy from the
continual turning as we negotiated the dozens of ‗lacets‘ (tight bends).
Without any warning we found ourselves negotiating the narrow streets
in Nice as we desperately searched for a camp site. In the end we had to
go on to Saint Tropez and then beyond before we found a site at Le
Lavandou. Actually by chance circumstances we found an excellent
camping ground very near the sea and had a most enjoyable time there.
As always there was a ‗Brit‘ on hand who knew the ‗ropes‘ and was
more than willing to tell us what to do and where to go; a sort self
appointed squire of the beach who could say , ‗D‘Accord‘ with the best
of them in the camp shop. My main memory, however, was rather painful
as I cut my foot whilst extracting a metal tent peg which proved
troublesome all the way home.
106
The year 1972 was of great interest to us musically as in February
we went to hear the Guildford Philharmonic for the first time. This
orchestra was conducted in those days by one of the most charismatic
musicians that England has produced, Vernon Handley, who presided
over a series of Guildford Corporation Concerts for very many years
playing on Sundays and Saturday evening at the Civic Hall. The
orchestra was often led by the splendid Hugh Bean a violinist of
exceptional talent who over the years had led some of the most
prestigious UK orchestras, including the Philharmonia under Klemperer.
What attracted me to this, our first visit to Guildford, was that they were
presenting a series of concerts featuring the music of Elgar and on this
occasion a real thrill was that the chosen work was, in those days, a rare
performance of the ‗The Apostles‘ his largest and most complex score.
Handley was considered a specialist in English music in general and
Elgar in particular. He was almost unique among conductors in that he
was not skilled at the piano or indeed any musical instrument other than
his voice and indeed the orchestra itself of which he is a master. On this
occasion only Dinah came with me as both Rita and Simon had been
suffering winter colds but this event created a pattern of monthly trips to
Guildford (40 miles away) for many years, mostly following the same
plan; drive early afternoon taking about one hour, shopping, which for
me meant Thorpes secondhand book shop, then a nice meal in the
Kardomah Café108 followed by the concert. I remember these years with
a special glow, a kind of golden aged in our family life. On this first
occasion in the Café Dinah and I were privileged to be sitting at a small
table quite near a large group of men, clearly members of Guildford
Philharmonic, including Hugh Bean, close enough to hear something of
their conversation which was mainly about ‗conductors‘. At one point we
heard one of them say, that so & so was a shit but got good results.
Shortly after this I joined the Elgar Society and began to attend the
monthly meetings of the newly formed London Branch at the Institute of
Recorded Sound in South Kensington. I remember vividly the first
meeting I attended on 13 November 1972 at which Charles Groves gave
a talk and made a vow to try to perform and record as many of the preGerontius choral scores as he could109. We introduced ourselves whilst
standing next to each other in the cramped two holer toilet in the Gents
Lavatory; I told him I remembered several performances he gave whilst
he was in charge of the Bournemouth Orchestra way back in 1948; he
gave the premier of Malcolm Arnold‘s 2nd Symphony to great applause
and just before the quick fire last movement he turned to the audience
and said, ‗hold on to your hats‘.
108
109
I think?
He kept his promise as the record catalogue testifies
107
Also in 1972 the children began having Piano lessons from a well
known Wallingford character Charles Colquhoun, musician,
schoolmaster and octogenarian. He gave Dinah a good start which she
was able to build on at Didcot girl‘s school. Simon though he developed
a fondness for music found Charlie a little too old to inspire him. I found
Charlie a mine of information about English musical life in the early
years of the century and I enjoyed our little chats when I picked up the
children after their lesson. He chatted away about the music he loved
which included Brahms, particularly the late piano intermezzi illustrating
passages that meant the most to him as he spoke then without a pause he
would play some Granados, ‗The Lady and the Nightingale from the
Goyescas which he played with genuine passion. As we spoke the kids
would get restless and Charlie‘s wife would interrupt shouting out ‗Come
on Charlie it‘s time for Coronation Street‘. His music room was a jumble,
mostly books piled high, in fact the whole house was crammed with
books of all kinds; he was bibliophile and had many first editions
including a bound set of early issues of the ‗Punch‘ magazine. We
exchanged dinner visits later when I discovered he also had a strong
liking for Elgar‘s music, I remember I played him some excerpts from
Gerontius on a historic live recording from 1928 conducted by Elgar I
had recently acquired and he exclaimed, ‗ that was at the Albert Hall and
I was there‘. Our life at this time largely revolved around taking the kids
to their various activities, swimming in Reading, Piano lessons in
Wallingford, Riding lessons and a daily run to take Dinah to school in
Didcot on my way to work.
The following year we had two camping holidays the first in Wales
in May was literally a washout. We attempted to camp at the same
idyllic spot in the Gwynant valley between the two lakes Llyn-Gwynamt
and Llyn-Dinas by the Afon Glaslyn, the same place that Mike Newman
and I had camped in 1971 (see page 94) but, unfortunately, it had been
raining for hours before our arrival and I foolishly drove our fully laden
car, camping gear piled high on the roof rack, across the meadow toward
the river when without much warning, apart from my loss of common
sense, the vehicle gently sank into the mud and would not budge. Finally
I went on a hike to find a telephone box to call for help. Rita et al showed
minimal sympathy and a great deal of scorn whilst we waited some two
hours for a breakdown tractor to arrive from Beddgelert to pull us out.
Eventually we found a camp site a little lower down the valley at Nant
Gwynant in a small field near the Nantmoor road turning. There were
many other tents in the meadow so we felt safe? It rained all night but the
next morning all looked well so we went out for the day, but the weather
was so foul we ended up in the cinema in Caernarvon (Song of
Norway!). It was still raining when we came out so we made our way
108
back to the camp site only, to our horror, to find that all the other
campers had disappeared, our ‗toilet‘ tent had blown away, and the
nearby Glaslyn River was on the point of bursting its banks. We hastily
struck camp with water lapping around our feet, much to Dinah and
Simon‘s glee to seek pastures new, the farmer refused payment for our
stay on account of the weather, which was thoroughly decent of him.
Plate 40: Ordesa National Park
109
For our second camping trip we were determined to seek a warmer
climate so on July 25th we set of to Spain, via Southampton, Cherbourg,
Chateaubriante (175 miles from Cherbourg, overnight stop), Pau, Col du
Pourtalet (1794 m), Biescas, Torla (459 miles, a very long days driving).
The journey, though tiring went well and we eventually found a superb
camp site by the rushing river Arazas in the spectacular Parque Nacional
near Monte Perdido (second highest mountain in the Pyrenees) , from
the door of our tent we could see high up the gorge a pair of Egyptian
Vultures. There was a camp restaurant nearby and I remember the
delicious omelets we had there and how the waiters teased Simon
because of his long blond hair, ‗El Rubio‘ they said. Whilst we were
there Rita had a vicious attack of Cystitis and we had to go to the nearby
town of Jacca to see a doctor to get antibiotics, this we did and she
recovered quite quickly; I was amused to see a large notice in Jacca
displaying the legend ELGAR, I though fame at last for our native
composer abroad but we realized that it was merely advertising the local
station. The next leg of our journey involved travelling across northern
Spain, from Aragon to Barcelona, we found the roads terrible and in a
state of construction with many miles of rough by-roads to navigate as
well as long delays whilst the road builders blew holes in the rocks. We
had a brief stop at Montserrat Monastery, one of many legendary ‗Holy
Grail‘ places but actually a 9th Century Benedictine Abbey, but it is
considered the most holy place in Catalonia. We reached Barcelona by
early evening and went to our pre-booked camp site on the beach a mile
or so South of the city.
This beach, we soon discovered was badly effected by sewage and
we felt uncomfortable bathing there; instead we drove along the coast to
Sitges an attractive little resort town in those days with a well regulated
bathing area. We explored the city of Barcelona, admired Las Ramblas
and the port area with its homage to Columbus, his statue points the
wrong way, to the East, but perhaps this just symbolises that he was an
Italian from Liguria. Dinah became sick with a ‗tummy‘ bug so we
decided to cut short our stay and head for home.
We returned via Perpignan, Nimes (Overnight stop), Lyon, Paris &
Lisieux (Overnight Stop). We had lunch in Paris and a charming
Gendarme stopped the traffic for us and found us a parking spot just
outside the Palace de Justice and then directed us to a friendly restaurant
nearby, such astonishing service, they really do ‗order things better in
France‘. After lunch Simon and I had a short walk in a park and watched
a film crew at work on a film called ‗The Last Waltz in Paris‘. I wanted
next to pop into Caen and see our old friend Brian Greenhalgh who was
now the proprietor of the English Bookshop there but though Dinah was
feeling a little better but we didn‘t want to delay too much, so after one
110
more overnight stop in Lisieux we proceeded back to Cherbourg and
home. A fairly successful trip but our doctor thought that Dinah had
picked some form of Typhus bug, so much for the clean Mediterranean.
Plate 41: Camping in the Wye Valley, 1975
It had been announced that my old training ship HMS Conway110
was to be closed in 1974 after a distinguished history dating from 1857 of
training officers for the Merchant and Royal Navy; this had arisen
because of the lack of financial support from the shipping industry and
government in these days when Britain‘s reliance on strong maritime
fleets was sadly declining and consequently the demand for officers was
110
See So Long to Learn, Volume 1 of these memoirs, page 89
111
much reduced. The Conway club members were asked to lobby their
local MP‘s and I accordingly wrote to Airey Neave 111 the MP for
Abingdon asking for his support for a motion112 in the House sponsored
by Captain Walter Eliot113. Mr. Neave replied stating that he would
support the motion and he also indicated he would be talking to the
Minister (Education and Science Margaret Thatcher) about this issue.
Despite a high level of support this bid to save Conway failed, and this
famous institution died in 1974.
Simon started at Wallingford school in 1973 which was now also,
like Didcot girls school, a secondary modern. Rita and I had many
friendly arguments as whether we should send both our kids to private
schools but Rita had worked all her life in the public system and I felt she
was far better informed than me on the subject so we decided to leave
things as they were. The beginning of 1974 was rather hectic; my car was
scraped all down the left side by a poorly supervised lorry driver training
vehicle; whilst overtaking, he suddenly swerved and pinned me to the
right hand side of the road. That same evening, January 4, we hosted a
buffet supper for members of CAG and their wives. All through January
and February I had meetings with visitors wanting to use GFUN and then
in March I went down with a severe attack of influenza which laid me up
for several weeks. One of our last family camping holidays was in the
Wye Valley in the spring of 1974; the chore of packing and unpacking
tents and equipment was beginning to pall so we tended, from then on, to
use rented accommodation. In May I managed a visit to the Society of
Genealogists in London; I decided to join the society as the library had
many resources but though I was still keen the time I had for hobbies was
becoming very limited; however, I found that they had a transcribed
copy of the parish registers for Donhead St Mary from which I was able
to confirm the data my father and I noted from the Bishops Transcripts in
the early 1960‘s, also I discovered a copy of the book by Chapman
(~1895) on the US branch of the family114.
In May we had a short holiday in Wales, I cannot remember where
but I do remember the dash home to dump the kids, then off to the
Wigmore Hall in London that same evening to hear John Ogden115 play
Elgar‘s Concert Allegro followed by the piano quintet. He had the
111
MP for Abingdon and war hero who was to cruelly murdered by the IRA whilst
leaving the House of Commons on 30th March 1977.
112
Hansard 6 December 1973
113
Ex Conway (1923-27), MP for Carshalton
114
The Trowbridge Family History 1690-1990, Bill Trowbridge,
www.trowbridge.org.uk, revised and expanded edition 2007
115
John Ogden a fine pianist who had suffered some mental problems but recovered to
give us the first modern performance of the Concert Allegro and later a fine recording.
112
autograph score on the piano which, as he drove the music magnificently
forward it kept sliding off adding a wonderful uncertainty. In June Simon
and I went to Lords to see part of the England vs. India match, England
made a massive total in their first innings (628 all out) and we watched
the third day (Saturday 22 June) and saw India all out for 302, Old and
Underwood taking three wickets apiece116; it‘s strange but I cannot
remember the final outcome117; it doesn‘t matter as we had a great day.
We took Dinah to Breconshire to deliver her for a pony trekking holiday
in August for a week. Rita‘s father who was staying with us came with
us also to collect her. I had a routine medical examination in November
and I was diagnosed with high blood pressure; on consulting my doctor,
Dr Dixie in Streatley, I was prescribed tablets to control it which I have
been on ever since.
Then in May 1975 we had bad news from Mosterton; Eva called to
say that grandfather had collapsed and had been taken into Yoevil
Hospital with suspected heart attack. We immediately dropped
everything and went down but sadly he did not recover consciousness
and died on 12 May. He was just seventy; this was unexpected and a
shock as he had only been with us in Moulsford last year and he had
seemed very well then. He was cremated at Yeovil on 16 May with all
his close relatives present; his step granddaughter Denise was a nurse at
Yeovil Hospital and looked after him during his time in intensive care,
his grand daughters, Dinah and Debra (Bernard‘s daughter) and his only
grandson Simon. In his will he left the farm and his estate to Bernard
apart from two small legacies to Eva and Rita; Rita bought a new piano
with hers as she wanted to encourage Dinah and Simon with their music
and she felt her father would have approved. The legacies to his two
daughters was small and I think he felt that they had made good
marriages and were well provided for whereas Bernard running a farm
was always a precarious business. We had enjoyed Bert‘s visits to us in
Moulsford and we remembered him fondly as good kind man and I think
we were all grateful to him for encouraging us to acquire Mick our lovely
Springer spaniel.
Later in the month we went back to Mrs. Jones at Ymlch Bach for a
week in May and I recorded completing the Snowdon Horseshoe in 6
hours. But for our main holiday in 1975 we booked a chalet in
Switzerland at Zinal, an alpine village in an adjacent valley to the west of
Zermatt. We used two smaller tents for overnight stops on the journey
out and back.
116
117
According to Simon‘s scorecard
Wisden states that England went on to win by an innings and 255 runs
113
Plate 42: Mick at Moulsford, 1975
We drove through Belgium, Luxembourg into Germany and thence
south to the Black Forest stopping near Freiburg. As we entered
Germany and stopped for a picnic lunch by the roadside near a vineyard
two tractors appeared and began to spray us and the adjacent field with
insecticide; they did this with much laughter as we scampered quickly
away. Some anti-German feelings, inherited from my father‘s generation
view of Germans in WW2, came to the fore, probably ungenerous of me
as there could have been a notice, or some warning which we did not
heed. However by the time we reached the lovely Black Forest area and
were safely camped in our little overnight tents above a pretty lake all
ungenerous thoughts were forgotten.
From there we followed the Rhine to near its source and then the
Rhone down to Brig and Siere to Zinal. On the long winding and hilly
road south to Zinal from the Rhone Valley we encountered several
groups of Swiss Army at manoeuvres and I wondered if my friend Ch.
114
Iselin from CERN was among them. He the son of a General, was a
Colonel in Switzerland‘s part time army. The chalet proved to be very
comfortable with a fine balcony overlooking the valley. We were
surrounded by many of the highest mountains in the Valais including the
mighty Weisshorn (4505m) to the East and the Dent Blanche (4357m) to
the South. The next two weeks were spent enjoying the Alpine meadows
and I even managed some longer walks to view the Glaciers and climbed
several of the smaller hills; this valley was largely unspoilt by ‗winter
sports‘ facilities in those days
Plate 43: Zinal 1975
115
Computing Applications Group 1972-1976
In parallel with our work on Integral methods we were
experimenting with the finite element method as an alternative for 3D
field computations and in this we were helped by Olek Zienkiewicz the
renowned international authority. Jim Diserens and I developed a simple
code using vector potential118. Thus began a very long collaboration with
Olek and a series of very enjoyable visits to the University of Swansea in
South Wales already mentioned (page 64). We had already been using
the Swansea code FINESSE for stress analysis in superconducting coils
in conjunction with our GFUN code for fields and electromagnetic body
forces. We were able to apply these techniques to get a realistic estimate
of the stress patterns arising in superconducting coils particularly in the
design studies for the early Tokamak fusion devices119 — experiments to
investigate the harnessing of the enormous energy released in the process
of Nuclear Fusion.
However, for static fields the use of scalar potentials is far more
economical and together with the Swansea group we discussed the use of
the reduced scalar potential for a 3D field code. This was then
implemented at Swansea by adapting a standard Poisson Equation (see
footnote page 42 and next section on page 129, for more technical
information) solver and the results compared with GFUN. Good results
were obtained for the test problem and for the time being the GFUN
method was preferred as meshing was only required within the magnetic
materials themselves and not the surrounding air space
In order to promote the work at the lab on Interactive computing we
decided to make a short film demonstrating the use of GFUN for magnet
design that could be shown to visitors. We used a company in Slough for
this and a small camera crew came to the lab in February 1973 to film me
driving the program at our graphics terminal; several illustrative
examples including the superconducting dipole shown in Plate 38 were
used. I wrote a script which was to be narrated by a professional speaker
and Mike Newman and I went to Slough to monitor the dubbing and
oversee the editing. I wanted to use Magnetic Rag by Scott Joplin as the
118
The gradients of potentials are related to the value of the magnetic field: there are two
types of potential, the scalar form which has a single value and is only valid for static fields and
the vector form which has three values at each point and is quite general. In the simpler case of
2 dimensions the vector potential reduces to a single component vector.
119
At this time the JET (Joint European Torus) project was being designed based on the
Russian Tokamak system in which a plasma is heated in a ring-shaped vessel (or torus) and
kept away from the vessel walls by applied magnetic fields.
Compumag at St Catherine’s College
116
music but the film makers said that wouldn‘t be possible in the time scale
owing to copyright issues, so some horrible electronic music had to be
used. The completed film (just fifteen minutes in length) was unveiled
during a lecture I gave at the Lab on 28 March.
I was encouraging Mike Newman to extend our interactive graphics
capability, especially for 3D modelling and he had made contact with
researchers in this area in Holland so we arranged a trip to Nijmegen in
March 1973; in those days it was very convenient to use the Harwich to
the Hook of Holland ferry and then use the excellent Dutch railway
service from Rotterdam. In 1974 I was approached by the Philips
Company in Eindhoven by Simon Polak who had come to Rutherford to
hear the lecture by Olek Zienkiewicz (see page 64) and had been
following our joint work on Finite Elements and Computational
Electromagnetics. Simon invited me to come to Eindhoven to give a
lecture on our GFUN code. I again used the Harwich route, boat to
Rotterdam and train to Eindhoven where Simon met me and took me to
the Cocagne Hotel which was, in those days, was a very fine hotel indeed
actually owned by the Philips Company. Over dinner he told me a little
about himself: he had began his professional life as a schoolmaster
teaching mathematics but was far happier making things out of wood and
so made a compromise by a career change to applied mathematics. He
decided that electrical and electronic applications would be congenial and
he found himself on the Philips pay role, where he soon demonstrated
technical leadership skills, and began to apply engineering design using
computer science methods. Like us at Rutherford Laboratory he soon
realised the importance of numerical methods in this field but the
pressure of the Philips design teams for commercial products didn‘t
allow him the luxury of building all the systems required from scratch, so
he built up a small team to exploit existing methods. For two dimensional
systems he acquired from Cambridge University a computer code120
developed for analysing magnetic lenses used in electron microscopes
and adapted it for general 2-D magnetics problems which they called
MAGGY and for 3D problems he wanted to explore with me the
possibility of acquiring our GFUN code. It was a very pleasant evening
and together we cemented a firm friendship and a productive scientific
relationship that was to last for over twenty years; he also told me that his
parents had perished in the Gas Chambers of Nazi Germany but he as
baby had been adopted by a Dutch family. He appeared to be very level
headed about this without and showed no signs of trauma.
I spent a good day at the Philips research centre, met many of
Simon‘s colleagues, and after my talk on GFUN they were anxious to try
120
Written by Eric Munro
117
it out for themselves and would be happy to purchase the code after a
trial period. Unfortunately, we were not ready for such a venture as much
work was needed on preparing the code and the writing of manuals etc.
however a restricted version was sent to Simon for evaluation purposes.
After a few weeks evaluation Simon said he was ready to negotiate a
license agreement, so I had a meeting with Messrs Stiff and Gay121 of the
patents office at Harwell who proceeded to draw up a contract for
Philips. Simon came over and we soon had a draft contract which was
signed by June but we agreed to produce more comprehensive
documentation by September. A similar agreement was made with KEK
National Laboratory in Japan. However, the demand from other
laboratories to have a version of GFUN increased over the next two years
and, because of reciprocal arrangements, GFUN was made freely
available to:
Daresbury Laboratory
United Kingdom
European Organisation for Nuclear Research
CERN, Switzerland
Centre d’Etudes Nucleaires de Saclay
Saclay, France
Institut fur Experimentalle Kernphysik,
Karlsruhe, Germany
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (LRL)
USA
Fermi Laboratory
USA
Brookhaven National Laboratory
USA
Argonne National Laboratory
USA
Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre
USA
Eventually it was decided that the appropriate organisation to
exploit the Rutherford software commercially was NRDC122, and in 1975
I was asked to summarise the organisations that were currently making
use of our magnet design expertise. This led to a new exploitation outlet
as NRDC had created a special company called COMPEDA Ltd to
market and sale inventions and software created by government funding
in universities and national laboratories.
At the end of June Harvey Rosten‘s two years with CAG would
finish and he was to have his viva for his MPhil at Reading in September
so we decided to have a group walk to celebrate his time with us which
had been very productive. We decided that the Wye Valley offered a very
varied route of about 10 miles across the Wye and nearby hills. The day
was marvellous, good weather, good company and a good dinner
afterwards, Harvey passed his viva on October 30th and his degree was
awarded in December, both Doug Allen and I were present. Harvey
121
Sounds like a firm of ‗undertakers‘, I found John Stiff & John Gay a very
professional team and they did a first class job in this early phase of software exploitation.
122
National Research and Development Corporation
118
decided to join a company specialising in fluid flow, a spin-off from
Imperial College, called CHAM. In fact the founder of CHAM, Prof.
Spalding called me and asked me for a reference for Harvey which I was
proud to give. Later, much later Harvey became the founder of his own
company called Flowmerics.
Plate 44: Wye Valley Group Walk Start
119
After the Harvey Rosten‘s experience, which had been so
successful, I asked Doug if we could repeat the process, he agreed and
got approval for another SRC funded studentship at Reading.
Accordingly we recruited a fresh graduate from the University of
Southampton to read for a PhD at Reading on a project to be carried out
within my group at RL. His name was Christopher Biddlecombe who
came from the Isle of Wight; he showed a strong interest in our research
work on field computation and devoted the next three years (1975 to
1978) to extending GFUN to include time dependent fields. He later
joined the group and was associated with me until I retired in 2005.
During one of the discussions I had with Simon Polak early in 1974
we resolved to bring into being the idea of an international conference on
Computational Electromagnetics (CEM), which also had strong support
from David Thomas. We invited several prominent workers in the field,
appointed an international steering committee (ISC)123 and had our first
meeting at Rutherford Lab in 1974. I was elected the first chairman with
John Simkin as the secretary. Among the members was John Carpenter
(Imperial College), one of the most outstanding theorists in EM fields,
whose deep knowledge and enthusiasm have had a considerable
influence on our work particularly as he supported our desire to
investigate fully the choice of formulations in field computations. Also
involved and representing the Academic community were W Geysen
(University of Leuven) and U Ratti (University of Rome) both foremost
specialists in electrical power engineering. To cover the national
laboratories we invited Ch Iselin from CERN, G Neyret from Saclay and
J Erb from Karlesruhe all using computational methods for designing
magnets used in Physics experiments. Finally, Industry was represented
by Simon Polak (Philips Eindhoven) and John Steel (CERL
Leatherhead). Both Simon and John headed active groups in developing
methods for industrial applications.
At our second meeting hosted by John Steel at CERL, Leatherhead
(26 Nov. 1974), George Neyret proposed the name COMPUMAG for the
conference which was immediately adopted. Over the next year we had
several meetings in which our collective ideas were refined and many of
the features that the Compumag retains to this day were worked out. In
parallel with the work of the international steering committee we
appointed an organising committee within RAL chaired by Frank
Telling, a senior administrator. We decided to host the conference in
Oxford and after checking availability and resources we decided to use St
Catherine‘s, a relatively new college with, for those days, good facilities.
123
1993)
Not to be confused with the later ICS (International Compumag Society formed in
120
The college had a modern lecture theatre to accommodate 200 delegates
and a significant number of student rooms to provide relatively cheap
accommodation. There was also adequate ancillary space for an
exhibition, and relaxation. During the period leading up to the conference
the ISC met several times, thus we were determined that any lack of
adequate planning should not militate against the success of the
conference.
One important task was to establish a mailing list of possible
participants and, to this end, members of the committee provided names
and addresses of over 1000 people. By April 1975 the call for papers
setting the pattern that has been largely followed since was circulated,
see Plate 46.
From the outset the committee was concerned to make the quality of
submitted papers as high as possible, so a practical reviewing procedure
was devised using members of the committee124. The committee also
gave careful consideration to the ‗invited speakers‘, many suggestions
were made and possible speakers contacted. Finally we were able to
secure the services of Prof. P Silvester (McGill University, Montreal) to
present an overview of the current status in field computation, Dr
Richard Stoll (University of Southampton) on recent developments in
Eddy Current computation, Dr H Zylstra (NV Pbilips, Eindhoven) on
material modelling and Mr M Newman (Rutherford Laboratory) on CAD
techniques in Electromagnetics.
The reviewing procedure was completed in November 1975 with 65
papers accepted but in those pre-poster days it was only possible to have
39 presented orally over the three days with the remaining 27 included in
the proceedings only. The committee decided that each paper should be
allotted 30 minutes with discussion, it was also agreed that selected
questions and answers from the discussion should be included in the
proceedings. The conference fee was set at £25 which would include the
proceedings but not the cost of the dinner (~£6). Over 200 persons had
replied positively to the announcement bulletins and the preliminary
conference program circulated in January 1976 thus the scene was set.
We were interrupted in our planning by an important lab event that
took place on October 30th and this was the visit by the Engineering
Board of SRC. As future project funding for Technology Division was
changing towards Engineering Science for David Thomas wanted to put
on a good show. The Chairman of the board, Prof John Brown125, spent
124
In later conferences this procedure was much modified in order to utilize a ‗peer‘
reviewing system involving the community at large.
125
Head of Electrical Engineering Department at Imperial College and President of
IEE(1979)
121
some time looking at the GFUN demonstration and I think was generally
impressed with our work, see Plate 45.
Plate 45: Engineering Board visit to RL Oct 1975
L to R Author, John Simkin, Prof. Brown, ?, David Thomas, ?
L to R John Simkin, Prof. Brown, Author
122
Plate 46: Compumag Oxford Announcement
123
The attendance at the first Compumag exceeded our expectations,
the meeting attracted over 200 participants from universities (66),
government laboratories (90) and Industry (58). Of these, 15 participants
were from the USA/Canada, 5 from USSR and 191 from Europe
including 89 from the UK. The conference was opened by Dr G
Manning126 the deputy director of Rutherford Laboratory; in his welcome
to the delegates he remarked on the importance of electromagnetic
devices in current scientific research.
The first lecture was given by Prof Peter Silvester who reviewed the
current status of the Finite Element method, see Plate 47. The lively
discussion following this paper set the tone of the whole meeting as the
subsequently published proceedings illustrates where the text of the
questions and answers can be read, see reference127. As most delegates
were staying in the college itself there were opportunities for making
friends and exchanging ideas during the evening. The five delegates from
USSR made a strong impression on us as they invited John Simkin and
me to their room for a midnight feast. They opened up a suitcase to
reveal ample quantities of Vodka and caviar, their leader said, ‗we have
come prepared as we did not know if you would be able to feed us‘. They
were a charming group but, as was common in those pre glasnost days,
they always appeared together as a group clearly under the direction of a
‗political‘ supervisor.
Another feature of the conference was a series of demonstrations of
software for field computation. Rutherford laboratory provided a remote
terminal and a GEC 4080 workstation coupled to the RL IBM 360/195 128
main frame which attracted great interest. In addition to that of the RL
group both Imperial College, London and CERL, Leatherhead were able
to demonstrate their work. Several papers stand out in the memory by
authors that were prominent in our community. These included, in no
particular order; Christoph Iselin, Simon Polak, Theo Tortschanoff, Ted
Deeley, Percy Hammond, Eric Munro, John Carpenter, Konrad Reichert,
Zol Csendes, Giorgio Molinari, Sandro Viviani, Bill Lord, Richard Stoll,
Tom Preston, David Jacobs, Peter Johns, Dave Lowther, Alain Bossavit,
Peter Lawrenson, J C Nederlec, Ernie Freeman, Larry Turner, and others.
There were some notable new developments reported for example
the application of the Boundary Element method to electromagnetics129,
126
Director of Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, 1980-85
Proceedings of Compumag Conference on the Computation of Magnetic Fields,
1976, Rutherford Laboratory, see www.trowbridge.org.uk/Documents/Compumag_Ox.pdf
128
In 1976 state of the art but now a dinosaur!
129
J Simkin & C W Trowbridge, ‗Magnetostatic Fields Computed using an Integral
Equation derived from Green‘s Theorems‘
127
124
and the use of non-divergent vector finite elements for magnetic field
calculations130.
At this first conference there was only one social function and that
was a conference dinner served in the college refectory. This was
memorable, I have been repeatedly told over the years, about the rubbery
nature of the ‗Duck‘ served but I was too busy talking to notice! The
weather was very fine and everyone enjoyed the early spring sunshine
and the many interesting sights in and around Oxford. At the closing
ceremony Konrad Reichert made a fine speech to thank the organisers
and the delegates for coming, and said finally, ‗I hope we can all meet
again in Oxford soon‘. That has not happened, yet, but we have been
meeting more or less every two years or so at many interesting places in
the world.
Plate 47: Peter Silvester gives the first invited lecture131
A report on the conference appeared in the Rutherford Laboratory‘s
Bulletin gives a summary of the event. This short article also appeared in
the CERN Courier where it was acknowledged that the technical
discussions at Oxford had made a significant contribution to magnet
design for particle accelerators and fusion devices as well as serving the
broader activities in the electrical power industry.
130
Z Cendes, ―Non-Divergent Vector Finite Elements for Magnetics Field Calculations‘
Also in the picture sitting at the table left are the session chair (Bill Trowbridge) and
secretary (John Collie)
131
125
One of the delegates to Compumag Oxford was Bob Lari from
Argonne Laboratory, a colleague of Larry Turner and accelerator
Physicist who had been using GFUN to design magnets; Bob became a
very close friend of the group and shortly after the conference we took
him out to lunch at the Crown & Horns (East Ilsley) one of our favourite
watering holes; he later sent me the photograph of the occasion, see Plate
48). In 1981 he wrote the biblical spoof on how GFUN was created based
on the characters shown in this photograph (apart from Jim Diserens who
unfortunately was not present), see Appendix 1.
Plate 48: CAG at the Crown & Horns (1976)
L to R John Collie, John Simkin, Larry Turner, Mike Newman, Endo San (Visitor from
KEK Japan), Bill, Alan Armstrong
126
3. Computational Electromagnetics
The Wider Community 1976-1984
By 1976 the UK academic engineering community started
collaboration with Rutherford Laboratory on a significant and far
reaching project known as the Interactive Computing Facility which had
the broad aim of providing an interactive computing network based on
the emerging multi and single user mini computers. In order to provide
application engineering software support my group was further expanded
to organize a special interest group (SIG-EM) for EM field computation
and to implement a developing suite of software for engineering
applications. This SIG consisted of a mix of industrial and academic
engineers and brought together some of the most influential practitioners
in the country to guide us. Most of the people involved had already
supported the first Compumag conference and created a forum of
expertise which led to a series of workshops on eddy currents, first
national then international, which became a pattern still emulated
throughout the wider international community.
It was during this period that we got to know the outstanding work
of the McGill group (Montreal) under P P Silvester who made several
visits to us which began at Compumag Oxford and led on to our
association with Ernie Freeman and Dave Lowther at Imperial College.
The pioneering work of this group had a considerable influence,
particularly in the emerging use of single user machines and the
application of FE mesh generation and CAD techniques. Also the ISC,
after the Oxford experience decided to try and repeat Compumag in two
years. In Oxford we invited Peter Silvester (University of McGill,
Canada) and Konrad Reichert (AG Brown Boverie, Switzerland) to join
the committee which they readily agreed to do. But who could we get to
host it? The solution to this problem came about primarily through a
small specialist conference held in Santa Margherita Liguria in Italy in
June 1976; this meeting was organized by the CAD specialist Prof
Frisiani (ICCAD, International Centre for Computer Aided Design,
Genoa) under the auspices of the publishing house Wiley as an adjunct to
their journal IJNME. The leading Finite Element method researchers
Olek Zienkiewicz and Richard Gallagher (founders and joint editors of
IJNME) were keen to produce a book based on the meeting which would
address the use of Finite Elements in Electromagnetic Field problems.
They invited Peter Silvester and M V Chari to edit the book; Chari had
Computational Electromagnetics
127
been a collaborator with Silvester and indeed had written the first paper
on applying Finite Elements to electrical machines132. For some time
Olek had been a consultant to the Rutherford group and we had
collaborated with him on applying the FE technique in 3d magnetostatic
problems and he suggested that I might like to participate.
Plate 49: J C Sabonnadiere with Bill Trowbridge & Peter Silvester133
Plate 50: Chari, Zoltan Cendes & Peter Lawrenson
132
M Chari and P P Silvester (Editors), Finite element analysis of magnetically
saturated d machines, IEEE Trans. PAS, 90, 2362 1971
133
Outside the Imperial Palace Hotel, Santa Margherita
128
The Wider Community
In the event Prof Frisiani invited many leading researchers some of
whom had attended Compumag Oxford and these included, M Chari, Al
Wexler, Peter Silvester, Bill Lord, Zol Cendes, K, Reichert, Sandro
Viviani , Peter Lawrenson, Simon Polak and Jean Claude Sabonnadiere.
The latter was the leader of a strong group of young researchers at
Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble. He knew about Compumag
Oxford from Peter Silvester and others but we had not met before. He
broached the subject of his group hosting the next conference and over
the next few days I became convinced that this would be good idea. This
meeting at Santa Margherita with many of the major players in field
computation proved to be very enjoyable with animated debates on the
relative merits of FE, TLM and Integral methods. As all ready noted
many of the papers from this conference were later published in book
form
and helped to publicize the work of a growing international
community134. I was invited to make a contribution to this volume about
our work on Integral Equations135 . I subsequently visited Grenoble as an
external examiner in January, 1977 and had further discussions with Jean
Claude and I agreed to consult the ISC to see if they would agree to
Grenoble hosting the second Compumag Conference.
Some remarks about the procedures involved in the calculation of
magnetic fields and other physical quantities maybe helpful here. It is
clear that the concepts of mathematics, logic, geometry (points, line and
volume) and number are fundamental in quantifying nature and apart
from anything else as Lord Kelvin has said, ‘...when you can measure
what you are speaking about and express it in numbers, you know
something about it‘136. However, the quantities to be measured arising
from the physical phenomena are not directly available as in the case of
spatial objects but are the consequence of the appropriate well
established physical theory. For example, if an engineer needs to know
the temperature distribution arising in a component when a source of heat
is applied to its surface he will use the theory of heat conduction which is
described conveniently in the language of mathematics. Indeed he would
solve the equation of thermal conduction, Laplace‘s Equation137, which
governs the way heat energy is transported through the body subject to
the specific boundary conditions, i.e. the known applied sources and
sinks for his particular problem. For simple objects a ‗closed‘ formula
134
Finite Elements in Electrical and Magnetic Field Problems. Ed. M V Chari and P P
Silvester,Wiley, New York 1979
135
Applications of Integral Equation Methods to the Numerical Solution of
Magnetostatic and Eddy Current Problems, C.W. Trowbridge
136
Lord Kelvin. Lecture to the Institution of Civil Engineers, 3 May 1883
2
In this case the partial differential equation  T  0 , which covers a very wide
range of physical phenomena arising in ‗steady state‘ flow
137
129
can often be derived and it becomes a matter of arithmetic to compute the
temperature distribution. But for complex objects no such formula exists
so the thermal equation has to be solved numerically by subdividing the
object into simpler shaped sub regions where local relationships at
adjacent regions can be derived for the temperatures and then by a
process of integration, taking into account the boundary conditions, a
numerical map over the whole body can be determined. In effect the
continuous Laplace Equation is discretised into large set of linear
homogeneous algebraic equations (see Plate 51 ). This approach is the
basis of the Finite Difference (FD)/Finite Element (FE) methods.
Plate 51: Comparison of Differential & Integral Method138
Similarly in electromagnetics, where often the magnetic or electric
field distributions are needed in order to design a electromagnet for
example to meet a specification. In this case, however, the free space
(air) surrounding the object (magnet) is itself a magnetic medium, i.e.
magnetic fields are propagated throughout space. Thus, not only has the
object (Coils, iron core) to be discretised but the surrounding space as
well. There are many possibilities, depending upon the exact nature of
the problem, for the kind of boundary conditions and sources. For a
magnet energized by a coil, carrying an electric current (the source), in
138
The equations have to be solved for the vector U which represents the unknown
‗fields‘ corresponding to the known ‗sources‘ Q at each node of the mesh of elements shown in
Plate 51 . The matrix of coefficients operating on U is large but sparse in the differential case
but small and fully populated for the integral case.
130
The Wider Community
isolation, the fields decay essentially to zero for points far away. Thus the
discretised zone, in the surrounding space, can be terminated for points
that are sufficiently far away139.
Nevertheless the problem of generating good discretizations of a
complex 3D geometric object embedded in free space at this time had not
been satisfactorily solved although automatic grid (mesh) generation in
2D was by now a reality. This was the reason why we adopted the
alternative technique of formulating the magnetic problem in terms of an
integral equation when we began the GFUN development in 1970. The
difference between the two approaches is one of a local description as
opposed to a global description. Partial differential equations, e.g.
Laplace Equation, describes local effects within the discretised space
whereas the alternative integral equation expresses the field at any point
in terms of the sum of all the ‗sources‘, both the known current sources
from the coils and the induced magnetisation secondary sources present
in the iron regions. With this approach only the active parts of the
problem need to be discretised, leading to a smaller system of equations
to be solved. Unfortunately the system is fully populated because every
point within the model is coupled to every other point and not just to its
near neighbours as in the classical differential methods. The down side of
this is that the solution time and storage requirements are far higher.
However for modest size of the systems (the number of discretised point)
the trade off is often favours to the integral approach.
This reasoning led to an increasing awareness of the limitations of
our 3D integral code for iron dominated problems and for eddy current
effects. Encouraged by the early success of the Swansea collaboration
John Simkin and I embarked on the FE software development that
ultimately became the 3d Statics code TOSCA140. For static field
problems it is more economical in 3D problems to use scalar potentials
instead of the field which is a vector quantity – 1 unknown instead of 3 at
each mesh point. In essence the field is equal to the gradient of the
potential and can be recovered from the potential by further processing.
There are two main types of potential depending on whether the region
concerned contains currents (reduced potential) or not (the total
potential). The total potential cannot be used in current regions because
field lines encircle the current paths leading to a multi-valued (nonunique) problem. Whilst the simplest approach is to use the reduce
potential which is valid everywhere we encountered a problem, known as
field cancellation between the induced and conductor source fields.
139
Of course, in practice, more elegant and accurate techniques to handle the ‗far field
boundary‘ can be used
140
J. Simkin and C .W. Trowbridge, On the use of the total scalar potential in the
numerical solution of field problems in electromagnetics, IJNME, vol 14, p. 423, 1979.
131
Eventually we evolved a solution using a combination of Total &
Reduced potentials, using the total potential for current free regions. The
finite element method proved to have all the flexibility needed to couple
the regions together this allowed us to obtain excellent results for a wide
class of problems which had proved difficult for GFUN. During the next
few years we also developed a 2d general purpose code for static and low
frequency fields which we called PE2D141 as well as a series of special
purpose integral and boundary integral programs.
This was a rich period indeed for us. John and I travelled
extensively implementing the software at laboratories in the spirit of free
exchange as was the custom in those days, particularly in the USA during
September 1976 where we felt we were repaying a debt for the early
encouragement many of the national labs there had given us. We began
in New York visiting Brookhaven National Lab then on to Oakridge
Laboratory near Knoxville in Tennessee; the security here was very strict
and we were intrigued by the site guards who were very large ladies with
heavy revolvers strapped around their immense waists. We spent two
days installing the software but what I remember most was the canteen
for lunch, we didn‘t have sufficient security clearance to use the smart
restaurant and were taken by our hosts to queue in line for ‗food‘ dished
into a polystyrene tray with plastic cutlery which I found very inefficient.
But the best part was the end when we solemnly lined up to leave
carrying our trays with us and dumping them into a huge waist bin. After
Oakridge we flew to Alabama then on to Los Angeles and finally to San
Francisco to visit Lawrence Livermore lab. I particularly remember us
implementing the software in 1976 from a terminal over a modem line
from our hotel room in Livermore as we did not have sufficient security
clearance to go inside! Finally we moved to the bay area to install the
software at Lawrence Berkeley; John Colonias had recommended that we
stay at the Claremont Hotel with its stylish architecture and stupendous
views of the bay area, John and I watched on TV in hotel bar some of the
build up for the 1976 presidential election which had followed the
resignation of President Richard M. Nixon in the wake of the Watergate
scandal. It pitted incumbent President Gerald Ford, the Republican
candidate, against the relatively unknown former governor of Georgia,
Jimmy Carter, the Democratic candidate. Ford was saddled with a slow
economy and paid a political price for his pardon of Nixon. Carter ran as
an honest Washington "outsider" and reformer and was to win a narrow
victory. We enjoyed our visit to Berkeley and visited John Colonias for
dinner at his house in Walnut Grove; he also, knowing my strong interest
141
Poison‘s Equation in Two Dimensions, Poison‘s equation is a generalised form of
the Laplace Equation  U  q .
2
132
The Wider Community
in Opera, provided us with seats at the San Francisco Opera for a
performance of Britten‘s Opera, Peter Grimes. John Colonias and his
wife were season ticket holders and since their tastes were for Italian
opera didn‘t mind too much allowing us to take their place on this
occasion. It was a fine production staring John Vickers as Grimes,
Heather Harper as Ellen Orford and Geraint Evans as Captain Balstrode
and the performance was conducted by John Pritchard. On the Saturday
Steve Sackett, a colleague of John Colonias took us on a trip to the
Yosemite National Park, where we hiked up to see the Yosemite falls; a
marvellous day. Steve was a fine companion providing us with ponchos
to keep us dry and a wealth of knowledge of the area; I had first met him
during my visit to Berkeley in 1970.
On our return to UK we were thrown into a series of meetings to
organise a steering group of university and industrial people interested in
field computation, to advise SRC on software provision for university
research This was part of the Interactive Computing initiative set up by
the engineering board; John Collie became the secretary of this group
now known SIG-EM (Special Interest Group for Electromagnetics) and
he and I spent several weeks visiting departments around the country in
an attempt to sign up a number of key figures, in this we were helped by
the contacts we made at Compumag and the meeting in Italy in 1976;
Peter Lawrenson of the Leeds university was the obvious choice to Chair
the group, Peter was one of leading electrical engineers in the UK with
many innovations to his credit as well as being the author with Ken Binns
(Southampton University) of a leading text-book on analytic methods for
field computation (see page 152). He kindly agreed to serve for an initial
period of three years which ensured that we would be taken seriously. I
had known his co-author Ken Binns for some while and he readily agreed
to serve as well. Also Professors Peter Johns (Nottingham University),
Bob Paul (Bangor University), Fred Eastham and Ernie Freeman
(Imperial College) offered their services; we also signed up John
Carpenter (Imperial College) the leading theorist and Tom Preston (GEC,
Stafford) to represent Industry. All in all this was a very strong team. The
personnel of the SIG changed over the years with many younger
researchers being brought in, when Peter had to stand down he was
succeeded by Bob Paul who guided us for nearly four years, after which
time Ken Binns took over; Ken moved from Southampton to Liverpool
as the professor of Electrical Engineering and became a ‗champion‘ user
of our software, particularly the new code TOSCA. Over the next decade
the group met regularly and we were able to establish a strong interest in
CEM in the UK and promote several research grants. We also arranged
regular seminars opening up our work to the wider community.
133
1977 was also a productive year for me; to cement our growing
relationship with the University of Grenoble I agreed to act as the
external examiner (16 January) to one of Jean Claude Sabonnadiere‘s
students, this entailed some significant study on my part as the thesis was
written in French; here Alan Armstrong was a great help as he was a
fluent French speaker. This experience was something of an eye-opener
for me as the Continental system involves a jury of examiners who have
to quiz the candidate in public following his presentation of his work to
an audience of colleagues, family and friends. On my way in to the
lecture theatre I noticed that the outcome was almost certain, as a feast
was under preparation for a celebration; however this candidate was
really first class and fully deserved to pass. I could not help wondering
what would happen if this were not the case142 — I was told that this
would never happen. In the UK the oral is done in private and candidates
are sometimes failed or deferred. In February I gave my annual lecture to
Doug Allen‘s students at Reading but was then involved in the
arrangements for Compeda the NRDC Company to take over the
marketing and selling the RL software in March. Our relationship with
Imperial College was also getting much stronger; apart from John
Carpenter who was involved in SIG-EM and the ISC for Compumag we
had visits from Ernie Freeman and Peter Silvester who was spending a
sabbatical at Imperial with regular visits to RL in addition. In July Jean
Claude came to visit and attend the first meeting for planning Compumag
2, he was appointed to succeed me as the chairman and it was agreed to
hold the conference at Grenoble in September 1978.
Also in 1977 I was interviewed for an Individual Merit promotion to
Senior Principal Scientific Officer; the interviews were to take place in
London in the Civil Service Department, Old Admiralty Building on 26
April; to be considered for this was an honour and the anticipation of the
coming ordeal made me feel very apprehensive. If I were to be successful
it would allow me, within reason, to pursue research areas of my own
choice within the framework of the laboratories‘ priority programmes.
The invitation to attend gave directions, ‗…the building is situated in
Spur Rd, off the Mall (just behind the statue of Captain Cook)‘. As I
passed by the statue of Cook I felt mightily encouraged, being an ex
seaman and navigator myself I felt I was in good hands.
The panel consisted of a high powered group of scientists, engineers
and civil servants (Including Prof W Cochran, Edinburgh and also Prof
W Elliot Imperial College) but my chief interrogator was Prof R Mason
142
Later I was to experience such a case in which not all the candidates results were
available at the time of the examination; I found myself in a minority of one but a compromise
was found which allowed the ‗celebration‘ to proceed and by the time of publication the work
was complete.
134
The Wider Community
(Sussex University) the chief scientific adviser to the government. Also
present was the friendly face of Bob Paul the chairman of the SIG-EM. I
was aware before hand that he was on the individual merit panel but it
was made clear at the outset that he would remain silent during the
proceedings. This was a stroke of luck for I am sure Bob would be able
to make positive noises afterwards during their assessment discussions as
he knew my work well. I remember very little about the questions except
at one point Prof Mason said, ‗I put it to you Mr Trowbridge that you
have made a career of touring round the world selling Rutherford
computer methods‘. I said I saw nothing wrong with this as a clear
demand was there and, as I believed strongly in technology transfer from
the private to the public sector this was in the interests of UK Ltd. Prof
Eliot asked me to discuss with the panel the key points in the software
that made our methods innovative. This was ‗meat and drink‘ to me and I
was able to give some account of this that seemed to satisfy them. One
more thing I remember was the encouraging glance Bob gave me as I left
the room.
Plate 52: From the House Journal Quest, Vol 10, No. 2, 1977
135
I also remember seeing Jeremy Thorpe, the former Liberal Leader,
crossing the Mall looking elegant in his ‗Edwardian‘ suit deep in
conversation undoubtedly discussing Jim Callaghan‘s offer of a LabourLiberal pact to avoid a general election143. In July I got a congratulatory
letter from the Chairman of SRC, Sam Edwards, in which he said, ‗I was
delighted to approve your special merit promotion today‘; so many
thanks to Captain Cook and Bob Paul.
143
This was the day that Andrew Newton, who had been convicted of assaulting a close
friend of the Liberal leader in 1976, was released from Jail and there followed a very public
scandal which ruined Jeremy Thorpe‘s career.
136
Compumag Grenoble
Compumag Grenoble
The following year in April 14th a PhD Student, Bernard Ancelle,
from Grenoble came to RL for two weeks; he was working on some
aspects of the Boundary Element Method which John Simkin and I had
worked on earlier and Jean Claude had wanted him to study our
approach. Bernard was also the secretary for the next Compumag
Conference and wanted guidance from us in preparation for the ISC
meeting to be held in Grenoble at the end of the month.
The ISC confirmed the choice of Grenoble for the second
conference and an inaugural meeting was held at Rutherford Laboratory
to set the main parameters and arrange the handover of material144. Prof.
Sabonnadiere was elected chairman of the ISC and Prof G Sacerdoti
(Frascati, Rome) replaced Prof. Ratti who had to retire owing to other
commitments. Jean Claude proposed that the conference should be held
in September 1978. The committee decided as sufficient experience had
now been gained there would be fewer planning meetings, particularly as
the style and timetable evolved for Oxford would be substantially
repeated. It was agreed that the crucial paper reviewing and the program
planning meeting would be held in Grenoble on 25 April 1978.
At the planning meeting it was decided to introduce two panel
sessions on specialist areas; one on electrical machines and other on
Higher Energy Physics applications. In the event there were 60 papers
accepted for presentation at the conference, 33 presented orally, 12
presented during the panel sessions and 15 additional papers appearing in
the proceedings only. The date for the conference was now fixed for 4th,
5th, & 6th September 1978 and would be held at The Laboratoire
d‘Electrotechnique centre. Student style accommodation, as in the case of
Oxford, would also be available
The conference attracted over 180 delegates with several
representatives from leading groups in USA, Canada, Japan as well as
most countries in Europe. The conference included a number of invited
speakers including Prof. O C Zienkiewicz one of the founding fathers of
the finite element method who addressed in his talk the fundamental
problem of dealing with open boundary problems and proposed a hybrid
solution to the problem in which classical differential finite elements are
coupled to integral elements using a boundary representation. David
Jacobs from CERL surveyed some recent developments in the solution of
large systems of equations including the seminal ICCG method of
144
The minutes have been mislaid but the meeting must have occurred some time in the
spring of 1977.
137
Meijerink and Van der Vorst145, and M Lucas from Laboratoire IMAG,
Grenoble, surveyed the state of the art in CAD appropriate to CEM.
Plate 53: ISC & LOC Grenoble, April 1978
Left to right: B Ancelle (LOC), Bill Trowbridge, Ch. Iselin, John Carpenter, Joe Erb,
Jean Claude Sabonnadiere, John Steel, G Sacerdoti, George Neyret, J L Coulomb (LOC),
Simon Polak, P Rafinejad (LOC)
145
J A Meijerink and V der Vorst, ―An Iterative solution method for systems of which
the coefficient matrix is a symmetric M matrix‖, Maths. Comp., 31, 148 (1977)
138
Promoting the Rutherford Software
In October Chris Biddlecombe‘s PhD thesis was examined at
Reading; he had achieved all that was expected of him and the end result
was a detailed comparison of methods for computing time dependent
electromagnetic fields (e.g. Eddy Currents induced in conductors in the
presence of time changing fields). Chris turned out to be a very organized
talented young man with very strong religious beliefs which, whilst
informing his activities, both social and work, he kept to himself unless
asked. His written thesis was a model of economy and clarity, so much so
that at the viva one of the examiners held it up, pretending to weigh it,
and said, ‗it‘s a little light weight‘, he was comparing it to the usual
thesis style of ‗heavy weight‘ paper bound between the two regulation
thick blue boards, whereas we had produced the thesis as a standard RL
report. Chris had no trouble convincing the examiners that he had made a
significant contribution to the subject. At this time he joined RL staff and
became a permanent member of the group. As the group was growing
additional funding allocated by the Engineering Board was provided to
equip a new area on the top floor of R25 with computer terminal
facilities.
At the heart of any numerical method for computing fields is the
linear solver, the mathematical procedure for solving a very large set of
algebraic equations, and the recent work reported by Meijerink & Van
der Vorst (see footnote on page137) provided a major economy in
computing time and thereby allowed far larger problems to be solved
with an increase in accuracy. We quickly set in motion the software
development to exploit this method and John Simkin soon had a working
version, I remember Peter Silvester came down to see the results for
himself and was able to reproduce this at Imperial College. John and I
visited Albert Reece and Tom Preston at GEC Stafford where their small
team were using Finite Elements for the design of electrical generators
and motors and gave them a copy of the new solver. Tom was a true
pioneer in the use of numerical methods in industry and working with
him was a new graduate from University College London, Chris Riley
who had a particularly good aptitude for this kind of work. Eventually,
the promotion of software became his main interest and in 1980 he
applied for a new post created by Compeda Ltd. He was offered a job in
the new section there that had been specially set up by Keith Trickett
under the management of John Whitney, a Mechanical Engineer by
training but a Marketer and Salesman by circumstances. John Whitney
now became a regular visitor to CAG and began to market and sale our
software under the marketing name of REMUS (Rutherford
139
Electromagnetic User Software). One of his first actions was to send
Chris Riley to see me at RL. Chris told me about the that fateful day; he
said, ―everything was so informal at Rutherford, I was somewhat
surprised, the gateman vaguely directed me to R25 where I would surely
find Bill Trowbridge but I had no idea where. As it was close to lunch
time there were few people about and I was about to give up when this
casually dressed man came down the corridor so I asked him where I
could find Bill, ‗I am he and you must be Chris Riley‘, he said‖. Chris
soon became an honorary member of CAG and spent a few very
productive months to familiarise himself with the REMUS products.
On July 27th 1979 Rita and I set off to the US for a combined
business trip and a short holiday in New York. This was Rita‘s first visit
to America and experience of a ‗long haul‘ flight. Our first port of call
was San Francisco and after the flight we were very tired and distressed
by the awful delay in getting through immigration; it took several hours
to process the very long queues with only one booth open; not a very
friendly welcome. I vented my feelings by writing some remarks about
the non-existent ‗special relationship‘ in the visitor‘s book a day or so
later in the city hall. We eventually picked up a rental car and drove
across the bay to Berkeley to rest up for a day at the Claremont Hotel and
then on to Livermore (36 miles) to see Don Cornish about some further
calculations we were carrying out on Superconducting coils. Rita rested
up in Don‘s house for the day and was surprised to see his fully
automatic garden spring in to action during the day, watering selected
areas controlled by Don‘s computer. After a steak Bar-Be-Q we returned
to the Claremont146 with its tremendous views of the Bay Area. The next
day I had to give a talk to the magnet design group at Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory about GFUN; I was able to give a demonstration of the latest
version which was only available at Rutherford using the recently
released ARPA Network, a satellite computer link, the forerunner of the
internet. We had a good discussion with Klaus Halbach and others
afterwards.
The next day (3 August) Rita and I drove south to Monterey to see
our old friend Olek Zienkiewicz who was spending a year‘s sabbatical at
the Naval College. He offered to put us up in the retirement village chalet
he was renting at a very favourable price. We stopped off at a
supermarket on the way for a bottle of Brandy, Olek‘s favourite tipple,
and on arrival we were very warmly welcomed by Helen, Olek‘s
charming Canadian wife. Olek came in soon after with a huge steak for
supper and, what with the Brandy and gossip, we enjoyed a balmy
146
Conceived as an English estate, the grounds of The Claremont Resort & Spa were
selected for their astonishing views of San Francisco, California and San Francisco Bay; I first
stayed here with John Simkin during our visit in 1976.
140
evening in the garden accompanied by humming birds. By Midnight the
Brandy was all gone so we retired for the night. The next day we had a
grand tour of the area, including Point Lobos with its superb rocky coast,
the seventeen mile drive passing the famous golf courses and then lunch
on Canary Row fishing dock in Monterey. In the afternoon they took us
to Carmel with its famous Mission and then mercifully back to the chalet
for a good rest. The next day being Sunday, and Olek, the good catholic
that he is, got up early and went to mass. We had to go back to San
Francisco on Sunday evening in order to fly to Chicago, the next leg of
our journey. However, there was still time to stop off at a village market
at St Juan Bautista and go for a swim in a lake (San Luis Reservoir) out
in the desert. On a white wall of a village dwelling I notice some graffiti
which look a little like a formula we both knew well; Olek came to look
and gave me an impromptu lecture on the finite element method which,
apart from his faith, Helen, and his liking for Brandy is his greatest
passion. Our last view of Olek and Helen was of them bathing and
relaxing in the cooling waters of lake as we drove away north under the
hot bright sun towards the airport. They are a wonderful couple.
Plate 54: Olek Zienkiewicz on the beach near Monterey, 1979
Another couple awaited us in Chicago, Larry and Donna Turner,
Larry and I had kept in close touch since he returned to work at the
Argonne National Laboratory in 1973 and indeed he had been a regular
141
visitor to RL in the meantime having attended both Compumag
Conferences. Apart from the pleasure of staying with them and getting to
know their family, Ray, Scott and Paul (now growing up from the kids
we last met in England in 1972) we were taken to a small neighbourhood
theatre in nearby Lisle to see an amateur production of a play directed
and starring Donna with Larry also playing a role. We knew that Donna
was a teacher specializing in Drama but we had never seen them in action
before; after all this time I cannot remember much about the play itself
except the title which was, ‗Mind with a Dirty Man‘, listed as an adult
comedy. Yet I do remember the strong impression the Turners made on
us as actors and I began to regard Larry in a new way, we also discovered
his private passion for writing poetry.
Plate 55: Larry & Donna Turner (1979)
Larry took me into Argonne Lab to attend the First GFUN users
meeting which took place August 16. Some 25 participants from 15
different institutions attended this meeting and we heard four speakers
discuss their experiences and modifications to GFUN. I also gave a talk
on the most recent developments to GFUN and our newer software.
Other speakers included John Colonias, Bob Lari, T Tucker (Oakridge),
and E Leung (Fermi Lab). After the meeting Larry showed me some of
142
his recent work on a new code he named EddyNet which applies the
Integral Equation method to time dependent problems; the energy loss in
large scale magnets caused by spurious eddy currents was becoming a
crucial issue in the design of superconducting magnets
Plate 56: The Silvester’s Retreat
L to R: PPS, Author, Elizabeth & Rita Elizabeth & Pete and their cottage
Ernie Freeman, Rita, Pete and the Author in the woods
We had some lively discussions on the best approach for calculating
these effects as I was now favouring the Finite Element approach for this
following the good results John Simkin and I had now obtained from our
scalar potential code for time independent problems. I also believed the
way forward was to use vector potentials to represent Eddy Currents in
conductors as computers were now becoming powerful enough to solve
the larger systems of equations involved. Larry also took me to visit
Fermi Lab which was under construction when I was last here in 1970.
Now a splendid white building graced the skyline in the shape of the
mathematical symbol for PI, this was the hub of the giant 200 GeV
143
accelerator which was first operated in 1972 but with many major
enhancements since; one staggering statistic: the new Tevatron147
accelerator will employ 1,000 superconducting magnets — rather
encouraging for the humble magnet designer!
From Chicago Rita and I flew to Montreal where we met up with
Peter and Elizabeth Silvester. Ernie Freeman was also visiting McGill at
this time so we three were invited to spend a week-end at the Silvester‘s
cottage near a small hamlet called Brome near the Vermont border of the
US (50 miles SW of Montreal). Our ‗sanity‘ refuge Elizabeth called it
and indeed it turned out to be a magic place, deep in the woods with the
ground carpeted by fungi which had to be collected for dinner. We
enjoyed two days of peace with long walks across the Vermont border
places quite unknown, apparently, to the customs and emigration
authorities. Back at McGill we spoke for hours about the coming
revolution in personal computing about to break out, with the advent of
the single user minicomputers. Pete‘s vision was that Engineers would be
demanding application software and that we should supply it and both
Pete and Ernie and Ernie‘s young colleague at Imperial College were
already making plans to start a company. I could see the logic with this
but I was not yet ready to become commercial and I felt that our efforts at
RL should concentrate on developing the techniques. In fact I envied the
McGill/Imperial College set up as they had a continuous supply of
research students that could be channelled both into development and
exploitation.
Plate 57: Empire State Building
Rita on the observation level and View towards the Twin Towers
147
The Tevatron, four miles in circumference and originally named the Energy Doubler
when it began operation in 1983, is the world's highest-energy particle accelerator. Its 1,000
superconducting magnets are cooled by liquid helium to -268 degrees C (-450 degrees F). Its
low-temperature cooling system was the largest ever built when it was placed in operation in
1983. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers has designated the Tevatron cryogenic
system an International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.
144
After Canada, Rita and I set off for New York for a short holiday
before returning home. It was Rita‘s first visit to New York and she was
keen to see as much as we could manage in just a few days. So we went
to the top of the Empire State Building; Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Macy‘s, Central Park; Greenwich Village and the Statue of Liberty. Then
home to Oxford and back to work
In December I met up with Peter Silvester in Grenoble to be a
member of the examination Jury for the Thesis of Bernard Ancelle; this
posed a problem for me as I discovered when reading Bernard‘s Thesis
that some results had not yet been obtained. When the Jury deliberated
the Chairman of the panel said, ‗Gentlemen are we all agreed that a
Docteur d'État148 of the premier class should be awarded‘, I then
commented that though the thesis was of very good quality I was
concerned about the missing results. However I was informed that the
results were indeed secure and that the thesis would not be published
until these results were included and that I would be sent the appropriate
information. So at this point we could rejoin the audience to announce
the result and enjoy the celebratory meal.
A major event in the organisation of Rutherford Laboratory took
place in 1979 when the Appleton Laboratory149 was merged with the
Rutherford Laboratory to form the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
(RAL). Also in 1979 the SRC was renamed Science and Engineering
Research Council (SERC) to reflect an increased emphasis on
engineering research. The previous year I joined IEE and, I suspect
because of the growing relationship between Science and Engineering at
RL, I was sponsored by Prof John Brown who had become the IEE
President. Both David Thomas and I were elected Fellows. I also was
asked to be a founder member of a new professional group named
‗Electromagnetics‘ under the chairmanship of Prof Hammond of
Southampton University. In February 1980 we were asked by CERN to
run a short course in Computational Electromagnetics; this arose out of
the good results on accuracy we were getting for accelerator magnets
using our TOSCA code. So John Simkin and I visited CERN for three
days and gave a series of lectures on the theory and practical use of this
system. I also gave a lecture at Harwell on 26th February on the same
topic. John and I had recently submitted a new paper on the use of Scalar
potentials and the TOSCA code to IEE Proceedings which was awarded
the Maxwell Premium in 1981150
148
Equivalent to Habitation in Germany and PhD elsewhere.
In 1973 the Radio Research Station at Ditton Park became the Appleton Laboratory
150
Three Dimensional Non-Linear Electromagnetic Field Computations using Scalar
Potentials, J Simkin and C W Trowbridge, IEE Proc Vol 27 pt B, No 6., Nov 1980
149
145
In March 1980 we interviewed a young mathematics graduate from
Oxford, Karen Thornton, to fill a new post in the group for which I had
obtained approval. Our role was now expanding to include computational
aspects of integrated circuit design particularly in the area of translating
an electrical circuit into the geometric patterns which define a set of
integrated circuit masks. These masks were then made at the Electron
Beam Lithography Facility at RAL and subsequently used to fabricate a
silicon chip. Support software had to be provided for this and John Collie
with help from Karen was asked to provide this.
Plate 58: CAG Computing Room
Fan Ming Wu and Karen Thornton in the foreground
Other notable events in 1980 included visits from Alain Nicholas,
another of Jean Claude‘s ex students from Grenoble, who came for a two
weeks visit in April to discuss our work on Boundary Element methods
and the arrival of Fan Ming Wu from China in June who, as part of a
British Council sponsored scheme, was to be attached to the group for
two years. Towards the end of the year I met John Miller for the first
time, John was a mathematician and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin
as well as being a publishing entrepreneur151, and he came to discuss
possible collaborations and to interest us in participating in the Nasecode
151
The founder of Boole Press
146
Conferences, held annually in Ireland on electronic circuit CAD. There
were several SIG-EM meetings and events during the year culminating in
a well attended open meeting held at Cosenors House, Abingdon on 13
November. The second GFUN users meeting took place on September 24
1980 at the Westinghouse R & D Centre at Pittsburgh, organised by Jim
McWhirter. About 20 participants from nine institutions heard John
Simkin describe the most resent developments at RAL, including the
work on TOSCA.
The following year (1981) Compeda wished to intensify their
market for the REMUS software in the US and as I was attending the
next Compumag Steering Committee in Chicago in February John
Whitney asked me to sound out Argonne National Laboratory if they
would act as a broker for a deal to supply the big National Labs in the US
with our newest software based on Finite Elements (TOSCA & PE2D). I
contacted Larry Turner and he said that Bob Lari was willing to try and
get approval from ANL for him to act as an intermediary. In the
meantime John wanted to be introduced to these potential customers and
I agreed to try and help. From Chicago I had arranged to visit Chari at
GE and as they were already a customer for the UK‘s Gaelic Integrated
Circuit design package, another suite of software sold by Compeda, we
agreed to meet in Schenectady. Then I would accompany him on part of
his tour, taking in Brookhaven NL in New York and Oakridge in
Tennessee, after which I was committed to visit Westinghouse in
Pittsburgh and then on to Canada. The start of this trip was not without
some amusement. I flew to Chicago accompanied by Ernie Freeman (See
next section for more details about Compumag Chicago) and we were to
be met by Rich Smith the conference secretary and colleague of Larry‘s;
he met us alright but the trouble began as he tried to direct me out of the
rental car parking lot through the way in, which of course had a barrier
for one way traffic only — it was very dark. Ernie was highly amused by
Rich‘s antics and I gritted my teeth and ignored him until at least I found
the right way out. I assumed as he was local, and that is why he came
meet us, he would know the way to Argonne; that was my second
mistake as he proceeded to lead us through a maze of streets first into a
no-go area of a black ghetto and then to the funeral district which proved
a ‗dead end! Once again I ignored him and finally found the correct
freeway.
After the visit to Chicago John Whitney and I went to GE in
Schenectady where Chari decided he could not allow a ‗salesman‘ into
his lab; I had been invited to give a lecture there and I was upset about
the way John was being treated and threatened not to play; however
Chari charmed his way out of the problem by claiming it was against the
rules GE of commercial security and inviting John to a good lunch
147
afterwards. We had another small adventure on Long Island on our way
to Brookhaven NL152; we had boarded a taxi at Kennedy and the driver
ignored our plea to be taken west to Brookhaven and headed straight for
downtown New York; it transpired that he was from Cuba, could not
speak English and only knew the way to New York. So he dumped us in
the road miles from anywhere. Eventually we found a pay phone and
called a local taxi firm; John was very philosophical about these
travelling mishaps as he had been marketing and selling engineering
products all over the world for years. We had a good visit to BNL and
then went on to Oakridge; this time we had proper clearance and were
allowed to dine in the ‗smart‘ restaurant and John was well pleased that
he had made good contacts. I drove him to Memphis as he was going on
to the west coast from there and I returned for a further day at Oakridge
then on to Pittsburgh and Canada.
152
We must have stayed at least one night in New York City as I attended the City
Opera for a matinee performance of Carmen and then the same day in the evening The Magic
Flute at the Met on Feb 21.
148
Compumag Crosses the Atlantic
After two successful European based conferences the committee
decided it was time to look further afield. The ISC chairman Jean Claude
Sabonnadiere wrote on 8th January 1979 to all members as follows:
Dear Colleague,
As you remember, at our last meeting in Grenoble we foresaw some places for the
venue of Compumag III.
After some contacts have been taken by Bill Trowbridge and myself, we have now a
proposal of Larry TURNER to hold it at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois,
U.S.A in Spring 1981. This seems to be an excellent way to stimulate the
international interest of our Conference to hold it once in North America and then
come back into Europe.
To know officially your opinion about this proposal I would suggest you write me
back your opinion before February the 8th (with the rule no reply = agreement) .If
every body agrees I shall give a positive reply to Larry Turner; on the opposite if a
discussion seems necessary I will propose a meeting during February or March 1979
to make the decision.
Looking forward to hear from you at your earliest convenience I wish you a happy
and successful year 1979.
Yours sincerely
J C Sabonnadiere
As there were no objections to this, the offer from Argonne National
Laboratory (ANL) was welcomed by the committee. In order to arrange a
smooth transition Larry Turner came to London to attend the first
meeting on 2nd July 1979 held at Imperial College153. Larry was chosen
as Chairman of the ISC; and Richard P Smith, also of ANL, was chosen
secretary. Ch. Iselin resigned as Vice-Chairman. Peter Silvester was
chosen to succeed him.
The membership of ISC had further changed as at the end of the
Grenoble Compumag John Carpenter and Willie Geysen resigned and
were replaced by David Lowther (Imperial College) and Ron Holsinger
(New England Nuclear, USA) respectively. David had been a graduate
student of John Carpenter at Imperial but had recently become Peter
Silvester‘s principal co-worker and would be joining him in Canada. The
committee wished to strengthen membership from North America and
the inclusion of Larry, Ron and now David would do that. To fill the
vacancy from Imperial College who through John Carpenter had been
such an important factor in the evolution of Compumag (the committee
wished to retain their involvement), Professor Ernie Freeman, head of the
CEM activities at Imperial, volunteered to serve. Ernie apart from his
work on field calculations was very much involved in the IEE and power
153
Minutes of ISC Meeting, 2 July 1979
149
engineering activities in the UK. Konrad Reichert also resigned owing to
pressure of work in transferring to the Swiss Institute for Technology,
Zurich.
The new committee reviewed the conference topics and made some
changes. For example the limitation on magnetostatic and low frequency
fields was removed and in future all Electromagnetic field calculations
would be covered, with the exceptions of semiconductors and of antennas
and similar low power-high frequency devices. It was also decided to
have a four-day conference in order to avoid parallel sessions, or evening
sessions if there were sufficient good papers. The date for the conference
was scheduled for September 1981 but plans for the venue, either ANL
itself or downtown Chicago were still to decided.
The biggest innovation for Compumag Chicago was, however, the
decision to publish the proceedings in the IEEE Transactions on
Magnetics. The committee warmly endorsed this as the exposure for our
work would dramatically increase, but it was stressed that a satisfactory
agreement must be reached on the refereeing process. Just six months
before the conference the ISC met in Chicago154 in order to referee the
submitted abstracts, finalize the program and ratify the good work carried
by the ANL organization over the planning period of the previous year.
Larry throughout had been ably assisted by his ANL colleagues Bob Lari
and Rich Smith. The preliminary notice and call for papers had been sent
out and 79 abstracts had been received. At the meeting it was announced
that the conference would take place at the Chicago Pick-Congress Hotel.
The conference fee would set at approximately $185 which would
include the conference dinner and a copy of the proceedings.
Plans and rules for refereeing the final papers for Magnetic
Transactions were then discussed. The IEEE rules for publishing
conference proceedings in those days were less onerous than today as
only one reviewer per paper was required. The committee decided that
each committee member would be responsible for having ten papers
reviewed, preferably before leaving the conference. We were also
informed that the IEEE was planning to publish in IEEE S-MAG
Transactions in March 1982.
The abstracts (paper summary) were then refereed by the committee.
All abstracts were reviewed twice and this task was completed prior to
the end of the first day of the meeting. Next, a paper by paper resolution
of the two reviews was carried out, with detailed discussion if necessary.
On the second day the final program was drawn up with 47 papers
accepted for oral presentation, 26 for proceedings only and 4 rejected155.
154
155
Minutes of the ISC, Feb 16-17, 1981
How easy it all seems in those days compared to now!
150
The meeting end with the committee expressing their thanks to Bob Lari,
Rich Smith, Larry Turner and last but not least to Miriam Holden the
manager of Conference planning at Argonne.
Meanwhile major changes were made to RAL organisation in April
1981 when the responsibility for engineering applications software was
transferred from Computing Division to Technology Division. Under the
new arrangements the existing Technology Division CAG, which had for
many years carried out a programme of engineering computing, writing
software for electromagnetics and microelectronics, was expanded and
reorganised to include all the engineering software activities formerly
managed by the Interactive Computing facility.
Plate 59: The Expanded Computing Applications Group
L to R. Seated: Alan Armstrong (onfloor), Alan Bryden, Subodh Chanda, Bill (Group
Leader), John Simkin, Robert Gay, John Collie.
Standing: Jim Diserens, Chris Biddlecombe, Sally Hall (Secretary), Pravin Savjani, Peter
Crowhurst, John McLean, Ken Paler, Chris Greenhough, Peter Dewar, Tom Randle,
David Boyd, Dave Porritt. Mike Newman and Ken Robinson were absent
This was a tremendous endorsement of our achievements but a far
larger group would mean a less focussed life for me particularly,
however I was determined to continue to promote my particular interest
which was and remains electromagnetics. Also my secretary, Jane
Madgewick, had to leave as she had recently married and was to move to
Stevenage. However our misfortune was Compeda‘s gain as I
151
recommended her to John Whitney and she subsequently joined
Compeda. Jane was replaced by Sally Hall, an efficient and well read
lady with whom I occasionally discussed books but our tastes were
different and sometimes led to strong differences in opinion. . I had to
reorganise the expanded group into sections which reflected the various
SIG‘s, i.e. Artificial Intelligence and Control engineering (Alan Bryden),
Electric Circuits (Mike Newman), Electromagnetics (Jim Diserens), and
Finite Elements and Tools for Interactive Programs (Ken Robinson).
Plate 60: Bloomsday 1981
Earlier in May 1981 I had attended the IEEE magnetics conference
INTERMAG in Grenoble to give an invited talk on 3D Field
computation. Also, David Thomas was now named by SERC as the
Director of Information Technology in addition to his leadership of
Technology Division at RAL. This activity led him play an important
role in the ‗Alvey‘156 Directorate a British government sponsored
156
The original Alvey is John Alvey, former Senior Director, Technology, at British
Telecom (now retired). Alvey chaired the committee that recommended the launching of a
major industrial technology program.
152
research program in information technology that ran from 1983 to 1987.
The program was a reaction to the Japanese Fifth generation computer
project. In June I was invited by Peter Lawrenson & Ken Binns to join
them as a co-author of a new book to be published by Wileys; in part it
was to be a major revision of their earlier text157 with several new
chapters written by me on Numerical Solutions; this occupied me and
them for a number of years and was eventually published in 1992158.
Also in June I attended the Nasecode Conference in Dublin; this was
notable for two things for me both of them concerning John Miller the
conference chairman; firstly, he had been pressing me to put forward
Dublin as a possible venue for the next Compumag and secondly, to be a
founder member of the editorial board of a new Journal he was creating
called COMPEL which was to be targeted at computational aspects
arising from all aspects of the electrical industry. In order to persuade me
that Dublin was the place for Compumag and knowing my interest in
James Joyce, the great Irish writer, he persuaded the Mayor of Dublin to
invite me to a reception and lend me his official car with chauffeur for a
tour of the Joycean sites. I happened to be there on Bloomsday159 so this
was very appropriate and I thoroughly enjoyed the outing, see Plate 60.
Unfortunately for John, his bid to host the next Compumag, as will be
seen, was turned down as the committee thought that the rival bid from
Italy was stronger.
157
Analysis and Computation of Electric and Magnetic Field problems, Pergamon,
1962, 1973
158
The Analytical and Numerical Solution of Electric and Magnetic Fields, Wiley, 1992
159
Bloomsday is a commemoration observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and
elsewhere to celebrate the life of Irish writer James Joyce and relive the events in his novel
Ulysses, all of which took place on the same day in Dublin in 1904. The day is a secular
holiday in Ireland. The name derives from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses, and 16
June was the date of Joyce's first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle, when they walked
to the Dublin village of Ringsend
153
At Compumag in Chicago and afterwards at RAL
Plate 61: Opening Compumag Chicago, Gail Pewitt & Larry Turner
The third Compumag was opened by Gail Pewitt, Deputy Director
of Operations, ANL. A major technical advance was reported at this
conference which, was the introduction of ‗edge‘ finite elements to the
CEM community by Alain Bossavit & Jean Claude Verite160 . Another
broad development was the use of single user computers and new
packages for field computation with contributions by groups from
McGill, Rutherford Lab, ANL, GEC (USA), GEC Power (UK), NV
Philips, and Grenoble. Several University groups also taking a leading
role included Prof Nakata‘s team at Okayama Japan and Dave Rodgers
from Bath, UK.
The social events and excursions were very popular. The conference
Banquet was held at the famous 95th floor of the John Hancock centre
and after the feast we were entertained by a well known local singer,
Arlene Robertson, who sang a selection songs from Broadway musicals.
This was a very enjoyable experience though, in common with most
conference banquets, not everything was perfect as several delegates said
that the ‗pears‘ served in the ‗sweet‘ were rather tough—shades of the
rubber duck at Oxford. Immediately after the conference Bob Lari
organised the third GFUN user meeting, with 53 delegates from 34
institutions attending. The RAL staff members present were able to
160
Alain Bossavit and Jean-Claude Verite, A Mixed Fem-Biem method to solve 3-D
Eddy Current Problems, IEEE Trans, Mag. Vo; 18, No 2, March 1982, p431
154
At Compumag Chicago and after at RAL
describe the most recent developments at RAL, but there were four
presentations about GFUN and the remaining four were on other
programs.
After Compumag in Chicago Rita and I had a post conference
holiday touring in New Mexico, Arizona (Grand Canyon) and Nevada
(Las Vegas). But we had to stop off at Albany before returning home to
attend the Whitney Symposium a prestigious conference organised by
GE and through the good offices of Chari I had been invited to make a
presentation on the computational work at RAL. Here we met up with
Peter Silvester who was also giving a talk. This meeting turned out to be
a very pleasant experience with organised walks through the nearby
forests in the golden fall of the year. I was a little puzzled by Peter
Silvester‘s odd behaviour; he presented us with two delicious apples and
then disappeared and when I asked Chari where he had gone, Chari
merely said, ‗that‘s Pete for you he gets bored quickly‘.
Plate 62: The Whitney Symposium, 1981
Then in October a tragedy came upon us when Karen Thornton our
newest group member sustained a very serious accident at her home
when a balcony collapsed. She went into a coma from which she never
recovered. Poor John Collie was devastated the most, because he and she
worked closely together, but we were all deeply saddened by her loss.
She and John were doing great work.
155
In November the first planning meeting for Compumag No. 4 was
held. Plans for the next Compumag had been discussed at meetings held
during the Chicago conference in September. There were two front
runners, Trinity College Dublin and the University of Genoa. The
following extract from the minutes161 relates the discussion and decision:
3. Venue of COMPUMAG-4
Larry prefaced the discussion with the remarks that hopes for a COMPUMAG
meeting again in two years are jeopardized unless a venue can be chosen before the
Committee disbands at this Conference.
Bill, along with Simon, talked to John Miller and learned that John expects a formal
reply to his proposal since he has been sponsored by others in Dublin. John has
agreed to the points raised by the ISC, vis, ISC Chairmanship, ISC choice of
Proceedings publishers, and in fact John offered to hold COMPUMAG in Galway
one year from now if the ISC so desired.
Bill received the desired concrete proposal from the Italians and believes the
Italians are sincere, and guesses they would re-extend their invitation two years
hence if they are passed over this time.
It was judged that John Miller will advertise heavily, but Simon remarked that
attendance at NASECODE is smaller than at COMPUMAG.
Jean-Claude reminded the Committee of the importance of having a host team that
is professionally involved in magnetic computation. His point was acceded to by all,
and after some discussion of the point Ernie proposed that the ISC accept the Italian
proposal. Bill remarked that the recent Italian meeting was well run.
Thus the decision was made. John Miller took the decision on the
chin and understood the reasons very well I thought — it was clear to me
that I would be hearing more from him about other projects in the future.
At the final wrap-up meeting, two days later, Sandro Viviani (University
of Genoa) was elected to the ISC to replace G. Sacerdoti who had
resigned. Also Sandro‘s close colleague Professor Giorgio Molinari was
welcomed as the conference secretary. Giorgio Molinari described in
more detail the possible sites for the conference and after some
discussion the committee agreed to the Santa Margherita option. The
choice of date and detailed planning would be discussed at the next ISC
meeting in Genoa on 12 November 1981
The ISC met to start planning Compumag 4 in the ancient and
beautiful Ligurian city of Genoa appropriately on 150th anniversary of
Maxwell‘s birthday, Nov 13th which that evening was celebrated by the
committee in the Hotel Londres in fine style. Apart from Sandro Viviani,
our host and new chairman, and Giorgio Molinari, the new secretary we
welcomed one new member, Taka Nakata, a very distinguished
researcher from Okayama in Japan. This was an important step of the
161
Minutes of the Ad-Hoc Meeting for the consideration of Venue for Compumag-4,
Wednesday Sep 16 1981
156
conference organization to take in making us more international.
Furthermore during the run up to Compumag Genoa Ch. Iselin resigned
as he had been transferred to other work at CERN; he recommended that
he be replaced by Theo Tortschanoff who was active in accelerator
magnet design. The number of members remained at 14 as both Prof
Sacerdoti and John Steel also resigned after Compumag Chicago.
Plate 63: Compumag Genoa: Sandro Viviani with Bill Trowbridge after the ISC meeting
in Genoa
The most important innovation decided by the committee was the
introduction of Poster Sessions. This allowed our tradition of no parallel
sessions to be maintained but with the advantage of including more
papers. The members also felt that the poster papers should be in no way
regarded as second class and indeed would provide a more intimate and
meaningful discussion of new work.
Further meetings would be arranged during the build up to the
conference to decide the contents of the announcement bulletins and
finally to review the submitted summaries. Again the proceedings would
be published in the IEEE Transactions on Magnetics after a final review.
The conference venue would be at the Hotel Miramare in Santa
Margherita Ligure, near Genoa on 30 May to 2 June, 1983. The ISC were
conveyed by our hosts to visit Santa Margherita and the beautiful
surrounding countryside. On the day of our departure Ernie and I had
several hours to kill and we decided to go to Nervi, a small seaside resort
157
a few miles to the south, we went by Taxi and asked him to wait whilst
we had some refreshment in a small bar overlooking the beach; the driver
didn‘t seem to mind, I noticed he was reading Almayer‘s Folly, the
Novel by Joseph Conrad, in English — another example of how much
better our European neighbours are at languages than we are. The Folly
was ours though, as we discovered, we had no cash left to pay the bill in
the bar. In true Italian style the bartender reached for a bottle of grappa
and poured us both a stiff one whilst we fumbled through our pockets for
cash, credit cards were of no use, but I found I had some English pounds
which saved the situation, indeed enough for the taxi as well.
On the 30th of November Clive Bryant, a PhD student at Imperial
College, came to RAL to have his viva in my office. Clive had been
working on a project closely coupled to our work and I was asked to be
his external examiner. His supervisor at IC was none other that the
electromagnetics guru John Carpenter who had been involved in
Compumag and our SIG-EM work. John said he preferred to have
Clive‘s exam off-site because it be more relaxing for him. I am not sure
about that in the event as John was several hours late for the ordeal and
Clive was kept hanging about for most of the day. He finally turned up
on his ferocious motor-bike, clad head to foot in black leathers which he
proceeded to divest as Clive and I waited patiently. You would think that
John would have been easy on him after this, but not a bit, as he
proceeded to attack Clive‘s project, not because of the quality of the
work, but the nature of the project itself which he, John Carpenter
himself, had proposed in the first place. John, forever self critical,
thought he should have proposed a tougher project for Clive. I didn‘t
agree as the work was an important contribution to Computational
Electromagnetics. Alls well that ends well and we duly passed Clive.
In March 1982 the laboratory had to play host to a distinguished
visitor the Minister for Science, Margaret Thatcher‘s fellow traveller, Sir
Keith Joseph. The Chairman of SERC applied a lot pf pressure to the lab
to ensure that we put on a good show and I suggested from my area that
we should invite Prof. Olek Zienkiewicz to participate in a presentation
of our Finite element work. Though this was indeed a small part of
RAL‘s work it was considered to be significant in as much that offered
an example of a very useful and practical engineering application to
balance the very expensive ‗big science‘ projects for which the lab was
mainly known. Olek agreed to come and do his best, so we prepared a
series of display boards and such like and fine tuned a TOSCA live
interactive demonstration. Olek would speak to the display boards which
illustrated the universal good work that FE was doing in large scale Civil
Engineering and Industry. Sir Keith was accompanied by a retinue of
servants, civil and otherwise and some of them were distinctly self
158
satisfied. However the main man was in good form; he had asked for a
pre tour talk with senior scientists and as soon as we had assembled he
asked about the ‗Big Bang‘. Then followed a number of sincere
comments by our theorists only to be soon interrupted by the minister
who asked, ‗ Well now, what happened before the Big Bang?‘, an unfair
question perhaps which was greeted by stony silence‘. Sir Keith looked
around at us and then said, ‗Oh well, I suppose that‘s a question for
theologians‘.
Plate 64: Close Friends at Cosenors House Abingdon
L to R: Bill, Olek Zienkiewicz, Larry Turner and Jim Diserens
Soon after we moved on to the demonstrations and I had the
privilege of escorting the party to our computing room where Olek and
the others were waiting. Olek was introduced and gave a very confident
account of the Finite Element‘s methods success in a wide range of
fields. However, we were interrupted by one of the minister‘s minions
with whispered messages162 and I was encouraged by Geoff Manning and
David Thomas to cut things short but I insisted on showing the ‗live
demo‘ . But Sir Keith‘s mind was already on to ‗higher things‘, so the
show had to be curtailed. Olek asked me afterward how well did he do; I
162
The Falklands War was about to break out, the Task Force left UK on the 5th April
159
told him he was brilliant but that we were a poor alternative to the Big
Bang.
In October 1982 another US trip loomed. Alan Armstrong and I
were to provide technical expertise at COMPEDA user courses to be held
at New Jersey and San Francisco and then attend the fourth GFUN users
meeting to be hosted by Colorado State University at Fort Collins and
finally a visit to Montreal to see Peter Silvester. The course was held in
New Paramus at the offices in New Jersey rented by Compeda. If I
remember correctly we had about 15 attendees and it was quite
successful with Chris Riley giving most of the course with support from
Alan and me. We managed a visit into New York where Chris and I went
to the Met for a performance of Verdi‘s La Forza del Destino, conducted
by James Levine with Leona Mitchell, Carlo Bergonzi and Sherrell
Milnes; a fine performance with Gabriel Bacquier notable in the comic
part of Fra Melitone. Before leaving New York Alan, Chris and I went to
visit the Twin Towers where we had a dinner in a restaurant near the top
with marvellous views of the harbour. We next went out to California to
repeat the course which was run by Chris, Alan and the local Compeda
representative Bob Anson; I was not involved as I had agreed to visit
Lawrence Berkeley to see John Colonias163. After this we all met up in
nearby Livermore for a visit to see Don Cornish and the fusion magnet
group, and it was whilst we there, staying in the Holiday Inn, that I
received a phone call from Ramona, Chris Riley‘s wife, during the night
to tell me that Compeda had announced that the company had been sold
to Prime Computers Inc. I immediately woke Chris up and he was able
to call her back. This news was very upsetting to Chris as his future now
seemed insecure. Chris later the same day received confirmation from
Compeda and was told they were all on three months notice.
In the meantime Chris and Bob were told to continue with their
planned trip with Alan and me to attend the GFUN users meeting in Fort
Collins. Our hosts were Bill Lord, the Professor of Electrical Engineering
and his colleague Nathan Ida both regular Compumag supporters. The
GFUN users meeting was a US forum, held annually to discuss the RAL
software, organised by Larry Turner and Bob Lari, and we were now
trying to stimulate interest in our other codes, PE2D and TOSCA as
replacements for GFUN. At this meeting it was decided, because of the
wider scope, to rename the event Magnetics Computation Users Meeting
or MAG-U-Comp for short. The mission statement for meetings was
defined as a forum to bring together users of magnetic computer
programs from industry, universities and national laboratories to discuss
informally their experiences in this field. There were 25 delegates
163
John had two spare tickets for the Opera, ‗Marriage of Figaro‘ with the delightful
Lucia Popp singing Susannah, Alan said he liked the tunes but the bits between were boring.
160
attending the meeting which was held on the 22 October. After six full
presentations an update on the RAL software was presented by the Alan
and me.
During the last year I had been experimenting with a new class of
single user work station machine (PERQ) manufactured by ICL under
licence from Three Rivers Computer Corp in Pittsburgh. For this
machine I had written a new code (APPLE164) to analyse a range of field
problems including magnetics, electrostatics, torsion and heat flow etc.
The system offered high performance graphics and real time interaction. I
managed to persuade Three Rivers to send a PERQ to Fort Collins in
time for the meeting and our new software was installed without errors
and we were able to demonstrate its capability.
Plate 65: Some of the delegates on the Trail Ridge Rd.
L to R: Dick Early (SLAC), Larry Turner (ANL), Chris Riley (Compeda), Bob Anson
(Compeda), Bill (RAL) and Bob Lari (ANL)
After the meeting we visited Estes Park and had a relaxing two days
visiting Bear Lake and driving along the ‗Trail Ridge‘ Rd. From Fort
Collins Alan and I drove back to Denver for the next leg of our journey.
Our Rental car conked out halfway and we managed to drive off road a
little way to a farm; the lady of the house was very suspicious of us but
eventually let us use her phone to get help. The rental company sent out a
breakdown vehicle and we completed our journey to Denver being
towed. On arrival in Montreal we upset Peter Silvester by taking a rental
164
A Pascal Program for Laplace Equation — this was the forerunner of a more
advanced system developed by John Simkin and myself, see Compumag Genoa
161
car out to his retreat at Brome, as he had given us detailed instructions of
buses which we ignored. Instead of quarrelling with me he had go at
Alan; Elizabeth intervened and Peter calmed down — a strange but quite
brilliant man.
I was appointed the Chairman of Professional Group S8 and as the
new chairman I wrote an article for the IEE to introduce the 82/83
program of events165 in which I tried to be encouraging but stressed the
difficulties that would arise if we confused information with knowledge.
I also questioned whether the confidence originally showed by our group
was ‗well founded‘ — ‗can the computer solve realistic problems‘, i.e.
will computer based algorithms predict fields to the accuracies required
by designers? In those far off days of 1982 I suggested it was a matter of
concern that an unqualified answer in the affirmative was true only for a
very small number of cases. A question that I hope to come back to —
are things really any better today?
I spent the first few months further developing the PERQ program I
had first presented In Fort Collins and with John Simkin‘s help we
extended the system to include a new model building facility enabling
more realistic problems to be solved in real time. In this we were
following the seminal work carried out at McGill under the direction of
Peter Silvester in the use of Single User Machines (SUMS) in 1977
which in their case the target machine was the PDP11166, however the
PERQ was a more advanced machine offering more power and higher
quality graphics. Actually we had been a little behind in these
developments having concentrated on the multi-user and mainframe
machines.
Just before Compumag Genoa in May Ernie Freeman gave his
inaugural professorial lecture at Imperial College and I had been invited
to make the closing speech. Ernie had founded Infolytica Corp to market
the ‗MAGNET 2-D Software for electromagnetics in 1978 jointly with
Peter Silvester and David Lowther. In 1978 David joined Peter at McGill
University in Montreal and most of the developments were done there. I
remember Pete inviting me out to lunch to ask me if I thought Ernie
165
Electromagnetics and Computing — Wisdom, Knowledge and Information ?,,
Appeared in IEE Divisional News — SETLINK October 1982
166
The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corp.
in the 1970s and 1980s. The PDP-11 was a successor to DEC's PDP-8 computer in the PDP
series of computers. It had several uniquely innovative features, and was easier to program
than its predecessors. It was well-liked by programmers, and it was replaced in the mid-range
minicomputer niche by the VAX-11 32-bit extension of the PDP-11. Much of the market for
both machines would be taken by personal computers, including the IBM PC and Apple II, and
workstations, such as those from Sun Microsystems.
162
would be upset if he was ‗poached‘ to go to McGill; I found this strange
as it soon appeared that this was part of the plan all along.
At Compumag Genoa
Most delegates came by air or train but some decided to sail, not
across the Atlantic as the picture shown in Plate 66 suggests, but from
Marseilles to Santa Margherita in a yacht chartered by Jean Claude
Sabonnadiere crewed by Compumaggers, Lowther, Polak and Deeley.
Santa Marherita in June was delightful and spirits were high and the
meeting finally got underway on Monday May 30th but not before a
reunion and reception held by the pool the night before.
Plate 66: Compumag moves to Italy
The conference was opened by Professor G Biorci, head of the
Electrical Engineering Department of the University. The conference was
163
well summed up in the introduction to the proceedings by Sandro Viviani
and Giorgio Molinari which included the following statistics:
The 1983 Compumag-Genoa Conference, hosted by the Electrical Engineering
Depart University of Genoa, was held at the Miramare Hotel in Santa Margherita
Ligure, on the Italian Riviera, and included participation by 175 attendees from 19
countries, nearly balanced as to affiliation between universities and
industrial/research organizations. The Conference Proceedings contains 98 papers,
which were presented either in oral or in involving the work of 186 authors. Poster
sessions, first introduced at COMPUMAG-Genoa, have been very well received by
the audience.
Plate 67: Relaxing on the Miramare Terrace
L to R: ?, Lowther, Tortschanoff, Rita Trowbridge, Irene Lowther, Nakata, Turner, ?,
Hazel Freeman
The conference was a technical success with several papers
introducing new methods in Computational Electromagnetics. These
included fundamental work on Dual Energy methods, a classic method
but here used in conjunction with the finite element method and applied
to electromagnetics. The authors demonstrated that error bounded
solutions are obtainable when complementary pairs of functionals are
extremised.167. Also a paper for 3D Eddy Current Calculation using a
network method has proven since to be ahead of its time as in recent
167
J Penman & J Fraser, Dual and Complimentary Energy Methods in
Electromagnetics, IEE Trans. Mag., Vol 19, No 6, 1983
164
At Compumag Genoa and after at RAL
years there has been a renaissance of methods using complementary
Electric and Magnetic meshes. This paper was also notable in providing
the community with one of its famous bench-mark problems, the so
called Bath Cube168. Several authors presented work on eddy current
computation using the boundary element method which had hitherto been
confined to statics problems169 170.
Plate 68: The author demonstrating the PERQ machine at the conference exhibition
Ed Heighway (Chalk River Labs) standing left.
A boost to the important area of computing forces was made in a
paper in which the principal of virtual work is compared to a new method
that evaluates the second derivative of the stiffness matrix. The latter
method only requires a single field solution and is at least as efficient as
168
J A Davidson and M J Balchin, Three Dimensional Eddy Current Calculation Using
a Network method, loc cit
169
W M Rucker & K R Richter, Calculation of Eddy Current Problems with Boundary
Elements, loci cit
170
A Nicolas, A Boundary Integral Equation for Eddy Current Calculation, loc cit
165
the Maxwell Stress method and much easier to apply171. The now
ubiquitous use of Delaunay meshing was also introduced to the CEM
community172. It must be emphasised that this list is a personal selection
that has ignored the many exciting software, CAD and applications
papers presented. One final comment to make was that it was during
Compumag Genoa that Dr J Rikabi, currently at Imperial College
London, had the idea for a new error based finite element functional
which later was to have an important effect on FE based methods. He
named his functional ‗The Ligurian‘ in honour of the region173.
Plate 69: Dr Rikabi Inventing the 'Ligurian'
The ISC committee met many times during the conference mainly to
select the hosts for the next conference. There were a number of
outstanding bids to host the next Compumag. These included the Plasma
171
J L Coulomb, A Methodology for the determination of Global EMech. Quantities
from a FE Analysis…, loc cit
172
Z Cendes et al, Magnetic Field Computation using Delaunay Triangulation and
Complementary FE Methods, loc cit
173
Tragically Dr J. Al Rikabi was killed during the Gulf War in 1990, see also, J Rikabi
et al, Error–based derivation of complementary formulations for the eddy current problem,
IEE Proc, 135 Pt A,4, 1988.
166
Fusion Center at MIT, case presented by Bob Pillsbury; Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory, case presented by John Colonias; Los Alamos, case
presented by Herbert Vogel; all of these were well received and the fact
that three major labs in the US were making these bids was considered to
be extremely encouraging for the future. In the event the committee
reluctantly decided on none of these as there was a fourth bid from
Colorado State University in Fort Collins, presented by Bill Lord, which
had a slight edge over the others because the scientific development work
in CEM at that time was felt to be less orientated to large scale
applications and was directed toward applications in NDT (Non
Destructive Testing), a subject of critical industrial importance.
Plate 70: Chari at Lymington 1983
As soon as I returned home the next event was upon me; John
Miller‘s Nasecode conference (15 June) — this year in Galway. We
fielded a strong team from the group because of our expanded role in IC
design the main subject of this conference. I was somewhat surprised to
167
meet Chari there and Isaac Mayergoyz174 from the University of
Maryland as the subject was a little outside their main interests. They told
me that they come to see me to discuss boundary elements and, as it
happened, John Simkin and I had developed a new boundary element
algorithm that exploited the advance architecture of the PERQ
machine175. Isaac at first doubted the validity; he is an outstanding
theorist and was apt to question everything new, especially in an area he
had overlooked! However after many hours of discussion I think we
convinced him.
Chari was on his way to stay with us at RAL for two weeks to study
in more detail our work and I had asked him to give a lecture at the IEE
as part of our S8 activities. As a special guest lecturer the IEE provided
expenses and after his talk I had to take him out for a meal; unfortunately
Chari is a strict vegetarian and this made finding a restaurant that he
approved of very difficult. After questioning the waiters about the way
the food was prepared he rejected the first two places the IEE selected,
but the third choice was deemed to be safe. Rita had the same problem
with him when he came to our house; but he was reassured after
inspecting our kitchen to ensure the vegetarian food was not
contaminated by animal products.
Just before the IEE lecture he accompanied me to Ashurst Lodge in
the New Forest to attend a course at which I had been invited to give a
guest lecture on the use of Boundary Elements in Electromagnetics.
Ashurst Lodge was the home of the Wessex Institute of Technology, an
organisation created by Carlos Brebia, an acknowledged expert in the use
of Boundary Element method in Computational Mechanics. When we got
there we discovered that Carlos, who was to give the course, had not
turned up; he had been in the US and would not return until the last day.
The lady administrator asked me if I could give the course, I was taken
aback by this as I had nothing prepared and most of the scope of Brebia‘s
course was outside my field. I spoke with Chari and asked if he would
help out and improvise a series of lectures on computational
electromagnetics from our own speciality. So we did; I don‘t know what
the ‗punters‘ thought but we did our best; when Brebia turned up on the
last day he was too embarrassed to thank us properly; I introduced him
the Chari from GE and he tried to sell him their Boundary Element
174
Isaac settled in USA coming from Soviet Union where he was a former pupil of
Academician Dermichan. Indeed such was his reputation that when he approached both Peter
Silvester and myself to sponsor him in his bit to emigrate to the US we were very willing to
help.
175
Electromagnetics CAD using a Single User Machine, C W Trowbridge and J Simkin,
IEEE Trans-Mag 19, p2655.
168
package! As the New Forest was my home area, I was born just a mile
from Ashurst, I took Chari for a tour and he especially enjoyed visiting
my old home town of Lymington.
Back at RAL I received a letter from Ed Heighway (see Plate 68 on
164) of Chalk River Labs inviting me to send a member of our group to
work with them for a year. This was in return for the year that Ed had
spent working at RAL, I decided to ask Jim Diserens, and he accepted
and spent the year September 1983 to September 1984 in Canada. This
had the additional benefit in that Jim would act as a focus of our software
in Canada. Also Mike Newman was working more closely with the
Alvey project with David Thomas (he left RAL in September 1983 to
join the Alvey Directorate) and was actively encouraging me to seek
funding from the new EEC ESPRIT in the area of semi-conductor device
modelling; this was to have far reaching consequences for me and indeed
Mike who was soon to join the ESPRIT organisation in Brussels (he
joined the EEC Commission in April 1985). Mike had been an
extraordinary colleague, firstly with Larry and me on the GFUN project,
then his very creative work on graphics and computer science technology
which had been very crucial to the work of the group over the years. I
take some credit in encouraging him in these areas as we identified long
ago that underlying computer technology requires mathematical training,
which I had picked up as an autodidact, but Mike‘s background had been
in Physics so he set about studying for a degree in Mathematics under the
Open University which he achieved with honours.
I received news that John Fox (see page 62) had died (August 26) of
cancer; he was in his prime and still very creative — a sad loss. The
following month I went to Berlin to attend the Computing in Accelerator
Design and Operation conference where I gave an invited talk on our
work at RAL. Here I met for the first time J B Adams the CERN Director
General, creator of so many large scale ‗big science‘ laboratories
including both CERN and Culham Lab in Oxford; a very remarkable man
of whom, it is said, he had no formal qualifications but his genius. He
was John Fox‘s mentor and leader at CERN for the design, construction
of the 300GeV machine. At this conference he gave the opening
Honorary Invited Lecture on ‗Future High Energy Accelerators‘ and the
audience were enthralled. I was flattered when John Adams
congratulated me after my talk176 and asked me to send him regular
updates on the progress of our work, which he said was important and
invited me to accompany him on the conference tour of the HahnMeitner Institute.
176
Computer Aided Magnet Design, C.W. Trowbridge, Lecture Notes in Physics 115,
Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1984
169
The shock of COMPEDA being sold to Prime Computers had left a
vacuum in the support of our customers. Some while previously John
Whitney had been ‗head hunted‘ by a CAD company which subsequently
failed but he quickly found alternative employment with ICL and Chris
Riley was about to join Ken Binns at Liverpool University, so our two
closest colleagues at Compeda were surviving. But what about our
clients? There was still a chance that Prime Computers in Boston would
continue the marketing and support of the REMUS customers and I was
asked to visit them for discussions. I also had to attend the next ISC
meeting to plan the next Compumag, which was to be held in Fort
Collins and then to attend the Mag-U-Comp meeting in Milwaukee
(GFUN USER Mtg 5). Alan came with me as he was to make a
presentation at Mag-U-Comp and together we set out for Boston on 22
October. The visit to Prime was a complete waste of time; they had no
intention of getting into Electromagnetics Software and I began to think
the only way to deal with this problem would be to do it ourselves, and I
believe at that moment the idea of Vector Fields Ltd was conceived.
170
ISC Visits the Rockies and New Projects at Home
ISC visits the Rockies and New Projects at Home
Plate 71: Bill Lord, Chairman Compumag Fort Collins
Bill Lord convened the first planning meeting for Compumag Fort
177
Collins on Monday, October 24, 1983 at Colorado State University
those present were: W. Lord, D. A. Lowther, J. Erb R. Holsinger, S.
Polak, C. W. Trowbridge, L. R. Turner, A. Viviani. Giorgio Molinari was
also co-opted on to the ISC because of his experience in the organisation
of Compumag Genoa technical programme and reviewing. Nathan Ida,
the original secretary, would be moving to the University of Akron in
Ohio and Bill Lord decided that to ease the transition Nathan and Satish
Upda would act as joint secretaries. David Lowther was also appointed
vice chairman.
It had been muted for some time that each conference should have a
unique poster and to this end Bill Lord had consulted Dale Rosenbach,
Art Director, University Communications, Colorado State University,
who along with student interns working with him, presented a total of six
COMPUMAG poster designs for the committee's consideration. The
poster designers explained their motivation behind the choice of layout
and the colour scheme. The Steering Committee members were polled
and the poster designed by Genine was judged as the one most suitable
for expressing the objectives of the conference as well as being
177
Minutes of ISC Meeting, October 24th 1983, in possession of the author.
171
aesthetically pleasing. However, it was agreed that the style of the text be
altered and the style used in the past be retained. The Committee
expressed their admiration and thanks to Dale and the artists for a job
well done.
The old format of the preliminary announcement and the call for
papers was found acceptable in general. However, it was decided to
include topics relating to semiconductors, antenna and other high
frequency, low power devices.
Plate 72: The Prize Winning Poster
After lunch and a walking tour of the 1985 COMPUMAG
Conference facilities and student housing, a discussion was held on the
ISC membership. Concern was expressed that the nature of the
COMPUMAG Conference requires an active involvement on the part of
172
the ISC members. Refereeing and planning duties associated with the
conference preclude "honorary membership". Indeed, during the
discussion it was agreed that ISC membership be increased to fifteen and
that a board or panel of referees be established at the next ISC meeting in
Eindhoven to help with reviewing procedures. It was also agreed that
review of all final full-length papers be carried out at the 1985
conference site even if an additional day is needed to complete the task.
These measures should not only serve to speed the reviewing process, but
also provide a source of new ideas and members for future
COMPUMAG conferences. It was unanimously approved, effective as of
the next ISC meeting on April 6, 1984, that failure to attend three
consecutive ISC meetings by any ISC member be interpreted as a
withdrawal of the member's services and, that barring extenuating
circumstances, such membership be revoked.
Plate 73: The Fastest Pumpkin Carver in the West
Finally the committee unanimously endorsed Dr. M.V.K. Chari as a
potential ISC member. Chari was well known as a pioneer of the
application of FE methods to electrical machine design and it was felt his
173
appointment would strengthen the conferences ties with industry. He
would be replacing Georges Neyret who had announced his retirement at
the end of Compumag Genoa. Further meetings were arranged in April 6,
1984 at Eindhoven, Netherlands and in December 10 to 12, 1984, Fort
Collins, CO, U.S.A. After this meeting several of us moved to Chicago
and thence to Milwaukee for the MAG-U-COMP meeting hosted by the
Electrical Machines Company A.O. Smith Inc. and organised by John
Brauer. There were 34 delegates and 11 presentations followed by a
demonstration of the A O Smith software. This had been the fifth
meeting in the GFUN user series now a more general forum which was
eventually to be transformed into the CEFC (Computational
Electromagnetic Field Conference) sponsored by the IEEE. After
spending a few days in Chicago for Halloween with Larry and Donna
where Alan distinguished himself by becoming the ‗fastest pumpkin
carver in the west‘, we returned home.
Plate 74: SIG-EM at Cosenors House Abingdon
L to R Brian Davies (UCL), Ron Ferari (Cambridge), Bob Paul (Chairman, Bangor), Fed
Eastham (Bath), Ken Binns (Liverpool), Cris Emson( RAL), Farouk Abdulla (City), John
Smith (Aberdeen), Tom Preston (GEC),Jim Diserens (Secretary, RAL), Bill
Back at RAL there were many things to think about. The Special
Interest Group for Electromagnetics was very active throughout 1983
with regular meetings and good exchanges of ideas between the
Universities involved. By this time Jim Diserens had replaced John
Collie as secretary and had been very effective in strengthening our ties
174
with the universities. Indeed a little rivalry was apparent between us and
the group at Bath University led by Fred Eastham and Dave Rogers. A
new face appears in Plate 74, this was Cris Emson who had joined our
group in 1982, but we had known him for some years, in fact I had
supported Olek at Swansea to secure a PhD studentship in an area of
relevance to our work at RAL and the post had been advertised. Cris
applied and had visited RAL for some preliminary discussion three years
before. Olek invited me to Swansea to interview Cris and I had expected
Olek to chair the panel but in the event he left it to me; Cris was an
outstanding candidate and the result was clear cut; however toward the
end of the interview Olek came in and called me out and whispered into
my ear, ‗Bill he‘s got a ring in his ear‘, true and Cris was a man of his
time, not like us old fogies, and I reassured Olek that we were not hiring
a ‗beatnik‘. Whilst he was at Swansea he was guided principally by Peter
Bettes a very creative ex student of Olek‘s who specialised in open
boundary problems, an area of great importance in Electromagnetics, and
the work Cris did for his thesis was first class.
Plate 75: EEC Semiconductor Modelling Project Meeting
L to R Seated: Peter Mole (GEC), Simon Polak (Philps), Bill Trowbridge (RAL), Ken
Board (UC Swansea), John Miller (Trinity College Dublin)
175
The idea for a Pilot project under the EEC IT funding as suggested
by Mike Newman had started to take root. Following some preliminary
discussions between Simon Polak we decided to define a project in the
area of Semi Conductor Device Modelling, as it seemed that the next
generation of computing hardware would, to a great extent, depend on
increased miniaturisation in order to reduce the reliability of complex
systems and reduce the costs. Furthermore the EC Microelectronic
Technology initiative has identified the modelling of such devices as
important in maintaining the competitiveness of its industrial companies
in the world market. Toward the end of 1982 we invited the following
partners to join us; General Electric plc, Philips Bedrijven BV, Trinity
College Dublin and University College Wales. The first meeting was
held in my office with Peter Mole (GEC), Simon Polak (Philips), John
Miller (Trinity College) and Ken Board (University of Wales). With
Mike Newman‘s help, who had studied closely the rules for these Pilot
projects, we quickly drafted a proposal to develop software for the
modelling of MOS devices at a cost of £2 million, of which the EEC
would fund half. It appeared a very favourable deal as we were allowed
to estimate our manpower costs in terms of the actual cost plus a
generous 140% for overheads. The project was approved and the contract
signed on the 15 December 1982 to begin early in 1983.
This was the time of my first serious collaboration with Bryan
Colyer; Brian had been at the Lab for about as long as I had and AERE
before that and was an outstanding engineer specializing in cryogenics
and all things mechanical. He had played a leading part in the
development of superconducting cables and had interacted with CAG in
the computation of stresses and fields in windings. More recently he had
been involved in the design of the Clerk Maxwell Telescope support
structure in Hawaii. The direct collaboration with me arose out of his
interest in the new generation of computers like the PERQ (see page 160)
and he asked me if we could extend the magnetics solver that I had
written to include the appropriate stress analysis equations. I did quick
case of the simple torsion problem which is mathematically equivalent to
the magnetics case and he thought this looked promising, so we set about
writing new code for the plane strain and plain stress cases in mechanics.
He got really hooked on the architecture of the PERQ, which led him to
study in depth methods for improvements in the graphical user interface
(GUI), which as it happened were to be of great importance in the future
to both of us.
For some time several senior academics involved with numerical
modelling and computing had been complaining that the award of
research grants in their areas had declined. Olek Zienkiewicz had been
urging me for sometime to try and help. In February 1983 I contacted
176
Prof Ian McLeod (Strathclyde University) the chairman of the Finite
Element Special Interest Group who was broadly sympathetic and had
similar disquiet; he was also involved in the Engineering Board so was in
a position to lobby more directly. Ernie Freeman was also concerned that
funding was drying up in his area (Electromagnetics) so we arranged an
ad hoc meeting to discuss strategy at Imperial College on the 10th of
March. The outcome of this was that Ian secured approval for a further
meeting of leading experts, both academics and industrial, to formulate a
strategy document. The choice of delegates was important as we needed
the leading people in each of the main engineering areas to attend. This
meeting finally took place in March 1984 which led to a significant
initiative involving a large scale open conference which I will discuss
later.
Also, at the beginning of 1983 my secretary Sally left and was
replaced by Pam Peisley a very experienced lady who was well able to
manage the admin of a large group and we soon became good friends.
Following the disappointing response from Prime computers I was
determined now to press ahead with the idea of forming a company to
market the RAL software. Preliminary discussions with David Thomas
and Geoff Manning were very constructive and according to Geoff the
way was now clear for SERC employees to seek consultancy agreements
as additional spare-time activities where there was no conflict of interest.
I spoke in detail with John Simkin and he was enthusiastic so we sat
down and prepared a business plan. So 1983 ended on a note of high
optimism.
177
Family Life 1976-1984
Plate 76: Chalet in Wales, 1976
Our family was growing up fast and I have to confess that life at
home appears in these years to have been overshadowed by my ever
expanding commitments to my career as the last section shows. Rita was
also very busy at her school, which had become demanding with the
changing methods of teaching with mixed ability streams. Dinah joined
in at school with most of the musical activities on offer and was hoping
for some kind of career in connection with music, and Simon was
developing his interests in Art at Wallingford. Dinah progressed to Grade
6 in piano and to grade 8 with the flute and was singing in local choirs.
By 1977 she was in the sixth form and studying for her A levels in
Music, English and Art. Simon when he reached the sixth form at
Wallingford selected for his A levels Art, English and History. He was
178
also playing cricket a great deal for his school, becoming captain of the
school side and on one of the rare occasions I got to watch him I saw him
score 50 not out — to our great delight.
In July1976 we rented a small wooden chalet in North Wales, a box
on stilts among a vast number of similar chalets on a holiday estate near
the Trawsfyndd reservoir. In August we attended the Three Choirs
Festival in Hereford, and we kept our musical interests alive by
continuing our regular visits to Guildford to hear Vernon Handley and his
orchestra. In 1977 we had an extended holiday beginning in the Lakes at
Skelwith Bridge, an attractive hotel near Ambleside, which became a
favourite place of ours in the years to come. After a few days we went on
to Scotland and stayed for ten days at a hotel in Aviemore. I remember I
did a five star walk from here to the summit of Ben MacDui, the second
highest peak in Scotland, via Cairngorm and Loch Avon; the wild life
was most interesting as I spotted seven Reindeer, two dotterels and many
Ptarmigan. One day we did a long car trip to Skye and, whilst on the road
to the Kyle of Lochalsh, as we stopped in a lay-by by Loch Duich, a lorry
swerved into the lay-by at speed and scraped the car all down one side. If
any of us had been standing on the offside then a very serious accident
would surely have occurred. We followed this lorry all the way to Kyle
but by the time we entered the town it had disappeared. I gave the
registration number at the local police station but heard nothing from
them. Our time in Cairngorm area was made especially interesting by
seeing the Osprey nesting on Loch Garten, one of the very few places
where this rare bird could be seen in those days. We returned home via
Skelwith Bridge again, for a few days in the Lakes.
In September Rita had have a small operation at the Royal Berks
Day centre which she bore as usual with quiet stoicism and then in
November I took Dinah for an interview at the West Midlands College of
Education; she wanted to study for a B.Ed degree in Music; it was her
first choice and she was so pleased to be successful. The following year
1978, I enjoyed a great Elgar day at Tewkesbury to hear the Apostles in
the afternoon followed by the Kingdom in the evening, as part of the
Elgar Festival being put on at Tewkesbury Abbey under the direction of
James Walkley. James Walkley, who is also a fine Bass soloist, and his
wife the contralto Diana Walkley live in Craeg Lea, Elgar‘s old house in
Malvern. In the morning there was a lecture by the Elgar scholar Jerrold
Northrop Moore, as always with him it was a fascinating talk but there
were only five of us there to hear him. The artists performing these works
were mainly semi-professional but were none the worse for that; the
singing was first rate. Unfortunately James Walkley had caught laryngitis
and had to be substituted but his presence was everywhere; I particularly
179
remember how he gave the bass in the Kingdom singing Saint Peter fine
support at the crucial moments singing from behind178.
We were back in Skelwith Bridge for our summer holiday in July
19th for two weeks. We did many fine hill walks including a glorious day
out on Helvellyn; 14 miles 4.5 miles, fine to begin with then wet on the
descent and very windy on striding edge. Then on the first of August I
repeated a walk that I had done in 1947 as boy to Scafell Pike from
Langdale along Rosett Ghyll a round trip of nearly 20 miles. Dinah
decided she would come too and all would have been well if the weather
had been better, a lot better. It rained all day and we did not see thing; the
forecast promised good weather later so we pressed on.
I shall never forget the disapproving look on Dinah‘s face as she
staggered back into the hotel telling her mother, who had stayed in the
dry all day, ‗that is positively the last time I will do this‘, and she threw
her boots in the nearest bin. Simon was fine though and the 7 hour trudge
didn‘t seem to bother him.
Plate 77: Dinah in her room at College
178
Rita and I heard this group sing on several other occasions and the Walkleys gave
outstanding performances of Gerontius; in the interval of one of their concerts we spoke with
them and it turned out that Rita was at Cheltenham Teacher Training college at the same time
as Diana Walkley
180
Plate 78: Wedding Anniversary Gathering 1979
L to R: Jonathan, Brian Amesbury, Marjorie,Briony,Bill Boucher, Eva, Dinah, Rita,
Simon, Barnaby, David, Pam, Brenda and sitting Grandad Trowbridge
181
Dinah had left school at the end of the summer term and was to start
her degree course at the West Midland College of Education at Walsall
on 25 September 1978. Rita‘s term had already begun so I took her on
my own and felt most unhappy about leaving her there with all those
strange people. Rita and I went to see her following week end and found
her in great spirits having been exposed to a welcome party where the old
hands put on a risqué show and she had made a good friend with a girl
called Anne. It was good to know that Dinah had settled in so well and
apparently enjoying her new life. The picture in Plate 77 shows Dinah in
her room at College looking quite at home.
Plate 79: Rita and Bill at St Jean de Luz, 1980
The following year (June 19th 1979) we celebrated our silver
wedding anniversary, see Plate 78 and we held a family party at
Moulsford for Dad & Brenda, David and Pam with their two sons,
Jonathan and Barnaby, Eva & Bill Boucher (Rita‘s sister and brother-inlaw). Also, from Bristol, came Marjorie Amesbury (Rita‘s bridesmaid)
with her husband Brian and daughter Briony. We were pleased to have
got through the first twenty-five years more or less unscathed and hoped
for another helping. I was so pleased that my father was still with us and
he thoroughly enjoyed being with his four grandchildren. The only
disappointment was that my brother Peter and his wife Hilda were unable
to be with us owing to Hilda being ill.
182
Our holiday the following year was in France, we decided to drive
down to St Jean de Luz a small seaside resort near the Spanish border on
the Atlantic coast. We caught the ferry from Southampton to Cherbourg
and I was thrilled to find out that it would sail along the Solent passing
my home town of Lymington and then round the Needles at the extreme
west end of the Isle of Wight.
On our way to the ferry port at Southampton Simon got me to call to
phone up to see if his A Level results were out; I did this from the service
station on the M27 and the results were good: A in English and a B in
History. He had applied to go to Birmingham University and these were
the results he needed. So we were all pleased for him and the news
meant he could now enjoy his holiday in a relaxed mood. We travelled to
St Jean via Chateaubriante where we had an overnight stop arriving the
next day on 16 th August. I had hired the upper floor of a holiday
‗cottage‘ which turned out to be a small modern detached house some
way from the beach; however I suppose the walking was good for us.
The beach was fine, one of the best we had ever been to, so Dinah was in
her element swimming and lazing. The Town was famous as the birth
place of Maurice Ravel and we enjoyed visiting the museum in his
honour. Also the scenery in the Pyrenees, which are close by, is
magnificent, so we had several excursions including the Roncesvalles
Pass, where according to legend179, Roland died heroically commanding
the rear guard when attacked by the Saracens during Charlemagne‘s
campaign in 778. We also visited Pamplona, the capital of the ancient
kingdom of Navarre where each July the famous bull-run takes place;
San Sebastian, the summer capital of Spain, a very gracious city by the
sea; and to the birthplace of St Ignatius Loyola at Azpeitia. The latter
place not far from San Sebastien has the famous church of Santuario de
Loiola with its imposing cupola. The Basque region is rather a strange
region at acquaintance because of its language which, to us, has almost
incomprehensible names but fortunately as in Gaelic Ireland double
names; Basque and Spanish are often signified.
Back home and down to earth I took Simon to Birmingham on
Wednesday 24 September for his first term at the University; we both felt
awkward when I had to leave him there; he had a room in a University
apartment which he shared with others. On the following Sunday Rita
and I took Dinah back to Walsall; this was to be a regular pattern over the
next four years. At half term Rita and I managed to sneak a short break
179
La Chanson de Roland is the oldest major work of French Literature. It exists in
various different manuscript versions, the oldest of these versions is the one in the Oxford
manuscript and is usually dated to the middle of the twelfth century (between 1140 and 1170
183
walking in the Lakes, again staying at Skelwith Bridge. We revisted
favourite places including Loughrigg Fell, Paterdale, Crinkle Crags and
Buttermere . Also the drive to Wasdale via Hardknott and Wrynose was
still exciting providing Rita kept her head down on the steep sections.
Plate 80: Simon in the Basque Country and a modern monument to Roland
In November Pete & Elizabeth came for a weekend and we explored
the Cotswolds and also had a day out in Windsor; I remember two things
showing different sides to Pete‘s character: in Windsor he got quite cross
with Elizabeth because she went off on her own whilst we were looking
round Eton College and when I asked him what the problem was he
smiled bleakly at me; secondly in Burford he took me by the hand into a
book shop and said, ‗do you think Ernie would like this‘, well it was
book on architecture and when I said that I was sure he would he then
bought it and insisted that I sign it too.
In June 1981 we had a family gathering in Damerham to celebrate
Dad‘s 80th birthday, and after lunch he said let‘s go to Misselfore, the
place near Bowerchalke he loved as a boy. His four grandchildren, his
three sons and their wives (Hilda, Rita and Pam) and of course Brenda
piled into our cars and we all went on this sentimental journey back
through time to Bowerchalke and to the hamlet of Misselfore, where his
grandfather had a small holding which was a kind of fairyland to escape
to when he was a lad.
In 1981 for our summer holiday we all went to Scotland and stayed
in a crofter‘s cottage in Altbea near Gairloch, a most beautiful place. We
liked Wester Ross so much that we came back the following year and
stayed this time in Ullapool. One of Rita‘s favourite places was
Inverewe Garden a place where all sorts of exotic plants flourish
184
surprisingly so far north. The creator of the garden, Osgood Mackenzie,
chose a barren and rocky promontory in Loch Ewe and despite it being as
far north as Hudson‘s Bay in Canada (latitude 57.8 degrees), the warm
currents of the Gulf Stream ensure it is far warmer. To protect the garden
from the prevailing strong winds and salt spray he established wind
breaks of Native and Scandinavian Pine and reclaimed land by importing
good soil. He planted the walled gardens with all sorts of plants from
around the world. Today it is owned by the National Trust.
Plate 81: Dad at 80 and David and Peter at Misselfore
I am particularly fond of the mountains of this area whose
comparative highness seems to grow straight out of the surrounding sea
lochs and give a truly grand appearance. All peaks in excess of 3000 feet
are named Munros after the Victorian surveyor Sir Hugh Munro who first
listed them. By today‘s reckoning there are 284 of them and a high
proportion of them are in North West Scotland. My favourite is An
Teallach, not far from Ullapool on the ‗road of desolation‘, so called
because it was one of several constructed after the potato famine of 18467 when food and nothing more than food was provided for work. So we
spent our time roaming these hills, exploring coastal lochs and visiting
Inverewe. The weather is often very wet and one memory is of us parked
by the side of Loch Maree listening to the Cricket commentary on the car
radio— it was ‗Botham‘s match from Headingly, the third test match
against Australia when he scored 149 not out to win the match. Of course
Bob Willis‘s 8 wickets also helped!
185
Plate 82: Four Views of Wester Ross 1981/82
An Teallach, (b) Inverewe Garden, (c) Crofters Cottage, (d) Loch Broome
In May of 1982 Rita had a Hysterectomy which she bravely endured
and afterwards we went to a Hotel in Bournemouth for her to relax for a
week; she had been troubled by womb problems for a number of years so
it was something of a relief for her as she had kept putting it off. Then in
July on my birthday was Dinah‘s graduation; how time flies. We were
very proud of her — she got an upper second class degree which was
excellent. The ceremony was a great occasion for the students and their
families and we met many of her friends now about to go out to the wide
world. Her final project had been a setting of Yeats‘ poem ‗Sailing to
Byzantium ‗for voice and small orchestra which she now hoped would
get her into a post graduate college in music.
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees
—Those dying generations — at their song,
186
Plate 83: Dinah Graduates
After we returned from Scotland in 1982 Ernie Freeman and his
wife, Hazel, invited us to stay with them in Brighton. The purpose of the
visit was meet up with Jack Trowbridge, who was the grandson of my
grandfather‘s brother Morgan Trowbridge, so Jack and I shared the same
great-grandfather Elisha Trowbridge, see footnote 114 page 111Error!
Bookmark not defined.. Ernie and Hazel had got to know Jack by
Hazel‘s interests in country crafts. Several members of the Sussex branch
of the family crowded into Ernie‘s house and there followed a veritable
187
tower of Babel as everyone spoke at once. Jack Trowbridge was a
silversmith who was an apprentice of Eric Gill and has several pieces that
are well known to his credit. Ernie recorded the whole proceedings and
later I had the ‗pleasure‘ of trying to unravel what was said. Jack
Trowbridge‘s father, Reginald, knew my father well and had several
interesting stories to tell except that his wife kept interrupting him.
The following year, 1983 we visited Dad and Brenda in Damerham
in the spring and we went to Lymington and to Exbury Gardens; and we
found him quite frail. Brenda said his mind was going and he was
becoming difficult to cope with. Prostate cancer had been diagnosed and
he had an operation recently but it had achieved nothing. Back home I
received a package from him with a scrawled note that said this is for
you, ‗here are my sea writings and I think Brenda is going to throw them
out‘180, nonsense of course but so sad. In August the four of us went to
Brittany for our summer holiday. I had booked us into a ‗Gite‘ near
Vannes in a small village called Pluvigner; our route to France was by
the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry and we stayed one night in Lewes in order
to catch the first boat out in the early morning. We spent a quiet fortnight
exploring the coast on the south side of the Brittany peninsular and I
liked particularly Quiberon Bay area and Carnac with its Menhirs.
Shortly after our return Dad was taken into care at Salisbury (Old
Manor Hospital) and we went down to see him. I hated seeing him in the
day room trapped in one of those dreadful chairs with an integral tray. He
knew me and said, ‘Get me out of here Bill‘. I asked why they were
securing him like this and I was told he was found wandering around the
town the day before. Salisbury was his town; he grew up there and knew
every nook and cranny (See Volume 1) but now it was gone. On the fifth
of September he died of the usual thing, Myocardial Infarction etc but
also was added Dementia and Carcinoma of Prostate. I doubted the
‗Dementia‘ I would rather say ‗confused‘. As a young man he had little
religious convictions; the strict Baptist childhood upbringing in his case
didn‘t help. But in middle life with Brenda they discovered Anglicanism
together and he became confirmed and a regular church goer. At the
funeral on the 12th September many friends from Damerham church were
present and the Vicar‘s Eulogy was heartfelt.
I have some difficulty in reconciling the two halves of his life, the
first as a younger man with growing family trying to build a small town
business, a career forced on him by the ill health of his own father. After
leaving the sea at the end of WW1 his interests were in the new field of
Radio (Wireless as they called it in those days) and he was clever enough
to have made wireless engineering his career. This was not to be and he
180
For years he had been planning to write up his experiences in the Merchant Navy
during WW1
188
did create a successful retail business in the milk trade but his hobbies
remained. He probably built the first radio in Lymington and carried out
experiments on improving the technology and I am sure this must have
rubbed off on me. It certainly rubbed off on his eldest son Peter who did
become a radio engineer. But he also loved the traditional country
pursuits of shooting and fishing, or should I say poaching. He loved guns
and was a great collector of firearms of all types; at the height of his
business career his study walls were covered by the display of shotguns
and rifles. His second career with his second wife Brenda was different;
together they became anti blood sports and developed a great respect for
animals. He did take up clay pigeon shooting with Peter as a companion
and they won several prizes.
Plate 84: My Dad Aged 82; his last photograph
I think he had a fine intellect with deep knowledge, often incomplete
like all auto-didactics, of many things. He was a modest poet and wrote
poetry all his life in a rural style somewhat derivative to be sure but vivid
189
for all that — I wish I could do as well. He could recite with passion the
poems he learnt as boy; I have a tape of him reciting from memory
Shakespeare and Milton. My debt to him is considerable; he sent me
away to sea to make a man of me and when that was done he encouraged
me to change toward science when the time was right i.e. when Rita
came along. He sent his youngest son to a public school which gave him
the basis for a career in politics and he helped his eldest son Peter to
acquire a radio and TV business. He had a good life.
190
Round the World to China 1984
Before relating the steps that led up to the formation of Vector
Fields Ltd which marked a major change in my life, I reproduce in this
section excerpts from my diary covering a round the world journey to
Canada, USA, and China that Rita and I made as it really belongs to my
RAL career though, I did not completely sever my employment there
until 1987. The main purpose of this trip was to give a series of lectures
on Electromagnetic Field Computation in the People's Republic, at the
invitation of the Atomic Energy Institute, Beijing and at the Institute of
Electro-technology at Harbin. This came about following a visit to RAL
in 1977 by Prof Zhou DeKing, the doyen of electromagnetics in China,
and the two year visit of his ex pupil Fan Ming Wu on attachment to
CAG in 1980. Ming Wu had now returned to the Atomic Energy Institute
and had arranged my visit in conjunction with another of his former
teachers Prof. Tang at the Harbin Institute.
Montreal Sunday 29 July
The day began by meeting Ernie Freeman, Dave Lowther and his
wife, Irene, for breakfast. The weather was warm and sunny — perfect.
Picked up rental car from Hertz - a white 'Reliant', then collected luggage
from the hotel. We then walked up to Peel Street and saw the Infolytica
offices on the 3rd floor of a corner building. We were impressed by their
2000 sq ft suite including a Hewlett-Packard 9000 on loan.
Rita and Irene left to go out to Point Claire to see Dave's boat. We
followed in my car later. Point Clair is on the north shore of the St
Lawrence River near Dorval - 10 miles west of Montreal. After a
pleasant hour on the boat - a 36 foot yacht fitted with outboard motor and
accommodation for 4 (cramped). We had a sandwich at the Club house
then Rita and I departed for Lake Placid at 13.30, crossing Pont
Champlain on route 15 south. Roads were fairly quiet and driving
conditions good and we reached the border at about 15.00. The
emigration people were friendly and efficient, the officer tormented Rita
after her remarks on weakness of American tea - he said he detected a
trace of Scottish in her when she appeared reluctant to agree about using
two tea bags!
We found the turn - off route 87 to Lake Placid through interesting
scenery with Adirondack peaks all around, over fast flowing rivers and
through gorges —rivers not very full. The final way into the village was
up hill to the shores of a lake called 'Mirror Lake', past the former Winter
Olympic Stadium and Centre. The main street was very crowded and we
had difficulty at first in finding the entrance to the hotel. However we
eventually discovered it and safely parked at the side of the Golden
Arrow Motor Inn. Our room was large and pleasant, overlooking the
191
lake, and appeared comfortable. Young families could be heard playing
on the hotel‘s private beach directly below us. After a bath and
unpacking, we explored the hotel and 'town'. First impressions were of a
crowded commercialized over-worked holiday centre, yet the
surroundings looked promising. We had dinner in a hotel restaurant Tiffany's. There are Tiffany lampshades everywhere in this part of the
USA - like tiny stained glass windows!
Plate 85: At Pt Claire to see Dave Lowther’s Yacht (R to L Dave, Irene, Bill & Rita)
Lake Placid Tuesday 31 July
We woke at 01.00 and then later by a mouse! Rita did not like the
mouse so we had our usual antics to chase it out. We had spotted a large
fat mouse yesterday, so it proved an omen. Slept again eventually, awoke
6.30 felt refreshed, Rita's headache was much better so we had a good
breakfast at hotel. We drove to Wilmington (10 miles) then along the
Memorial Road to Summit of Whiteface Mountain (4867 ft). The car
park is 273 ft below and you reach the peak either by a lift or by a
pleasant ridge climb over rocks - handrail all the way. We chose the lift!
Entered a long, well lit, tunnel and walked into the mountain for 50
yards. The lift was operated by a lady who told us the history of the road
and tunnel.
The panorama from the summit was fair; a slight haze prevented
really good views. We spent about 1 hour looking and taking
192
photographs, then walked down to the car park. On our way back to Lake
Placid we stopped to see High Falls Gorge — the West branch of the
Ausable River.
Wednesday 1 August
Awoke to find the weather overcast and unpromising. The forecast
was not good; however, we decided on hill climbing and so went by car
to high peak area at Heart Lake - a beautiful spot. Mount Jo overlooking
the lake was to be our objective - 2876 ft. We took the short trail up
about 0.8 mile 700 ft, and thoroughly enjoyed the exercise and wild life of course nearly all climbs in the Adirondack's will be in woodland, the
tree line is at 4000 ft. On the ascent we encountered numerous toads, well
disguised, and a garter snake. The summit was a flat rocky shelf about
the size of a tennis court surrounded, of course, by trees. We could see
clearly the outlines at least some of the nearby high peaks of the
MacIntyre range and Marcy in the distance and quite clearly the
eponymous shape of the lake below. We were joined by a lady and 4 year
old child, friendly people. The lady told us, after offering us food which
we declined, that she was training her son to be a hill walking companion
since her husband showed no interest. We returned to the car via the long
trail (1.25 miles) passing at least 2 other parties ascending, a fine short
walk.
We returned to Lake Placid for lunch, then we drove out to look at
John Brown's farm house and grove which is just a short distance. This
was an interesting museum, showing the furniture and memorabilia of the
Brown family with literature telling their tragic story. The graves of John
Brown and his two sons, together with their companions at Harpers
Ferry, are enclosed by an iron fence and marked by a headstone and huge
natural rock boulder. By standing back to observe the grave site, farm
house and nearby barn together make a poignant scene framed by the soft
hills and trees. The views are relatively open and on a clear day would be
spectacular. The effect, however, is quite destroyed as one looks west
toward the giant Olympic ski jump structures. The 1936 statue of John
Brown with Negro boy appears to me to be somewhat self-conscious and
sentimental.
Thursday 2 August
The weather showed signs of brightening so we decided to go to
Saranac Lake area to climb Baker Mountain. The start of the trail not
being obvious, however, we followed the instructions in the guide and
selected the most likely path. We were soon ascending in forest country
of course,and appeared to pass the 'old quarry' on the left as expected.
The path levelled out for a while and we spotted a woodpecker (red
193
headed). After a short walk on the level the path climbed again and we
saw our first ADK trail marker! The summit was reached soon by a series
of rocky shelves and we could see good views to the south. After a drink
and exploring the top we sat and had our lunch. The place was so still
and warm that we could have slept except we would have been eaten by
insects despite the protection of sprays, creams etc —we both were
liberally covered with the 'Adirondack insect repellent' recommended by
ADK.
The views from this little hill, 2452 ft, are delightful. You can see
the 'high peaks' in the distance and the little villages and lakes of the
Saranac area below. We quickly descended the 900 ft to the car and
drove into the village for a cup of tea which was refreshing. The journey
back to Lake Placid was 'round about' as we decided to go via
Bloomington and Franklin falls and encircle White Face Mountain. The
river near Franklin Falls is superb, a fast flowing brown stream broad and
full of boulders.
Friday 3 August
Today was hazy with plenty of sun. We drove to Keene then on to
St Huberts. Interesting drive - passed the Cascade lakes and several high
peaks followed by a long descent into Keene Valley. I thought it would
be interesting to walk to the lower Ausable Lake by the side of east
branch of the Ausable River, a distance of 3½ miles with an ascent of
only 700 ft. We discovered from the guide books that the whole of this
area belongs to the Ausable Club (Adirondack Mountain Reserve) —a
very private outfit though they do allow 'hikers' to cross their property
under sufferance provided regulations are observed; 'No hunting,
Trapping or Fishing', of course, and 'No camping or fires', quite
reasonable; but, all these would be allowed if you are a member or a
guest. We drove to the Club house, a large affair covered with notices
prescribing this and that, particularly about no car parking, and yes ties
must be worn at all times in the dining room. The grounds near the Club
house are attractively and neatly arranged into golf course, tennis courts
and chalets. The surrounding view of the high peaks is superb. We found
the private road which leads to the Ausable Lake but could not find a
legal place to leave the car; in the end we were forced to go to the 'hikers
car park' at least a mile away at the bottom of the hill by the main road.
However, we accepted this with good 'grace' and, after signing the
registration book we ascended back up to the club and on through the
gate to begin the walk. The walk proved interesting and was for the most
part beside the river under very fine trees. Since the sun was overhead
and extremely powerful, we were grateful for these trees. We saw a fine
red deer and some trout in a dammed river pool. After nearly 2 hours and
194
feeling quite tired, we arrived at the lake which nestled in a narrow valley
between some of the highest hills in the Adirondacks.
There was the boathouse crammed full of canoes from floor to
ceiling, owned by Ausable Club. I enquired if I might have the use of a
boat for a while, but the surly youth looking after the place asked me if I
was a member or a guest! We enjoyed our packed lunch of ham and
cheese, orange juice, apple and chocolate. I felt rather tired and fragile so
we were delighted to discover that the club ran a bus service back to the
Club house. Apparently non-members could ride on the bus at a fee of
$1.25 if there were any spare spaces!, there were some on the 2.15 pm
bus, so we rode back in discomfort, saving us a 3½ mile walk in the heat
of the sun. We returned home via the Olympic ski jump centre adjacent
to John Brown's farm. We went to the top of the highest jump - a tall
concrete tower - by the elevator and enjoyed the panoramic views - Mt
Marcy and Algonquim being particularly fine. Rita very much enjoyed
watching the 'boys' practicing ski jumps on summer matting. I felt 'done
up' and was glad to return to the hotel for a rest. After dinner I felt quite
tired and faintly sick, went to bed at 20.30. Saw final stages of 3 day
event from Los Angeles - British team got Silver only just missing the
Gold medal which went to USA. It was a good night on the whole, since
I awoke twice only. Rita was thoughtful and considerate; despite the cool
draft she left the air conditioning on.
Sunday 5 August
Today we drive to Schenectady. How to sum up our weeks holiday
at Lake Placid? The weather certainly fine and warm but views spoilt by
hazy atmosphere, however we saw a fair section of the Adirondacks and
climbed three peaks, albeit small ones. I imagine the region is one that
grows on one with closer acquaintance. At first sight the ever present
forests which cover most of the hills militate against regarding the area as
truly mountainous in the conventional sense, i.e. true mountain scenery
begins at heights above the tree-line. Nevertheless this region is a
wilderness with extraordinarily rich wild life - wolves, bears, deer,
eagles, etc, its lakes and rivers form a vast network of water routes and
there are literally thousands of forest and mountain trails. Many months
are required to explore the· region - a week visit only allows a tiny
glimpse; I did pine for open ranges though and thought sometimes of the
wide rugged expanses of Torridon.
The village and hotel were what one expected; the Golden Arrow
has the prime position beside Mirror Lake and is quite well run. It is
ideally suited to families with young children, with a superb outlook,
there are good facilities for all form of water sport, and the staff and
guests were very courteous. The town provides good facilities too but
195
heavily commercialized leaning heavily on former Olympic glory. They
hope to host the games again in 1992.
The journey to Schenectady took 3½ hours including a short stop for
lunch, and was uneventful, the State Highway 87 relatively quiet until
Saratoga Springs, then we used Route 50 to Schenectady from there,
arriving at 13.30 after losing our way finding the Holiday Inn. Bela
Konrad181 telephoned to invite us to dinner at 7.00 pm. After a cup of tea
we spent the rest of the afternoon resting. We enjoyed a pleasant evening
with Bela at a local steak house then later at Bela's home, where we met
Yvonna, his pretty Polish wife. Bela is musical; he plays piano good
enough to do the Chopin studies, his tastes are romantic and
conservative. He also paints; his efforts adorn the walls. Their home is
tastefully furnished with their Eastern-European origins much in
evidence with bric-a-brac, etc. They both pretend not to be exiles but I
believe the trauma of coming to the West has had a deep effect but they
are a 'sturdy' pair determined to make a success; they have two children Andrew aged 3 and Caroline aged 7.
Bela left Romania 20 years ago when he was 18, brought out by his
parents and settled in Canada. It is remarkable the number of 'Canadians'
we know who come from Eastern Europe - Bela and Yvonna, Elizabeth
Silvester from Czechoslovakia - even David Lowther is only half English
- his mother comes from Estonia and also Irene (Dave's wife) is from
Eastern Europe somewhere. Yvonna made some superb coffee and
served blueberry pie which is quite American. We listened to the
Romanian pianist Dinu Lipatti playing Liszt - the Dante Sonata.
Schenectady Monday 6 August
Bela collected me at 10.30 and we went first to GE. I was surprised
to find an audience waiting for me expecting a talk; I nearly refused as I
had only my material for the scheduled lectures to be given later today at
Union College. I did not want to be unfriendly so I agreed; in any case,
there were several old friends present, including John D Angelo and
Kimal Khallifalla, who used to work at Culham. Chari was there of
course and gave me a very warm welcome.
I talked principally about the new 3D eddy current work at RAL and
of course in such bright company, I was subject to many searching
questions, it was however quite stimulating and maybe better in these
circumstances not to have been too prepared. Chari took me to Union
College for lunch and I met the organizer of the course. The subject of
Richard Burton came up, who died earlier today, aged 58, in Switzerland.
A Union College professor appeared to think it was a case of divine
181
A Canadian Graduate from McGill University now working at General Electric
whom we had met at conferences.
196
justice! I must say I felt sad Burton was a consummate actor and has
given me considerable pleasure over the years. I first saw him in
Christopher Fry's play 'The Lady's Not for Burning' in 1948, in which he
acted with Gielgud for the first time. His voice lives on in the memory.
My lecture - 2 hours - went pretty well; the people on the course
were lively and very attentive, which resulted in some good discussion.
Dave Lowther arrived before the start and sat in on the first hour - Peter
Silvester came later. We three plus Rita had dinner together later and
both Pete and Dave appear to have accepted the basic conditions for
becoming shareholders in Vector Fields182.
Earlier I had discussions with several of the course students on their
difficulties solving field problems. Chari took Rita and I for a drink at the
Holiday Inn and he talked about retiring and returning to India to work
with the poor —his wife is to go back later this year. After dinner, I gave
Dave Lowther a package, he agreed to ask Bela to post it back to RAL
for me, it contained the books I bought at Lake Placid. Tomorrow Rita
and I continue our journey, next stop Honolulu.
Tuesday 7 August
We travelled to Montreal in a Beechcraft 90 with only 5 passengers
and Pilot and co-Pilot- indeed a small twin engine 'tree-hopper'. A good
journey though apart from occasional periods of turbulence. We arrived
at Montreal at 10.00 (having left at 09.00). The Air Canada flight to San
Francisco, via Toronto, was not leaving until 4 pm, so we had a long wait
—eating, writing post-cards, etc. This flight proved interesting apart from
the good service provided by Air Canada the flight path was diverted to
the south because of turbulence so we had splendid views of the Grand
Canyon. This brought back memories of the visit Rita and I had there two
years ago.
We joined the Honolulu flight SQ1 at midnight (West Coast Time)
already adding the 3 hours time difference from Montreal. Singapore
Airlines gave better service if anything than Air Canada. The flight lasted
5 hours and after a good supper and some whisky poured straight from
the bottle by the pretty Singapore air hostess, we settled to sleep with
blankets and eye-shields. The Boeing 477 landed on time at Honolulu
Airport and we were soon in our hotel at Waikiki. We had been travelling
since 07.30 am arriving at Honolulu the following day at 02.30 am, a
time of 19 hours + 6 hours time difference, which meant our journey, had
lasted 25 hours.
Honolulu Wednesday 8 August
182
This was premature as later events proved.
197
We slept fitfully and got up early 07.00 for breakfast. We were
immediately enchanted by the many shades of blue sky and sea, white
surf, deep brown hills and dark green palm leaves. We spent the morning
on Waikiki beach enjoying the sun and sea. After a buffet lunch we slept!
The evening we spent at the hotel enjoying drinks in the Pupu room and
dinner in the Peacock Restaurant, after a walk in which we ventured as
far as the International Market, very attractively lit at night and
containing thousands of stalls, mostly cheap souvenirs but very jolly.
Plate 86: Near Waikiki Beech
Thursday 9 August
We decided not to tour the island but to laze away the time in
Waikiki; accordingly we spent the forenoon touring the souvenir shops in
the International Market. We bought gifts for the people at home,
including gold leaf fossils of leaves and shells at 50c a time. We enjoyed
a good lunch of a chicken sandwich and beer in the open near the Royal
Hawaiian Hotel, a spoof of a place, stucco pink with deep red carpets and
a superb beach and pool. We saw a fine green catamaran majestically
cutting through the surf and a vast multitude of 'brown' people basking on
the beach. Back to the hotel, we changed for the beach and enjoyed a
lazy afternoon going into the sea many times. The evening was also
enjoyable; we had a dinner overlooking the sea in Groom's Steak House,
198
an attractive scene of boats of all types, including a four-master Barquelike ship, but I am sure she had engines and the sails were for show. We
finished the day, eating ice cream in the market.
Friday 10 August
After breakfast we took the beach bus to Haunama Bay. The bus
went east around the back of Diamond Head and past lovely stretches of
coast with well heeled houses decorated with a rich profusion of flowers
with lots of bougainvillaea. In one case a large yacht was 'parked'
outside. Haunama Bay is a majestic cove, nestling beneath brown bare
cliffs and not a hotel in sight. The expanse of water crisscrossed by reefs
looked inviting from rim of the bay. We followed the regulars down the
track to shore; in fact all Honolulu appeared to be visiting this idyllic spot
today. People of all shapes, sizes, colours, races, were there - Japanese
'cheek by jowl' with Anglo Saxons, Europeans of all sorts and the usual
polygot selection of Orientals. It was difficult to find a vacant spot of
beach, but we did manage to find a few square feet on the bare grass
(earth), chocolate brown, near some fine palm trees, beautiful tall spare
trees windswept by the Trade Winds.
We changed into our swim-ware and to my astonishment we
immediately saw shoals of fish, some highly coloured, swarming about
our legs in the water. It was now apparent why this place is so popular; a
delight for those who like to watch wild life in the sea, most visitors had
snorkel and mask to get a better view. After this experience we decided
to move along the coast a few miles further, using the beach bus, to visit
the Sea Life Park. Here we had a pleasant lunch and afterwards looked at
the 'reef' fish in something like their natural habitat, in a huge aquarium.
We saw tropical fish of all sizes and types, some brilliantly coloured. Of
particular fascination was the procession of sting-rays prowling round the
aquarium, solemn and graceful. Next came an entertaining show in a pool
they called Whalers Cove, complete with a full size replica of the
Whaling Ship the 'Nantucket Bay' and a tiny desert island. A girl dressed
as a Polynesian lady together with a lad in 'whaling gear' rowed to the
island from the ship, these 'actors' were introduced by a MC standing in
the ship using a PA system. The stars of the show however were a whale
and two dolphins. They did all manner of tricks culminating in jumping
high over a stretched wire. The lady at one stage attached a loop round
the whale and rode standing on his back at 30 mph around the pond.
Later we saw another dolphin show, this time with a Sea-Lion, and a
Penguin called Freddy, in the Ocean Theatre, another large tank. We
returned to the hotel for a rest by an ordinary service bus and had dinner
at the Holiday Inn nearby.
199
Saturday 11 August
This was our last day in Honolulu. We spent the morning on the
beach at Waikiki, the water was perfect. Rita discovered the Jack in the
Box restaurant where we could purchase a picnic lunch. We took the
lunch to the zoo at Kapiolani Park and spent a very pleasant afternoon
looking at the animals and taking photographs - I particularly liked the
giraffes, there were 7 of them in a large compound~ the decor blended
well with the tropical surroundings. I had booked a car to take us to the
airport at 11.30; our luggage was packed and left under the care of the
hotel bell-man. We had dinner in 'down town' Honolulu and afterwards
we went to the Blaisdel Concert Hall to see Richard Harris in 'Camelot'!
The show was memorable in two ways - firstly, before the show began
we were asked to stand silent for one minute in memory of Richard
Burton who had first created the part of Arthur, and secondly for the
terrible acoustics of the hall. The production also left a lot to be desired,
Merlin was played by a 'Stage Englishman' almost as in a seaside
pantomime and the fellow playing Sir Launcelot of handsome figure, had
lost his voice, whilst poor old Richard Harris has no voice to lose. We
returned to the Queen Kapiolani and collected our luggage and said
farewell to Honolulu.
Hong Kong Monday 13 August
The flight was pleasant enough - we had breakfast and a time shift
of a further 6 hours. We are now + 8 from UK time. Our travelling
problems now begin, we are in the orient and we expect difficulties. In
order to buy film and sundries, we decided to go through emigration,
collect our bags etc, and then check in to China Airlines in the normal
way. To my annoyance I discovered we would have to pay $100 HK
each in tax. Also, the HK airport facilities were not good so it was rather
a waste, but we did get some film and locks for the cases. Checking into
CA also proved worrying as people just push in front of one in queues,
which always makes me very cross. However we eventually managed to
check in, I had to unpack the large case because the X-ray checker
showed a metal cylinder - this turned out to be my shaving cream. We
had to pay the tax and have our papers checked, after this we were
allowed to proceed to the departure area. Here we waited for some while,
approximately 2 hours, but we did manage to buy a sandwich - sliced
bread and typically British. We chatted to a charming young Italian
traveller who was on our flight - he entertained us with 'horror stories'
about Chinese pilots and safety. The plane - a Boeing 727 - boarded at
1.00 pm, a half hour late, but we were soon underway.
200
Flight CA102 lasted about 3 hours and the pretty air hostesses
presented us with a fan each and a reasonable lunch. China Air's
approach is to try and copy the Western standards as far as possible; the
in-flight magazine is attractively packaged with the usual glossy articles
and jet-set life style. This maybe only applies to the prestigious HKBeijing route. We expected immigration problems at Beijing, our port of
entry into PRC, and we had already filled in 3 forms on the aircraft, a
health declaration, a customs form and an immigration form. In the event
the health and immigration went very smoothly and even customs only
caused one 'hiccup' - Rita had declared some cheap jewellery she had
bought in Honolulu and the customs officer wanted to see it!
She couldn't remember in which of our 7 items of luggage she had
packed the stuff, and so she had to start looking in each case in
succession. However, after I had explained that the value of these gifts
was only of the order $1 a piece he felt inclined to wave us through and
so she only had time to open one case before this happened, so we were
soon clear and were able to wheel our luggage through.
We were greeted by Fan Ming-Wu in the meeting area. There were
several people at the airport to meet us - apart from Ming Wu; there were
Professors Shi Nai and Wei Chu-Shan from the Harbin Institute as well
as the head of Accelerator Division of the Atomic Energy Institute,
Beijing. The weather was hot but fortunately with little humidity. We
were told that Professor Wei was responsible for foreign visitors at
Harbin, we were to travel there tomorrow, and he would be looking after
us. Wei Chu-Shan spoke quite good English and explained that he
needed our passports to obtain our tickets for Harbin, in the end he
needed more than just our passports as he also needed foreign currency to
pay for our tickets! Accordingly I had to hand over £100 — he was very
apologetic and said he would pay me for my fare later. Our luggage
disappeared, all our new friends quickly helping to stow it in the two cars
sent to meet us. It transpired that they were unable to book us in the
airport hotel as we had expected the first of many such rearrangements
we were to suffer. Instead we had to travel to Beijing and be deposited at
the 'infamous' friendship hotel.
Rita and I travelled with Ming Wu and Wei in one car, our luggage
and the rest of the party in the other. It was a cheerful journey, Ming Wu
appeared not to have changed, still a friendly and slightly vague
personality, you are never quite sure if things will work out as he
predicts. He told me· of some of his recent work and how he has applied
many of the techniques he learnt at Rutherford. Mr Wei told us he had
learnt his English in Hong Kong whilst working for the RAOC and Rita
and he sang 'It‘s a Long Way to Tipperary' in commemoration of those
days. The journey took at least 1 hour and started in the country with the
201
car cutting through a long straight flat tree lined road. We passed several
donkey carts and an ever increasing number of bicycles. As the suburbs
commence this trickle of bicycles became a high density flux; at road
junctions the car is held up whilst awaiting a break in the heavy stream of
bicycles.
We at last arrived at the Friendship Hotel to meet up with our
luggage, new friends and more trouble as we were not booked in so Mr
Wei had to negotiate for us while we sat, very tired after well over 24
hours travelling and no sleep. Eventually all was sorted out and we were
allocated a room. We said goodbye to Ming Wu who said he would be
arranging our visit in Beijing and also that he was planning to join us in
Harbin next week. Mr Wei arranged with the head man in the restaurant
for our meals, dinner and a special early breakfast 6.30 am - and would
escort us to the airport in the morning. After dinner we bathed and went
to bed. My first impression of the hotel was that it is a little better than
your average YH but not quite as good as a YMCA. This proved to be
highly exaggerated as our subsequent stay would prove.
Beijing Tuesday 14 August
We slept well enough and remembered to brush our teeth in the
boiled water provided. Professor Wei's arrangements worked out; indeed
we had a special early breakfast in the Friendship Dining room - two
fried eggs, bread and coffee. The presence of Wei in the background
however was necessary; he somehow ensured that we, the visitors, were
not troubled over the sordid subject of money? We left the hotel at 7.00
in a Japanese car, together with Professor Shi-Nai, to the airport. The
same sea of cycles saw us off and we arrived in good time for our
luggage to be checked at the Harbin check in - Mr Wei somehow got to
the front of the queue and soon had our luggage swiftly deposited this, in
fine contrast to the debacle at Hong Kong. The flight to Harbin lasted just
under two hours and Rita was the only woman from the West on board,
though there were several US business men sitting near us. The hostess
presented us with yet another fan and in fact delivered a steady stream of
gifts throughout the flight, including sweets, a sponge, and rose-hip syrup
to drink and finally a cube of health-food to which we needed to add
water!
Our arrival at Harbin was exciting as we were met by a reception
committee including our principal host, Prof Tang, and several of his
colleagues as well as an official photographer. Several films were taken
of the introductions and groups etc, Rita also managed to take a group
picture and the official photographer used my camera as well. We
travelled in a Chinese built car which had curtains in the windows and
were soon honking our way to Harbin. We were to stay in an apartment
202
reserved for foreign visitors actually at the Institute, some several
kilometres from the centre of town —I must say this filled me with
apprehension! The institute, a square white building of some 8 floors,
built some ten years ago, appeared on the horizon as we entered the
suburbs of the city. The area we were in was not attractive with its half
finished avenues and ugly apartment blocks, with many broken windows
and already deteriorating masonry, several of the roads were merely
muddy tracks rutted with vehicles.
Plate 87: Reception Committee:
Prof. Tan on the right Prof Shi-Nai on the left with Mr Wei centre back
Our home for the next two weeks turned out to be on the ground
floor of one of these blocks, and we were proudly shown around the
official foreign visitor‘s residence. The apartment consists of a fairly
large sitting room full of odd furniture, including a set of four large arm
chairs, all covered with matching brown dust covers, also a large
expensive salmon pink carpet, an empty cheap cocktail cabinet with a
b/w TV, a book case/side board, in fact all the furniture except for the
carpet would not be up to MFI standard. The wall-paper was quite
attractive, pale blue embossed, but the curtains were merely purple cloth
draped carelessly over the windows, which have broken panes. The
finishing touches to the room are the provision of a bright red telephone
that doesn't work, a huge electric fan and two hat stands. A rather
grotesque feature is the large left-over Christmas decoration standing on
203
a wooden desk. The electrical services were fed by lethal wires draped
across the floor. Other rooms are a bathroom with an extreme case of
DIY plumbing executed, apparently by an idiot; a bedroom containing a
double bed, wardrobe, badly hanging curtains and another hat stand; and
finally a small study with desk which actually looked to be very useful,
and yet another hat stand.
Plate 88: Being briefed by Prof. Tang
As soon as we were settled in we were taken to lunch in a room
nearby. I was too tired to take much in and we were grateful to return to
the flat for a rest. Later on in the afternoon I took a short walk and passed
Mr Wei who was with his wife, a nice quiet lady who speaks good
English. They invited us vaguely to their flat but I felt we would need to
have a specific arrangement made before we could go. I ventured a little
way up the road but soon felt isolated so I returned, next time I would go
with Rita and venture further.
At 6.00 pm we were collected by Professor Wei to go to the official
dinner. This turned out to be in the same small bare room as we had
lunch, with a largish round table and tiny stools. The table had the usual
small 'saucers' and chopsticks, although we were provided with a spoon
each, and later a fork. Our hosts were there: first Professor Li who had
spent 2 years at MIT and was wearing a Western suit; then Professor
Tang who reminded me of Peter Lorre, short friendly, and very
considerate, who sat between me and Li. Rita sat on my right hand next
204
to her the two Vice Presidents of the Institute—we didn't rate the
President! Next to them sat a young man whose main function seemed to
be to keep the drink flowing. Our friend Wei sat next and finally
Professor Shi Nai who appeared late wearing a smarter version of the
'Mao Boiler Suit'. Thus there were 9 of us present. The meal was
elaborate and consisted of many courses, some of the local specialities,
i.e. fish from the Songhua River. We had chicken, steak, pork all done in
elaborate garnish and sauce. The chop-sticks were not a success so we
soon resumed to fork and spoon. There were three sorts of drinks, each in
a different glass, a rather pleasant tankard of Chinese beer, a rich ruby
Port and a fiery pale yellow liquid —a grain alcohol. This later was used
for numerous toasts, the Vice President toasted me and I replied, we
toasted mutual cooperation and lasting friendship, we also toasted Rita
and the success of the lecturing. The climax came with a dish of potatoes,
a real local delicacy. These spuds were baked in treacle and you had to
lift them high, standing on your feet, to draw fine fibres of syrup which
having done was received with much laughter. One of the VPs got drunk
and all were merry, I called for the cook and his staff and toasted them.
We parted feeling very welcome and returned to the flat to sleep but then
further guests arrived, professors from Chinese universities in Harbin to
attend my lectures; we had to talk for a further hour before sleep!
Harbin Wednesday 15 August
I slept reasonably well, up at 6 am to prepare the first lecture. The
lecture programme is to be 10 lectures each lasting approximately 3
hours, with a 'tea break' at half time and Professor Tang to translate. The
lectures are to begin at 8.00 am each day with free time after lunch, but I
suspect they will want to fill this time up with other technical talks; we
shall see. I decided that my first lecture would be an introduction in
which I would broadly describe the SERC setup of CAE and some facts
about RAL. I would end by giving a synopsis of the lectures to come
which would be divided into 9 further slots.
We were to have our meals next door and it transpired that a 'cook'
had been specially laid on for us, breakfast at 7.15, lunch at 12.00 and
dinner at 5.30 pm and we agreed to try Chinese food! So we went for our
first breakfast in a small room just containing a table with a dull outlook,
looking out on to a red brick apartment block. The cook, a short chubby
man dressed in proper gear white coat and cap brought our breakfast on a
tray; poached eggs floating in salty flavoured water, also a dish of sweet
milk and Chinese croissants. The eggs were OK and the croissant not bad
but the sweet milk183 was not to our taste. Both Prof Shi Nai and Prof
183
This liquid proved to be not real milk but 'rice milk'
205
Tang escorted me to the first lecture on the 5th floor of the main institute
building — no lifts of course. The lecture room is like a board school
classroom and 40 or so people were waiting patiently, sitting at the rows
of desks. Both overhead projector and 35 mm projector were arranged to
direct images on to screen of near white sheeting, but to my dismay the
room was only partially blacked out - there were no window drapes on 2
of the 4 windows. I tried the OH projector and to my relief it worked
though the level of illumination was far too low for a decent projection. It
would do. The 35 mm slides however were not visible, the room would
have to be darkened.
Plate 89: First Lecture
By this time Prof Tang had started talking and was busy introducing
me to the audience who came from all over China just to attend this
seminar, it was all very flattering and encouraged me to do my best. I
decided to begin without slides, but several young men arrived carrying
curtains with which they proceeded to black out the room; so I switched
to my slides, but the projector was not standard and the slides were not
loaded correctly, so we had some good humoured fun! I firmly declined
to go on fussing with the projector and said we would sort the slides out
during the tea break. A bright young man in the audience took over and
said he would sort the slides out so I used viewgraphs only until the
break. After the break with the slides now working moderately, I was
able to finish the first lecture.
206
I returned at 11.30, met Rita, and we had lunch at 12.00 in the boxroom, Chinese again some of it quite delicious but we miss plain water
to drink and fruit.. We slept in the afternoon and I felt pretty depressed,
feeling we should have been accommodated in a hotel in the city centre.
Rita didn't agree with this, she prefers the living in with the people,
maybe I will get used to it but we do seem to be stuck in a dreary part of
the suburbs with no 'flesh pots'.
Slept for a spell afterwards, but also managed some music—Elgar's
Falstaff. I wonder if this was a first performance of this in Harbin.
Before dinner at 5.30 we took a short walk; we managed to find our way
out of the institute's muddle of buildings to the main road, passing a
steady stream of people coming and going, women marketing, children
playing, old people talking and in the main street outside, lorries, trolley
busses and bicycles galore. Everyone stared at us of course as we were
told they would, but we found a small park and after paying a small
entrance fee, we walked around it, the place was mainly used by children.
We managed to return to the institute a different way.
Professor Wei our mentor and guide arrived to present us with his
'account'; he had been scrupulous in writing things out, he paid us for my
fare (I had paid in Beijing) 160 Y + the allowance of 10 Y per diem as
agreed. He then went on to tell us of the programme that had been
arranged for us while in Harbin. It appeared very full indeed, Rita had the
use of a guide, a charming young man, a Mr Fan Yu aged about 30, and
he was a post-graduate at the institute. Also provided, as required, would
be a car and driver. While I was lecturing this morning they had already
seen something of the city and shops. Professor Wei proposed several
outings for us both in the afternoons, but many afternoons were to be
filled up with 'lecture conferences', discussions with the faculty
professors and an additional lecture to the Heilongjiang Electrical
Engineering Society. However, I was going to have a tour of the shops
tomorrow afternoon, a visit to a craft factory and to the city museum on
Friday.
On Saturday a visit to Sun Island was arranged. But next week
looked full. He dropped a further bombshell by announcing that there is
no electric power in institutes and rooms on Fridays and Saturdays, so I
would have to lecture without visual aids on these days. I thought of
Dennis Wilkinson's184 comment on his visit to China, 'If you don't want
to play; don't go'. Another of the many helpful young men brought me a
cassette recorder/player and typewriter; this was very considerate since
now we could play our music tapes in the room and listen together. We
went to bed feeling very tired.
184
Formerly Head of the Nuclear Physics Department at Oxford University.
207
Thursday 16 August
Up early, breakfast at 7.15 - eggs poached in a sweet liquid - not to
our taste! Lecture at 8.00, so Professor Tang came to the apartment at
7.45. This was to be the first lecture proper and would deal with the
theory of Integral Equations for Electromagnetic Fields. I spoke for 90
minutes with Prof Tang translating. All, as far as I could tell, went well
and he is doing a splendid job. The audience were as attentive as ever.
After a 'tea break' I resumed another 90 minutes, I felt tired but managed
to survive. I invited questions and soon they were forthcoming, this was a
new experience; there were several, including some pertinent remarks on
multiple connected surfaces and symmetry. I spoke afterwards with a
Prof Sung Yu-shi from Nanjing Aeronautical Institute who was interested
in discussing his work, we walked back to the apartment to have a
discussion, he was accompanied by his sister-in-law, a Mrs Dong-Lei.
We found Mr and Mrs Wei talking to Rita, but they left after
introductions. Rita gave our guests some tea and we discussed Prof
Sung's impending visit to USA, I advised him to work at the University
of Colorado with Professor W Lord.
After lunch Rita and I were taken into town by Fan-Yu and a
colleague; we visited the International Hotel to change some money and
we also bought some gifts - ties and table cloths; then on to the
Friendship Shop for whisky and other essentials. The car turned out to be
the official car for the President of the Institute, it is a pale blue saloon,
built in Shanghai (2 litre) and roughly 1 year old. The young men are
very considerate, Fan Yu speaks English quite well, especially when one
considers that he must have been a victim of the 'cultural revolution' and
missed out on his education. I demanded to be taken to a book shop - I
knew of one from the guide-book - and so we went to No.1 Hongyhuan
Street — not a Blackwell‘s, but interesting enough, there were foreign
language books upstairs though mainly for English learning purposes. I
bought a Chinese language version of Alice - English one side and
Chinese characters on the other. The books lack totally the glamour
packaging of the West, being mainly paper-back with almost no
decoration. Rita wanted some fruit which was to be had at roadside
markets, she bought some peaches, however we could not find apples,
and so they took us to a grocer‘s shop where we bought some rather poor
looking efforts rather like Golden Delicious. We were being watched
very closely by the locals everywhere we went, e.g. in the shop a young
woman emerged from the crowd to pick a huge black beetle that was
crawling up along Rita's shoulder near her neck and hair with some
wooden tongs! We returned to the institute for dinner, dinner is less
208
elaborate than lunch, but nevertheless consists of several dishes of meat
and fish with eggs being used a great deal. I felt rather off and returned
early to bed. However I did enjoy my whisky.
Plate 90: Mr Fan-Yu, Rita‘s personal guide
Friday 17 August
Lecture 3, and no power. I met Tang outside the institute and we
went up together. Lecture proceeded well with usual interval for tea,
Professor Li joined us for tea and we discussed computing in China.
Professor Tang asked me if I liked classical music. Rather, I said and we
discussed composers. He liked violin music especially; he said he could
bring me some tapes this evening. At 11.30 I returned to the flat for
lunch. After lunch Fan Yu came with car to take us to town to visit the
Chinese Craft factory. The craft factory turned out to be a place
209
foreigners are taken to buy souvenirs. Hand craft goods mostly, Chinese
feather and shell pictures and 'wheat stalk' pictures; we saw these being
made by an assembly line of girls. The wheat stalk pictures were made
by gluing strips onto black velvet. The 'head girl' who showed us round
was eager to make a good impression and quite charming; but she did
persuade us to buy several pictures and some decorated boxes. She was
eager to try her limited English and escorted us down to the car when we
left, waving goodbye.
The exhibits in the city museum, though often fine and interesting,
are poorly displayed. Good quality sculpture often decorated with 'fairy
lights', etc, and there are stalls selling crude and overpriced pictures and
artefacts everywhere, with traders quite pushy. However Rita bought a
tiger and I a pen rack. We returned for dinner at 5.00 pm. Professor Tang
arrived with tapes, a fine selection of classical romantic composers;
Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven.
He looked at mine and I was delighted to learn that he knew Elgar,
said he admired the violin concerto in B minor. He borrowed some
Mahler and Elgar, including Falstaff. He learnt the violin in middle
school, and his life during the cultural revolution was spent working on a
farm; Tang is altogether a charming cultured man whom we are getting
to know and like. The water-man arrived so I had a bath in tea and went
to bed.
Saturday 18 August
Today we went to Sun Island with Professor Li; he collected us in
the car at 8.00. The weather was very warm and we should have left our
coats behind. We drove to the city and boarded a crowded ferry boat to
cross the Songhua river, we queued to board, life all round us, people of
all sorts out for the day; many children and families, the single child
'edict' much in evidence, one of them urinated over my feet but who
cares, it's a holiday! People frequently gave us stares and we all set off
across the river. The other side, the Sun Island, which the guide book
describes as idyllic, was less than this, too many people, too hot and
somewhat monotonous, the river scenery not very picturesque and island
itself a sort of amusement park with 'monorail scenic' train, mini circus
and, as a centre piece, a landscape lake with island, boating and 'Swan
Lake' sounding loudly over a PA system. The avenues, though pleasantly
tree lined, were worn and crowded and packed with stalls selling cheap
cameras, film and ice-cream, and trinkets for children; the occasional
floral beds spoilt by crude statues. I developed a headache and asked
Professor Li if we could return , he found us a shady spot where I could
have a drink and take a tablet and he brought us some 'bottled banana
fluid' which I thought pretty foul, but it was sufficient to swallow the
210
pills. We took a smaller boat back across the Songhua river, which was
more interesting because we could have an all round view of the river
activities. The best part of the outing was the walk along the promenade
to the 'flood monument', this proved to be a large imposing, but
ostentatious structure consisting of a semi-circular arch and central
obelisk rather crudely executed. The promenade, however, was tree-lined
and gave spacious views of the river in the shade, a blessed relief from
the blazing heat of Sun Island.
Professor Li then took us to the shopping district nearby and I
spotted a music shop with a battered B flat euphonium in the window.
Inside there were violins, both European - small half-size for learning and the proper traditional Chinese violin with its long stem and stubby
cylindrical sound chamber with stretched skin. Also present were some
cheap bamboo Chinese flutes, I asked to see one and tried to make a note.
I failed to get the hang of it and then the fellow behind the counter, clad
in singlet and trousers, stuck a small piece of paper over one the holes
and proceeded to play - a delightful Scottish jig! We bought the flute for
Dinah, costing 39 cents, and a Chinese harmonica for Simon. We then
returned home for lunch. I slept after lunch and felt very much better.
At 6.30 after dinner Fan-Yu collected us to take us into town to go
to the weekly dance at the International Hotel. We went by car and
parked outside and were promptly ushered into the hotel and up four
floors in the lift. We found ourselves in a small ballroom with a band
tuning up, sitting in a type of Minstrel‘s gallery above. I felt very
conspicuous since most of the other people arriving were young people,
teenage boys and their girl-friends and many unattached kids of both
sexes. Mr Fan bought us beer and soft drinks; I had a can of beer brewed
in Hong Kong which I had to drink with a straw, the beer tasted very
unpleasant to me. The band started up a Valeta, some tune by Johann
Strauss I think with a Chinese flavour at the end of each phrase; we
couldn't see the players but it sounded like a 3-piece with a strong
drummer and tenor saxophonist with a weak pianist. There were so many
unattached males present that two men started the dancing! All this
reminded me of a 1940‘s local hop, except then it was always two ladies
who would start things moving. The noise was acute and we soon felt
like leaving.
We asked Fan Yu to take us down stairs to the hotel bar where we
could have a quiet drink. The place had got so crowded that our seats
were immediately grabbed by others. The hotel did not have a regular bar
only a shop where cans of drinks were sold for foreign exchange
currency, so we were ripped off. Incidentally the dance tickets cost 3Y, a
high cost when you consider a young man would earn no more than 15Y
a week. We talked to Fan Yu and the driver, Mr Zhang, who we had
211
noticed was always reading, the cover of the book had a picture
reminding me of Anna Karenina and so it transpired - he was reading a
Chinese version of the Tolstoy novel after seeing the recent BBC version
on Chinese TV. Fan Yu recommended that I read the great Chinese
novelist Cao Xie-Qin book 'Hong Lon Ming' and I resolved to look out
for it in Beijing. We returned home in the dark, bicycles without lights
everywhere and marvelled at Mr Zhang's driving skill.
Sunday 19 August
Lecture 4 today, complete with slides. Mr Zhao arrived at 7.30 to
help me load the slides and all went well with the lectures. Professor
Tang and I discussed music in the tea break and I discovered he liked
Mahler's 9th and had listened to our tape of Mahler 5 with interest. After
lunch I had a sleep because I find the 3 1/2 hours lecturing very tiring
indeed. I have never had so much strain before; there were lots of
questions at the end. We went for a walk and saw all Harbin out for the
day, or so it seemed, markets busy, people enjoying their day off. We
returned to find Mr Wei standing outside the apartment and he asked us
to his flat for a cup of tea. This was on the 4th floor of the block and was
neatly but simply furnished and contained some luxuries - i.e. colour TV,
radio and tape recorder. We sat in their living room and had tea with their
son. Mrs Wei also came in and we spent an interesting hour discussing
China, England, tea, food etc. We formed a strong impression of a
friendly atmosphere and they wanted us to return. Their son teaches
English and seems a lively intelligent lad - China has appalling problems
to solve, but with people like the Wei family, Prof Tang and the ardent
youngsters all around, they will, given some luck, succeed. We returned
to dinner: omelette, fish and some vegetable with a meaty sauce. We felt
content. A short walk at dusk, when all Harbin seems to be eating on the
pavements, brought the day to a close. I have just let the 'Water Man' in
and my 'tea bath‘ awaits, so I must stop.
Monday 20 August
We were awoken suddenly at 5.00 am by the door bell - it was Mr
Fan-Yu who said telephone! At first we though there was emergency
news from home and rushed about dressing feverishly; it transpired that it
was only Mr Fan coming to take me to town to make a telephone call to
home as we had previously arranged. He had mistaken my request; I said
5.00 PM not 5.00 AM. However I went to town at this, ungodly hour and
made the call (cost 28Y) and got through to Dinah without too much
trouble. I did lecture 5 at 8.00 finishing at 10.30 and have now completed
the Integral Equation part of my course. I start differential operators
tomorrow; all appears to be going quite well. Mr Wei and Prof Tang have
212
agreed to my reschedule so the last Saturday morning would be a lecture
conference, leaving Thursday afternoon free. After lunch I had the first
lecture conference and 14 written questions were presented to me, some
inviting answers including considerable mathematics on the black-board
but nothing at all difficult. The class is lively and eager to squeeze me
dry - I feel like a sponge, the room is hot and dusty. I am getting to know
them better, they walk me back to the apartment, they carry my books,
they tell me I need exercise, they are quite disarming and without
affectation.
Plate 91: Some visitors to our apartment
Front L to R Prof. Tang, Prof (Madame) Sheng (Xian University), Back L Prof. Li and centre
Prof. Shai
I returned to the apartment, Rita's out shopping, so I was listening
to music. Rita came in at 5.30 from her shopping expedition with two
young Chinese in tow - she took their photographs and said they had had
an interesting time.
Tuesday 21 August
We don't like our new cook as well as the old185. Today‘s lecture
(Lecture 6 at 8.00 pm) considered differential methods; the weather was
185
Unfortunately and rather crassly we had mentioned to Mr Wei that the Cook had
been over feeding us and I believe this was taken as a criticism and he was promptly removed.
213
wet so slides showed up much better since no bright sun beamed through
the windows. After lunch we were collected by Fan-Yu to visit the
Harbin Electrical Machines factory. This proved interesting, we were
first given tea and short presentation by Liang Zhongxue, an engineer in
Generator Design and Research Department. Then there was a video
presentation, quite good pictures and visual presentation but partly ruined
by too intensive music playing 'Yellow River Symphony'! We then had a
tour round the works and saw the huge machine tools being used to
machine parts of rotor and stator of the 300 MW Turbine Sets. The works
are very similar to factories making turbines elsewhere in the world, e.g.
Westinghouse, GE, GEC (UK), etc, the design of these beasts are all very
similar. Rita was very impressed by the size and atmosphere and enjoyed
the tour. After dinner we met Fan Ming Wu who had just arrived from
Beijing. He and I discussed some technical problems for a while then
Tang joined us.
They wished me to write a letter implying some official
COMPMAG position for Tang and Fan, though I found this an
embarrassment. The best I can do is to write saying I have recommended
them to ISC to be members of the Refereeing Committee. This I was
going to do in any case; their political position is delicate and it is
difficult for them to get approval to attend conferences. It appeared now
that we will have to travel by train back to Beijing - they said there are no
seats on the plane.
Wednesday 22 August
Lecture 7 today on 3D Fields. Fan Ming Wu in the audience. Prof
Tang presented me with a copy of his book suitably inscribed. After
lunch I give my special lecture to the Hilolang Institute of Electrical
Engineering. It started well enough but we had severe projector trouble
later, the lad helping me tried to get it to work but to no avail, he nearly
pulled it to bits. Prof Shi Nai fetched the expert, a morose lad who
proceeded to demolish the thing with a screwdriver; they got it going but
it soon failed so my talk was ruined. The fellows didn't seem to mind, we
improvised as best we could, Ming Wu translating, Shi Nai proposed a
vote of thanks and I met the chief engineer of the local works. We were
then called out for a group photograph; all the course delegates sat on a
bench or stood behind with me in the centre next to Rita. The
photographer had two assistants and together they made a fine display
about getting everything right. It reminded us of the old-fashioned group
photographs of our youth. We had potatoes for dinner, dipped in curry
sauce - a great treat, but still garlic with the pieces of meat. We visited
Wei after dinner and discussed our arrangements for returning to Beijing
214
- he said that Fan Yu would accompany us and look after us in Beijing.
Tomorrow we were to visit the zoo.
Plate 92: Course Photograph
Thursday 23 August
Awoke in the night feeling achy all-over; especially below my knees
and across my shoulders. Rita made me a cup of tea and gave me
Aspirin; I then fell into a hot steamy sleep, dreaming utter rubbish
involving airplanes, hostesses and sex.
Lecture 8 today on software and mesh generation. Fang Ming Wu
did the translation and made rather a 'meal' of it, the projector, true to
form, broke down again and caused problems but not as bad as yesterday.
The Chinese will simply have to spend more on lecture room and visual
aids if they are going to get real value from their visiting experts. I felt ill
throughout and was glad to come home at 11.00, accompanied by Prof
Tang, and Madame Sheng Jiam-ni from Xian. Prof Tang had some tiny
black pills he wanted me to take, beautifully packaged; he said I should
take 10 pills twice a day! But I resisted because I was not sure if these
drugs would have adverse affects. Madame Sheng gave me an inscribed
copy of her book on electromagnetic fields and was very flattering to me.
After lunch I lay down with more disprins and felt just about well enough
to go out to the zoo. It proved to be a rather dreary, crowded place;
however they had Pandas and the local Heilong-jiang Tiger. I felt pretty
rotten again so I stopped the trip to the children's park and went back to
215
the apartment for more disprins and a lie in bed. Felt better for dinner,
Rita was late, but we had meat without garlic for the first time. After
dinner Fan Yu came and we gave him our addresses at home. He is now
not coming to Beijing with us on Saturday, Prof Shi-Nai has decided! Shi
appears to be the man who makes the real decisions here — he is a silent
Eminence-Gris, probably the Institute's party leader, a sort of commissar.
Yu told us also that there was to be a banquet in our honour and a trip to
the Theatre. Later Ming Wu called with an ex-Mongolian student who is
to be our 'foreign service' guide in Beijing instead of Fan Yu, he was very
quiet. Fan Ming Wu also presented us with a pair of melons but his real
reason for calling was to apply pressure to me to write letters implying
involvement with COMPUMAG. Rita says she will give me whisky,
aspirin and put me to bed at 8.30 —I hope I feel better tomorrow.
Friday 24 August
I felt very poorly during the night and slept badly. We took my
temperature with my 'forehead thermometer' and it appears to have been
101 F. The Aspirins brought the fever down and I forced myself to give
the last lecture at 8.00. I spoke about optimisation and also gave a
summary of the course. I concluded with a 'potted history' of the
COMUMAG conferences. Prof Tang made a nice speech at the end and
thanked me for the lectures. I returned to the apartment at 10.00, took
more aspirin and lay on the bed until 11.30 when there was to be a
farewell banquet.
The Banquet was attended by all the course delegates as well as the
institute staff who had looked after us. There were very many courses,
some quite tasty, and despite feeling ill I managed to enter into the spirit
of the occasion. Both Rita and I took many flash photographs. There
were 5 large round tables, and on our table there were Prof Shi, Prof
Tang, Fan Ming Wu, Madame Sheng, Jiang Zhong-Wei and Sun Yu-shi.
There was plenty to drink, the usual beer, the pale yellow spirit called Gu
Wen 'wine', and Chinese Port. Soon the speeches started, Prof Tang, the
leading expert in electromagnetic fields in China started, Fan Ming Wu
translated, I was thanked for the lectures which he said had been very
successful, Rita was thanked too, altogether a flattering display which
made me feel slightly giddy. I then replied and tried to convey our
feelings of pleasure in the welcome we had received in Harbin. I
congratulated Prof Tang on the high standard of work at the Harbin
Institute and expressed the hope that we will collaborate again in the
future. I ended by the usual remark about fostering good relations
between our two countries which is the sine qua non of speeches at
Chinese banquets. This was greeted with applause and Prof Shi then
harangued everyone for a further 5 minutes —I do not know what he was
216
saying and not everyone was listening — they had all started drinking!
The meal proceeded with a great deal of jollity and good humour. The
young men at other tables were imbibing beer at a fast rate and were
making random toasts. I also went from table to table to toast everyone
individually, getting to know these very friendly people. I thanked the
staff for looking after us. We left the banquet to much applause! I had
another meeting at 2.00 to meet the department professors - more
speeches I expect; so I needed to rest and try and keep my fever under
control. I lay on the bed and had strange dreams,
I am moved by fancies that are curled around these images, and cling:
The notion of some infinitely gentle infinitely suffering thing.
I awoke in time to meet the professors at the institute for tea,
speeches and discussions. The institute has 1400 undergraduates in all
branches of electrical engineering, excluding electronics. There are 40
post-graduates with 7 working on computational electromagnetics. They
have modelled their degree system on US, i.e. BS (no grades), MS, PhD
and the lecturing staff: Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, and
Full Professors. Prof Tang is the only full Professor. They offered me tea,
biscuits and fruit - bananas and grapes. Everything looked nicely tidy.
There were several people in the room, ten I believe, including Fan Ming
Wu and myself, and they were somewhat embarrassed because the
President had not shown up! After waiting a short while they decided not
to wait longer and so the speeches started. Prof Shi began as usual and I
replied, it was the same with the others; each, including me, trying to outdo the others in mutual flattery. I asked questions about their institute and
we discussed the state of electromagnetics research world-wide. I told
them that although we could accept their point that they could make a
very large labour force in software; the young men need the advanced
computer equipment available to their colleagues in the West. We then
discussed future visits and the possibility of me visiting the more scenic
parts of China. Many photographs were taken during the discussions. It
was clear the institute President would not appear so I stood up to go,
shook hands with everyone and returned to the flat. Prof Tang returned
my tapes earlier and I returned his - I gave him my new tape of the Elgar
Sonata for Violin and Piano but unfortunately he reciprocated
immediately by giving me a boxed set of cassettes of the Beethoven
music for flute and Piano. This was not my intention; it is far easier for
me to get tapes than Prof Tang.
I took more pills and slept or dozed in the bed until dinner at 5.30.
We ate very little. Rita had developed a very nasty migraine headache
and decided not to go out this evening. We had been invited to go to a
theatre to see a 'music' show—I decided to go but I really should not
217
have, but I was reluctant to miss the opportunity of seeing some local
culture. I was deplorably wrong, the theatre is near the 'flood monument'
by the Songhua River and we went by the institute‘s bus with Ming Wu,
our new guide, a Japanese visitor with his interpreter plus others. The bus
ride was unpleasant - it was raining as well. The theatre, was a standard
sea-side Hippodrome building with quite a spacious foyer and balcony
but the ‗loos‘ are far worse than I expected. Unfortunately I was treated
to the best seats, 5 rows back from the front of the stalls. The show was
called the 'Harbin Song and Dance Group'. The band, ominously each
with individual microphones, consisted of 8 violins, percussion and
drummer with an enormous array of things to bang, as well as two guitars
feeding a very high powered amplifier plus a lady ‗driving‘ a
synthesizer in the centre; on the right we had the brass section consisting
of 2 trumpets, trombone, clarinets (doubling saxophone) and flute. The
ladies and gentlemen of the orchestra were dressed in white local shirts
with vivid red ties. There were white trousers for the men and white
skirts for the ladies. They all looked vaguely oriental except the
synthesizer lady who looked European, possibly Russian. The whole
concoction was lead by a 'pretty boy' dressed in green shirt and white silk
pants playing the maracas with tremendous vigour as he walked round
the stage.
The noise was deafening. I had to cover my ears to avoid injury and
I noticed Mr Song doing the same. The music (the vocals) were Western
style arrangements of local songs plus a few standards like 'Granada'
featuring the solo trumpet; for the most part we had a series of 'pretty
boy' and a choir of highly dressed up ladies, singing, sometimes in tune
and always accompanied by the dreadful band. The irritating thing is that
the effect is a mixture of the worst in both cultures, sometimes brash,
sometimes super sweet, but always noisy; pseudo Western arrangements
of local melodies containing oriental harmonies somewhat reminiscent of
the Yellow River symphony. The interval came at last and I wanted (a) to
go to the toilet, and (b) leave! The first request was eagerly granted and
Fan lead me to the enormous crowd of youngsters jostling for position at
the urinals - the stench was over-powering and in my debilitated state I
couldn't face it, so I abandoned (a) and hoped for (b). This was also
denied me since the bus driver had gone off. So we sat through the
second half. The singing had been interspersed with a dance group of 5
couples, sometimes dressed in long skirts, sometimes in short skirts and
stockings, but with plain under-skirts that appeared to be weighed down
with lead. I think the occasional display of leg was the reason the theatre
was so full of young men who appeared to talk a lot during the singing,
there was eager competition to get as near the front as possible. The two
best acts were two lady folk singers, one with guitar who was strikingly
218
beautiful and another slightly older dressed in a pretty turquoise dress,
who sang with minimal orchestral backing. I left with relief and was glad
to return to the apartment. Tomorrow I hope I feel better especially as we
go to Beijing.
Saturday 15 August
We spent the day, until 4.30, at the apartment; I still feel poorly,
glad to rest. I appear to be running a temperature of 1000F in cycles,
though I am trying to minimise the amount of aspirin I take. We had a
small farewell banquet with our principals here - Prof Shi, Tang, Mr Wu,
Fan Min Wu, and the Vice-President Zhao. Also Mr Song joined us; he
eats a lot and says very little. Rita says he will be good for 'humping'
suitcases on the train and little else. We left for the station in a downpour,
the sky was quite black as night fell at 5.30. Fan Yu also joined us at the
station so we had, Tang, Shi, Wie, Yu to see us off and they made short
work of the cases, we waited in the First Class lounge and after a few
minutes boarded the train comfortably and were soon ensconced in our
'soft sleeper'. The luggage was stacked on a large shelf over the corridor.
There were 4 comfortable bunks and so Rita and I had the lower two and
Fan Ming Wu and Song the upper two, but we all shared the lower bunks
for seating, when not sleeping. We said goodbye to our hosts and Harbin
and the train left on its 850 mile journey at 18.50. I soon became weary
and miserable with my fever and dozed fitfully.
Beijing Sunday 26 August
Overnight on the Express No.18 to Beijing I found it very difficult
to sleep, especially difficult because of my headache and fever. I dozed
the night away as we moved south toward Shenyang. We stopped for
several minutes there at about 3.00 am, during the next 2 hours I listened
to Mahler's symphony No.5, it seemed to match my mood as well as the
journey. Saw several soldiers on the move, now wearing hard caps and
insignia instead of the brown soft caps and plain uniforms customary
until recently. 'Humper' Song was snoring wildly in the bunk above, a not
altogether too extravagant a counter point to the Mahler! Ming Wu and I
saw the dawn and outline of distant mountains, and soon we were
flashing by well kept agriculture and peasantry, fishermen in muddy
waters, donkey carts, and groups of cyclists on their way to work.
We were well looked after by lady attendants who were always
cleaning and bringing fresh boiled water. My headaches are getting
worse but temperature better. Had Western style breakfast in dining car,
2 fried eggs, bread and jam. Morning passed slowly for me and I did not
enjoy the views, we stopped for 10 minutes at the place where the Great
Wall starts — a Chinese Wallsend? But it was too misty to see anything.
219
We took some photos of the train though. We arrived in Beijing at about
1 o'clock after a Chinese lunch. It was hot at the station and we had to
wait awhile to clear the crowds to get our luggage out to the car, usual
confusion about what to do, organisation a little suspect. We were met by
2 colleagues of Ming Wu and driver from the Institute of Atomic Energy.
It was an air-conditioned Mini-Bus, thank goodness. I felt dreadful
waiting around and thought I would faint. We at last got underway and
drove out of Beijing SW to the Institute Hostel - about 40 km. I
remember very little about the journey, we had to stop at the Institute
supermarket, because Fan Ming Wu had not arranged a meal for us. Rita
got some tinned meat and biscuits. We were then shown our apartment
which was very good, several rooms, quite large, complete with colour
TV and what is more, air conditioning, and a refrigerator. We had a
snack supper and I quickly went to bed.
Plate 93: With Fan Min Wu arriving at Beijing Station
Monday 27 August
Slept fitfully as usual, I was still bothered by a fever and fearful
headaches that seem to be getting worse. We were collected by Ming Wu
at 8.00 and taken to breakfast at the Institute, a drive of about 10 minutes
through a sea of cycles. The restaurant is a special one catering for
foreign visitors and turned out to be reasonable. We then went to meet
the Accelerator Division Head, Li Gong-Pan and one of his senior
220
colleagues, Cui-Shan. After the usual tea served by a pretty girl we were
given a tour of the Laboratory, meeting the leaders of each group we
toured. It was fascinating for me, and for the most part like experiencing
a time warp backwards - eg the Van de Graff, expertly and proudly
shown by Yu-Shu Yi (who has excellent English) was a single ended
machine, capable of generating just under 3MV. For the most part,
cyclotron, electromagnetic-separators, etc, were acquired from USSR in
the late 50's. The Chinese have worked extraordinarily hard to keep those
old machines running and are justly proud of the modifications they have
made, but their resources are 20 years out of date. However they have
recently acquired a Tandem Generator from HVEC Corp. and this
machine is currently being assembled, all pristine, shining, and fresh out
of the packing cases. Also new is the VAX 11780 computer which will
be used for data collection. The laboratory has also bought from USA a
new CYBER at the very bottom of the range. So a mixture of old and
new but they showed a tremendous enthusiasm. The people here are less
formal than Harbin and in some ways are like us at accelerator labs in the
West with an easy relationship between levels. A semi-formal reception
followed with a mixture of Chinese and Western dishes, this was
attended by the people who had showed us round. After lunch Rita
departed to see 'Peking Man' with Mr Yu Shi Yi and I to give my first
lecture. I felt reasonable, all things considered, and strove to do my best.
Alas the projector yet again caused problems but the pretty girl who
served us tea managed to retrieve the situation most times. The room was
not properly darkened, despite Ming Wu's protestations earlier. There
were about 20-25 people present, some from other labs. I did an
overview of EM fields at RAL and it seemed to go well enough. Ming
Wu translated and I am slightly suspicious he often utters what he thinks
rather than what I say. We returned at 5.00 pm, Rita was already home
and seems to have enjoyed herself. That evening we went to Ming Wu's
apartment for dinner, the first time that they have had foreign guests. We
met his wife and elder daughter - we had previously met the younger
daughter on Sunday. Mrs Fan Yu Tiao Jin does not speak English, but
their older daughter Fan Lan speaks quite well and is a pen friend of
Alice Newman (Mike Newman's daughter). They entertained us quite
lavishly, a large number of dishes including lobster and fish and chips not all good! The meal was jolly, with me trying to use chop sticks and
many photographs taken and looked at. Mrs Fan did very well. We
returned to our apartment in the rain around 9.30 pm and went straight to
bed.
221
Tuesday 28 August
I had a severe headache during the night again; but no fever. Lecture
at 8.00 am at the Institute; this one on 3D eddy currents. How I got
through it I don't know; especially the question session. Several people
were from industry and wished to know if we could solve 'real' problems!
I had my lunch at the Institute canteen and joined an Australian who
worked for CDC and was installing the Cyber. He had been
commissioning the machine for several days and was looking forward to
returning to his flat in Beijing. He has a roving commission for CDC in
Asia and is based in Beijing — he seemed pleased that he hadn't seen his
wife for 4 months - ‗It pays off the bloody mortgage sport'. After lunch
Fan Ming Wu gave a presentation on their work at the Institute, the main
objective was to rewrite the RAL codes based on the information he had
brought back with him! They appear to have succeeded in this but I saw
no real evidence of it; although I am prepared to believe they really have
achieved working codes of GFUN and BIM type plus a 2D (runs on a
LSI) FE Code called DE2D! Their progress on 3D (two-scalar) I am less
convinced. They also have developed a 3D eddy current code. By this
time my head was raging, across forehead and I had to insist on a taxi
back to the apartment for a rest. After dinner Ming Wu and family came,
they had soft drinks and bought us gifts.
Wednesday 29 August
After a better night I gave my last lecture on software design and
optimisation, lively discussion at the end. Good questions on a variety of
topics. To round things off Li Gang Pan made a short speech of thank
you to me; they appear to have appreciated my efforts. However, both
Rita and I were glad to move on to Beijing for the last stage of our
journey. My health seems to be improving, no temperature for at least 2
days, but headaches still with me, though less intense. We were
accompanied by Mr Yu and Mr Song and were given a farewell send off
by Dr Li and Fan Ming Wu's family. The younger daughter performed a
dance to send us on our way.
The journey to Friendship Hotel, Beijing, was uncomfortable and as
far as I was concerned, unpleasant. Mr Yu carried on a noisy and
animated conversation with the driver all the way. On arrival at the
Friendship Hotel we were allocated a rather nice apartment in Block 4.
After a short rest we proceeded in the car to get our return flights
confirmed. First to the BA offices who, Fan Ming Wu said, would act for
Singapore airlines; this proved to be abortive, after a long search for their
offices and ascent to seventh floor of a building near the Embassy
district, we were haughtily informed by a blonde English girl in a BA
frock, that they could not help us not even to the extent of advising us
222
who the SA agents would be - I was dismayed at the lack of courtesy
shown to a fellow national in far away places. I resolved to telephone SA
in Hong Kong myself. We then moved on to China Airways and Mr Yu
and Mr Song made short work of confirming our Hong Kong flights for
Saturday. Earlier they had tried to get tickets for Peking opera since Fan
Ming Wu had promised me he would arrange it for this evening—of
course his promises often turn out to be only invitations and Mr Song
was quite upset. Mr Song proceeded to comb Beijing to try and obtain
seats for Friday; he eventually disappeared into the evening crowds of
‗Beijingers‘ on their way home from work full of resolve to succeed. We
returned to the Friendship Hotel for dinner and bed; I tried telephoning
the lab—no one replied! I next tried Hong Kong but failed to get through
to SA, so I telephoned Hogg Robinson and was successful. Tomorrow we
visit the Great Wall!
Thursday 30 August
After an early breakfast in the special dining room for foreign
experts! We left by taxi to catch a bus to tour the Ming Tombs and Great
Wall. Mr Song organised everything superbly well, we had front seats in
a modern air conditioned coach which commanded a good view of town
and country-side as we covered the 40 mile trip. Our first stop was at the
main entrance of the Ming Tombs where we admired the avenue of stone
animals, real and imaginary. I bought a fine 'poker-work picture' from the
artist who also allowed me to take his photograph; next stop was the first
of two tomb sites open to visitors out of the thirteen - the tomb called
Ding Ling. This tomb has been excavated and we were able to visit the
underground palace, but what interested me was the magnificent setting
of sites situated at the floor of a flat valley surrounded by graceful
mountains. The surface architecture is all delightful, several pagoda
structures surrounded by gardens with flowers and trees abounding. The
tomb is capped by a charming stone high walk allowing a panoramic
view of the district. We moved on to the second tomb which was not
excavated, but if anything, the gardens here were more beautiful.
Mr Song had bought picnics which we enjoyed - he really has
excelled himself in organisation, not the 'humper' of Harbin at all. We
stopped for lunch at the Ming Tomb Reservoir and gazed at the huge
monument exalting in the 'Maoist' philosophy of Peasant, Industrial
Worker and Soldier. The only trouble is the Reservoir is dry and has been
for years!
Finally the climax, the Great Wall of China — the goal of all
travellers to China and certainly all travellers to China on this day were
there!; I should think every race was represented - Aussie accents mixed
with the clipped tones of the Home counties, black American and
223
Spanish, German hearties in jogging kit, and Japanese and Hong Kong
charter holiday groups wearing a kind of tour uniform. We all climbed up
the steep steps, and on reaching the upper surface of the Wall itself,
watched the long snaking line of visitors crawl along the top, both to the
east and west. This part of wall has been much restored and belongs in
any case to the last phase of Chinese-Wall building (1400 AD). We
decided to go west since this side was less popular. We passed a solitary
camel, tethered with straps to allow trippers to sit on its back for
photographs. I must confess we didn't get to the highest point; I was still
somewhat weak from my fever and so was glad to turn back after we
reached the second tower. The Wall is a truly grand sight hugging the
crest of the green hills, switch backing as far as the eye can see, and
although the presence of the multitude detracts something from the
overall affect - very many souvenir shops and other services - this is a
place to contemplate the past and perhaps worry about the future. We
returned at 3.30, arriving very tired at the Hotel at 5.15.
Plate 94: The Great wall
Friday 31 August
Today we spent sight-seeing in Beijing itself; firstly the 'Forbidden
City', in which there is a fine collection of Chinese architecture including
the Palaces of the Quin and Ming dynasties. We saw an impressive
collection of artefacts of all kinds, including a museum of Peking opera
costumes and musical instruments, and the actual theatre used by the
court. There are amazing collections of jewels with very fine
craftsmanship; especially in Jade. The huge gold cauldrons used for oil
lamps were very impressive as also were the pairs of lions guarding the
224
entrances of the various palace buildings. After lunch we explored the
Tiananmen Square and the Mao tomb. We saw many thousands of the
'young pioneers' practising their display for the October 1st Festival,
youngsters singing and marching across the huge square; they were
dressed in American base-ball caps and white shirts and shorts, and each
carried several coloured hoops which they waved high in the air at
climactic moments.
After dinner we went to the Peking Opera at the theatre called 'Good
Luck', off Wan Fujing Street. This turned out to be a memorable
experience, for me at least, with at last a glimpse of a continuing
tradition. We saw two operas, a curtain raiser about a battle, very
colourful and balletic with a strong comic base - the two leading
protagonists, each trying to out-do the other in pomposity and gymnastic
dexterity, gave fine performances; and then a comedy of manners
involving the trials of a young Mandarin and his wife fighting against the
machinations of an elderly cruel landlord. The music was provided by a
traditional Chinese orchestra sitting on the stage left; the band consisted
of elaborate percussion which serves as the accompaniment to the
recitative with Chinese violins, lutes and woodwind. I found the music
interesting and exciting, to my untutored Western ears it sounded
modern, very rhythmic and with melodies made from scales of fine
intervals. The singing was powerful and from the leading soprano who
has a very high falsetto, took some getting used to; the story line was
fairly clear, especially after a little help from our Chinese friends.
However a majority of the current generation do not care for this
entertainment very much; e.g. Fan Ming Wu went to sleep! The audience
consisted of older Chinese people, who appeared very appreciative and a
fair smattering of Westerners who came out of curiosity - most of these
left at the interval. I found the evening a colourful and stimulating
experience and a fitting climax to our visit to China. After the show we
found a taxi with some difficulty and wondered if we should have gone
by bus because we had to walk to the Beijing Hotel and queue,
eventually we found a taxi but the driver drove like a man possessed Fan Ming Wu thought nothing of it and said it was OK because it was
dark and there were no cyclists about!
Saturday 1 September
We started our journey home today. I now felt much better, the
headache was much less. We were seen off at Beijing Airport by Fan
Ming Wu and Mr Sung, and we quietly slipped out of China to Hong
Kong. We arrived at the Holiday Inn at 12.30 and had a good Western
style lunch. The weather was atrocious, Hong Kong was feeling the
fringe of a typhoon (Typhoon IKE) which was blasting the Philippines -
225
the rain was torrential. It was humid and unpleasant. We spent the
afternoon sleeping but managed to see the Golden Mile of Kowloon in
the evening, such a contrast to PRC with Western materialism blatantly
on show everywhere. After a quiet self-indulgent dinner of steak and
wine, we returned to bed.
Hong Kong Sunday 2 September
We spent the morning exploring Kowloon and the harbour, it had
stopped raining, but still very gray and humid, the skyline of Hong Kong
is a grotesque pile of concrete, which may look better in finer weather,
and at the wharf there is a constant stream of expensive craft picking up
the wealthy and conveying them to expensive quarters on the islands.
One wondered what will happen in 1997 when PRC took over.
At 13.00 we left the hotel for the airport to start our long journey
home to England, via Singapore. We joined the Singapore Airline flight.
SQ 51, at 15.00, and soon found ourselves on route for Singapore, where
we arrived at 18.00. The evening was spent waiting at Singapore airport,
which is new and has elaborate facilities, all very expensive. We joined
flight SQ 22 at 10.00 for the last leg of our journey, via Dubai. The plane
left, crowded, promptly at 10.30.
Monday 3 September
We travelled on through the night. After the usual plastic dinner, we
saw a film, some nonsense about a 'Sherman Tank', the toy of an
American army sergeant, who takes on the local sheriff in a bigoted
Tennessee community. We slept fitfully and got to Dubai at 3.00 am
(really 7 am if you don't subtract the time difference of 4 hours). After a
stop of one hour, we continued on to London, another 3 hours time
difference and 7 hours flight time. This, the final stage of the journey,
was enlightened by watching the film 'Silkwood', the true story of Karen
Silkwood and radiation safety at a US plutonium plant - a thought
provoking and beautifully made film. Our arrival at Heathrow was ten
minutes early; but Heathrow gave us a sting in the tail as it took 5
minutes to clear immigration and over two hours to get our bags - an
appalling and disgraceful performance. It was a welcome sight indeed to
see the man from Pryors Taxis, Didcot, who had come to meet us,
waiting at the barrier. We arrived home at 9.45 after 37 days.
226
Overview of the early years
4. Vector Fields Ltd
Overview of the early years - In the end is our beginning
1984 — A fateful year
The year 1984 was an incredibly busy one for us; I have already, in
the previous section, written about the ‗Round the World‘ trip to Canada,
USA and China that Rita and I made from 28 July to September 3rd but
the other major event of the year was the founding of Vector Fields Ltd
which I shall return to later.
In the meantime, the pressure of providing funding for universities
with adequate research money for numerical modelling was becoming a
critical problem, and academics at the forefront of developments of these
vital tools for engineering design were becoming restless. It was one
thing for a central organisation like RAL to provide software tools for
academic use in the area of, say electromagnetics, which had evolved out
of the funding for ‗big science‘ projects and, to some extent, good
provision was already available but in other areas like, say fluid
mechanics, far more academic research and development was needed.
Back in 1983 I had an ad hoc meeting (see page 176) with Ian McLeod
and Ernie Freeman at which it was decided to canvas the engineering
community to seek advice and formulate a strategy. So we took
soundings and established a list of key research leaders from both
academia and industry in the UK and persuaded them to attend a meeting
at Cosenors House on March 22. Following several short presentations
by leading academics and industrialists and a wide ranging discussion
involving the 30 or so delegates a report to the Engineering Board
Computing Sub-Committee was drafted and submitted186. There were
several conclusions including the desirability of establishing a central
focus, a need for positive fostering to overcome a perceived lack of
interest, and that SERC should provide more support especially for
fundamentals. Finally SERC should be asked to sponsor a larger open
meeting over two days to which a wide community of both developers
and users could be invited to identify difficult areas, limitations and
future requirements and also to publicise SERC initiatives in this area.
This was agreed and we arranged a two day meeting (Oct 1, 2) at New
College Oxford. This meeting was attended by 104 delegates plus some
186
Report of the Meeting on Numerical Modelling Organised by SERC,
C.W.Trowbridge, 1 May 1984
Vector Fields Ltd
227
20 SERC staff and many of the leading players involved were present.
Keynote talks were given by Olek Zienkiewicz on Methods, Brian
Spalding (IC) on Infra Structures, Ernie Freeman on Pre & Post
Processing, D Parkinson (QMC) on New Technologies, John Whiteman
(Brunel) on Education, Bob Taylor (Berkeley Ca) on American
Initiatives and G Hancock (QMC) on Computational Fluid Initiatives.
These were followed by parallel sessions on each topic and then reports
were made to the open meeting with discussions. The meeting as a whole
was lively but full of personal prejudices as might be expected.
Nevertheless some form of consensus was extracted and was further
discussed by the keynote speakers and session chairmen at an ad hoc
meeting chaired by Ian McLeod. The main decision from the conference
was that there was a paramount need for a strong SERC focus in
Computational Modelling, which could be achieved by increasing the
number of research grants being made available, SERC should sponsor
training through MSc and short courses and an improved infrastructure
should be established to support these activities. Furthermore yet another
SERC committee should be established to service these proposals
All this was not surprising and pretty much as predicted. A final
report was written and submitted to the Engineering Board and, though
some benefits were achieved the research grant situation hardly changed.
One result of this was that people like Olek looked increasingly abroad
for support. In time the committee structures were made more
appropriate to the needs of Computational Modelling, but we were on the
brink of new developments in technology as the personal computer boom
was about to break out which triggered so many changes.
The SIG-EM meetings continued with a lively seminar at Cosenors
House in April where the merits of the RAL work compared to the
emerging rival group under Dave Rogers from Bath University were
discussed. I had to go to Belfast in May to be the external examiner for a
PhD examination at Queens; I remember most the horrible security
precautions in force at the university guest house as an academic had
been recently killed outside in the crossfire of the continuing sectarian
violence in the city. After this I travelled by Train to Dublin to attend an
Esprit device modelling project meeting. I remember that John Miller
invited me to have dinner at the high table at Trinity, but for some reason
he was late, he just managed to throw on his gown and drag me there but
dinner was already being served. He had to bow to the master but there
were no seats left vacant; the master very courteously made room for me,
a guest, but John was summarily dismissed to eat with the students. In the
summer Peter Silvester was spending time in Cambridge as a visiting
fellow and working with Ron Ferrari on a text book for Computational
Electromagnetics.He had arranged a seminar in Cambridge on field
228
computation and had asked me to give talk on our work on device
modelling — the seminar was called ‗CAD on the CAM‘.
After we retuned from China in September I had to go to Stuttgart to
present an invited paper187 at the Fennomech Conference. Then finally, in
December I travelled to the US again to attend the EM Comp at
Pittsburgh. This meeting was organised by Zoltan Cendes whom I first
met at Compumag Oxford in 1976. He was an ex Peter Silvester student
and was now at Carnegie-Mellon University as a Professor of
Electromagnetics, he later created the ANSOFT Company and became a
formidable competitor in the EM software business. He was now taking
on the Mag-U-Comp series of seminars (GFUN users meeting that was)
and moving it toward a conference which he called EM Comp;
incidentally he asked me to act as a career referee for his promotion to
professor. After this meeting which I mainly remember for being ‗so
cold‘, (it was winter after all), we went to Fort Collins for the next
Compumag Steering Committee meeting. With snow everywhere I had
my first experience of driving on the icy roads of North America in
winter and to my surprise all roads I used were completely clear of ice
and quite safe.
Then towards the end of the year we began to discuss further the
possibility that a new company could merge with Infolytica. This
followed from the letter I had written to Peter Silvester, Dave Lowther
and Ernie Freeman in June which was a proposal to invite them to invest
with us in a company with a strategy for mutual cooperation. When we
met in Schenectady in August, see page 196, they appeared to have
agreed with this idea. Unfortunately at a meeting with them at Imperial
College at the beginning of 1985 it became clear that this was not the
case and the negotiations broke down. So we would remain friends but
go our separate ways. As it happened, on the evening of the meeting at
IC we had arranged to meet with John Miller at Heathrow Airport to
discuss the possibility of new ESPRIT proposal to investigate parallel
processing software for engineering design. We felt very enthusiastic
about this idea and agreed to approach possible partners including Philips
and the University of Genoa.
Towards forming Vector Fields
Following on from the business plan that John Simkin and I devised
in January 1984 and from the encouragement we were getting from
David Thomas, Paul Williams and Geoff Manning the RAL director, we
started planning the next step. George Davis of BTG, who worked
187
Low Frequency Electromagnetic Field Computation in Three Dimensions, C W
Trowbridge, Comp. Meths. In App. Mech. And Eng. 52 (1985) 653-674, North Holland
Vector Fields Ltd
229
alongside Peter Tanner, had inherited the flack when Compeda was sold
by BTG and had the problem of support for the REMUS customers who
were potentially left in a vacuum. Fortunately at this point Chris
Biddlecombe stepped into the breach and agreed to be transferred to BTG
and be responsible for managing the software in the short term. The plan
was that if we managed to establish the company he could join us later.
Three of our colleagues in CAG group that worked in electromagnetics
Mike Newman, Alan Armstrong and Jim Diserens had all moved on;
Mike was now with the Alvey Directorate, in London and Alan had
already left us to join Oxford Instruments the high technology
superconducting magnet company (he had been invited to spend time at
Los Alamos in the US but despite support from me his request for leave
of absence had been turned down), and Jim was now temporarily at
Chalk River.
I mentioned to Pam Peisley, my secretary that I was looking for a
good accountant to advise us on setting up a company and she said she
believed Bruce Charles in Didcot was very good. Pam lived in Didcot
and knew well the professional people in the town. Also, Oxford
Instruments approached John and me to do some consultancy, using our
software, for optimising superconducting coils and because of the relaxed
attitude now adopted by SERC we quickly agreed to carry out this work
in our spare time; this became an important factor in establishing the
company which I will come to later. I called Bruce Charles and we
arranged to meet him in Didcot on the 17th of May. Bruce turned out to
be a very fit compact man with an extremely pleasant bedside manner
and we took to him immediately. He explained the process of forming a
limited liability company which seemed very simple indeed; we had to
define a name which needed to be checked for uniqueness, define brief
terms of reference, name the directors, and specify the share capital.
By chance the day after this meeting my daughter Dinah was taking
part in an amateur chamber opera group (see page 235) performance of
Die Fledermaus and during the interval I pondered over a name for our
new company and compiled a short list of three on a scrap of paper
namely, Oxford Fields, Vector Fields and CompuFields. The next day I
showed this to John Simkin my fellow conspirator and after some
discussion we settled on Vector Fields. So Dinah was in at the very
beginning and was in fact the first employee hired to carry out the
administrative work.
We wrote back to Bruce on 19 June (my 30th wedding anniversary)
specifying the name (giving him a choice of variants) the following terms
of reference:
Production and sales of computer software and hardware
Production and sales of technical literature and books
230
Running a computer bureaux service, providing
consultancy to clients
Running courses on computing and computer applications
In the first instance there will be 2 Directors:Chairman C W Trowbridge
Company Secretary J Simkin
The share capital to be set at £50,000
technical
All of this was tentative but was a start and we formally requested that
Mr B D Charles of W S Brayshaws of Didcot to act for us.
On the 26 June I wrote formally to Peter Tanner of BTG announcing
the formation of Vector Fields Ltd. and to formally apply to BTG on
behalf of the new company for licenses to market the SERC developed
software. I received a letter from Bruce on the 4th of July stating that
everything was now in place, that the name Vector Fields was acceptable
and we should come into his office to sign the appropriate forms also
make a solemn declaration that needed to be witnessed by a solicitor
acting as a ‗commissioner for oaths‘. We next heard from Peter Tanner
that BTG is prepared to grant Vector Fields Ltd a license in the
Rutherford Magnetic packages once the company has come into
existence. Although the definite terms were still to be negotiated it was
expected that the royalty payment would be of the order 25% of the
income in respect of the packages. John and I met in Bruce Charles‘s
office again on the 13 July to sign the Memorandum of Association
which contained much legalese but seem to cover everything. We finally
set the share capital at £250,000 divided into 250,000 ordinary shares of
£1 each. On July 20th Bruce wrote to say we could expect to receive the
certificate of incorporation around the middle of August. In fact the
certificate with No. 1838656 was dated 6th August 1984. So we were up
and flying and all we needed now was some capital and customers but
much else had to be done before we could begin trading.
Why were we so confident? Well, in 1984 the founding of a
specialist company dedicated to the development and application of
computer software for the design of electromagnetic devices was timely
as the use of computer techniques in engineering design was becoming
widespread. The enterprise was also an example of technology transfer,
to the private sector, of the results from research and development
originally funded by government and carried out at the Rutherford
Appleton Laboratory (RAL). We decided that the company would be
operated from the outset under a strategic policy of self-financing growth
and even in its first few years we had every reason to believe we should
capture a significant share of the world market in a high technical niche.
Vector Fields Ltd
231
Finally our products were already regarded as among the world leaders as
the next section explains.
VF Product Background
By 1984 it was accepted that computer modelling for both the
conceptual research and design stages of advanced devices is essential
and often the only way to proceed. With most components it is no longer
cost effective to base designs on analytical means followed by costly and
inflexible experimentation and proto-typing. What had been a process of
free exchange of software between developers had by now become a
business operation. There was no use regretting this as some people did,
who tended to regard software as a cultural extension to their normal
work in research and development, as real costs were involved. There
was no essential difference between hardware and software in this
respect; both required development, maintenance and support.
The pioneering research carried out at the Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory (RAL) described in the previous chapters led to the
development of the first generally usable 3-D electromagnetic analysis
computer programs in the decade 1970-1980. The motivation for this
work had come primarily from the requirements of the high energy
physics community to design magnets for particle accelerators and
detecting devices to ever increasing degrees of accuracy and efficiency
and changing technology. For instance the introduction of
superconductivity made simple calculations inaccurate because of
material non-linearity. The principal objective was to simulate the
performance of these magnets using computers in order to eliminate the
need for costly and inflexible prototypes.
The early packages developed at RAL were based on classical
methods, finite differences, moment methods etc. This work resulted in
the first truly three-dimensional magnet design code (see page 81,
footnote 84) which was also notable for its early use of interactive
graphics techniques. The limitations of these methods, principally
excessive computer costs on serial machines and a restricted functionality
were recognised by the Rutherford team and it was decided to research
and develop the far more flexible Finite Element Method (FEM) for
electromagnetic problems. This work in turn led to the first version of the
general purpose 2-D package PE2D (Poisson's Equation188 in Two
Dimensions) at one time widely used for electromagnetic design. The
extension to three dimensional models presented considerable difficulty
and required a new approach in the formulation. The method adopted
was based on the use of scalar potentials in order to achieve optimal use
188
The equation governing static electric and magnetic fields
232
of computing resources and high accuracy (see page 130, footnote 140).
The developers of this new method, John Simkin and myself, were
jointly awarded the Maxwell Premium by the IEE and the software based
on the method, code named TOSCA (Total Scalar), see page 144 and
footnote 150, soon gained international acceptance as a world leader in
its class and remains so to this day.
A Recap on early exploitation
Further interest in the software was stimulated by the first
Compumag conference initiated by the development team and hosted by
RAL in Oxford in 1976 and also by the increasing involvement by the
laboratory in engineering activities at that time, see page 122. The
electromagnetic work was now supported by the Engineering Board of
the Science Research Council with the software becoming part of the
applications support effort in computing. This interest led to the first
phase of marketing (1979-1983) and was undertaken by Compeda Ltd., a
wholly owned subsidiary of NRDC/BTG, see page 138. Following
SERC policy the laboratory assigned the ownership of the packages to
NRDC for commercial exploitation. This operation, under direction of
John Whitney, achieved a significant number of customers (25, with 15
in USA). In 1983 BTG sold-off Compeda to Prime Computers Inc.
which caused a hiatus particularly in the US where several new
customers suddenly became unsupported. The development team at
RAL did their best to fill the gap and I indeed tried hard to persuade
PRIME to continue. They were persuaded to carry out a market survey
and the results of this, though not encouraging to PRIME since their
criterion was simply how well would the software help them to sell
PRIME computers, suggested that there was, potentially, a sizeable niche
market. In the end PRIME decided not to market the electromagnetic
software.
The Formation of Vector Fields Ltd
The company was founded in August, 1984 by the author
(Chairman) and John Simkin (Managing Director). The latter left
Rutherford Laboratory in December in order to start trading in January
1985. An agreement was signed between the new company and BTG
which gave Vector Fields the authority to market the electromagnetics
software world wide on an non-exclusive basis with a royalty payment of
25% on each sale. The first sale was made to General Electric,
Schenectady, USA soon after. Dinah had now completed her business
administration course at Oxford College of Further Education and we
appointed her as VF‘s office administrator, so initially the full time staff
consisted of just two people, John and Dinah, and because of the
Vector Fields Ltd
233
previous close relationship with the Oxford Instrument Company on
magnet design consultancy a special agreement was successfully
negotiated that allowed VF Ltd to occupy a small set of their offices in
Osney Mead, Oxford. This was an important and fruitful collaboration
from which both parties benefited.
The two directors soon realised that they lacked essential marketing
and sales experience and so by happy chance John Whitney, who had
been in charge of the marketing of the software for Compeda, was
available. He was invited to join the venture as an equal partner, in
consideration of his previous experience marketing the software and
how crucial his role would be in the future wellbeing of the company. As
the company should be self financing only relatively small loans by the
directors were needed. Also in January the first issue of the Vector Fields
news-letter appeared, edited by Dinah; this publication was designed to
inform the community of the progress of the company. By the end of the
first year (in fact only 6 months trading) the company had paid its way
and began to contemplate expansion. The first step was to employ Chris
Biddlecombe who had successfully carried out his role at BTG but was
now no longer needed there.
In the following year eleven new customers were added and the
company's modest growth was in line with the original business plan. To
secure some funding for future developments the company promoted a
European project under the ESPRIT initiative. This joint project
(ACCORD), involving several European companies and academic
institutions, was concerned with algorithm development using parallel
computers, which began in June 1985 and was to last four years. In July
1986 I decided that I should divide my time between RAL and VF for the
next twelve months, this was agreed which meant I could give more time
to the company and to the Esprit work. European projects have played
an ever increasing and important role in VF research activities. Also in
July Chris Riley joined the company to help expand the market and to
look after user support, Chris had been a member of John Whitney's team
at Compeda and was a valuable addition to the company's staff.
During the next year (1987) distributors for the software were
appointed in North America and Japan and in April the company moved
to new premises in Kidlington, north of Oxford. Business continued to
expand, justifying the increases in staff, and in July 1987 the chairman
became full time with the company. In 1986 VF recruited Clive Bryant a
recent PhD graduate from Imperial College to assist the chairman in the
new European project. Finally in this early phase of expansion Cris
Emson joined us in 1988; Cris had been a key member of the RAL group
specialising in developing methods for solving time dependent problems.
234
Professional and Family Life 1984-1987
Professional & Family Life 1984 to 1987
1984
Plate 95: Simon’s Graduation
Just before Rita and I set out on our trip to China we had the great
pleasure of attending Simon‘s graduation at Birmingham in June. He had
become interested in modern history and had studied the history of the
First World War in his final year, which led him to apply to Kings
Vector Fields Ltd
235
College London to study for an MA in war studies. Kings had a thriving
department in this subject and there had been a lot of debate and
publications recently on causes of war, the possibility of a third world
war etc. He was accepted and started at Kings in the autumn term; I think
also he was attracted to the idea of being in London with easy access to
theatres. There was also a sad occasion in 1984 for the family as our
much loved companion, Mick, died. He had been ailing for sometime and
his great suffering had been obvious; there was nothing that could be
done for him so we had to have him put to sleep— he was fourteen years
old which is a good age for the breed.
In the meantime Dinah had given up the idea of following a music
career and, though she had been teaching music in local schools and also
taking private pupils she had embarked on a course in Business
administration at the Oxford College of Further Education to widen her
job potential. Dinah also started to participate in local music making, she
joined a local amateur operatic society at the Wallingford Arts Centre
who performed at the Kinecroft theatre where she sang in the chorus and
played the flute in the orchestra. About that time the director of the group
Valerie Mills started the Barezzi Opera Company in Didcot and put on a
whole series of ‗cut down‘ versions of the main operatic classics. Valerie
sang the lead role and produced and directed with semi professional
singers for the other parts. The programme proudly announces that the
company‘s president was Miss Constance Shacklock, OBE a well known
British soloist who was Valerie‘s teacher. The orchestra was rudimentary
usually with the brilliant piano playing effects of Norman Large the
musical director improvising the orchestra. Dinah became one of
Valerie‘s devoted band of singers, dancers or whatever was required for
several years. By the end of 1984 she had settled into her new job with
Vector Fields (see previous section).
During October and November I was heavily involved in
consultancy for Oxford Instruments in my spare time (what spare time as
I was also writing a book with Binns & Lawrenson?). We had a book
meeting in Liverpool 14th November in Ken Binns‘s office and I also
managed to have dinner with Chris Riley and Ken which was good fun; I
had not been in Liverpool to stay since my sea going days and it was very
interesting for me to see the Mersey again, though no longer the pride of
the British merchant Navy as there were few ships. John D Angelo from
GE came to see me at RAL in December to discuss our Boundary
Element Codes and Solvers and this led to VF‘s first sale, see page 232.
On Tuesday 11th of December Rita hosted a CAG Christmas party at
Moulsford. The very next day I set out for the US to attend MAG-UCOMP in Pittsburgh and then to Fort Collins for the Compumag planning
236
meeting. These have been referred to in the previous chapter, see page
228.
Though I was still at RAL I kept in close contact with Vector Fields
and visiting Oxford regularly and looking forward now to the day when it
became possible for me to go full time; the first few months of trading
had brought some success but we needed equipment particularly to rent a
computer. We decided that the each of three directors should loan the
company £5000 each to help our cash flow problems and I am glad to say
this was the only loan we had to make. At this time John Whitney was
living in Bournemouth and was commuting daily so was looking for a
house in the Oxford area. As for Rita and me, we decided it was time to
move and ideally find a place midway between RAL and Oxford so we
put our house at Moulsford on the market.
1985
In February I accompanied Olek to Turin to attend a UNESCO
meeting to whom he had applied for funding support and he asked me to
help him make the case189. Because Olek was a celebrity he was invited
to several functions and I tagged along, one such was a reception at the
FIAT AUTO Company where we were both presented with book of the
collected papers celebrating the centenary of Alberto Castigliano, the
great Italian mathematician and engineer whose theorem in his name is of
fundamental importance in engineering design. Whilst I was away Rita
had had someone come to look at out house and wanted to buy which
meant we had to start looking seriously for a new house for ourselves
nearer Oxford. After several attempts we found a suitable place at
Frilford (Near Marcham) almost halfway between RAL and Oxford. It
seemed ideal with a good sized garden situated in a very quiet unmade
lane off the A338. The house itself had four bedrooms a large lounge and
plenty of potential so we made an offer that was accepted. The owner, an
engineer with British Leyland at Cowley, had acquired the land and had
an architect design him a house which he then employed a builder to
construct under his supervision. The house was seven years old and his
reason for selling was that his job had moved to Coventry. We used
Michael Ayris again as our solicitor; Dinah had become friendly with
Dianna Ayris, Michaels wife, they were both members of the Berezzi
opera group and played piano duets together, Dianna also accompanied
Dinah for her flute exams. All arrangements were made and we
anticipated moving in August.
In May Bryan Colyer and I had been invited to present our work on
using the PERQ workstation computer for finite element analysis using
189
He was no more successful with UNESCO than he had been with SERC
Vector Fields Ltd
237
automatic mesh generation and advanced interactive graphics. Bryan
attended the conference CAD85 held in Brighton and our paper was
subsequently published in the CAD Journal190.
At the end of May I went to the US to attend the Compumag
Conference in Fort Collins with John Simkin and others; we stopped off
first at Chicago to attend a new initiative begun in Larry Turner‘s group
at ANL on the computation of eddy current effects in coils; this initiative
led to the formation of the TEAM (Testing Electromagnetic Analysis
Methods) series of meetings — an important landmark as the idea was to
establish a set of benchmark problems for code developers to test their
methods.
At the Compumag Conference in Fort Collins
By the time we met in Eindhoven the conference budget had been
agreed and the conference fee was set at $100 per delegate and the
estimated charge for publishing in the proceedings was $13,000 again the
major item of expenditure. At the final planning meeting Fort Collins in
December 1984 the reviewing process for the short versions was mostly
completed and the conference programme was roughly worked out
Plate 96: Compumag Colorado in Session191
190
Finite Element Analysis using a single user computer, B Colyer and C W
Trowbridge, CAD Journal, 17, 3 April 1985
191
David Lowther opening the conference, as Vice Chairman he had to deputise for Bill
Lord, you can just make out the Compumag Flag draped over the lectern made by Irene
Lowther for the Yacht in Compumag Genoa.
238
As Bill Lord experienced a personal loss as his mother had just died
in England which meant he had to miss the first three days of the
meeting. Dave Lowther, the deputy chairman, took Bill‘s place. An
interesting highlight of the meeting for me was to meet Alan Winslow
again, the first researcher to apply the Finite Element method to an
electromagnetic problem in the early 1960‘s192. Alan and I first met in
1970 and he had a considerable influence on our work at Rutherford
when the code based on his method, known as TRIM was in use for
many years. Alan‘s comment after listening very carefully to all the
papers was, ―I have been out of the ‗field‘ for over ten years now but I
can see the problems we were solving then are still challenging now but I
was surprised find that the basic methods are still the same‘. The
conference banquet was the usual ‗curate‘s egg affair‘193. The lady who
gave the after dinner talk on her early pioneering days in Fort Collins
went on a little too long despite the growing restlessness of some
delegates. The flavour of the Wild West was sustained by an old style
‗cook-out‘ in the foot hills at the ‗Dude Ranch‘ where delegates were
treated to a feast of ‗pork & beans‘ accompanied by Country and
Western singing.
There many technical innovations reported during the conference.
The theme of edge elements first proposed in Compumag Chicago by
Alain Bossavit & Jean Claude Verite was extended in two ways, firstly
by G Mur & A De Hoop from the University of Delft who showed how
to derive a consistently linear set of edge tetrahedral elements194 and
secondly by J S van Welij (Philips) who developed edge elements for
hexahedral elements195.
Bill Lord returned in time for the last day and organised the local
trip up into the Rockies for the reviewing meetings which were to be held
in Pingree Park. This turned out to be an enjoyable excursion at a
mountain resort where we could combine work with walking above the
tree line. The final task was to choose the location for the next
conference which ICS had decided should be in Europe in 1987 there had
been several bids and the interviews were conducted during the
conference. The winning bid was made by Professor Kurt Richter from
the Technical University of Graz who began is presentation with the
192
A.A. Winslow, ―Magnetic Field Calculations in an Irregular Triangle Mesh‖,
UCRL-7784-T Rev-1, Aug. 23, 1965 and A.A. Winslow, ―Numerical Solution of the quasilinear Poisson equation in a non-uniform triangular mesh‖, J. Comp. Phys., 1, 149, 1971
193
‗Good in Parts‘
194
G Mur & A de Hoop, ―A Finite Element Method for Computing Three-Dimensional
Electromagnetic Fields in Inhomogeneous Media‖ , IEEE Trans Mag, Vol 21, No 6, Nov 1985
195
J S Van Welij, ―Calculation of Eddy Currents in Terms of H on Hexahedra‖, loc cit
Vector Fields Ltd
239
remark, ―I persuaded KLM196 to underwrite my expenses to Colorado on
the hope that the next Compumag would come to Austria…‖, so how
could we disagree! This special pleading, however, was superfluous, as
his presentation was masterly and his group in Graz had built up an
outstanding reputation.
Plate 97: Moving from Moulsford to Frilford
I had a few days spare before returning home so I took a solitary
journey by car up into the Rockies; I visited Leadville, the old mining
196
Austrian Airlines brought him together with the KLM management. In those days
KLM was not Air France and Austria Airlines was not in the group with Lufthansa.
240
town where Oscar Wilde addressed the miners down in the mine itself
and also the Tabor Opera House where he lectured on fashion to the
populace. The current owner of the opera house showed me round and
gave me a book on its history—this house had put on shows of every
description from Opera, Ballet, Drama down to bawdy music shows, a
haven of culture in the Wild West!
On my return to RAL I had to attend an ESPRIT meeting in
Denmark with Bryan Colyer and it brought back memories of my visit
here in 1951 just after I had first met Rita. It was agreed to exchange
contracts for our new house in Frilford in time for us to move on 23 rd
August (See Plate 97). In many ways it was sad to say goodbye to North
End Moulsford, we had lived there for twenty years and they had been
good years. The downside of moving, apart from the stress of moving
itself, was for Rita that her daily journey to School in Cholsey would be
much further, fifteen miles instead of four and we both wondered how
she would cope, also she would be further away from the many
friendships she had formed over the years. There had been several staff
changes at the school as well, John Haworth had recently retired and a
new headmaster had been appointed so we discussed the possibility that
Rita might like to take early retirement if offered; we could certainly
afford the loss in salary and it would allow her more time to deal with the
new garden, a pastime she loved.
Simon had now got his MA at Kings and had more or less decided
to seek a career as an academic librarian; he was thinking of study now
for a library science degree at University College in London but needed
some work experience first, so he successfully applied for a job at the
Oxford Polytechnic for year and then went to UCL in September 1986. In
May also I had to attend a meeting of the pre Esprit device modelling
project hosted by Philips; the meeting was held at the Hotel Cocagne as
usual and was notable for the small ‗spat‘ between the Dublin Group in
the person of Bill Coffey197 of Trinity College, a colleague of John
Miller‘s, who gave a talk in a subject area that seemed somewhat
unrelated to the project itself and towards the end Simon Polak
interrupted to ask what the relevance was and I am afraid Bill exploded
and said,‘ you are no gentleman Sir‘, and left the room. This required
some skill on my part to smooth things over and I had ask John Miller to
explain to Bill that Simon was not intentionally rude just concerned about
the direction we moving as we did have a work plan authorised by
Brussels for this area. Bill had been to my house recently and stayed the
night before he gave a lecture on his pet subject; the ‗Mathematical
197
William Coffey presented me with a copy of the 1910 edition of John Casey‘s ‗A
Sequel to the First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid‘.
Vector Fields Ltd
241
Theory of Brownian Motion‘198 , he was so nervous that he drank too
much, in fact Rita got quite cross with me for leaving him in the lounge
with the Brandy Bottle. The next day at the lab he spent the first hour
sitting in my office with a towel over his head but when time came for
his talk he was brilliant.
After our meeting with John Miller in January about a new Esprit
Project on parallel software, we had gathered together a project team
consisting of Genoa University, Trinity College Dublin, Philips
Eindhoven, Vector Fields and Athens School of Economics and
Business. We had several meetings earlier in the year and put together an
outline proposal. The proposal was welcomed by Brussels but we were
asked to try and integrate our project with another which they claimed
was related.
The month of September was particularly busy, first I had to go to
Graz (6 September) for the first planning meeting for the next
Compumag where Professor Kurt Richter outlined his plans for the next
conference in 1987. Looking at the very detailed minutes written by Kurt
Preis (Kurt Richter‘s right hand man and conference secretary) for this
meeting some 22 years later I am impressed by the amount of business
covered between 9.00 AM and 3.45 PM. This included a midday tour of
the city and the conference centre as well as an excellent. Theo
Torschanoff was elected Vice-Chairman for Compumag ‘87199. Present
at the meeting were representatives from Inter-convention the
professional congress organisers. Kurt told us that 50% of the budget
would be covered by government grants. Simon Polak and I were asked
to draft the conference constitution. The conference was clearly in good
hands from the start. Kurt then tabled a detailed timetable of actions
leading up to the conference and the format would mirror that of the
previous meetings. The members were asked to propose their choices for
invited speakers and referees and it was also decided to reduce the
number of oral presentations in favour of posters. Many other issues were
discussed but in general following the procedures adopted in previous
conferences. The next meeting would be held in UK on March 21 1986
and I agreed to make the local arrangements.
The next event, following straight on, was to attend the Magnet
Technology Conference in Zurich where Vector Fields had an exhibition
stand. I also was to present an invited paper. I met John Simkin and John
Whitney in Zurich on 8th September; the setting amidst the old town of
198
The random motion of small particles suspended in a fluid first discovered by the
British Botanist, Robert Brown in 1827. In 1805 Einstein arrived at a mathematical
explanation of the phenomenon but some aspects are still not properly understood.
199
Other members present were Theo Tortschanoff, Bill Lord, T Nakata , Simon Poak,
J C Sabonnadiere, C W Trowbridge, J C Verite, A Viviani
242
Zurich and the nearby lakes and mountains was superb and we met up
with many old friends including Neil Marks from Daresbury, Bob Paul
and Albert Reece both members of SIG-EM; also several delegates that
had been at the first Compumag in Oxford in 1976 including D
Brombach, K Reichert, T Tortschanoff, H Umstatter and I Vetclisky.
Theo Tortschanoff had just been in Graz for the Compumag SC and Prof
Vetclisky had entertained John and me to a midnight feast of Caviar and
Vodka (see page 123). Both Deiter Brombach and Neil Marks would
play important roles in the VF story to come.
Plate 98: Compumag Committee on Walkabout Tour of Graz
L to R: T Nakata, S Polak, J C Verite, Inter-Convention, K Preis, Interconvention, K
Richter, J C Sabonnadiere, A Viviani
After this meeting I had to go straight to Genoa to discuss the
commission‘s suggestion to integrate the two proposals that had been
submitted to the Computer Integrated Manufacture (CIM) programme.
These were the Parallel Engineering software library with the five
partners and the proposal for the Integrated System for design submitted
by Bertin & Cie, France, GEC Marconi, UK and SGTE, France. On the
face of it the match was not good but representatives from both projects
gathered in Genoa on 13 September. The meeting went very badly with
neither side recognising the relevance of other project.
Vector Fields Ltd
243
Later in the month we met in Brussels to discuss the matter with the
director of the CIM task force, an English lady I had met before, who
was very clear that the only way forward was to have a ‗shot gun‘
wedding. Simon Polak led the revolt and finally, after several verbal
skirmishes left the room, leaving me to paper over the cracks. I was sure
that both projects had merit but were uncomfortable ‗bed-fellows‘ I also
had got to like the leader of the other team, Jean Pierre Pattereau from
Bertin Cie, a successful High-Tech consultancy company, a charming
and urbane man with excellent English. I felt it was important for this
project to go ahead for both teams and was convinced it could be
managed if only both sides would take the trouble to understand the
motivation of the other. After all, if our library was to be an important
contribution, then it should be an important component of an integrated
design system
Plate 99: Three members of the APPEAL project in Genoa 1985
Sandro Viviani (UGDIE), Jan Van Gerwen (Philips) & John Miller(TCD)
At a subsequent meeting arranged by the Philips Company that, as a
multi-national giant, had considerable influence, I was asked to represent
all partners but both Simon and John Miller also attended but were asked
by the senior Philips man to keep a low profile and leave the talking to
me. I suppose it was now clear that I at least would accept the merger
though I think our reservations were understandable. This meeting went
well and a compromise was reached. At a subsequent meeting with all
sides we agreed that the project should be fittingly named ACCORD with
244
two coupled components: (a) ASSET, an integrated system design
environment with a number of design environment domains and (b)
APPEAL, a Parallel Processing Engineering Applications Library. The
ACCORD project (CIM 1062) was approved with 50% Funding by
ESPRIT for four years at a total cost of 12 MECU (~ £7M) and would
start in January 1986.
On the 3rd of December Prof. Il‘in from Novosibirsk (USSR,
Science City) came to visit the laboratory for ten days. He was a friend of
John Miller who suggested he come to visit me and my group. Valerie
Il‘in, a distinguished mathematician, had done important work in
numerical mathematics and gave an interesting talk in which he
described his work and that of his close colleagues in Russia. I took him
to the opera and Madame Tussauds, which he thoroughly enjoyed,
particularly being photographed alongside Margaret Thatcher (the Iron
Lady, much admired in Russia apparently).
1986
Plate 100: Small beginnings — The Home of VF at Osney Mead
L to R : John Simkin, Dinah Trowbridge, John Whitney and Bill
The year 1986 was equally active with two large Esprit projects for
me to manage, the RAL device modelling project 962 was now well
underway but I was gradually handing over my responsibility to David
Boyd and Chris Greenough. The other project ACCORD (1062) was a
major commitment for VF which began in June and to help us we
recruited Clive Bryant as a consultant to work on the parallel library.
Clive had now left Imperial College and in fact had moved to Pershore
Vector Fields Ltd
245
(Worcestershire) where he had become the leader of his evangelical
church; VF being closer to Pershore than London was an attractive
opportunity for Clive. I decided the time was right for me to schedule
my complete transfer to VF and so I negotiated that I would work half
time at RAL for one further year and in a years time I would leave
altogether. This would allow me time to play a fuller role in VF affairs
and lead the Esprit ACCORD/APPEAL project on behalf of VF.
My former boss at RAL David Thomas had now left SERC to
become Pro-Rector for Research Contracts at Imperial College and I
must record my deep gratitude for all the encouragement he gave me and
my group over the last ten years — a man with strong principles who was
brave and single minded in his approach to achieving what he thought
was the right way forward. He dragged Engineering at RAL, as they say,
alive and kicking into the late twentieth century to embrace engineering
and hi-technology. Geoff Manning200 the director had also left RAL to
become Chairman of Active Memory Technology Ltd. I have reason to
be grateful to Geoff as well as he encouraged us in starting up Vector
Fields. Paul Williams became director of RAL and was succeeded by
Gordon Walker as head of Technology Division. Both Paul and Gordon
were thoroughly constructive in enabling my half-time proposal to go
ahead.
I wrote to Chris Riley at Liverpool and told him it was warmer here
now in the South and he telephoned us and was offered a job starting in
July; this was timely as in June we reopened negotiations with Infolytica
Inc when Dave Lowther and Ernie Freeman came to see us to discuss
areas of mutual interest. This meeting was prompted by Simon Polak
who thought we should try to make an effort to collaborate as he felt we
were ‗right‘ for each other. John Whitney was keen to have a distributor
in the US/Canada and Infolytica were well placed for this; a deal was
agreed and to help matters we agreed that Chris Riley should spend three
months in Montreal to get things moving. This agreement immediately
gave users and potential users the benefit of an active local distributer
with an established name in field computation. The agreement signed in
June also appointed VF as European distributors for the Infolytica
package MagNet. In this we would be helped by Ernie Freeman, the
Chairman of Infolytica Europe, and by our new consultant Clive Bryant
who was a former MagNet user when he was at Imperial College.
Compumag Conference matters were also progressing, Bill Lord
and Nathan Ida from Fort Collins visited us in January and we had a
200
While director of RAL he ushered in a new era of wider research and overseeing the
design and construction of a world-class neutron source, ISIS, opened by Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher in October 1985. The following year he received a CBE, and the
Glazebrook Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics for services to science
246
delightful evening with them at Darcy‘s Field. Then in March we hosted
the ISC meeting chaired by Kurt Richter the new conference Chairman
for Compumag Graz next year, 1987. Also attending this meeting was
our old friend Larry Turner who came to stay with us for two weeks. I
arranged for Larry to give a lecture at RAL at Paul Williams‘ invitation
that helped him get funding for the trip from Argonne National
Laboratory. After the Compumag planning meeting we held a two day
eddy current seminar followed by a FELIX TEAM meeting chaired by
Larry. On 12 April John Whitney, John Simkin and I left for the US to
attend the Intermag Conference in Phoenix Arizona where VF had
arranged to exhibit and present a paper201; we travelled out of Heath Row
on the first day that terminal four was opened and we all received a BA
souvenir pen.
Plate 101: ICP Award Ceremony
L to R: John Simkin, Gordon Walker (Head of Tech. Div. RAL), Peter Tanner
(Director IT , BTG), Bill, Paul Williams (Director RAL), John Whitney, George Davis
(IT Div, BTG)
Vector Fields TOSCA sales had accumulated to a gross of over
$1M and the company was awarded an ICP202 Million Dollar Award
201
‗Error Analysis in Finite Element Models of Electromagnetic Fields‘, C S
Biddlecombe, J Simkin and C W Trowbridge, IEEE Mag. Trans. 22, 5, 1986
202
International Computer Programs a publishing company that produce the journal
Business Software Review.
Vector Fields Ltd
247
which was presented to our marketing director John Whitney at a
ceremony and dinner held at the Carpenters Hall in the City of London
on June 30th. These awards are held annually during a dinner hosted by
ICP president Mr Larry Welke, who said: ‗…the award is recognition of
market acceptability of a product and is particularly significant for
TOSCA as a specialised software package‘. The guests of the VF
directors were Paul Williams, Gordon Walker, Peter Tanner (BTG) and
George Davis (BTG). Also, in June we began discussion on a possible
Vector Fields Directors pension plan; Bruce Charles of Brayshaws in
Didcot, our accountants, agreed to suggest a suitable pension fund
provider after he had investigated several possibilities.
Rita and I began our summer holiday on July 26 and decided to go
to Scotland after spending a few days in Yorkshire staying in Settle. Our
trip then took us to Tomintoul where we explored the mountain country
to the east of the Cairngorms along the river Avon including the Glen
Livet whisky distilleries. Next we moved to Ullapool (An Tealach),
Gairloch and then finally Skye (The Cuillins)—three glorious weeks.
In September Prof Tang, our old friend from Harbin, came for a ten
day visit to RAL and VF. I also showed him Worcester, Stratford, Oxford
and London. We visited both the Elgar birthplace and Shakespeare
birthplace as well to evensong in Christchurch Cathedral in Oxford. He
enjoyed all of this hugely, I think, and we also went to the Festival Hall
to a Beethoven concert. He gave a lecture at RAL and I arranged for him
to visit Prof. Hammond at Southampton University—for this he bought
himself a new suit and it was marvellous to see him out of the Mau
Boiler suit. He wore it to a reception Rita put on for him in his honour at
D‘Arcy‘s Field. On his last day I took him to Imperial College to see
Ernie Freeman —it had just been announced that I had been appointed a
visiting professor at Imperial so we had a nice lunch with Ernie to
celebrate. Tang Qui presented Ernie with a copy of his book.
In October Chris Emson and I were scheduled to give talks at the
IUTAM Symposium in Tokyo, and John Whitney decided that this was a
good opportunity to have meetings with Kyokuto Boeki Kaisha (KBK)
our recently appointed agent. John had had dealings with KBK when he
was with Compeda and felt they were ideal company to handle our
products. John Whitney wrote in the VF Newsletter203:
The importance of Japanese companies as manufacturers and
suppliers to electrical and electronic equipment in world markets doesn't
need any explanation by me. However it may not be widely known that
the benefits of using Vector Fields advanced techniques in the analysis of
203
VECTOR The Vector Fields Newsletter, Vol 3 No. 1, Spring 1987
248
Plate 102: Tang Qui at D’Arcy’s Field
L to R: Pam Peisley, John Whitney, Linda Whitney, Tang, Dinah
Tang with Rita
electromagnetic fields for the design and manufacture of electrical and
electronic devices have been recognised by many of the largest Japanese
corporations. Consequently it should not be a surprise that a number of
these corporations such as Mitsubishi Electric are already users of our
software, particularly TOSCA. It was in order to provide local support to
these users in Japan that we sought out a suitable Japanese company to
assist us in our operations. From my previous visits to Japan I had a high
Vector Fields Ltd
249
Plate 103: Japan 1986
John, Bill & Cris Sightseeing in Kyoto
Cris with Alain Bossavit (Elec. de France) at IUTAM, Tokyo
regard for a Tokyo company trading in high technology products. I am
therefore pleased to announce that the company, KYOKUTO BOEKI
KAISHA has agreed to become our agent in Japan.
250
The agreement was signed in September, and shortly afterwards, we
visited Tokyo to attend the IUTAM conference at Tokyo University where
Bill presented an invited paper. We were subsequently welcomed to the
KBK offices by the president Mr.Miyoshi and generously entertained in
traditional Japanese style. During the visit the KBK team of
Mr.Kusayanagi, Mr.Inakatsu and Mr. Kakuo were briefed on the theory
and application of the Vector Fields software. Visits were made to our
existing users in Japan and interest from other companies was so great
that a very tight schedule kept us very busy, ably assisted by the
enthusiastic KBK team.
We also travelled to Osaka and KBK arranged a fascinating trip to
Kyoto, the ancient imperial capital of Japan, where we visited many
temples. From Osaka we also visited Mitsubishi a major user of Tosca,
for me this first trip to Japan was memorable and we appreciated to the
full the local colour and the warm welcome we received.
In November we agreed to join in a short course to be given in
London at the Russell Hotel. This course was organised by John Miller
who had also invited Zol Cendes and Giorgio Molinari as well as John
Simkin and me to give the lectures. Final events in the year were the two
review meetings held in Eindhoven, 28 October and in Brussels 5
November for the device modelling project (962), the project was quite
well received so far, but early days. The Brussels meeting was made
ludicrous owing to the antics of the commission; our project officer had
booked a room for the review but when Conor Fitzsimons (Trinity
College Dublin) was in full flood describing his algorithm for solving the
current flow problem in a transistor we were summarily thrown out on
the streets as the room was required by a senior man in the commission,
so we continued the review in the Grand Platz sitting in a good
restaurant.
The sister of my mother, Aunt Bju, died in 1986. She lived with us
when I was a child and was always very kind to me; I felt guilty now that
I had not kept in touch. Also this year my father‘s youngest sister my
Aunt Freda, had to leave her home at Lower Buckland farm in
Lymington as she had been diagnosed with dementia and could no longer
look after herself. My brother Peter had been appointed her legal carer
under the court of protection and arranged for her to go to a nursing
home in New Milton. He was responsible for her affairs and would
organise that the property should be sold so that the income could be
used for her care and expenses at the home. It proved a very difficult task
to persuade her to leave as the poor lady was much confused. Neither
Peter nor I could cope but, fortunately, Rita could and did—she was able
to guide her from the old house out to the car and stay with her until she
Vector Fields Ltd
251
was safely in the home. In the years to come Brenda regularly visited
Freda at the home once a week, so relieving us all of the burden though
Rita joined in whenever possible. I went a few times but always came
away feeling very depressed not because of the home which was fine, but
I just felt inadequate as I believe Peter did as well.
1987
Three national events in 1987 gave me much food for thought, first
there was the car ferry disaster at Zeebrugge with 188 avoidable deaths; a
sad realisation on the slackness to which some members serving in the
British Merchant Navy had succumbed. Secondly the great ‗hurricane‘
that swept southern England in October; I was away but Rita said it was
terrifying and we lost our ‗dead‘ elm tree out front which had been a
feature of our house. Lastly the awful kidnapping of Terry Waite in 1987
in Beirut which heralded so much violence stemming from the region
ever since. One family event gave us much sadness, Bernard, Rita‘s
brother died suddenly on the 11th of March, he had been working on the
farm as usual that morning, had his lunch and went for his afternoon nap
and suffered a massive stroke.
Plate 104: Appeal Team on the steps of the Parthenon
Clive Bryant on the left Connor Fitzsimons on the right
252
The year started for me with a round of Esprit project meetings in
Europe, Bologna and Venice in January with RAL staff for the device
modelling project and then in February to Athens for an ACCORD
project technical meeting with Clive. Heavy snow was falling in
Northern Italy so we were very late in arriving; our hosts had booked
tickets for the opera which I unfortunately missed. The visit to Athens
was notable for my first sight of the Parthenon and Clive‘s pleasure at
seeing Mars Hill where Saint Paul was supposed to have preached. My
green case was missing at the carousel at Athens air-port; we waited
patiently and the only case that was left was a similar green one, but,
unfortunately, not the one belonging to me. It transpired a careless
woman had taken mine and didn‘t realise it until she reached her hotel; so
I had to return to the airport the next day to collect my case.
In March I went with John Simkin to Eindhoven for an ACCORD
board meeting, which went quite well considering the difficulties we had
at the beginning; we had designed the project such that the coupling
between the two groups was fairly loose and the two sub projects were
largely autonomous. The next day we went to Delft to meet Professor
Adrian de Hoop. This visit had been arranged by Simon Polak who
wanted to introduce us to de Hoop who was the most famous academic in
Holland researching electromagnetics. We were familiar with his
collaboration with his ex student, Gerrit Mur (see footnote 194 on page
238 ) which independently developed the ‗edge element‘ method in finite
element analysis. De Hoop turned out to be a friendly and modest man
and we much enjoyed our visit, which had to be brief as I had to fly to
Vienna later that day to attend the final Compumag planning meeting in
Graz. Kurt Richter was also a splendid host and the business of the
meeting was efficiently conducted in time for us all to go to the Opera to
see Arabella by Richard Strauss. In fact two boxes, the Styrian
Governor‘s and the Graz city Mayor‘s, were made available to us. This
excursion was funded by the Mayor as a goodwill gesture to the
Compumag committee for bringing the conference to Graz. During the
first part of the opera we noticed that Sandro Viviani had disappeared
and I was concerned as Giorgio Molinari had alerted me that Sandro had
been suffering from memory loss and was sometimes confused. I looked
around outside during the interval and found him wandering in the street.
I persuaded him to come back, I think he thought the show was over and
perhaps had no particular liking for opera. This indeed was the first sign
to us, his friends, of an illness that was to prove later to be fatal.
Vector Fields Ltd
253
On the 11th of April I set out for my second visit to Japan with Chris
Biddlecombe and our account of the trip, reproduced below, was printed
in the VECTOR Newsletter204.
Following the very productive visit to Japan last October which
resulted in several important contracts, it was decided to make a followup visit in April this year, in order to present 'live' demonstrations of our
software and to extend the number of contacts; also it was a useful
opportunity to bring potential and existing users up to date with recent
developments.
The visit coincided with the 25th INTERMAG conference, held this
year in Tokyo: A record number of over 1500 people attended this
conference and exhibition where VF and KBK, our Japanese agents, had
a stand with on-line demos of our software. We departed from London
Heathrow on 11 April arriving at Tokyo on 12 April205. It was, of course
a long and tiring flight and we were very grateful to be met by Mr Kakuo
of KBK. After a good night's sleep, we were able to begin assembling our
stand. The team from KBK arrived in force. Messrs Shingu, Inakatsu and
Kakuo, made light work of putting up our display material while Miss
Motojima sorted the literature. Soon the representative of DEC arrived
to unpack the MicroVAX which they had loaned. The VF software was
soon up and flying. During the conference delegates from over 50
companies showed interest in the software. Established customers came
seeking the latest information and new contacts brought their test
examples to be solved 'while-you-wait'. The examples included a twisted
rotor; posed by a group from Tampere University206, Finland, and a
permanent magnet motor.
We were very pleased to welcome Mr Motomura, the managing
director of KBK and his fellow director, Mr Kusayanagi, to the stand.
They told us they were very impressed with Vector Fields progress in
Japan, with many prospects already under review.
The high spot of the conference was the banquet, superbly organised
with, for once, a really high quality cabaret including many traditional
Japanese entertainments. The meal itself was fine, starting with a toast,
drunk in sake, from small wooden boxes! It concluded with massed
dancing Japanese style. At the end the whole conference joined in,
forming a crazy cake walk around the huge ballroom. It was a sight
204
Vector Vol 3, No. 2, Summer 1987
In those days overflying the Soviet Union was not permitted so one had to travel via
Alaska where a refuelling stop had to be endured with all passengers leaving the plane. One
wandered around like a zombie not knowing whether it was Day or Night.
206
This was the first time I met young Lauri Kettunen who was to become a great
friend.
205
254
never to be forgotten to see so many usually sedate magneticians
cavorting more or less in time to the music from the Japanese band.
Plate 105: VF Stand at Intermag Tokyo
On Saturday we took a trip to Mt. Fuji, which involved a bus trip, a
ride on a cable car over hot sulphurous springs, a 'sea voyage' across
Lake Hakone and a ride back to Tokyo on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train).
The views of Mt. Fuji were somewhat obscured by cloud but we went up
to just below the snow line at about 8000ft and enjoyed the day out. The
next day, Sunday, Chris linked up with an English speaking Christian
church for an Easter Day celebration.
On Monday we gathered at the DEC offices in the Sunshine 60
building for the first of two one-day seminars on the VF software. The
presentations were introduced by Mr Kusayanagi, KBK director. Next we
were fortunate to have Prof. Miya of Tokyo University, who gave a
survey of electromagnetic computing with particular reference to
applications. Several short lectures and live demonstrations followed in
which we presented various aspects of VF, the company's history and
software products.
Tuesday's seminar followed the same pattern. In the two days
representatives of 13 companies attended the seminars, and appreciated
them too, judging from the questionnaires they completed afterwards. On
Vector Fields Ltd
255
Tuesday evening, KBK entertained Prof. Miya and us at a well known
Tempura restaurant in Ginza. The chef, a former Tempura chef to the
Emperor, came up from below on a platform in the centre of a very large
circular table where we sat. He then proceeded to deep-fry in sesame oil
various species of fish - it was delicious
Plate 106: User Course at Sunshine City
Chris Biddlecombe extreme left, Bill extreme right.
The last three days at Sunshine City were taken up by the user
course on TOSCA and CARMEN. Four companies were represented Hitachi, MHI, Furukawa and JEOL. The delegates showed a tremendous
aptitude and inventiveness in using the software. We found the
experience of our first ever course in Japan very stimulating and
rewarding and were impressed by the dedication of the delegates.
On the last day Bill was rushed away to fly to Okayama to visit Prof.
Nakata and his colleagues at the 3D Magnetics Institute there. This time
Mt. Fuji was clear and there were lovely views all the way. The range of
test models undergoing measurement and computation at the lab were
most impressive demonstrating that the academic work in Japan is of a
very high standard. In the meantime Chris completed the course, packed
everything up and enjoyed a day viewing the Imperial Palace gardens
and the oldest part of Tokyo, Asakusa with Mr Shingu.
We met in KBK offices on Saturday evening, to say our farewells
and thanks to our Japanese colleagues. It had been a very strenuous two
256
weeks but we hope it will lead to much further collaboration with the
electromagnetics community in Japan.
At Rita‘s half term holiday we took Eva and Bill Boucher to Jersey
for a short holiday. My only memory remaining is hearing at dusk,
standing near the church of St Brelades Bay a choir from within singing,
‘As Torrents in Summer‘, from Elgar‘s cantata King Olaf, most
exquisite. An important event for VF happened in June as we moved
from our Office at Osney Mead to new offices in Kidlington. For
sometime we had been planning the move as we now had seven
employees and the company had done reasonably well. We decided to
acquire a unit in a new development at the Bankside Business estate
north of Kidlington just by the Oxford Canal. John Whitney reported on
the move in the Vector Newsletter (IBID) as follows:
Plate 107: Olek Zienkiewicz Opens the New VF Office at Kidlington
On June 17th we were honoured to welcome finite element pioneer
Professor Zienkiewicz FRS to officially open our new offices. The ceremony
was followed by a reception attended by guests from our customers and
suppliers. The new offices at Bankside, Kidlington just 6 miles north of
Oxford City centre are purpose built to our requirements and include
facilities for training courses and demonstrations on the ground floor. Bill
Trowbridge welcomed the guests and introduced Professor Zienkiewicz to
Vector Fields Ltd
257
those who were not familiar with his pioneering work in finite element
analysis.
Professor Zienkiewicz, one of the few engineers involved in
computational mechanics to be elected Fellow of the Royal Society, has
been responsible for many fundamental developments in finite element
analysis. Perhaps of equal importance is that he has been an evangelist
in the practical application of these methods to engineering design. Few
people know of his interest and involvement in electromagnetic field
computation. This began in 1970 when he worked with Bill Trowbridge
and Jim Diserens to solve 3D magnetic field problems using a three
component vector potential method. To make this work they had to
introduce a penalty function in order to ensure a well conditioned matrix,
an idea that he had developed from his research in fluid dynamics.
When the TOSCA algorithm was devised at the Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory it was described in terms of a complicated matrix
transformation. Professor Zienkiewicz immediately recognised it as an
application of his ideas on combined residual equations. This
dramatically simplified the description of the algorithm and made clear
the underlying physical interpretation. Professor Zienkiewicz's
commitment and enthusiasm has always acted as a catalyst to the
development of new ideas in electromagnetism although this is by no
means his main area of interest. After the ceremony guests were shown
demonstrations of our software, particular interest being shown in the
new Version 5 of TOSCA with its advanced pre and post processing
facilities.
June continued being busy with Esprit meetings, firstly a workshop
on the APPEAL Library in Sta Margharita hosted by Giorgio Molinari
followed by a full project review in Brussels. However it was at the end
of June that a momentous step for me personally was taken. My last day
at Rutherford was Tuesday June 30th and on the previous day at lunch
time Pam, my secretary gave me a leaving party in her garden with most
members of CAG present plus others from the lab and VF. But first (23
June) there was the traditional farewell celebration and presentation by
the director Paul Williams in front of my colleagues and many friends to
which my dear wife Rita was invited. Paul said some very kind words
which appeared in the RAL Bulletin and, there is no false modesty about
me, so I give his remarks in full:
Bill Trowbridge began his scientific career in 1956 at Harwell in
the most junior science grade possible. On Tuesday 23 June 1987 he left
RAL. a world authority on the computation of electromagnet fields. Bill's
interest in computational physics developed while he was studying for his
258
BSc on day release and became his life's work. Required to design
magnets for accelerators, he forged close links with computational
analysts in other fields, including civil engineering, and developed the
use of finite element techniques for the solution of field problems. His
expertise brought him into wide demand as an international lecturer and
he travelled extensively. All this was achieved in his second career, his
first in the Merchant Navy having led to a First Mate's certificate. In his
third incarnation as Chairman of his own Company 'Vector Fields' who
knows what he may achieve. Thanking Bill for all he had done for RAL,
Paul presented gifts from all his friends and colleagues and wished him
every success with his new venture. In reply Bill reminisced on his 30
years at the Laboratory; of the colleagues with whom he had worked and
of the happy times he had spent with them. He thanked everyone for the
gifts. The Escher print would look very well in his new office, he said. As
for the future - he looked forward to a continuing collaboration with
RAL.
Plate 108: The Traditional ‘This Is Your Life Card’
Presented to the Author on his leaving RAL after 30 years. (The artist who modestly keeps
silent has the initial AP)
I felt immensely proud to have been involved in the growth of
information technology and the part that I and my colleagues have been
privileged to play in it but one needs support and friends and I have had
Vector Fields Ltd
259
many in my thirty year stay at Harwell/Chilton. My huge debt to Doug
Allen and David Thomas that has been emphasised throughout this
memoir was crucial but several of my closest colleagues were also
necessary, I mean Jim Diserens, John Collie, Mike Newman, Larry
Turner, Alan Armstrong , John Whitney and John Simkin. I must also
mention the help and support I received in the later stages of my RAL
career from Paul Williams and Geoff Manning. But more important than
any of these is, of course, my dear wife Rita who made it possible for me
to be single minded and allowed me to be selfish at times as she
subordinated her own career in favour of mine. Now for the road ahead,
we had made Vector Fields work so far and the signs were good for the
future and I felt confident
Austrian Holiday and Compumag Graz
Plate 109: Bill beside the Danube and Rita overlooking Salzburg
Rita and I set out for Austria in August, firstly to Vienna where we
were to have a week‘s holiday exploring the city, its musical heritage the
sites belonging to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms. We
went to the museums in their names as well as viewing the great art to be
found in the museums of the Hapsburgs. We enjoyed the village of
Heiligenstadt as much as anywhere, with the Beethoven Museum there
and the nearby Danube where we hired bicycles and cycled for miles. We
crammed into a small box up in the Gods at the opera and watched the
260
Magic Flute (a splendid young John Tomlinson singing Sarastro). We
went, in the evening to the Prater and rode the Giant Ferris wheel and
were thrilled to see the city spread below. We also did a long coach trip
to Hungary via the Haydn birthplace near Esterhazy. From Vienna we
went by train to Salzburg to see the Mozart birthplace, attend a
performance at the festival and pick up a rental car.
The opera was Monteverdi‘s, ‗Il ritorno d‘Ulisse in patria‘ in a new
production realised by the contemporary German composer Hans Werner
Henze. It was quite a British affair really with singers Thomas Allen,
Ann Murray and Robert Tear singing the principal roles as well as being
conducted by Jeffrey Tate but the star for me was Kathleen Kuhlmann
singing Penelope. To hear this piece with a modern orchestra, at least to
me, is an uncomfortable experience but the sense of occasion sitting in
this immense house, carved into the side of a rocky cliff, was
unforgettable.
Plate 110: At Compumag Graz (a) Bill & Rita at the Wine-Strasse, (b) Poster,
(c) Bill giving his paper at the conference
Vector Fields Ltd
261
We explored the area in our rental car visiting places like St
Wolgang (Whitehorse Inn) and Salzkammergut (Full of ‗Sound of
Music‘ adverts) then set out across the Alps to Graz (about 150 miles) to
attend the Compumag Conference. Kurt Richter had booked us into the
Park Hotel which I knew from previous trips to Graz and is a most
delightful place to stay; there we found many ‗compumaggers‘, including
Larry & Donna Turner, Jim & Helen Diserens. The following day Kurt
organised a car trip to down near the Slovenian border to the famous
Wine-Strasse where we could sample wine and enjoy the lovely scenery.
I wrote the following report on the conference for the Vector
Newsletter207 :
The sixth international conference on the computation of
electromagnetic fields, COMPUMAG, was held at Graz in Austria from
August 25th to August 28th. The conference was organised by the
Electrical Engineering Department of the Technical University under the
chairmanship of Professor Kurt Richter. The meeting was attended by
over 240 delegates from 27 countries and thus establishes a new record.
Those fortunate enough to be there were stimulated by a wide range of
interesting and significant papers and by the many informal discussions
that are such a feature of these conferences. Not only were we exposed to
new and challenging ideas but also to the very fine weather and splendid
surroundings that Graz was able to provide.
Our company stand at the conference exhibition was well attended
with on-line demonstrations of the VF software readily available at all
times. Many visitors availed themselves of the opportunity of having their
field problems solved on the spot by John Simkin and Chris Riley. Once
again the paramount importance of predictive field computation to
subject areas like the design of non-destructive testing probes, tape-head
magnets and M RI systems was confirmed. The atmosphere on the stand
was lively and constructive with good ideas flowing both ways.
After the conference the members of the paper refereeing team were
taken to a beautiful village in the hilly countryside to a place called
Semriach where they were accommodated in a quiet hotel. Over the next
two days the reviewers worked during the day but enjoyed good food and
dancing in the evening — the local people performed a dance ceremony
to commemorate the ‗felling of trees‘. In Plate 111 (b) Kurt Richter is
207
VECTOR Vol 3, No 3, Winter 1987
262
saying farewell to Sandro Viviani who had to retire from the Compumag
Committee owing to ill health, see page 252.
Plate 111: Scenes from Semriach
(a) The Tree Dance, (b) Kurt Richter saying farewell to Sandro
Vector Fields Ltd
263
One final event of note in this crowded year was the second short
course on Computational Electromagnetics, held this time in the
Connaught Rooms in Great Queen St. London. Earlier in the year I asked
Kurt Richter if he would replace Zol Cendes who was not available and
he had agreed. In fact this was a pleasant affair for the three of us who
had become good friends, on the final evening I hosted a dinner at
Simpson‘s restaurant in the Strand which we all enjoyed. On the previous
Sunday we invited Kurt and his wife Mila to visit us in Frilford; we were
to get know the Richters very well in the coming years.
264
Expansion of Vector Fields 1988-1993
Expansion of Vector Fields 1988 to 1993
1988
Vector Fields continued to make good progress with ever expanding
markets. We signed a world-wide deal with the Philips Company in
January thus setting the seal on what had been a satisfying and
productive collaboration with Simon Polak and his group at Eindhoven.
The ACCORD project was now well underway with the completion of
the specification of the APPEAL library208 and throughout the year there
were frequent meetings in Europe with our partners to discuss this and
prepare our report for the review meetings in Brussels. Clive and I also
found time somehow to prepare a paper for the upcoming Graz IGTE
seminar in September209.
During Compumag Graz, Professor Kenzo Miya successfully
submitted a proposal for Tokyo University to host Compumag in 1989
and in April of this year he convened the first planning meeting. In order
to help with the funding of committee members he had planned the
meeting to coincide with other events, e.g. the Fusion Technology
Seminar also I had proposed that KBK, the VF distributor in Japan, in
cooperation with Kenzo could host a short course at which the delegates
to the Compumag planning meeting would contribute lectures and
receive some payment. This had been arranged and would take place at
Hakone, a resort village near Mount Fuji, on 21 and 22 April. I met up
with Larry Turner at the Tokyo Prince Hotel where the Fusion meeting
was to take place. Larry and I had a very pleasant day out on the Sunday
as we took an excursion train to Niki to visit the Emperor‘s Summer
Palace which is now a museum. After a productive planning meeting for
Compumag Tokyo we all went to Hakone for the course.
Back in Oxford I just managed a short break with Rita in Hereford
before going to Athens and Italy. I had been appointed as a Professor
under contract at Genoa University; the period of the contract was from
May to August to give a series of lectures to the undergraduates and post
graduates in Giorgio Molinari‘s department. We had decided to fulfill
208
Specification of the APPEAL Library, C F Bryant and C W Trowbridge, Tech. Rep.,
Vector Fields Ltd. 1988, ESPRIT(1051), ACCORD/WP4/DEL/VFL/003/26.07.88/CFB
209
A discussion on the use of the Lorentz Gauge in Eddy Current Computations, C F
Bryant and C W Trowbridge, Proc. IGTE-3 Proceedings, Graz, 1988
Vector Fields Ltd
265
this in two parts with a short course of five lectures in May and then a
longer period of four weeks in August. In between there would be other
trips to Italy, with Giorgio, visiting other universities for discussions with
groups with whom he was collaborating. First then to Athens for an
ACCORD meeting to settle the contents of the proposed APPEAL library
with our partners then Giorgio and I flew to Genoa to give my short
course; the lectures were spread over five days in the mornings and after
a leisurely lunch Giorgio had arranged discussions with the members of
his post graduates. One rather sad thing was that Sandro was there and
welcomed me most affectionately and then handed over his office to me.
He then spent the entire time walking up and down the corridor outside.
This was most distressing to all concerned and it was explained to me
that Sandro was suffering from a form of Alzheimer‘s disease.
Plate 112: The Staff at DIE Genoa 1988
L to R: Giorgio Molinari, Bill, Silvia Repetto (seated), Paolo Molfino,?, Paola Giordano
(seated), ?, Pablo Fernandes, Mauritsio Repetto, Sandro Viviani
I got to know very well Giorgio‘s most senior colleagues, Paulo
Molfino, a very jolly man with a special talent for IT and good food, and
Paula Giordano, a pretty lady — very active in research of new methods
for field computation. Giorgio also took me to Nervi to have a look at a
possible apartment for our longer stay in August. I even managed a trip
to the Opera at the Teatro Margarita to see appropriately enough Tosca.
The Teatro Margarita had been the temporary home of the Genoese
Opera for many years as the ongoing tribulations of the new house still
266
looking for money to complete. On my return to Oxford I had a visit
from Percy Hammond from Southampton University and he brought with
him a research fellow newly joined the department there, Dr Jan Sykulski
from Lodz. Jan was destined to become closely associated with me in the
future as I will describe later.
Plate 113: Rita retires from Cholsey School
L to R: Bill Campbell, Bill, Robin McLelland, Rita, (b) John Haworth & Rita, (c) Three
Colleagues, Roz Crouch, Joe Johnson & Rita
In July Rita retired from Cholsey School; she decided to take early
retirement as the terms offered were reasonable and she wanted to spend
more time with me on some of my travels. She had served Cholsey
Vector Fields Ltd
267
School for over twenty years and had a teaching career since 1949, apart
from a few years when our children were small. Her colleagues at the
school arranged a lovely retirement party for her to which her two
previous headmasters at Cholsey, Bill Campbell & John Haworth both
came and paid her the most generous compliments. She had clearly been
popular and dedicated as stressed by her current headmaster, Robin
McLelland. She had been leader of Green Team for many years and one
of her delights was to look at the local paper to read what some of her
former pupils had got up to; some good, some not so. She loved her work
as a teacher and was very good at it and on many occasions she refused
the opportunities for further advancement as she always felt that her
family must come first.
Several hectic short trips involving Esprit project followed and also
a trip to Ancona in Italy to give a lecture to the Italian electromagnetics
club of universities at their annual meeting. I remember Paola organised
a splendid dinner on the beach. Then on the 12th of August Rita and I set
out by car to drive to Genoa for my second ‗stint‘ as the Professor under
contract. We were to stay in an apartment that Giorgio had arranged for
us in Nervi, for four weeks. As it happened the let had to be for six weeks
and John & Linda Whitney made use of it for two weeks before us. After
crossing the channel from Dover to Calais we drove to Laon (Hotel
Angleterre) for our first overnight stop, then the next day South to
Grenoble for a second overnight stop at the Novotel, finally arriving at
Genoa the following day. The apartment in Nervi was in the central
square, No. 1. Barbierri and was rather noisy and humid, however we
soon settled in and were able to mix my work with the university with
several excursions. Dinah and Simon came out for a week; there were
several rooms in the apartment and they mostly did their own thing. Rita
and I drove to Pisa and Florence and stayed for two nights in Fiesole and
also visited Alasio to see the place that inspired Edward Elgar to write ‗In
the South‘. In Florence we enjoyed the famous Uffizi Gallery and were
thrilled by the paintings.
Toward the end of our stay in Nervi Ernie & Helen Freeman came
out to stay for a few days. Ernie had moved to the Abingdon area after he
had married Helen last year. We soon got to like Helen who had similar
tastes to ours; Rita and I had been their witnesses at the registry office
ceremony 28 March 1987 and Ernie and I had been good friends for
many years, despite being rivals in the software business. This was a
second marriage for both of them following the break up of their
previous unions — a triumph of hope over experience, according to
Samuel Johnson. Rita and I had known Hazel, Ernie‘s first wife well and
had liked her, but there had been some incompatibilities and everyone is
entitled to a second chance. Ernie, whilst in Genoa, took the opportunity
268
to visit Giorgio with me for technical discussions and our mutual
thoughts on future developments — it was clear that the way ahead was
with the small personal computers, and Infolytica (Ernie‘s Company) had
a head start here as they had pioneered the use of use of small micro
processing machines like the DEC LSI-11. However we were catching up
fast as already the intermediate APOLLO and SUN single user workstation machines were becoming available and the VF software would
soon be exploiting this class of hardware.
On our return we attended a family get together at Brenda‘s new
bungalow near Fordingbridge, she had sold the house in Damerham and
moved to Sandleheath where she would be close to her friends and also
have space to continue her hairdressing business. This occasion was of
the very few occasions we were all together, see plate Plate 114, and we
were all pleased to see Brenda settled.
Plate 114: Family Reunion at Brenda’s House
L to R seated: Dinah, Rita, Brenda, Hilda, Pamela
L to R standing: Simon, Jonathan, David, Barnaby, Peter
China Revisited - BISEF88 A Prospect for the Future?
After our visit in 1984 (see page 190) Professor Tang Yunqi
promised us a return trip with opportunities to see more of China and
appreciate the vast diversity of the 'longest running show on earth'. Two
years later Professor Tang came to Europe and visited Vector Fields and
Rutherford Laboratory (see page 248) and we enjoyed his company
Vector Fields Ltd
269
immensely. He came with news of BISEF88 (Beijing International
Symposium on Electromagnetic Fields) of which he had been appointed
chairman and asked me if I would be an honorary president of the
symposium and their guest. He also promised to arrange a tour after the
meeting; which would include a trip to Xian to see the famous terracotta
warriors.
It was with some anxiety that Rita and I set out on the 14th October
—agreed schedules, in the event, sometimes fail to work out as any
visitor to China will know. The flight to Beijing (dep. HR 1600, Friday
14 October) via Paris and Delhi was long and uncomfortable (19 hours).
We saw spectacular views of the Himalayas including a very clear
sighting of Mount Everest. The time difference was +7 hours so we felt
very fragile on arrival (Saturday 1810); however, contrary to expectations, there were no problems with Quarantine, Immigration or
Customs, just fill out the forms and keep moving! We were met by
Professor Tang and our old friend Mr Song, also from Harbin, who
warmly welcomed us.
Plate 115: Our Hosts at Hebie Institute of Technology, Tianjin
Prof. Yan Weili third from the left. Head of Institute third from the right
We were looking forward to hot baths; bed, sleep etc and I mentally
estimated we should be at the Friendship Hotel within the hour. No such
270
luck! I noticed Professor Yan Weili standing there; he immediately
invited us to Tianjin (120Km from Beijing) for three days, saying this
would nicely occupy the time for us before the start of the conference
next Tuesday? It was difficult (impossible) to say no; so we said goodbye to Tang and set off to Tianjin by car with Yan. It was already dark
and the long journey (over three hours) in our state of disorientation
played havoc with our senses. We were taken to the University of
Commerce Guest House and were given an apartment reserved for
foreign guests. Too late for food, hot water etc, but, never mind, we had a
bed.
The next three days were spent in the company of our hosts, Hebei
Institute of Technology. We did some sight-seeing and visited the
institute where I gave a lecture, met the academic staff, saw the fine work
on field computation and attended a banquet given for us by the President
of the Institute. They showed me a 2-D code running on a PC (MS-DOS)
which looked remarkably similar to PE2D. In fact it turned out to be a
version of a code, developed by Fan Ming Wu of the atomic energy
institute in Beijing called DE2D.
Tuesday found us back in Beijing and safely ensconced in the
Friendship Hotel. The journey from Tianjin was interesting, a very busy
road through mostly flat agriculture country, and the institute driver
skilfully negotiating the never ending stream of traffic. We saw small
trucks, buses, official cars, horses and donkey drawn carts of every
possible type and of course bicycles. The use of the latter was most
inventive. Apart from the normal mode, we saw 'bikes' for towing trailers
loaded with farm produce, domestic appliances, furniture, building
materials, and animals of all varieties. Also, three wheelers both pedal
and hand driven, used for personal and collective conveyance of people,
old and 'young, infirm and fit. There were farming appliances as well,
small tractors, used to tow goods and what looked like gardening power
tools were also employed for this purpose. On several occasions we saw
whole suites of furniture being transported on bicycles. On approaching
Beijing we were stopped at the city boundary police checkpoint where
our papers were examined. Beijing is such a large conurbation that it was
sometime before we actually arrived at our hotel but as we approached
the city centre the roads improved with far less horn blowing and much
smarter traffic.
The car deposited us at building No.3 of the Friendship Hotel which
was to house the BISEF conference delegates. We were greeted by the
local organizers, members of the academic staff from the Academica
Sinica, who welcomed us with much enthusiasm. All the delegates were
given presents, in our case they were 3D cork pictures of the Great Wall
and a Panda respectively. Next we went to No 1 building for lunch, a
Vector Fields Ltd
271
very large dining room, 'open all hours', it said, and there we found Kurt
Richter from Austria (Professor of Electrical Engineering at Graz)
already enjoying a plateful of pork and chilli with rice. We joined him
and compared notes of our journeys. He had arrived the day before and
was already quite at home with the food and chopsticks. I had last seen
him in Tokyo in April at the Compumag planning meeting where he was
equally at home with the Japanese cuisine.
We took a Taxi to Tiananmen Square to have a look round and
appreciate Beijing. There were three large floral sculptures: a Panda
(very upright, standing 20 feet or more), a similar horned beast (Rita said
it was the 'dragon' logo for the Beijing tourist year, but looked more like
a devil figure to me, a cross between a human and bull), and lastly a large
horizontal figure which I am sure was a dragon. The three objects were
quite impressive, decked with flowers, and there were large crowds of
tourists and local visitors milling around, including young lovers on
holiday, taking photographs of themselves in groups, with the floral
beasts as background. The weather was glorious, a brilliant autumn day
with an almost cloudless sky. We enjoyed our walk round this impressive
square with its modern museum halls, statues marking the revolution, and
mausoleums etc., but it is the space and the people that linger in the
memory. The older buildings from bygone days are also in evidence,
with Mao's picture on the wall that guards the Forbidden City. His 'big
brother' presence is a constant reminder of authority.
We returned to the Friendship hotel and there we met the Italian
contingent old friends Paolo and Laura Molfino, Paola Giordano from
Genoa, and three others from Milan. Also there were Bill and Nancy
Lord from USA, who had just arrived by train from Nanjing (24 hrs). At
seven o'clock I had to attend the meeting of the symposium committee.
We were all introduced by Prof Tang who had just arrived by train from
Harbin with Academician Dermichian, another of the symposium honorary presidents, who had come from Leningrad via Harbin. Each of us
then made a short speech expressing our hopes for a successful
symposium.
The symposium began at 8.30am the next day (Wednesday) at the
nearby Beijing Science Hall. Professor Tang made a short speech of welcome and introduced the honorary presidents to the audience. There were
well over 200 delegates present. I spotted Fan Ming Wu whom I had last
seen in Fort Collins, USA. He told me he had had to return home in order
to keep his job at the Academica Sinica (Atomic Energy Lab)—he was
vulnerable because of his long stay in US following his two years with us
at RAL. I was the first speaker, and I gave my paper, a review of field
computation concentrating mainly on formulations and possible future
developments—I showed some of the results on the use of Transputer
272
systems for solving Integral Equations that VF have obtained. I was
followed by Prof. Wang Xianchong (Tsinghua University) who gave a
review of recent developments in China on solving boundary value problems. He was followed by Jiang Zejia (Chongqing University) who dealt
with hierarchical elements, demonstrating that the work here is very well
informed about developments in the west, not really surprising since
Olek Zienkiewicz is a regular visitor here.
During Coffee I kept seeing people who knew me from our last
visit, many were former students at the Harbin lectures I gave in 1984,
including Fan Ming Wu, Prof Sheng (Xian), and Sun Yushi (Nanjing)
who warmly congratulated me on my talk. The plenary opening session
continued with a presentation by Prof. Nakata from Okayama University,
Japan, who gave a survey of computer codes and the eddy-current
workshop problems. The next speaker was Zhou Keding, the conference
co-chairman and distinguished authority on fields from Huazhong
University: he visited me at RAL (see page 190) some years ago and took
a keen interest then in our electromagnetics code developments at that
time—he mentioned this visit to me later and said how much he had
enjoyed seeing PE2D and TOSCA210 in action. The last talk was given by
the other co-chairman, Yan Luguang from Institute of Electrical
Engineering, Academica Sinica here in Beijing. He gave an overview of
their work in Electromagnetics generally. I was impressed by the range
and diversity of the research. Superconductivity and conventional
magnets applied to a number of high-tech applications, including MRI
systems, MHD, Fusion and magnetic separation. All considered, it was a
very interesting morning. I was astonished at the high standard of English
used by the speakers and it was a pleasure to listen to so many leading
Chinese authorities.
The symposium now split into parallel sessions. I attended one on
the topic of time varying fields chaired by Bill Lord. I sat with Prof Zhou
Keding who gave me a copy of his latest book on Field Computation. I
was then called away to discuss with Prof Tang my itinerary for the
following week but he could not give me many details yet and I felt that
we would be kept guessing to the end. Mr Inakatsu from KBK, our
agents in Japan, arrived accompanied by Prof Miya (Tokyo University,
next Compumag conference chairman) and Dr Uesaka of IHI Japan. The
next speaker was in fact Dr Uesaka who reported on his work using the
Incanet code, which he developed at IHI, to examine eddy current effects
in septum magnets, though, in the future, IHI will be using Vector Fields
software to complement their own, which is good news for us. The next
210
GFUN
In this his memory was at fault since the visit was before TOSCA, he probably meant
Vector Fields Ltd
273
talk was by Kurt Richter who gave an interesting account on the work of
the Graz group on the Coulomb gauge for magnetic vector potential
At the symposium reception, later that evening, we met the other
presidents and co-chairman, including Academician Kama Dermichian
who was overwhelming but friendly and kindness itself: he said he and I
should work together on a joint business venture, selling software for
parallel computers. I think it was mostly fantasy. We were given food
and drink in abundance. However, suddenly it was all over, as is usual at
official functions here, and everyone left-but not before we had our photographs taken by all and sundry in every possible combination. Rita and
I were grabbed by the KBK people. The head of their Beijing office had
turned up - a charming man called S.Nagai, who invited us out for dinner
(apparently what we had just eaten was a merely a snack, an appetizer!).
So together with Kenzo Miya, Mitsuru Uesaka, Kurt Richter and
Inakatsu we set off in the KBK car to one of Beijing's top western style
hotels, The Shangri La, where we had a fine meal, but unfortunately I
was too full already to enjoy it properly. However, of interest to me was
the Chinese quintet who played what I supposed was authentic Chinese
music while we ate and talked. The group were certainly performing on
traditional instruments, percussion, small Chinese harp, bowed stringed
(cf. cello, violin) instrument and some kind of keyboard (struck, rather
like a zither). They occasionally sang as well, and to my untutored ears it
sounded charming.
At the second day of the Symposium I attended the session on
methods of analysis, chaired by Kenzo Miya. The first paper was given
by Paolo Molfino (Genoa) and described their integrated 2-D field
analysis system, CDEF, for use by a consortium of Italian Universities. I
had seen this demonstrated earlier in the year when I visited Genoa. The
Genoa group under the leadership of Professor Giorgio Molinari have
created a strong computational laboratory and they are also using the
Vector Fields codes, PE2D, TOSCA and CARMEN to supplement their
own' in-house developments'. The Italian contribution was followed by
Gerit Mur (University of Delft, Holland) who gave a paper on the use of
'edge elements'; this work is fairly new and must have been novel to
many in the audience. The next paper, from China, dealt with the inverse
solutions for electric fields, which is interesting because it means that
many researchers here are now tackling optimisation problems. I then
had a meeting with Mr Inakatsu to revue progress of VF products in
Japan. Finally, in the evening the entire conference was conveyed in
buses to a theatre to see an Acrobatics variety show.
On the final day of the symposium I listened to papers by Bill Lord,
Nathan Ida, T Wieland (FGR) on his MAFIA code with excellent results
for high frequency problems in accelerator magnets: Osama Mohammed
274
(Florida Int. University), and also the work of Wang Baikuan (Tsinghua
University) on two component field vectors. I had an interesting
discussion with Osama Mohammed who sought my help in promoting
his university in CEM; we discussed the possibility of his institute
hosting a Compumag Conference sometime in the future. As the meeting
drew to a close, numbers fell away, as usual. This was a pity because
there was a very good paper by A Demenko (Poland) on the use of parallel computers. There followed a large poster session which has been an
important feature on each day. The atmosphere generated at these 'side
show' events was quite exciting; such intense activity reminded me of the
lively exchange one finds in the many colourful markets which
characterise the Far East.
For lunch Rita and I were taken to a Peking-Duck restaurant in
'down-town' Beijing as guests of KBK- China. Mr Nagai was our host
and it proved to be a very enjoyable experience. Also present were
Professor Miya and Mr Inakatsu. Unfortunately we had very little time
since both Miya and I were due at the Academica Sinica Institute for
discussions and a tour in the afternoon. Another mad dash in Mr Nagai's
car got us there only a few minutes late. The meeting began with a wide
ranging discussion on the aspirations of universities here to create
campus companies. Professor Yan Luguang told us of their progress so
far. They had formed a small product company to design, manufacture
and 'market' a variety of electromagnetic devices. We were then taken on
a guided tour and saw their work on microcomputer controlled machines,
MRI systems, MHD magnets and Magnetic Separation.
We were next taken to Tsinghua University, to see the campus and
visit the electrical engineering department. After meeting one of the Vice
Presidents and some of the faculty members we were taken on a tour of
this most beautiful campus. Our guide was the elderly and distinguished
Professor Wang Xianchong who gave the opening paper from China at
the symposium. He speaks the most idiomatic English and has a great
sense of humour. He showed me where the Emperor's palace once stood,
now part of the garden, and recounted with some relish about how it was
razed to ground during the 1840 'Opium War' by the British. He is very
much attached to the university. He also showed us the palace belonging
to the brother of the last Emperor. I noticed an old man tending the
garden—the the ghost of last emperor's brother?
The very last event of the meeting was the Banquet. This was a
grand affair held in Building 9. The Friendship hotel is a kind of campus
itself having a large complex of buildings, apartments hotel blocks,
theatre, conference centre, several restaurants, etc. Professor Tang and
the Co-chairmen welcomed the delegates to the banquet and Rita and I
found ourselves sitting with the other presidents etc, too near the
Vector Fields Ltd
275
microphone for comfort(yes, we each had to say a few words - I was
most impressed with John Tegoupolis who made a brilliant speech in
Chinese). Then we started eating. The meal was excellent, and I think
everyone enjoyed themselves. The proceedings ended quite abruptly as
usual and we all went our various ways: the Japanese to the hotel
Karaoke bar to sing songs, followed by Kurt Richter and the Italians.
Paolo Molfino muttered to me as he passed by, ‗Oh for a Steak!'. Rita
and I found Professor Tang and he told us that 'tomorrow we shall go to
Xian'. How we will go is not yet clear; he said either by train (we are not
too keen on this since it takes 24 hours!), or hopefully by air.
We discussed with Kurt, at breakfast the following day, our concern
about the lack of firm arrangements for our trip to Xian and beyond
(Tang had planned for us to visit Hanchow as well to see the West Lake).
We had now decided to try and go only as far as Xian since we needed to
be back in Beijing the following Saturday to catch our flight home. Also
if Tang was unable to obtain air tickets we had decided to cancel the
Xian trip as well and return home sooner. The majority of the Europeans
were scheduled to go on a post-symposium tour, pre-booked and paid for.
Today they were off to see the 'wall' and on Monday to Xian and then
down south to Canton. Kurt was going to Xian too to give some lectures
at a CAD course organised by Professor Sheng; however today he was
seeing Beijing with a lady graduate engineer from the Academica Sinica
Institute who I think, had been asked to look after him.
We met Professors Tang, Sheng, also Mr Song after breakfast and
faced a confused situation, but Tang appeared optimistic that we might
get air tickets to Xian. He said there were two possibilities, both
involving Mr Song doing some furious leg work. First he wanted the
train tickets back (they had obtained these earlier in the week when it was
mooted that we might go by train) to try and get a refund; secondly there
was a possibility that influence would secure tickets from the city AirChina terminal and Song was detailed to go there and try; and finally, if
this didn't work, we would all go to the airport and try bribery and
nepotism - Sheng has a relative who works for the airline. It became
apparent also that they had problems with other guests. Sheng had invited
some Japanese to Xian as well as Richter and she was not at all sure if
they would be able to get tickets. The travel, tourist, business in China
was stretched to the limit this year as its 'Beijing Tourist Year', and all
flights, hotels etc were fully booked.
Song returned at noon—but had no luck. So we piled in a taxi with
luggage, Sheng and Tang and proceeded to the airport. There were huge
crowds of people there, mostly foreigners, and many showing signs of
frustration at the lack of information. For us though, things began to
happen. Before we knew what hit us, we were on the plane! Our
276
academic hosts had indeed secured three seats; Professor Tang said with
a broad smile, 'We have gone through the back door', in other words a 20
Yuan inducement. To see Tang at the airport is a revelation, he gets to
the front of the queue with no trouble at all. We waved a hasty good bye
to lady Professor Sheng, who had gone to get us some lunch, but she was
too late to hand it to us before we were lead away by Tang to the
terminal. The plane was an aging Russian jet which was crammed with
seats. We were jammed in at the front with no space for hand luggage or
legs. The stewardess gave us the usual box of juice, bag of dried fish and
a packet of peanut biscuits. But we did get a cup of coffee. The flight was
smooth enough (600 miles from Beijing, over Hebei, Shanxi and Shaanxi
provinces); we saw very little of course but at one stage I caught a
glimpse of the Yellow river at the point, I think, where if bends ninety
degrees at Tongguan to flow from the north. It‘s near here that the Wei
River joins the Yellow river, flowing in from the West. Xian lies on the
south bank of the Wei River some 80 miles to the east. The weather as
we approached Xian became cloudy with some rain and in fact looked
quite murky. Quite a change after the superb weather we left in Beijing.
On leaving the plane there was some chaos as we waited in the rain
for our luggage to appear. The airport was tiny and had few facilities,
despite the huge influx of visitors every year to see the archaeological
sites that constitute the cradle of the Chinese civilization. Slowly the
bulge of visitors dispersed as tour buses, taxis, and for the fortunate
various official cars took them away to the walled city. We were left
standing, still waiting for our luggage, it seemed that most people were
on organised tours and that their luggage would be sent on later. The
handling machine had broken down and there was animated discussion
going on amongst the experts. Finally, the old fashioned manual way was
adopted. A mound of bags appeared in the adjoining shed, which Tang
and I sorted, expending more energy than I could well afford, but in the
end we managed to collect all our belongings and then staggered over the
mud to reach the road, some 200 yards away. A Taxi was negotiated and
we were off. We finally ended up at the 'Milky Way Hotel' after
discovering that the Xian University guest house was full ( we had
arrived a day earlier than expected). The hotel was new and not yet
finished, our room had windows that didn't fit so it was very draughty.
Also it overlooked the busy main road so it was very noisy.
The next morning we had breakfast with Tang. Two fried eggs,
bread and coffee, quite like home? The staff here were very young, and
as usual in China, very numerous. There were several smartly dressed
girls manning the front desk but they were neither too busy nor indeed
looking hard for activity. In addition there were several young men just
waiting around (were they paid for this?) for opportunities to arise for
Vector Fields Ltd
277
work? On each floor a team of budding ‗concierges' seemed to spend the
day hanging about. I suspected that there was a lack of efficient
management. After breakfast Tang began the tricky negotiations about
costs, he did not wish us to pay, and of course his resources were limited.
In particular, he had to begin to try and secure flight tickets for us to
return to Beijing later in the week, though we were prepared to go by
train if necessary. Also Tang had now decided we should remain in the
Milky Way Hotel. He had established a good relationship with the
manager, a former China air-official and he could see that this might be
useful. We said we would be happy to remain there but could we
possibly change to a room at the back of the hotel because of the draught
and street noise. This was soon organised.
A post graduate student from the University joined us to show us
around the city with Tang. After some trouble we got a small mini-bus
and set off. It was not easy to get a taxi because as soon as they see
foreigners they want foreign currency and Professor Tang would not let
us pay. We first visited the Great Goose Pagoda with fine panoramic
views of the area, despite hazy weather. At least the rain had cleared and
although the day started very foggy the sun was rapidly burning the
moisture away. We climbed to the top admiring the vistas at each level.
The tower was packed with people, but a holiday mood prevailed with
courtesy and friendly greetings from both Chinese and foreigners alike.
The first temple on this site dates from A.D.652 in the Tang dynasty, but
the original was burnt down in 1227. The pagoda itself was built by the
Buddhist pilgrim monk Xuan Zang who brought back the sacred texts
from India and spent 19 years translating them into Chinese. The pagoda
was built to house the texts. From the summit the view of the old Tang
town is superb: Xian was once the largest city in the world. It is
completely enclosed by a massive wall which has been successfully restored. Also far off to the East the tumuli of the first emperor of China,
Qin Shi Huang Di, could be seen dimly.
We next went into the city itself, and walked along the busy central
avenue, where literally millions of people were enjoying the holiday, it
was amazing to pass by a cinema showing 'Waterloo Bridge' starring
Robert Taylor. Tang said he had seen this picture many times; it is a
perennial favourite in China. We had some trouble finding a place for
lunch but eventually we were able to get a table in a large restaurant
close to the ancient bell tower. This was a restaurant complex offering a
range of eating places at different standards. We waited while
negotiations took place, finally a deal was made and we were conducted
upstairs to a quieter area away from the crowds below. We had a local
dish, the name sounded like Chouda, with the first syllable accentuated.
Anyhow the equipment consisted of a multi-layered shiny metal steamer
278
placed on the table, and when the top lid was removed dumplings were
revealed. Each dumpling contained vegetables of some sort and was piping hot. The second and subsequent layers were likewise dumplings but
with different fillings. No sooner were we satiated with one type of
vegetable then the filling changed to another and revitalized our
appetites, and towards the end the vegetables were replaced by meat, a
very odd meal, lacking in variety, unusual for Chinese cuisine, but in fact
a subtle blend of tastes.
Back to sight-seeing with the Bell Tower. The young graduate
student was very attentive: it was pleasant to see the relationship between
the famous professor and the young man, they supported each other
beautifully. He did all the leg work but could be firm when his local
knowledge dictated, he saw that our bags, coats etc were kept safe; he did
all the queuing for tickets and generally carried out the wishes of Tang.
After the Bell Tower we walked (1 mile) to the Provincial Museum
where we saw the Xian province museum and the 'Forest of Steles': these
are stone tablets with Confucian and other texts dating from the ninth
century. Finally we climbed up on the Xian wall itself which is massive.
The way between the parapets is very broad with sufficient room for a
dual carriageway!
Back at the Milky Way, we learnt that Xian airport was now closed
because of some technical difficulty with the airport radar system and
that no flights had arrived that evening. The Old Russian jets used here
have no on-board radar. Fortunately Professor Sheng had managed to
come during the morning but the outlook for Richter and indeed the
Europeans on the post conference tour looked bleak. Our new room was
on the 6th floor and we soon discovered that the amenities were not very
good, hot water was very scarce! Never mind we were both tired and
soon went to bed.
Vector Fields Ltd
279
Plate 116: Xian City Wall
During the night the ceiling in the bathroom leaked and we were
flooded. We had a dreadful breakfast, no coffee, and then we had to wait
for a car. The electricity had been cut off so we had to climb the 6 flights
of stairs to our room. It was then that we noticed just how unfinished the
hotel was—a builder was still cementing the stair-case to make the steps!
We were to travel west today to visit various tombs, the Maoling Tomb,
then a tomb of one of the Emperor's lady friends and finally the Empress
Wu's tomb. The weather was very foggy, so this would exacerbate the
problem at the air-port, but never-the-less we set off with Tang and the
graduate student, I still did not know his name, in the university car. We
soon passed the large modern monument that marks the beginning of the
Great Silk Road along which trade between China and Europe was first
made 1000 years ago. I thought of Marco Polo, and then of our modern
Italian colleagues stranded in Beijing. We were soon out in the country.
What we saw was a revelation: a time warp back to pre-war in Europe—
we saw a plough being pulled by a mule, another pulled by an Ox and a
third by two men! We didn't see a machine being used at all except for
little old tractors pulling loads of hay or straw. People were all over the
place along the sides of the road, in the road, the fields, and sitting eating
and even playing billiards along the pavements. It was corn (Maize)
harvest time so heads of corn were hanging everywhere, some in trees
like immense bunches of bananas, some on poles, many on the house
roofs and along the pavements or fences. Some people were taking the
grain from their corn and spreading it along beside the road to dry-half
the width of the road was often used for this and the car just went over it
when we needed to pass another car or lorry. During the day we spent at
280
least 5 hours in the car and how we managed to avoid killing someone I
will never know!
We had a pleasant stop at the Maoling Tomb. The sun had come out
but the views were hazy. This place has the burial mound of the Emperor
Wu of the Tang Dynasty (87 BC). The mound is 155ft high, about a mile
east. Also situated here is the tomb of General Huo who, in 111 BC aged
18, became the commander of Wu's army and fought 6 successful
campaigns against the Huns. He died of an illness aged 24. We
photographed three delightful girls who had been decorating themselves
with flowers. They turned out to be nurses having a day off, and I
promised to send them prints. We had lunch here which was very
enjoyable, delicious cold meats and salad.
Plate 117: Maoling Tomb-'three delightful girls ...’
Next we went on to the other sites. The climax was the extensive
Qian Ling, the tombs of the third Tang Emperor, Gaonzong (died AD
683) and the notorious Empress Wu (A TV soap in UK has been recounting the fictionalised everyday doings of these royal folk for some years).
The 'royal way' to the tomb was flanked by towers, obelisks, winged
horses, ostriches, five pairs of horses, 10 pairs of standing statues
representing those who attended the emperor's funeral. The good lady
Vector Fields Ltd
281
seized power after her husband died (natural causes?), and her reign of 21
years was infamous for political murders (A sort of Lady Macbeth of
Xian)
Ten minutes after we arrived home we had to go to the University
guest house for a small banquet given by Professor Sheng in our honour.
We hurriedly changed and were rushed there by car. We met Professor
Sheng, her husband (another Professor) and their daughter (a post
graduate engineer). Lady Sheng said that Richter and the others were still
in Beijing and it was unlikely that he could come. She then asked me if 1
would give his lectures at the CAD course on Wednesday, and I agreed.
Later we were joined by two associate professors; both ladies 1 had met
several times before. At dinner we found also our young post graduate
guide, Mrs Liu (I had promised in Beijing to try and find her husband a
UK university place), and a good English speaking lecturer Bai Lin Qin.
The last two would be with us the following day they said. The dinner
was excellent, some familiar dishes with variations and one new onebanana cooked in a sweet toffee mixture. We presented Professor Sheng
with a bound diary, and after more talk and photographs we returned to
the hotel. The leak had stopped but the room was in a mess.
The following day we went east to see the terracotta army. We set
off in the Xian Jialong University bus immediately after breakfast with
Mrs Liu(Yang Xi Le), Qi Qiao, Gu Jun three lady post grads from
Jialong University; Chen Gang(or was it Bai Lin Qin from yesterday?); a
very good English speaking lecturer from there, together with 2 Japanese
students from Tokyo (From Miya's department) and, of course, Professor
Tang himself. The Japanese students had come from Beijing on the last
flight before the Xian Airport was closed. Our companions were all very
pleasant and the party were clearly out to enjoy themselves. One of the
lady students was quite overcome with excitement and had to be calmed
down by Mrs Liu. We had the usual nerve-racking drive through the
people and bicycles, and found ourselves in series with a long line of
buses all on the same mission.
On arrival at the Qin Shi Huang Di tomb area, which in fact is only
22 miles east of Xian but seemed very much further, we stopped at the
site of a vast subterranean funeral vault containing the terra-cotta
warriors. The Emperor Qin established a unified China after 25 years of
armed struggle in 211 B.C.–– it was he who had started the building of
the Great Wall. Though a courageous soldier, and bold reformer, he was
a cruel tyrant. He conscripted hundreds of thousands of peasants to
complete the wall by joining smaller lengths already in existence. He
established a formidable imperial infrastructure, a network of roads, a
unified system of writing, and standardized weights and measures. Yet he
was cruel to his opponents, he had all texts on Confucianism burnt and
282
the scholars banished or beheaded. He reigned for ten years. He built his
own tomb using a vast army of workers, and it is thought that these were
entombed alive, on completion, to maintain its secrets. This is one mile
west of the Qin Warrior site where we were standing. We could see
clearly the huge mound of the main tomb which has yet to be excavated.
The Warrior vault, conceived to protect the emperor's tomb, was
only discovered in 1974 by some peasants who were digging for a new
well. Over 7000 life-sized figures, grouped in battle order, rank by rank,
some mounted on horse drawn chariots, others in infantry groups armed
with spears, swords and crossbows have so far been unearthed. These
legions of terra-cotta figures were interred in battle formation some 1520 feet underground in a roofed vault measuring some 700 feet east to
west and 200 feet north to south. The figures themselves are accurate
portraits of real warriors of the emperor‘s guard of honour.
Plate 118: One we could photograph
Vector Fields Ltd
283
A hangar has been constructed over the site to allow visitors to walk
round on elevated platforms to view the figures. The weapons found are
over 2000 years old, and metal essays reveal that a special coating was
applied to resist corrosion, an indication of the state of metal technology
in ancient China. We filed in and gazed at this amazing sight.
Photography is forbidden and the police are very strict-we saw one
visitor having his film removed from his camera. Very important visitors,
e.g. Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and of course, royalty, are
allowed to descend down amongst the warriors for a closer look. As one
progresses to the rear of the hangar the restoration is less complete and it
gave me a special thrill to see the figures as they would have looked
when first discovered. One gets an impression of men emerging from the
depths‘ of time, battle weary and in a state of shock. The feelings this
tableau of history generates are unsettling, how is it that one man can
determine the lives of so many? Are things really any different 2000
years on, and so on – truly a 'wonder of the world'.
Plate 119: The Official Photograph showing the actual Army
We also saw the bronze chariots and horses, two beautifully detailed
models scaled at about half size I thought. These are kept in a special
room behind glass and were also found in the main vault. Though
extraordinary, they don't really fit in with the entombed army. We had
some lunch here which became a jolly occasion, relief after the theatre of
the condemned army. The next stop was to visit the Hot Springs at
284
Huaqing. This place is well known in China because of the love story
about the Tang Emperor Gao Zong and his beautiful concubine Yang
Guifei. He was so besotted with her that he neglected his affairs of state
and, when her adopted son led a revolt, the Emperor's ministers advised
him that the imperial army would not fight until she was put to death. She
hanged herself. In a pavilion nearby Chiang Kaishek was captured in the
'Xian Incident', December 1936.
Our final visit was to the Banpo Museum where there is a prehistoric site laid out, dating from six thousand years ago-Neolithic man.
There are the remains of houses, food pits, cooking pots, skeletons etc.
This ancient place is now guarded by a large, very large, statue of Banpo
Woman, naked to the waist and very buxom! But by this time I was too
tired and saturated by what we had already experienced. Tang announced
that the Hotel manager had used his influence (He used to work for Air
China) to get us flight tickets for the following day. We then had a quiet
dinner in the hotel and retired to our room to read and to prepare my
lecture.
I went by car to Jialong in time for the lecture the next day.
Professor Sheng introduced me to the course students; there were about
40 people present. I gave my Bisef88 lecture plus some supplementary
material, which was ably translated by Bai Lin Qin. The audience asked
questions on optimisation techniques and aspects of mesh generation.
Lady Zhou asked me to send her some of our RAL reports; she also gave
us some terra-cotta replicas (Small) of the warriors from their guest
house shop, which I appreciated. I returned to the hotel with Sheng and
Zhou where we met Rita and Tang to have a farewell lunch. We heard
during lunch that the airport was still partially closed and it wasn't at all
certain that our plane would be leaving. Some people had been stuck for
two days and neither Kurt Richter nor the post conference tour would
now be coming here. After lunch we went to the airport to try our luck.
Many people were waiting around for flights. However, fortunately for
us, Tang and Sheng were able to obtain the tickets and we eventually
arrived back in Beijing at 5pm.
We were soon in the Friendship Hotel. Professor Tang said he was
going to leave us alone to find our own way for two days, and he would
return to say good-bye on Saturday. After unpacking we went for a meal
and as usual found Kurt! He told us his tale of woe but was quite
philosophical-he had spent several days in the company of the lady
engineer from Academica Sinica and had seen many interesting places.
He had decided to cancel Xian after camping at the airport for two days.
The Italians had become disillusioned, he said, since the temporary hotel
accommodation they had been offered was of a very poor standard.
Vector Fields Ltd
285
Finally the post B1SEF tour was abandoned and they had returned home.
We had a drink in the bar and went early to bed.
Next day we took a taxi to the Friendship store in down-town
Beijing, then to Wangfujing St. The taxi waited for us at each place. We
bought 2 scarves, 2 ties, a Kimono, an Anorak, some bracelets, a blouse
and a bag to carry it all in! After lunch in the hotel we rested, and did
some reading. I had brought several books with me to read and also
music tapes to listen to but I had had no time for either. So at last I was
able to read some more of Sternes's, ‗A Sentimental Journey', and
relished its quirky humour and its mildly erotic charm. I thought of his
remark that, 'An Englishmen does not travel abroad to meet other
Englishmen‘, had worked out well for us on this trip. I called Mr Nagai
(KBK agent in Beijing) and asked him to confirm our return flight. He
was very helpful and so I asked a further favour could he possibly get
tickets to the traditional Beijing opera the following evening. He called
round later (he has an apartment within the Friendship Hotel complex)
and presented us with three tickets (one for Richter), and said he would
send his car to take us there, and also, to bring us back.
The following morning we took a taxi and set off to visit the Great
Wall. Our first visit was made 4 years ago but I was in fact feeling quite
ill then and I didn't particularly enjoy it. The ride there was interesting,
especially as we left the city and went up into the mountains. The road
looked fairly new and parts of it were dual carriageway. The taxi waited
for two hours or so whilst we walked along the top for a distance of 4
towers (to the right this time). It was quite steep in places with stone
steps and of course very crowded. The weather was beautiful and not too
windy either, and the views of the hills, green clad for the most part with
some rock exposed, were delightful. As you move along the top, which is
a broad highway, you are constantly bumping into people of many races
from all parts of the globe—the world and his wife in fact. As at the
terra-cotta warrior tombs, the holiday spirit was much in evidence, tour
groups, soldiers on leave, school children, academics and parties of
elderly people from Melbourne, Upstate New York, Frankfurt, Yorkshire
and goodness knows where else; one has a vision of swarms of aging
ladies, twentieth century survivors, moving from one 'wonder of the
world' to another. After visiting nearly every souvenir shop at the site, the
taxi took us back to Beijing.
In the evening we went with Kurt to the Beijing Opera. The theatre
was just off Wangfujing Street and the driver told us where to meet him
afterwards. We had seen a performance here on our last trip and had
enjoyed it very much. Unfortunately there were many badly behaved
tourists in the audience whose main aim was to take flashlight
photographs by crawling up to the front and blocking the view for the
286
rest of us. They also made a lot of noise and were very distracting. The
show consisted of three operas, the first two only involving few
characters with strong elements of comedy. The older Chinese watched
and listened with obvious pleasure as the old tales unfolded. The
programmes were of no help to us of course, but with some imagination a
crude outline of the plot could be discerned. The third opera was a more
elaborate affair with many characters consisting of a mixture of
acrobatics and juggling as well as music and dance. The story line,
though obscure, seemed to concern a quarrel between the forces of good
and evil enacted by princes and warriors on the one hand, with low life
characters providing comic relief on the other – like a kind of Chinese
version of The Magic Flute, or even an English pantomime. The style
imposed by the vocal extravagances of the principals and the on-stage
band is strange, and, though hard for our untutored ears to take, the
overall effect is magical. This was our last night in Beijing
The next day, early in the morning, Professor Tang came to say
good bye before he returned to Harbin. He was to go by train – the
temperature there was already below zero. We gave him a bottle of
whisky to keep him warm! We said our farewells and thanked him for his
fine hospitality. He said we could keep the room until it was time to go to
the airport at 5.00 pm. when two associate professors from Academica
Sinica would come to help us with our luggage and get us a taxi. We had
lunch with Kurt, who gave me a wooden abacus (The oldest computer in
the world); he knew I was trying to buy one as a souvenir so this was
very good of him. We said good bye to him (he was returning to Europe
on Monday). After lunch I went down to the Beijing Book store by taxi
to see if I could purchase a book in English on the Chinese Opera plots.
In this I was successful but unfortunately the plot of the previous night‘s
productions were not included. The taxi driver on the way back asked me
where I came from. I said,' England ", he then said in surprisingly clear
English, ' You know England is in Australia isn't it?', 'No', I said firmly.
At 5.0 pm (Saturday 29 October) we left in a taxi for the airport. The
Bisef88 secretary and a colleague came to help us and bid us a safe
journey, they also made me return the special foreigners expert card. Our
flight was delayed and didn't leave until 9.30 pm (2 hours late). The inflight movie was 'Back to the Future', but I slept through it. We had
another delay at Delhi and had to wait 3 hours in the plane on the runway whist engine repairs were done. The waiting was tedious but we
were grateful for the extra care on safety being shown. The second film
(The Untouchables) was more to my taste and I did manage to watch
most of it.
At Paris, the following morning, Sunday, we missed our connecting
flight and had to wait for the 12.30 one. The taxi meeting us at Heathrow
Vector Fields Ltd
287
arrived 3 hrs or so earlier and went away again, despite my frantic
messages from Paris. So our son Simon met us and drove us home and
we finally arrived there at 2.30pm. Altogether door to door 28 hours
travelling. Mind you it took Marco Polo several years!
Another memorable trip to China safely completed. We met some
lovely people and had a stimulating two weeks. We were well looked
after and very well treated. What are the business possibilities in China
for the future? We saw many signs of a great resurgence of trade at all
levels; after all the years of hardship the people are eager to move toward
a freer economy. I fear that if these latent forces are not controlled chaos
might ensue. Nevertheless, the chain of their extraordinary long history is
unbroken and their spirit indomitable. For Vector Fields there is no
immediate prospect of business but this could change rapidly as free
trade grows. Mr Nagai of KBK told me that there was now a significant
interest in software in the CAD area and a growing realisation of the importance of analysis. There are number of more or less autonomous
companies in China which are beginning to respect copyright
agreements.
Formation of Vector Fields Inc
On my return I was pleased to find that Cris Emson had joined us as
a support and development engineer. I recruited Cris to RAL some six
years ago and we had worked together on several projects as earlier
pages in these memoirs have reported. He also had worked with John
Simkin on the development of the CARMEN the 3D eddy current solver.
It was in connection with this work that he and I attended the Eddy
Current Workshop arranged by the University of Naples in October on
the lovely Island of Capri.
An important event for VF was announced in the Autumn News
Letter211 :
Continuing the policy of constant improvement of software and
service, the directors of Vector Fields have formed a new company, the
first subsidiary of Vector Fields outside the UK. The new subsidiary is
based in the USA, a market very important to Vector Fields, with over 40
existing users, including some of the world's largest corporations. In July
the company Vector Fields Incorporated was officially registered in the
state of Delaware for legal reasons although the company will operate in
the Chicago area. The choice of Chicago as the base was influenced by a
number of factors, including the location of a number of our users in the
area, the availability of suitable staff, and the excellent communications
with the whole of the USA. Vector Fields Inc will be managed by Robert
211
Vector, Vol 4, No.2, Autumn 1988
288
J Lari (see page 125) who has been appointed Vice President. Bob Lari
is well known in the field of electromagnetic computation and was
formerly on the staff of the Argonne National Laboratory for 28 years.
He knows our software very well and has been an expert user of PE2D
and TOSCA for many years. He is also very experienced in the wider
application of electromagnetic computation to electrical engineering
products and has acted as a consultant to many companies and research
organisations in the USA. He is the author of many scientific papers and
is a respected authority on the subject.
Indeed, Bob quickly set the new company up in Aurora some 35
miles to the west of Chicago and recruited Betty Stoub as an executive
assistant. The new office was opened for business on January 16th 1989.
One last event for me in 1988 was to go to Munich for the next in
our series of Short Courses organised by John Miller212, the lecturing
team again was to be Giorgio Molinari, Kurt Richter and myself. John
Miller chose the famous Four Seasons Hotel as he believed in doing
things with some style and in parallel with our course on
electromagnetics he was running another on Information Technology.
John Whitney decided to attend as well, to present a VF exhibition and to
discuss with the UK consular office in Munich for information on a
possible agent to represent us in Germany.
The year ended with a terrible disaster as on 21 December PAMAM flight 103 exploded in midair over Lockerbie in Scotland as the
result of a terrorist bomb which sent shivers of fear down all our spines,
particular those who were frequent fliers as we were at VF.
1989 to 1990
Throughout 1989 I had to attend many meetings with our partners in
the ACCORD project but the main events were trips to USA to attend
Intermag in Washington with John Whitney. Then on to Japan with Chris
Riley to attend Compumag Planning meetings and participate in the joint
KBK/Tokyo University Course to help finance the participants to the
meetings as we did last year. During the US leg of this trip I also
attended the TEAM workshop organised by Nathan Ida at Baltimore and
helped to run a training course at our new offices in Chicago. It was good
spending time with Larry & Donna Turner in Washington and Baltimore,
Larry also participated in the training course in Chicago and later joined
us in Tokyo.
The Compumag conference itself was held in September closely
followed by a special symposium organised by Professor Nakata in
Okayama which he called 3D MAG. Thus I had to return to Japan in the
212
Two previous short courses arranged by John Miller had been in London, 1986/87
Vector Fields Ltd
289
autumn. The VF team also included John Whitney and our associate from
RAL, Jim Diserens. Prior to Compumag John and Cris Emson attended
the MT 11 conference at Tsukuba City.
John and Cris moved to Tokyo for the seventh COMPUMAG
conference, held at the KEIO Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku. I joined them on
the Saturday and we were immediately involved in preparations and the
pleasing experience of meeting old friends. The software exhibition,
which has now become an established event at COMPUMAG, was fully
manned by vendors and university research teams alike. This gave us an
excellent opportunity to measure our performance against competitors
and academics in a constructive and cordial manner. The meeting was
attended by over three hundred delegates from all over the world with
over half from outside Japan — thus Compumag Tokyo was the largest
in the series so far
The Vector Fields stand proved a popular meeting point for existing
customers. as well as many new prospects. The usual requests for adhoc problem solving were again a feature of the exhibition which we
found challenging and satisfying. The good work by Professor Kenzo
Miya of Tokyo University, the conference chairman, and his many
colleagues organising the meeting was much appreciated, as was the
party afterwards, organised by KBK. The next Compumag will be held in
Italy in 1991, hosted by Naples University under the chairmanship of
Professor Guilliamo Rubinacci.
290
Plate 120: Compumag Tokyo Poster
The following week Cris Emson and I journeyed to Okayama to
attend the International Symposium and Team Field Analysis (3DMAG).
This meeting, also, was a great success (over 200 delegates) under the
able and genial chairmanship of Professor T.Nakata of Okayama
University. The latest Eddy Current workshop (TEAM) was integrated
into the symposium which allowed an exhaustive (... and exhausting!)
appraisal of results. The Symposium generated a lot of interest and there
was much enthusiasm for continuing the workshops. The next TEAM
workshop will be held in Oxford (April 1990) immediately after
Vector Fields Ltd
291
INTERMAG Brighton and is to be hosted jointly by Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory, University of Bath and Vector Fields.
Plate 121: After 3DMAG in Okayama visiting the new bridge connecting Honshu to
Shikoku
I presented a paper at 3DMAG on the results of our Esprit APPEAL
project213. Two major events occurred in 1989 which affected us all in
one way or another; first the Berlin Wall came down in November and
second Tim Berners Lee at CERN invented the World Wide Web
(WWW). I am not sure that this Internet invention was unique as
someone soon would have proposed something similar anyway; but he
was first and British! I had gone to Berlin a few months before to present
a paper at the 12th Cyclotron Conference and even by then it was easy to
cross into East Berlin. Finally I must mention my growing friendship
with Prof. Ted Deeley of Kings College London. I had known Ted since
1976 when he attended the first Compumag in Oxford and in fact he has
attended every one since. Ted had introduced me to the William Siemens
Professor of Electromagnetics, Charles Turner, and they both asked me if
I could organise lectures and a short course on the use of software in
electromagnetics. This proved to be a very fruitful collaboration and one
213
Parallel Processing and the Integration of Analysis and Design in Electromagnetic
Computation, C.W. Trowbridge et al, COMPEL Vol 9, Supp A, 1990
292
outcome was that Kings invited me to be a visiting Professor at the
University; I was pleased to accept this as my appointment at Imperial
College had now come to an end.
Plate 122: Lakes & Skye July 1989
Rita and I had a two week break in July to the Lakes, Scotland and
Northumberland, we apparently drove 1,960 miles. I made rough notes in
my diary which I can no longer read but I remember this tour as one of
the best we ever did together. It started at Skelwith Bridge hotel which
Vector Fields Ltd
293
was a firm favourite place for us by now and for six gloriously sunny
days we walk for miles and miles over the fells and even had to buy new
boots (Brashers214) at Wasdale. Our next stop was on the Isle of Skye
where we stayed at the climbers hotel at Sligachan in order to explore the
Cuillans which we did with great purpose but seldom reached 3000 ft as
the weather had turned for the worse. But never mind, the atmosphere in
the hills was marvellous. We returned via Hexham in order to explore
Hadrian ‘s Wall which we did and had great fun, but the town of Hexham
was full of noisy youths and much urinating in the street. The hotel was
poor also, as our room had not been cleaned and the drawers were full of
pornographic literature. Never mind we felt thoroughly rested after our
holiday.
1990
The year 1990 saw the completion of the book I was co-authoring
with Ken Binns and Peter Lawrenson to be published by Wiley‘s in 1992
but I got their permission to use my portion of the books as text for VF
courses which we brought out in 1990215. In 1991 I also joined the IEEE
as senior member; long overdue as certain good friends in the US had
proposed me for fellowship of the IEEE only to discover I wasn‘t
actually a member. Early in January I went to Genoa and Naples to begin
the cycle of planning meetings for Compumag Naples in 1991. The main
event of the year was a long trip Rita and I made to USA and Canada in
September lasting nearly two months.
Toward the end of January I travelled to Naples for the ISC meeting.
Rubinacci told us of a terrible experience he had with Professor Nakata,
his car had been attacked whilst waiting for the lights to change216. He
decided that the Compumag venue should be changed to Sorrento, which
was much safer. So we all went to Sorrento by bus to visit the proposed
venue and found that the resort hotel (Sorrento Palace) was excellent. At
the meeting we discussed the refereeing procedures which needed to be
modernised with the outcome that there should be a papers chairman and
for Compumag Sorrento Professor Martone was appointed. JCS217 and I
were appointed to draw up the reviewing rules. CEFC218 was discussed
and it was agreed that Compumag would cooperate if practical. We
resolved that Compumag should continue, essentially as an international
214
Chris Brasher the Olympic gold medallists and hill walker who was involved in the
design and testing of these lightweight boots
215
An Introduction to Computer Aided Electromagnetic Analysis , C W Trowbridge,
Vector Fields, 1990
216
That explains why traffic lights are optional in Naples !
217
Jean Claude Sabonnadiere
218
The US conference spin off from the GFUN and MAG-U-COMP meetings
294
conference. Back at Vector Fields the Board met with Bryan Colyer219 to
discuss his employment by VF, we agreed his salary and John Simkin
would write him an offer letter. In February we received draft article
from Paul Gregg of Electronics Weekly—this should give VF some good
publicity as it writes up our history and products very well, including
some graphics illustrating the software.
In February we received a letter from BTG raising the issue of
Royalty payments, they are insisting that VF software belongs to BTG. I
contacted Peter Tanner about the royalty problem with respect to the new
packages written entirely by VF and he appeared sympathetic. We made
a simple definition, namely, if a new package works independently of
old, i.e. does not require the old in order to execute it is entirely a VF
product and does not attract royalty to BTG. Jim Diserens called me to
say he had been offered a job at Chalk River Canada and had accepted
and would be leave RAL in September.
In March I had to go to Leuven (Institute of Microelectroics, IMEC)
with the Rutherford Team to discuss the Everest Club220 situation. John
Miller insisted that Trinity College Dublin (TCD) ideally should have a
share in the income. However, only two companies are in so far so and
they are demanding that money has to be spent at RAL. I needed all my
tact to get this resolved. I advised John Miller not to precipitate a
confrontation that would exclude him from future participation. We all
agreed that if some new industrial partners can be found then TCD will
have a much stronger case.
At the full Board meeting they insisted I remain in the chair but I am
now anxious to stand down, but I agreed to see it through, including the
last review in June. We amended the minutes to allow free distribution of
the current object version of Everest to be distributed by any partner
provided it is unsupported and that agreements are signed to prevent
further exploitation by the recipients and that EEC interests are protected.
Mike Newman has no objection to this. The ownership of Everest was
defined as the five partners involved: TCD, RAL, Swansea University,
Philips, plus IMEC.
The next day I had a confidential meeting with Simon at his request.
He asked me to send him my CV and notes on our collaboration over the
years. I also agreed to help him in his new role with Philips Medical
Systems to arrange contacts, e.g. Ian MacDougal (Oxford Instruments)
plus others in medical area.
219
Bryan our former colleague from RAL was negotiating a job with us
The group of users associated with the electronic device modelling software that was
developed, see page 181.
220
Vector Fields Ltd
295
Back home in time for the weekend I spent looking at some
genealogy material that had arrived. I received back issues of WFHS221
journal. I also started to read ‗Bowerchalk Parish Papers‘222 and found
many references to my ancestors, especially the Vincents, including a
family photo of my paternal Grandmother. On Monday at VF, Paul
Dann, the Teaching Company consultant came to discuss a new VFOxford Poly proposal223. This proposal had been suggested to me by John
Long who was a numerical mathematics lecturer at the Oxford
Polytechnic (Later to become Oxford Brookes University). The
consultant asked a lot of questions, he has some difficulties in
appreciating our aims. He required us to write a short summary for him,
so that he could sell the idea. A significant rewrite had to be completed
by March 20.We had a growing impression that the scheme might not be
worth it for us, too much interference for very little financial inducement.
We agreed to pursue it however but we may withdraw later if the
preparation became too time consuming. In any case we would proceed
only if a suitable person could be recruited, indeed a researcher who
would be suitable to Vector Fields.
On March 14th we attended a special meeting with BTG to clear up
the royalty issues. BTG raised three points on which they required
clarification
a) What proportion of software is owned by BTG and has the
royalty been correctly attributed?
b) New works: are they enhancements and so still royalty bearing.
c) Royalty on support and maintenance
(a) We confirmed that TOSCA, CARMEN, PE2D and GFUN were
owned by BTG. But since Oct 88, the pre and post processors for
TOSCA and CARMEN i.e. OPERA were entirely new and owned by VF
with no IPR or code from the old versions. However up to the end of
1989 the OPERA system was bundled into TOSCA or CARMEN for
marketing purposes. From Jan 1990 OPERA has been invoiced
separately. BTG accepted that OPERA was not their property and would
not be claiming a royalty payment on this package. The same principle
was accepted on other new works, e.g. ELEKTRA and the new 2d
environment for PE2D.These new works would come into the VF
portfolio this year. The period between the first release of OPERA (Oct
221
Wiltshire Family History Magazine
Rex L Sawyer, ‗The Bowerchalke Parish Papers, Colletts‘s village Newspaper, 1874
to 1924, Alan Sutton 1989
223
This is a DTI scheme to assist small companies by ‗half funding‘ the costs for a
young researcher working on a project in the company which can then be used as work
towards achieving a higher degree at a university.
222
296
88) and Dec 90 is under negotiation but BTG would not be unreasonable
about this.
(b) As agreed above the new works OPERA and ELEKTRA are not
enhancements.
(c) The contract literally implies that only 12% of M/S fees are exempt
was that this should be an annual allowance. BTG would assess the
situation in-light of the spirit of the contract to see if further claims on us
can be made since the last audit.
I was reasonably pleased about the outcome, which was within the
spirit of my unofficial conversations with Peter Tanner earlier. The best
thing was that BTG seem to accept our rights to new works. We hope
that they will agree to the spirit of the contract with regard to M and S,
i.e. 12% per year royalty free, and not make a retrospective claim.
The next day I was due to give a lecture at Kings College London
arranged by my old friend Ted Deeley who was professor there. This
proved to be an excellent visit and I enjoyed meeting Charles Turner
head of department who is a very distinguished scholar.
The following month I attended the INTERMAG conference in
Brighton to be held at the Metropole Hotel. After installing the VF stand
with Cris Emson we met with a whole raft of friends including T.
Homna, D Rodger, Paul Leonard. We also met Larry in foyer at the
reception and registration. I had dinner with Larry, Lauri Kettunen, Doug
Lavers, John Whitney and Cris. During the conference I met up with J C
Sabonnadiere to discuss Compumag refereeing rules. We agreed that the
standards of Compumag should be improved. We felt that this could be
achieved by limiting the number of papers accepted for Compumag. We
propose a limit of 100. We recognise that this may mean a reduction in
the number of delegates in the short term but in the long run this is a
healthier situation if our standards are maintained, or improved.
Compumag must be recognised as a premier conference in its field.. Also
the referees should have sufficient time to referee properly, we proposed
that one month after the end of the conference should be allowed, we
recognise that this implies a months delay in publication. It is 6 months
now, anyhow, so one more will make little difference. However we
recognise that the ISC chairman and editorial board chairman must have
discretion. A single referee should not see more than 10 papers. This
means at least 20 reviewers will be needed (assuming 100 papers in the
conference).We suggested a first division of 30 reviewers be appointed to
allow for discretion and distribution. A second division should also be
listed as a reserve. We recommend that the traditional rule that each
paper is reviewed by two referees from countries other than the authors
be maintained. Some discretion maybe needed here in the case of joint
papers. Reviewers should be asked to give their reasons for both accept
Vector Fields Ltd
297
and reject. The criterion for accept must be based on originality, either in
method, problem area or application. The ‗Short Summary‘, this should
be changed for the next conference after Sorrento to be a fuller paper, a
preliminary version of the final paper. It may not necessarily contain
results but should give a full description of the ideas and procedures.
On Thursday, at the afternoon session, Cris gave a good presentation
of our paper and at the banquet that evening, we endured a ‗plastic‘
pheasant followed by Morris Dancing, so finally the ‗Oxford Compumag
Duck‘ has been laid to rest. The next day was the last day of the
conference and after the end we had a meeting of the ISC to discuss the
refereeing rules which were accepted.
In the week beginning April 23 the TEAM workshop was held at the
Cotswold Lodge Hotel Oxford. This was a well attended event with 65
attendees (13 UK, 12 Japan, 9 Italy, 8 France, 7 USA, 4 Germany, 4
Austria, 2 Finland, Holland and Romania). The second day of the
meeting culminated with the TEAM dinner which Rita attended; we had
very good food and company. This entire week was very full as on
Wednesday I had to give a VF promotional lecture at the ALCAN
Company224 in Banbury, Vinko Potecnik from the parent company in
Canada was present who had been a GFUN user and was very
supportive. Later, I went back to the Cotswold Lodge for the TEAM
closing session and afterwards took Arnulf Kost (Technical University of
Berlin) and others to VF for a brief visit, then the next day to Brunel
University to give a lecture at the Finite Element Conference; I had lunch
with Olek Zienkiewicz and Tinsley Oden (Texas University); my lecture
went quite well with many kind remarks, I also spoke to Bill Morton and
John Whiteman (conference chairman) then we had a group photograph.
I was home by eight o‘clock and found Larry already installed.
On Friday, the last day of this most busy week, I collected Giorgio,
Paolo et al at Cotswold Lodge, in time for the scheduled meeting with the
VF board to discuss our mutual collaboration. The meeting went very
well with most things agreeably settled. I later took the Italians home for
a party that Rita had organised and prepared. Present were Bryan Colyer,
Jim & Helen Diserens, John & Anne Collie, Alan & Brenda Armstrong,
Cris and Janet (Cris Emson‘s housemate) plus G Molinari, and P
Molfino. Others present were Chris & Margaret Biddlecombe, Chris &
Ramona Riley, Ted Deeley and T Nakata, John & Linda Whitney, John
& Sue Simkin, Pam & John Peisley. 28 including Rita, Dinah, Larry and
me, ‗Went the day well‘. Nakata insisted on seeing the house; after
examining downstairs he said to Rita, ‗Now upstairs‘.
224
The Giant Aluminium manufacturing company
298
On May 5th we had a well deserved break by visiting Malvern to
stay at the Foley Arms a fine atmospheric hotel for the weekend. After
dinner we strolled by the Priory and heard ‗As Torrents in Summer‘ it
was just like at St Brelades in Jersey three years ago (page 256), a happy
coincidence as I was thinking of the piece just before we arrived. On
May the 19th I returned to Malvern with Simon for a walk along the line
of hills. We parked at North Malvern quarry at 10 AM and began by
climbing the North Hill, weather steadily improved to become quite
marvellous. Next we walked on to the West Beacon with views superb.
There were many people on the hills including The Lions Club,
fortunately going the other way; they were well organized with first aid
refreshments etc. at points along the route. Shortly after noon we reached
West Beacon, and then on to Wyche, with the sun well up and quite
warm. At 1.30 PM we had our lunch picnic on Black Hill; it was lovely
lying in the grass gazing toward Hereford. We could see clearly Black
mountains and beyond. The spirit of EE felt very close with sky larks
particularly high and in good voice. We stopped at the Hereford Beacon
Car Park for Ice cream and reached the Summit of British Camp at 2.30
PM, thoughts of Caractacus and Langland, 'Meatless and Munless on
Malvern‘. Then on to Hangman‘s Hill, Swinyard and down into woods
toward the Eastnor obelisk. It is such a varied walk with constant changes
of vista. Finally a steep pull up Midsummer Hill reaching the top at 3.30
PM and 4.0 PM at the A434 'The Tewkesbury Road' (Masefield) our
walks end and lucky to find Telephone box to call for a Taxi. He said 'be
there in ten minutes', but he took 25, never mind. We were tired, foot
sore but happy. A mad drive back to the car, some ten miles. At 5.15 PM
we left for home, arriving at 7.00PM thirsty and hungry, and after dinner
we dozed through the 8 symphonies of Dr Boyce.
A few days later I awoke with slight headache. Rita said I had been
overdoing things of late. I decided to stay home. I lay in bed watching
TV and watched a Peter Sellars film, a fine performance modelled on
Stan Laurel. He plays an innocent in Washington; a man suddenly
released into the world after spending all his life as a gardener to a
recluse— his only experience of the world came from TV. When his
wealthy benefactor dies he is evicted from his enclosed world and by
chance accident is adopted by a very wealthy millionaire. His naive and
simple remarks on all issues, drawn from gardening and TV, persuade the
worldly people, the great and the good, including the President and
Shirley Maclane as the aging dying millionaire‘s bored wife, to soon
rocket him to supreme heights, a very clever satire. I watched Denis
Healey propound the 'garden' analogy in politics as his peroration at the
end of a TV interview but there the resemblance to Peter Sellars ends—
or does it? I felt a little better the next day after Paracetamol and listened
Vector Fields Ltd
299
to Boyce followed by Dvorak splendid trio (F Minor). I particularly like
Boyce No 4; Handel is there, yes, but something native as well. Mike
called from Wessex press with the proof of front cover for my book,
looks good.
I awoke still with bit of a headache the following day, but better
than yesterday, though I immediately aggravated it by doing a crossword.
Felt very much better after lunch. Rita and I had a lovely walk. The
weather, though overcast, was ideal with pleasant still air and not too
warm—balmy. We went to Marcham and then on the Ark path and back
via the garage. Simon had his interview today for a job at the LSE; we do
hope he made a good impression since he appears very keen on this job. I
watched a bit of the world cup from Milan, Germany versus United Arab
Republic. It was good to see the spirited fight by the Arabs which lasted
for 30 minutes, but predictably the German team overwhelmed them in
the end.
Feeling much better the next day and went into Oxford for a quick
visit. Card from Salt Lake City (LDS) confirming my Family History
data has been accepted and included in their files. Record review featured
new opera disks, a fine Gluck (Iphigenia) and a new Attila (Verdi)
complete with a 'Hermit's Chorus', that is a lovely conceit, only possible
in opera. I got very annoyed when leaving the car park at the station.
They had taken the coin pay box away, so you have to go into station and
queue for a token. The miserable man informed me, ―If I couldn‘t see the
notice then I shouldn't be driving", I suppose then, along with many other
frustrated drivers, I should stop. Further advice along those lines came
from an ignorant driver whom I temporarily blocked as I turned right into
the Botley Rd. He shouted " You f.k.g daft old bastard...‖, and when I
didn't reply he continued "Hey deaf aid..." etc. The impatient young man
apparently objected to me creating an opportunity in a busy traffic flow,
i.e. doing what he would do I, suspect, all the time. Is it discrimination on
the basis of age? Rita went to hear Dinah's choir at the town hall I stayed
home, read and watched the England-Holland game from Sardinia, a
good game with England playing well (0-0), a draw but they deserved to
win.
Back at work feeling refreshed, met John Lawson at the office to
talk about space charge, he is such a pleasant man and it was good to see
him again, without doubt the most distinguished scientist at RAL Next
week it is July and we have to go to Brussels for the ACCORD project
review. The actual review passed off reasonable well as all the partners
gave a good account of themselves. Even the weak areas appear to have
escaped criticism. Clive did well; Giorgio was very strong and
convincing. In fact APPEAL subproject survived easily, even my
exploitation plans were well received. Privately I do not think the project
300
can be rated as a total success, it lacks integration between the
components and we have fallen short of our dream. Nevertheless we
were warmly congratulated. Some final deliverables have to be
completed and these will be needed by the end of August. The following
Tuesday July 10 was my birthday, a milestone as I am now 60. I received
lots of cards also Pam and Jim called. I had lunch at Wise Alderman with
the VF people. My book arrived from printers, good to see it in print.
The following weekend I accompanied Simon to the lakes, he had to
collect some prints belonging to New College Oxford, where he now
works, from the Wordsworth museum. We stayed at the Skelwith Bridge
Hotel and planned to do some walking. The first day was lovely with
near perfect weather and we had Kippers for breakfast. Car to Elterwater
and bought a snack lunch then on to the Dungeon Ghill Hotel car park.
We then walked up the Mill Ghyll stream to Stickle tarn (1 hour). Then
on to Pavey Arc, climbing up Jack's Rake, quite exhilarating, we met a
man near the top who wanted to chat, he was friendly, too friendly
perhaps so after some small talk about our years of fell walking and how
beautiful and life enhancing everything seemed we parted, Simon was
quite thrilled by the climb. We went on to the summit, unfortunately
followed by our persistent friend, he said it was time for lunch and we
beat a hasty retreat, claiming we had already eaten? Our next objective
was Harrison‘s Stickle, but we first hid behind some rocks for our
lunch—the views were breathtaking and we felt at ease. Our peace was
disturbed by the sudden re-appearance of our boring Lancastrian friend,"
Lunch number two‖ he shouted‖, when you going to have number
three?" — truth will out. He finally disappeared over toward Pike o'
Stickle and we scrambled to the top of Harrison‘s Stickle. I have never
seen the area looking so benevolent; we would surely pay for this later.
After admiring the splendid profile of Bow Fell and Crinkle crags we
descended to the Col separating Harrison‘s from Pike o' Stickle, we still
felt fit so we decided to visit the Pike and Loft Crag before returning to
Dungeon Ghyll. The round trip took us 5hrs, slow but very enjoyable.
We sampled the plastic "tea" in the cafe, revolting. There was time to go
shopping, so we went to Grasmere over the top from Chapel Style, and
then on to Ambleside to look at books.
The following day we went to Wasdale, via Wrynose and Hardknott
passes. Simon appreciated the 1:3 gradients. The climb up to Scafell, via
Brown Tongue and Lords Rake was a long hard pull all the way, weather
overcast but pleasant. We found the stones below Lords Rake tough, but
Lords Rake is a splendid scramble; 3 hrs to summit. We enjoyed our
lunch at the cairn, quite a lot of people about. We were joined by a
married couple with two noisy dogs, I am no longer a dog person. The
man was determined to descend to Mickledore and hence to Scafell Pike,
Vector Fields Ltd
301
which as everyone should know is not for walkers, and is positively
dangerous. However he was determined to try despite my warning, I
showed him the guide book to no avail. It was with some glee that we
saw him return much later having to retrace his steps. By then we were
starting our descent after spending the best part of one hour exploring the
rocks on Scafell crag. It was now raining and though we decided to
return via Green How, we took a stupid short cut over steep scree and
had a very miserable, wet and painful completion, 5 hours. I have a habit
of not getting off hills cleanly! Because of the weather we returned via
Cockermouth and Keswick, a very long drive round. We enjoyed a very
good dinner then went to bed. Hotel, bath and booze, bliss.
The following day we checked out after breakfast, packed, and on
to Dove Cottage. Simon has to collect the New College 'Gilray' prints. He
met the director and carried out his business. I was given a
complimentary ticket for the museum. I joined a conducted tour, but I
escaped after the first two rooms. Simon and I later went round the
museum on our own, which was new to me and a model of its kind. Very
interesting, gave a clear and vivid picture of Wordsworth's life and
society. I learnt the origin of the phrase 'Daylight Robbery', in the cottage
the windows are small, the guide told how there was a window tax225 and
if you didn‘t pay then the authorities would come and brick-up the
windows!
We arrived back at New College after a very tiring journey. I met
Sandra, the Librarian; Simon showed me some of the treasures in the
library. I handled a first edition of the Principia, a great thrill. Also he
showed me a book (16C) of original county maps, Saxton, marvellous
colours, worth over a million. Back in the office the following day I
called Jim MacElroy to discuss the BTG royalties226. He said he would
need to speak to Ian Robertson then contact us again to arrange a
meeting. He appears to agree with me that the audit would show the base
line and we could negotiate from there. That evening we listened to the
Prom broadcast and heard Tony Payne‘s new work 'Time‘s Arrow',
intriguing association with entropy, Arthur Eddington and the cosmos—
a very exciting piece. This was followed by a superb performance of the
Elgar concerto played by the Russian Violinist, Dmitri Statovesky, quite
marvellous. Tony Payne must have been pleased to share the program
with the Elgar, I once heard him give a lecture on the concerto in which
he demonstrated his debt to this music227.
225
Jim Diserens told me later, after kindly proof reading this text, that he heard
somewhere that people would ‗brick up‘ some of their own windows to avoid paying the tax.
226
BTG had recently claimed £120K in back royalties
227
He was a few years later to complete Elgar‘s Third Symphony to great acclaim
302
The following weekend we went to Brenda's. I went into Lymington
for a nostalgic trip, parking at the Sports field where I watched some
cricket then walked through churchyard. In the church I picked up copies
of the Parish magazine, and spotted an article by Lewis Gregory on the
old church recreation ground, how it all evoke memories when he and I
were boys sharing scouting and camping. Earlier I drove down Ellery
Grove and saw number 42 where Fred Webster now lives, I was
reluctant to disturb them unannounced. I walked down to Kings, bought
some books of postcards and another history of Lymington sports club,
this one was on football, by Norman Gannaway another old school
friend. I recall the day when he persuaded me to join the cubs! I next did
a tour to Woodside Gardens and the Banks. Finally I went along St
Thomas St. and saw that No 46 (where I lived as a child) is up for sale.
Somehow unsettling, I must write to Fred, vivid in my mind's eye
remains the image of the Troopship pulling away from the dockside to
take him to war in Korea; I don‘t believe I have seen him since. Brenda
also gave me Dad's ‗Owl‘ picture which he painted many years ago and
had adorned the wall of his room. In the morning I explored Totton but
couldn‘t identify 'Woodside' in Water Lane where I was born.
The following week we went to London to meet the BTG people to
discuss the royalty situation. We argued very strongly over our
interpretation of the BTG-VF contract. The BTG audit suggests that we
owe £120k in back royalties if a severe non fair interpretation is used.
They accepted that this is against common industrial practice. We said
we would not continue with the BTG software if this was insisted on.
After some discussion we agreed to examine the audit afresh for
consistency, we have to explain any departures from our ‗own algorithm',
I felt our interpretation would be accepted if it can be shown to be
consistent. i.e. SERC Support and Maintenance is not royalty bearing and
if a SM allowance of 12% pa should be allowed. It was felt that this
should reduce the bill to an irreducible minimum of £40k. We would
negotiate a new contract, a simple document based on price list without
SM which would be free of royalty. The levy would remain at 25% for
time being on BTG elements, but will be reviewed periodically. We
agreed to examine audit for consistency and supply a range of price lists.
We left after a pleasant lunch, and felt somewhat better and hope we can
sort things out.
On August 2nd Saddam Hussein‘s Iraqis invade Kuwait. This
coincided with the Queen Mother‘s 90 birthday celebrations, strange
juxtaposition of news, and happy crowds in London and war in Kuwait.
There are 5000 UK people in Kuwait who are surely at risk from Saddam
Hussein. I watched the birthday parade in horse guards, splendid show by
the people of all sorts. It was a genuine expression of national love given
Vector Fields Ltd
303
to a lady who seems to embody so many good things. Even some
members of the Royal Society marched by in their academic robes. Olek
called (FRS) I chided him for not being there! He asked me to be the
external examiner of his chap working on Quench228; also he wants me to
call Roger Hancox (Culham Lab) about an extension to his EURATOM
grant.
On Friday 10 August I went to Trowbridge with Simon (his car). to
visit the Wiltshire County record Office. We looked at the Salisbury
Journal for 1860 for more details of Execution of Serafin Manzano and
ordered copies of the trial documents we also read the Bowerchalk
School Log book229. The next day we went to Broadwindsor collect Rita,
via the Chalks, very interesting day, showed Simon the family heritage
sites, Bowerchalke (met the present owner of Pixie Cottage, where Elisha
Trowbridge once lived, he confirmed that the deeds said it was Harry
Trowbridge's cottage and said he would send me a copy. He also said he
would pass on my congratulations to Rex Sawyer the author of the
Bowerchalk book). Then to Misselfore, Woodminton, and Ebbesbourne,
we had a good lunch at Ebbesbourne pub. Then we went on to Berwick
St. John, Ashcombe, and Donhead.
Back at VF next day we met Jan Sykulski and Keith Camden, we
agreed to remarket TAS230 but at a lower price and supported by a
teaching course booklet to be prepared by Jan. We also agreed to
consider including a more general TAS as part of PE2D. I was impressed
with Keith, and Jan, as usual, is a good friend of VF, he has
recommended us to several firms.
The next day I went to RAL for Jim Diseren‘s leaving presentation.
I gave a short talk summarizing Jim's career, 40 people were there and
Jim made a good reply. He was given Vol 1 of Zienkiewicz‘s new book,
inscribed and a canteen of cutlery. .Jim had been an outstanding
colleague of mine for over thirty years as well as a close friend and he
will be greatly missed at RAL and by his many friends at VF. Clive
Bryant is also leaving VF to devote all his energies to his pastoral work
in Pershore. The next day we had his leaving ceremony at VF and we
bought him two Lexicons, Greek NT and Hebrew OT. We also gave him
a clock. I said my appreciation for both Clive who has been a super help
to me over the last four years and also to Jim in the Newsletter. Now
follows excerpts from my diary of an extended trip Rita and I did to USA
and Canada which also involved Dinah.
228
Thermal propagation analysis of superconducting coils in failure mode
See ‗Trowbridge Family History, 1690-1990, C.W. Trowbridge, Second Edition,
2007, D‘Arcy‘s Publications
230
Tubes and Slices program for teaching and low level design program for
electromagnetic fields
229
304
A Journey to the United States and Canada
August 31, Friday
At Terminal 4 there were no porters plus a large crowd at the checkin and it took half hour to get rid of our baggage. We have 7 pieces in all,
two large cases and my large brief case in the hold and 4 pieces of hand
luggage—my Toshiba bag, Rita‘s hold-all and our two small hand bags.
Bought books and other goods at departure lounge and had ample time
for coffee and sandwiches.
We arrived at O‘Hare Chicago at 5:00 PM where the immigration
queue was modest with only one joker in ours, an Italian who hadn‘t
filled his forms in; the lady official was very kind to him, Italian charm I
suppose, and kept us all waiting. I couldn‘t help noticing an unfortunate
fellow from the Far East being sent to the back of the queue to fill his in
again! By six thirty our baggage was safely gathered and we were soon
out to the taxi point. We waited our turn patiently only to be robbed as
we were about to get in the car by the taxi ‗Gestapo‘ lady, who suddenly
appeared (she had been conspicuously absent up to then) and stopped us
boarding and sent the driver packing accusing him of breaking some
petty rule of procedure. It was frustrating to listen to the two of them
slanging each other, though we would have needed an interpreter to
understand what was actually said. We were very tired and I was getting
a little annoyed. Rita saved the situation by insisting on rejoining the
queue and we eventually got away. Our driver made good time to the
Congress Hotel, often overtaking on the inside.
September 1, Sunday
I awoke often in the night; Jet Lag or prostate? Finally got up and
exercised and we went to Breakfast at 6:45 AM; we had tickets entitling
us to a 2-2-2. I had 1-1-1 which was plenty—cereal, bacon, egg (easy
over) and hash browns, and toast. We had to re-learn the culture
differences. There was curiously little on TV about the Gulf crisis.
Shopping was high on the agenda; we need an adapter for our appliances,
the one I bought at HR did not handle 13 Amp plug devices; my portable
machine (Toshiba) and R‘s tea maker. Also Rita needed a hardback note
book. We set out with high hopes but we failed to make a purchase. No
adapters or note books! We went as far as the Sears Tower and gave up.
Later I realized I could solve the Tosh problem by buying a purpose lead
from radio shack, which I did. At Lunch in the Gazebo (where we had
breakfast) Rita got quite cross with me over my annoyance about
everything. Nevertheless we had an interesting afternoon at the Art
institute. We have visited this splendid gallery many times before but the
Vector Fields Ltd
305
joy of looking at the impressionist pictures here was as intense as ever.
They surely have more than their fair share. Rita particularly loves the
Pissarros. We also enjoyed the US school; Grant Richards, ‗American
Gothic‘ I‘ve always found moving and this time we saw the collection of
Wild West pictures and bronzes of Frederick Remington which surely
give at least an ambience (if somewhat over coloured) of those days
which were to be lovingly re-created in the cinema by John Ford.
Plate 123: ...view of the city skyline
September 2, Sunday
0900. Taxi to Hyde Park, Museum of Science and Industry. Larry
took me here some years ago and I particularly remember the model
railway. Rita and I enjoyed the exhibits immensely. It was a short walk to
the campus book district. We ate lunch at the Swedish diner, clean and
nice. To O‘Gara‘s bookstore, but we found nothing of interest. Then on
to 57St. Bookstore, the new books etc, lovely atmosphere (they claim it‘s
the largest book shop west of Blackwell‘s). Bought paperback edition of
E T Bell‘s Men of Mathematics to replace my copy lost by lending. This
marvellous book created my lifelong love of Mathematics over 40 years
ago. I devoured it during a long sea voyage from Buenos Aires. Bell,
now considered to be too romantic and possibly lax with historic truth,
conveys the essence of the subject like no one else I have ever read.
After dinner we walked along Michigan to the Wrigley building. I
like this old building, one can understand why it retains the affection of
Chicago people; we stood and listened to a scratch Jazz band playing in
306
the street on the way. The Chicago jazz-fest is on in town and this group
was part of the fringe—trombones, soprano sax, drums and bongos. An
earthy sound, they were playing a blues number full of soul; the corner
beggar exploiting the situation by waiving his plastic cup beneath our
noses.
September 3, Monday
In the forenoon we took a Taxi to Shedd aquarium. From there we
took some photographs of the splendid view of the city skyline,. The
Coral Reef tank at the hub of the fine building is very impressive. Rita
enjoyed the beautiful fish, I liked watching for a while but my boredom
threshold then takes over. We saw sharks and a large Turtle with another
large fish riding on his back. In the side galleries they had tanks with fish
from all parts of the world in many types of water. I liked the sturgeons
from Lake Michigan. We also saw Piranha fish. There was a curious lung
fish from Australia, the aquariums oldest inhabitant (∼ 57 years), which
every five minutes or so comes to the surface to gulp air. We waited
patiently for this happen, eventually he obliged. We also saw the daily
feeding of the fish in the main tank (Coral reef); a man with diving mask
and flippers attempted to donate dead fish to the sharks but they were not
very hungry. We walked back to the hotel along the shore; it was
interesting to see the local aquatic garbage boat in action. An amphibious
vacuum cleaner sucks the rubbish on the water surface onto a moving
belt. He collected bottles, apples, boxes of all shapes and materials,
scum, weeds, balks of timber, coke and seven up cans, and all kinds of
human debris. I have never seen this before; every British beach should
have one?
After lunch we went to the Art Institute for another look at the
Monets, Pissarros etc. I like Gustave Caillebotte‘s Paris: a rainy day
better every time I see it—Mathematics and art, tremendous. We also
looked at Turner‘s Dutch Fishing Boats and were delighted to see this
British masterpiece in such distinguished company. In the shop I bought
an Encyclopaedia of Impressionism and six Gauguin prints. A tall, illmannered lout tried to push in front of us in the queue. I said, Do you
mind, I have been waiting a long time, since the assistant had already
started dealing with my purchase and after trying to intimidate me with a
cold stare which I returned with interest, he said, attempting to bully me
further, ‗been waiting a long time have you?‘. The girl went on wrapping
my prints and he backed off, and but we left feeling assaulted.
September 4, Tuesday
The next morning we were collected by Bob, he settled the bill using
VF Corporate card. On our arrival at the VF Inc Offices in the town of
Vector Fields Ltd
307
Aurora (35 miles west of Chicago) Rita met Betty Stoub for the first time
and we enjoyed a nice welcome. After settling in, I discussed with Bob
his retirement plans, he wants three fifths employment only in the New
Year. Another factor is that he wants to be away on vacation trips more
so his time in the office will be in lumps. Later I collected a rental car
from Fox Valley Ford, a Ford Tempo. After a thorough briefing as to the
route by Bob we went to Larry‘s house in Naperville and found the way
easily, just 12 miles. On arrival we found a note on the door from Donna,
it said ‗go on in‘, the doors were open, and so we did. A neighbour
dropped by but we reassured her that we were legitimate; the
neighbourhood watch scheme advertised here seems to work. At Six PM
Larry and Donna arrived—Donna‘s appearance showed some of the
effects of her Lupus syndrome condition, she is very flushed in the face
and has become plumper, nevertheless her spirits are high and we had a
jolly evening catching up on news etc.
September 5, Wednesday
1200. Lunch with Betty, Bob, Marylyn and Ken (Betty‘s husband)
at the Highway Lounge (New York St.). Ken seemed a lively, strong
character, with firm opinions about most things. He liked Rita‘s use of
words. He has a senior position in a company dealing with waste
disposal. That evening at Larry‘s Gail Pewitt and his wife Lynn came to
dinner—Gail was Larry‘s group leader at Argonne at the time of
Compumag Chicago. We had an enjoyable evening of good food and talk
but I had to leave the table several times to relieve myself; this prostate
condition was getting embarrassing. Later, after they had left a neighbour
called Marsha, Larry‘s former piano teacher, came for some eggs, she
stayed late, an amusing lady full of woe, going through the trauma of
divorce and living on the edge of despair.
September 6, Thursday
0900. Lauri Kettunen231 came to see me from Argonne and we
discussed his extensions to GFUN and Eddy Net. Marylyn collected Rita
to go to Cantigny. This is the country house of the famous Chicago
baron, Stanley McCormick, newspaper magnate, patriot—he has tanks
(military) in his garden. I remember going there with Larry some years
ago to hear chamber music on a Sunday afternoon. Later Larry and I
discussed Lauri Kettunen‘s ideas to merge GFUN and EDDY Net. We
both agreed that his approach was not optimal; at that time we favoured
loop currents along edges.
231
Our friend from Finland who spending two years at Argonne working with Larry
308
September 7, Friday
Dinah called me to discuss a fax from Sendai, and to tell me that
Mann Seigbahn have paid, good news! Also spoke to JS, all things seem
well. After lunch Rita helped Betty and Bob to do the course mail-shot.
In fact Rita has worked very hard all week in the office. At the end of the
day Bob returned us to Naperville; we would see him again in Aspen in
two weeks. After a quiet dinner with Larry and Donna we went to bed,
Rita and I go to Colorado in the morning.
September 8, Saturday
Everything went well at the airport, our bags were whisked away by
the skycap who was able to carry on two conversations at the same
time—making social arrangements with a mate while noting our luggage
details—Rita wondered whether our things would end up at the right
place.
At 9:49. AM our plane departed, it was full but apart from a spot of
turbulence during our descent it was uneventful. We soon were flying
over both arms of the great river, Mississippi and Missouri, followed the
South Platte and once again I was intrigued by the mighty landscape of
the plains discretised by man into a grid with one mile mesh size, clearly
seen from the air.
Time shift of one hour to Mountain Standard Time, we arrived at
Stapleton 20 minutes early, but there was a very long queue at the Hertz
desk. I had to wait 45 minutes despite there being four tellers. This was
annoying but Rita encouraged me to be patient. Finally we were clear and
on our way to the car lot. There was some trouble over finding the
courtesy bus. A miserable woman who had quarrelled at the desk and
was in a temper misled us by insisting that the bus would stop where we
were waiting, ‗Even if I have to lie down in the road to make it stop‘, she
said. Of course it didn‘t and she didn‘t. Eventually we caught a bus by
moving very fast someway to our left. The driver was very polite and
helped us with our luggage.
A surprise awaited us at the car lot, our car turned out to be very
large sedan with classic lines, white and smart with blue leather trim. The
gadgets on board included a computer that gives all the information you
could need, temperature outside, miles to go , fuel status and much more,
a Lincoln Town Car no less. We were soon under-way but lost our way
driving right past the turnings for routes 270, 70 and 25N. We found
ourselves in Quebec Av. rapidly heading out of town. Just short of
divorce proceedings we turned and back tracked and found our way. The
car purred its way north and after a few miles we turned off the highway
and had lunch in a Burger King. The fries were magnificent. The weather
Vector Fields Ltd
309
also lovely and we enjoyed the run through Loveland and up through Big
Thompson Canyon.
We arrived at the Estes Lake Motel mid afternoon and were soon
ensconced in our room—a large twinned bedded (Queen sized) room
complete with fire place if we get cold. It is a pleasant 70 degrees F
during the day here at 7000 ft. The motel has many facilities and we like
the look of every thing so I extended our stay to 6 nights.
September 9, Sunday
To Estes Park then on to Bear Lake, superb sky and mountain
colours in all directions. The great lateral moraine covered with dark
evergreens. We walked around the lake as I first did in 1970 with Martin
Wilson and Ron Newport. It was an old fashioned nature walk with Rita
stopping at every station following the guide. We saw blue jays,
marmots, squirrels various, aspen, and fir trees and learnt about the
human desecration by fire in 1900 which all but destroyed the flora. I
spotted a water snake swimming in the lake, in close up it could be the
Loch Ness monster! This was very pleasant indeed, the weather almost
ideal and not too many people about either. We returned to the Moraine
museum and learnt much more about the geological history. I bought a
map. The lady at the desk had been to England and was pleased to speak
with us. We next visited the river in the moraine park a tranquil spot at
the centre of the great meadow bordering the lateral moraine with mighty
frontal mountain range behind. I wish I was young enough or fit enough
to tackle Longs Peak?
We returned to Estes park in time for lunch which we had at the
same restaurant the RAL/VF Argonne gang went to in 1985. I drank a
foot of beer from a long necked flask and we both had salad and soup.
After lunch we toured the town shops, the place was quite busy. I
enjoyed seeing the Stanley Steamer touring the streets. We bought hats
and sun glasses. We were back at the motel for a rest before dinner. A
program about Robert Frost on TV was very interesting; I didn‘t know
that he spent a crucial period in England and was a friend of Edward
Thomas.
1930. Dinner; large whisky then Brenda, our waitress, served us a
small steak after a blue cheese salad. Rita said the steak was a little overcooked. We learnt that Brenda had a BS degree in English and
Psychology—an interesting combination—and she hopes to do a postgrad course at Colorado University; she needs Colorado residence
qualifications in order to get a grant or place, she also needs money so
that accounts for the waiting at table.
310
Plate 124 : Bear Lake and Longs Peak
September 10, Monday
Our next stop was at the Alpine visitor centre where we were pleased
to see some elk grazing in the far distance down in the Fall River valley.
There is a shop here with over-priced goods, some small Indian rugs,
superbly crafted by modern day Navaho with very attractive abstract
designs, which were selling for about $2000 per square metre. After
enjoying the salubrious rest rooms we journeyed on to Milner pass which
is exactly on the Great divide, the US water shed, the streams flowing out
of the Cache Poudre lake going east, eventually to join the North Platte
and Missouri rivers to flow in to the Gulf of Mexico, and the little Beaver
creek going west to form the mighty Colorado river. We stopped for
lunch at a pull-off facing the Never Summer Mountains, today looking
arid. The sandwich was huge and filling, though I hate the canned diet
lemon flavoured muck we bought to drink..
Next we moved on to the end of the park at the Grand Lake entrance
and ended up at the City of Grand Lake itself, a one horse town on the
shores of the lake, where else? We first passed Sombreros Stables, then a
main street still with hitching posts, finally coming to rest at the shore by
the town rest rooms. By this time the threatening clouds had descended
upon us and, as I was about to get out of the car to relieve myself, there
was a flash of lightning instantaneously followed by a thunder crack, so I
hastily shut the door. The stench from the stables was now filling the car,
helped by the heavy wet atmosphere (it now was raining)—did I say one
horse town? In order to minimize the risk of (a) being struck by
lightening (b) wetting my pants, I edged the car right to the loo door and
Vector Fields Ltd
311
dashed in. Feeling better we left Grand Lake. We drove a few more miles
south to claim, at least, that we had seen Granby Lake then turned around
and headed back to make the 48 mile return trip to Estes Park. The return
trip was equally interesting as now the storm had cleared and we had
good views. Particularly fine was the frontal range culminating in Longs
Peak, the view across Forest Canyon (Big Thompson) to the great range
with many glacial lakes deep green against the dark purple.
Back at the hotel after collecting our laundry, over dinner I enjoyed
my whisky and recollected a fine day retracing the trip I had done with
my colleagues some years ago. The trail ridge road is the highest
highway in USA, over 12000ft. I had long wanted to do this trip with
Rita. We did 111 miles, all told, today but it seemed much further.
1030. To Estes Park to buy packed lunches. Today we decided to
walk the lake trail, Nymph, Dream and Emerald Lakes. The weather was
perfect, no clouds in the sky at all! The climbing was gentle and the way
wonderful, each lake surpassing the other in tranquillity and the fine view
of Flat Top Mountain (or is it Hallet‘s peak?). We passed fellow walkers
with kind greetings and feelings of well being, everyone at peace. The
final destination at Emerald Lake, just beneath the high peaks, is a picnic
spot sine qua non and here we had our lunch sheltering from the hot sun
and deep blue sky under the shade of western pine. There were Ducks on
the lake as well as the cheeky Stellar-Jay, and the camp robber himself,
the Grey-Jay, competing for crumbs from the trippers galore, also the
largest Jay, known as Clark‘s nutcracker, reminding Rita of a
woodpecker. We had our photograph taken by a young man who admired
Rita‘s royal seat below a canopy of dead timber. We retraced our steps
slowly, lingering awhile just below Dream lake at a special place beside a
small brown stream where all was peace, perfect peace.
Back at Bear Lake; this walk of only 1.8 miles each way with a
mere 700 ft. of climbing is of rare quality. Thinking back to a previous
visit I recall two of my colleagues playing ‗silly buggers‘ on Dream Lake
when it was frozen over, performing pretend cricket with fir cones and
a lump of dead wood. I was concerned at the time that they might crack
the ice and fall in the water below. Today, though, it was warm and
benign. We were now very tired but glad to have had such a pleasant
time so we returned to the motel, 30 miles.
We went to Central City today. Left Estes by highway 7 and passed
Longs Peak, named after Major Long of US army who surveyed the
region but didn‘t get closer than 40 miles to his peak. Longs Peak at
312
approx 14200 ft. is the highest in the region and no higher peak is found
further north in US and Canada until the Yukon-Alaskan border. It has a
shapely profile and demands that you climb to its summit but alas, I was
not fit enough. The English traveller Isabella Bird climbed it in 1873, a
remarkable lady who came and saw the valleys here in their magnificent
wild state, lived rough, made friends with the locals and wrote it down
for us to read. We eventually arrived at Central City at about noon. The
roads were mostly quiet and beautifully engineered passing through small
towns like Nederland where evidence of the great American railway can
be seen.
In Eighteen Hundred and fifty-one
The American railway was begun
But these days it is only used for freight. Most of the summer
visitors have departed so we found parking easy. We bought some gifts,
mostly jewellery at reasonable prices, we toured the fun places, even
went in the Teller House to see the famed ‗The face on the Bar-Room
floor‘, we also had a good salad and soup lunch there. It was a pity that
the Central City Opera House was closed as I would have liked to have
looked around the place where Patti, Melba, Caruso and Oscar Wilde
performed. I have now been here three times and it‘s always closed. The
house is now restored and this season‘s performances ended a few weeks
ago; they had La Traviata, Cosi and The Merry Widow in this year‘s
season.
The nice lady in the Indian craft shop told us about a used book stall
to raise money for a decent library here. We went and, though mostly ex
library stock and in poor condition we did manage to find a book each. I
bought a late collection of pieces by James M Cain which, amongst
several shorter items, includes the amusing ‗Career in C Major‘ which I
have long wanted to re-read. I came across it first on the hospital book
trolley in Buenos Aires during my enforced sojourn there in 1949. We
enjoyed our visit despite the over commercialisation and the gimmicks,
shoot outs in the saloons etc. We returned the way we came with the
magnificent mountain views seen in perfect conditions against the setting
sun.
We spent a quiet day in Estes before our journey to Rock Springs on
the morrow. We wrote post cards to Brenda, Pam, VF, Eve, and Aunt
Freda. Then we enjoyed a pleasant picnic in the park near Mill Creek.
Returned to the motel for a sleep and to pack, then took an early evening
trip along Fall River then on into the park and watched for elk at their
crossing point. There were crowds of people there, a man lent us his
binoculars, he had spotted two in the far distance, and he was quite
Vector Fields Ltd
313
excited; I could persuade myself that I saw something? We had dinner in
the town, a pleasant meal of pork slices—best potato yet.
Plate 125: ...this is the kingdom of the trucker
September 14, Friday
We have enjoyed our stay in Estes and I have now fulfilled my
ambition to show Rita this lovely place. Our six days cost us $650
approx. The journey began well and continued well in good weather and
mostly quiet roads. At Loveland we missed the 287 to cut off the corner
to Laramie. We ended up on the Interstate 25N and I think this was
better, no hassle whatsoever, good rest areas and plenty of stopping
places. We changed to Interstate 80 at Cheyenne. The scenery through
Wyoming is very different from Colorado; for the most part the route
follows over a vast plateau around 7000ft.This time of year quite arid,
though we passed several large herds of cattle grazing on poor
vegetation. We noted that the car was recording outside temperatures up
to 85
Though less spectacular than the RMNP area it gave us a splendid
contrast, huge vistas stretching out before us, the divided highway
converging at infinity. The association of Westerns with Wyoming in my
mind was at least partly confirmed though I‘d expected a greener
backdrop; remembering the fine pictures of Fred Remington to be seen in
the Chicago Art Institute— wrong time of year and probably the wrong
place. Our comfort stops were interesting, this is the kingdom of the
trucker, massive great vehicles congregating in the parking lots of the
transport cafes US style. These places are comprehensive, the facilities
314
excellent. We had our best coffee so far this trip at the Rodeo Pit Stop,
some twenty miles west of Laramie. At another near Rawlings, called
Gay Johnsons, the friendly rest room attendant was whistling the first
subject of the Brahms violin concerto as he cleaned out the urinals. We
arrived tired but pleased at Rock Springs at 16:15 after clocking 334
miles, the car having performed superbly. We easily found the Best
Western Outlaw Inn and to our surprise drank a nice cup of Tea in the
motel coffee shop.
At dinner at the motel the lady in reception says ‗You betcha to all
requests‘, Can I have this paper, I said, ‗You betcha, twenty five cents,
nothin init though, I threw it on the floor this morning after five minutes‘,
which was two minutes longer than when I looked at it later in the Rocky
Miner, despite an article on a Mrs Sophie Trowbridge lecturing on good
behaviour to a local church club. I asked the lady if the town of Rock
Springs was worth visiting, Nope, ‗I‘d sure like to get out—you betcha‘
After breakfast we took the car to route 119 S. to see the Flaming
Gorge area. The road passed through high desert country, dried up
gulches and broad valleys, but full of flora actually creating contrast
against the multi brown colour aspect of the landscape. I am sure there
was sage bush there but I can‘t name the deep purple and yellow shrubs
that are very prolific. Of wildlife we saw little except occasional birds,
rabbits, and squirrels, but what can you expect from a moving car?
Eventually we arrived at the Flaming Gorge itself which has a large
reservoir created by an impressive dam and hydro electric power station
producing 134 M-Watts. The lake is in a narrow declivity banked by
cliffs of red with yellow strata sandwiched between, very impressive.
The dam itself is in Utah and is yet another scheme affecting the head
waters of the Colorado, this time the Green River tributary, but the civil
engineering has been beautifully blended into the terrain. We returned,
after a light lunch at a small town called Manila (a diner called Grubs),
by the highway to the west of the area to the city of Green River and
thence back to Rock Springs, a round trip distance of 160 miles. Back in
our room we managed to call Dinah and Simon, they were at Frilford and
they were both well. Today is the 50th anniversary of the Battle of
Britain; the kids had been to the Abingdon Air Show.
September 16, Sunday
The next morning we drove along the I80, the sky was overcast but
fine with some sun as we approached Salt Lake City. In the vicinity of
Green River the landscape becomes more colourful with increasing green
Vector Fields Ltd
315
enclaves with ranches. We stopped just short of the Utah border at the
Wyoming visitor centre, some interesting information on the State with a
show-case containing stuffed grizzly bear. The approach to SLC is
interesting; one descends down from the high country along a spacious
road through quite colourful country, pretty shrubs and small trees dotted
all over the brown- green hills. We followed a river part of the way, the
Chalk Creek, I think, and we must have passed near the site where
Brigham Young said, ‗this is the place‘ in 1847. We were soon in the city
and found the Olympus Hotel easily on 6th and West Temple, a distance
of 180 miles and just over three hours.
After a lunch in the Hotel coffee shop we began our exploration of
the city as everyone does by walking to Temple Square, the centre of the
Mormon Church. Visitors are received with great courtesy and charm by
the missionaries of all ages from many nationalities. These people are all
well dressed but, I must say somewhat theatrical, since they appear to be
giving a performance. We were urged to take the tour, every 15 minutes,
to be properly introduced to the history and the Mormon beliefs. We
resisted this and attempted to wander around by ourselves. The Temple,
which only Mormons of good standing are allowed to enter, dominates
this 10 acre square which is completely surrounded by a 5 ft. wall
reminding me of the palace in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. I asked a
middle aged well groomed lady how I might get a copy of the Book of
Mormon. This Rita said was a mistake, and she is probably right. The
lady said I would have a copy delivered personally to me and she
extracted my address by persuading me to fill in a green form—so I am
on their list232
We toured the square, looked at the statues representing the
founding of his quasi Christian cult, the noble pioneers shown life size
with scenes of their great trek from the east and the founder himself
Joseph Smith with his older brother Hyram, both murdered by a mob in
Missouri. Joseph, who received his first revelation at the tender age of
15, must have been a formidable man with an enormous ego. I must learn
more about him and his beliefs. We saw some of the murals in the visitor
centre representing scenes from the Bible and the book of Mormon, these
were executed relatively recently and the style reminded me of my
Sunday school days; vividly coloured pictures of good looking people
living in a well laundered world. Were there no black people in Israel in
those days? We returned to the hotel feeling slightly unsettled. On the
way we saw the other side of Salt Lake City and indeed most places these
days, dropouts and winos on the sidewalks.
232
They called a few weeks after our return, fortunately Rita answered the phone
316
A much better night, Rita says it‘s because I had no whisky last
night! I had my hair cut by the hotel barber. His name is Armsworth and
he claimed English descent. He said he was Mormon, he certainly gave
me a Mormon Cut, and we discussed LDS233 matters a little. Last year he
and his wife went to Europe, to Finland, where his son is a Mormon
missionary and a general tour of Western Europe. After breakfast we
went to the Family History Library. This was the main reason for my
wanting to come to Salt Lake. I was not disappointed. The rooms are
open to all and cover different world regions on separate floors. However
all floors have the catalogue both on microfiche and computer. The
computer terminal areas are in themselves very impressive with all the
data stored on CD ROM. The system is incredibly easy to use and you
can book a time slot of 30 minutes standing or 1 hour sitting; we had no
trouble in getting immediate access. Also on the computer is the IGI234
for 1988 as well as the consolidated PAF235 for all those who have made
submissions; unfortunately these are only updated annually so my
submissions made in January are not there yet.
Using the system in the British Isles room Basement 2, we quickly
found Bowerchalk parish register copies on microfilm and were able to
use one of the 50 or so readers in this room! Tremendous service,
everything superbly laid out, easy to follow instructions and, as ever with
the LDS people, an army of eager helpers to guide you if you need it.
Though I didn‘t expect to discover anything, since I was looking at
material I had already seen in the UK, it was a joy to use this magnificent
library. It was also a thrill to discover in the book section under Wiltshire
a copy of The Bowerchalk Parish Paper by R Sawyer which contains a
photograph of my Grandmother. We decided to come back after lunch
and maybe tomorrow to spend more time.
233
Latter Day Saints
International Genealogy Index (A transcript of Parish Records from all over the
world, incomplete and often unreliable but can be helpful)
235
Personal Ancestral File
234
Vector Fields Ltd
317
Plate 126: Temple Square-Salt Lake City
1200. To the Tabernacle to hear the daily organ recital. The organist
was Clay Christiansen who first gave a demonstration of this fine hall‘s
acoustics by dropping a pin onto a table—the sound of which was clearly
audible. He then played a short program on the great organ which
included Mendelssohn‘s sonata number 3, a work which has embedded in
the first movement a chorale melody which occurs in the pedal, deep and
splendidly sonorous. It was thrilling to hear the climax and long held
final chord with its implied dissonance. He followed this with Sullivan‘s
Lost Chord, sentimental, and a Scandinavian piece which was pretty.
Next came the Mormon Hymn Come, Come, Ye Saints followed by an
old melody which turns out to be All through the Night, the hymn tune is
based on an old English folk song too but I couldn‘t identify it. This
recital ended with the Toccata from the Suite Gothique by Léon
Boëllmann, a splendid show piece with a solid base tune which drives the
music along to a rousing finish. Rita and I enjoyed this and much
admired the hall which from the outside looks like a huge tin can with
hemispherical ends but inside is wonderful and vast and seats 6000.
We had lunch in the Cross shopping mall nearby and then explored
the shops. This is a nice mall with shops and restaurants on three floors.
Rita bought a shopping bag, but time was pressing so we returned to the
library for an hour and checked out some of the Bowerchalke entries.
Rita helped by writing down the information. We also looked at a copy
of the Baptist church records which I had never seen before, strange to
come so far to see this. My great grandfather Elisha is on the list of
318
church members. We left the library at 1730 and decided to go back to
the shopping mall to buy books about the Mormons, both for and against.
We found ‗God Makers‘ which looks like an exposé. On the way back to
the Hotel I bought a biography of Joseph Smith at an LDS book shop.
Up after a reasonably good night—only up twice. We ordered a taxi
to take us to the Family History Library and we spent the entire day
there. It was most interesting to use the powerful indexing to get at the
micro film copies of documents. We checked several parish registers and
were able to verify once again many entries for Ebbesbourne and
Berwick St John. No new facts but exciting to find information so
efficiently. We also were able to look at some more non-conformist
records for Donhead St. Mary containing many Trowbridge entries.
Apart for a small break for lunch we spent the whole day here, I would
like to have a month? I spotted a copy of The Book of Mormon in the
genealogy supply area and was able to buy it for $1.5!, so much for the
sagacity of the unctuous lady who conned me into filling in the green
form on Sunday, so deceitful since she assured me that this was the only
way to obtain a copy. It was raining heavily outside so we called for the
hotel bus to collect us at six to go back to the hotel for supper.
We had supper in the Golden Spike, an inclusive dinner for $14 for
both of us, an amazing bargain; we had soup, salad, fish and a sweet and
then back to our room to pack and to read. Our reading about the Church
of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints is widening our perceptions. It
would appear that the contemporary beliefs of the Mormon Church have
caused much heartbreak as the true nature of their purpose is disguised
by layers of half truth. I am enjoying the reading.
We packed and were on our way at 0905. We crossed desert and
passed high mesas, glowing red in Technicolor skies and high mountains
in the distance, topped by last night‘s precipitation of snow. We had
lunch at Green river and soon after crossed over the Colorado River near
Moab itself, 235 miles and under 4 hours. The motel is fine and the town,
which we explored after a rest interesting. A long main street very much
as I‘d imagined this home of Zane Grey to be like, dusty side streets, a
town in the desert. Today there are souvenir shops of course but not
intrusive. Many old style western wooden buildings from the old days
still exist. Many of the motels and places advertise river rafting, hiking
and biking. We found a splendid book shop too, T.S Eliot, Joyce and
Kafka cheek by jowl with travel and canyon guides. I bought a large
scale map. The town itself is lined by the bare red rocky edge of mesas
Vector Fields Ltd
319
on both sides which plunge into the Colorado valley. After dinner in the
Creek Restaurant we retired to read and to watch TV.
Today we went to the Arches National park and then on to the Dead
Horse State Park. A dull day for weather mostly overcast but very
enjoyable. We ate a tasty lunch facing Landscape arch. I saw a Navajo
Chough, Rita said it was a Crow! Later we saw the Colorado at Dead
Horse Bend, an impressive spot you see on the postcards. For a short day
we still managed to clock up 100 miles.
Plate 127: Monument Valley
Three weeks out now, today we go to Monument Valley on the Utah
Arizona border. I have long wanted to visit this region which was used so
often in the Western Films of my youth, one thinks of Stage Coach and
other John Ford Classics like My Darling Clementine, The Searchers etc.
and more, many of them with John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Ward
Bond...etc. The journey is about 150 miles each way so Rita took some
persuading! We left around ten and found the highway reasonably clear
after leaving Moab, which from the outskirts appears deep green in
between the red mesas on either side. We had good views of the Lasal
mountains as the weather was fine with plenty of blue sky and brilliant
light, the humidity was low and the temperature near perfect 75 degrees.
Our first town was Monticello (7000 ft) after passing the Wilson Arch
another spectacular rock formation. We were now on a high plateau and
soon reached Blanding a quiet and attractive small town in a relatively
320
fertile area with ranches, farms and even some ploughing!, but the semi
desert is not far away. We stopped for gas and coffee at The Pronto Deli
at Blanding and also had some lunch made up for us to our specification,
ham and cheese sandwich without the toppings so beloved of the
Americans. After Blanding we descended into the San Juan valley to
reach Bluff, a real Wild West town near a fantastic rock sculpture called
Twin Towers. We were now back in red canyon country and admired the
brilliant red hills spotted with green bushes, altogether a pointillist effect.
Next place was Mexican Hat, so called from the balanced very flat rock
on top of a smaller squat block looking like a Mexican squatting on the
loo. At the nearby village of Mexican Hat we crossed the San Juan river,
here a muddy brown colour as usual but flowing gently over slabs
downhill. From here on in we could see the giant thrusting mesas of the
Monument valley in the distance. The panorama is magnificent and
fulfilled my expectations.
We stopped at a view point near the start of the Navajo State park
which includes the whole of Monument Valley, and looked at the Indian
jewellery on sale. Rita is fond of this style and bought some pieces on a
visit to Grand Canyon, Arizona some years ago. Today she bought Dinah
a ring. We proceeded to the park, just inside Arizona. After our picnic
lunch we took several photos. I persuaded Rita that we should sample the
rough road and venture down into the Valley. It is no longer a canyon but
a broad expanse with the giant pillar mesas scattered over the landscape.
This rough trail wanders around the mesas for a distance of 17 miles. We
got as far as the floor of the valley and parked. The views were
wonderful, the light rather too strong since it was now high noon, but
marvellous for all that. It would be tremendous to journey on horse back
here and stay for days. Too bad we were slaves to our Lincoln car and I
was getting worried about its suspension so we decided to return to the
top, in any case Rita was not too happy about the rough ride.
Since we had a long way to go home to Moab, we left after
purchasing some more jewellery. The return journey in the setting sun
was also unforgettable, the road was very quiet and the views of the
Abajo and Lasal mountains showed us the way home. We stopped briefly
at Blanding for a coffee and we were back at the hotel by 6.40pm. We
had a great day out, 297 miles on the dial.
Woke up to clear blue sky, Rita decreed an easier day to day. After
shopping for some essentials and leaving our laundry and films for
developing we drove up the Colorado River. At a point near a place
called big bend (there must be a hundred such called this) we stopped and
walked down to the waters edge, I dipped my hand into the river. We
Vector Fields Ltd
321
heard a howl, a dog I suppose, though to me it sounded like the call of
the wild. We picked up our photos, I was a little disappointed, they are
rather small, 3.5 x 5.0 in., and not many good pictures, Rita‘s always
looked better. In the afternoon we visited Canyon Lands, the Island of
Sky region, some 40 miles away. This mesa is connected to the mainland
by a very narrow neck with deep canyons on either side. From the air it
would look rather like some ectoplasm, or a Julia set, with a highly
convoluted coast-line. In fact it overlooks the confluence of the Colorado
and Green rivers. The weather to day was exceptional, the best yet, and
great views to match. The area as a whole has 3 regions apart from the
rivers themselves, Pinnacles, Maze and the Island. We could see the
other two but to explore them would require weeks of strenuous effort.
Contrast the route just to go down to the Colorado from here, 9 miles and
2000 ft. down, then back with this morning‘s stroll of a few yards to the
river above Moab. In the evening after dinner we read and discussed
Joseph Smith and the Mormons. I am confused at the moment, people
soon become polarized, I guess the romantic in me wants to believe in it
a little whereas realistic, sceptic Rita finds it abhorrent—interesting.
Plate 128: ...purchasing some more jewellery
Late breakfast after a disturbed night with moments of doubt
creeping in between prostate perambulations, Rita recalled my brother
Peter saying ...it got really bad after I had to stop 9 times on the M4
322
going to a shoot.... Day-time brings encouragement, the weather today is
almost overcast and much rain in the mountains, so we go to the
mountains! We choose the Lasal loop, a 62 mile trip over the western
end of the range. We set off South and soon found ourselves in rain and
enclosed views, such a contrast of recent days. After many hairpin bends
the way deteriorated to an unpaved road which worried us because of the
wet conditions. Rita suggested we try it the other way round, to see if we
could get higher. This we did after buying some simple snacks at a shop
on the outskirts of Moab. This route follows the Colorado River and turns
off at Castleton, a remote ranching and mining area of the 1880s. The
valley is dominated by a magnificent red needle rock. The road winds up
into the Lasal hills, and the redness is replaced by green flora, birch,
aspen trees and browner rock. We had our frugal lunch at a high point
overlooking Castle Valley. Several cars passed us by so we concluded
that the road was safe. Indeed the unpaved portion proved to be short and
quite firm. We saw three deer and a fox, and a blue bird with orange
wings! So we completed the round and were back at the motel by 2.30
pm to rest and pack for our move to Aspen tomorrow. After dinner we
watched an evangelist preacher, Charles Stanley, selling Jesus like any
other marketable product
0830. Departure for Aspen, via Crescent Junction, I70, and Glendale
Springs. Weather good, very pleasant trip but we were thoughtful since
our holiday was coming to an end. 1300. Arrived at Snowmass, Silver
Tree Hotel to find conference in full swing. Bob and Marilyn arrived
shortly after. Talked with Bob after a late lunch followed by an early
dinner to suit Bob! 1830. Spent evening building the stand, very late in
receiving our kit, last off the lorry. We had to improvise a little but
computer works OK (there was no mains lead but fortunately my Toshiba
lead is same type). We need better stand facilities.
0830. Called John Simkin at VF, asked him to send a fax of a PE2D
example problem. Fax arrived at 9.30, very helpful. We spent the
morning running problems on the IBM with Bob, whilst Rita and
Marilyn went on the conference Brunch on Aspen Mountain. 1300.
Exhibition opens, we were very busy all afternoon but the traffic
intensified further, after five pm, when crowds were milling round
enjoying the free food! Many of US customers came by, but we made
many new contacts and one or two of them stand out in my mind, a
Dutchman from Twente, already known to us when he worked at CERN.
I spoke with Muller from Brucker who are considering Tosca, he is keen
Vector Fields Ltd
323
on our integrated environment project involving stress and thermal. He
also requires optimisation software. Another from San Diego
(Consultancy firm), Walter Podney (SQM Tech. La Jolla CA) for whom I
ran a problem (Electrostatic Cone above a ground plane), Bob‘s clip gifts
were eagerly snapped up, over 500 today, this brought people to the
stand. Jarl Eriksson from Tampere gave me a letter from Lauri Kettunen,
and invited me to be his external examiner; he also invited me to
Tampere next year. Luca Bottura introduced himself, he was the chap
involved with Quench with Olek236. Old friends from UK, Tony
Appleton, now at RAL, Bill Timms (OI), Dave Orrell, SSC, H Schneider
(Triumph). Also Alan Crapo (Emerson Electric Co.) an INFO user.
Plate 129: At our stand...
At dinner Bob said, did we know how to tell the difference between
a Black Bear and a Brown Bear?, we said, no, how do you tell.....?, Bob
replied, Well, the black bear follows you up the tree whereas the brown
bear (Grizzly) just knocks the tree down.
Called JSW at VF, all well there, he said, we have two new orders,
EE Valves and MOD Aquila and some others pending, he also said that
236
I am to be his external examiner
324
Brucker had asked for a quote for TOSCA. I saw Muller later again and
cross checked; he was not so sure since he quite liked the Ansoft
approach, but I was able to reassure him and also engage his interest over
our future plans.
At our stand, much quieter today, but we had a steady stream of
people stop by to ask for information and many enquiries concerning
computing Superconductivity phenomena, microwave strips and
Josephson Junctions. Jerry Selvaggi came up to me and said, ‗are you the
Trowbridge who wrote all those papers‘, I didn‘t know whether to feel
flattered or what. We later spoke some more and I discovered he is an
anglophile, at least a Winston Churchill fan. He is from Eriez Magnetics
in Erie PA, and was very amusing about the climate there.
During lunch with Rita unfortunately I was stung by a wasp (Bob
said later that they call them Hornets here!) on my left elbow, Rita
whipped out some anti-wasp cream from nowhere, a modest swelling and
some acute pain was soon dispelled, bless her. 1800 We drove to
Snowmass for the ASC Rodeo, first a barbecue, the steak was large and
unbelievably tasty, the plastic knife supplied severed the flesh as if it
were butter. We seemed to meet people who knew about us wherever we
went, very gratifying. At the show we climbed to the back tier of a three
storied wooden bench to watch the show. Next to me were two lively
young Texans from SSC, who knew about TOSCA; they entertained us
marvellously with their wit—both ironic and scurrilous. They drank beer,
ate pop corn and cheered mightily at every event; the finer points of
rodeo were explained to us in detail. The show began with the US
anthem, one of them said, we all stand for this and that includes you two
as well. This was followed by the ASC sports, carefully selected
conference delegates were invited to compete in the ancient game of
throwing the cow paddy. Skill in Frisbee throwing was what was
required. Most throws were pathetic, however a Korean chap out did
everyone by launching it optimally so that it flew the length of the pitch.
The SSC representative, one Al Capone, sliced his, much to the
amusement of our two Texans. Other events followed and some silly
interludes from clowns, these chaps however had the most dangerous job
of protecting riders from the hooves when they were unhorsed, un-bulled,
etc. There was a clover-leaf shalom ridden by some lively ladies on fine
fast horses, bucking bronco and bulls, and roping calves etc. The riding
of the bucking animals seem to require great tenacity and guts. As the
evening wore on and got colder ASC delegates got noisier and some got
drunk, others went home; we stayed nearly to the end. I am glad we went,
but one time is probably enough—it was very interesting to realize how
the sport evolved from the real working skills of cowboys.
Vector Fields Ltd
325
Last session of exhibition, Podney came and was pleased with the
solution I obtained using PE2D. Eriksson also said he was on the IS
Committee of MT12 in Leningrad and had suggested that I do a talk on
field computation. Spoke with Barbara Weintrieb, she is quite interested
in joining VF but does not want to leave Santa Fe. Bob will talk to her
again. Met a chap from Munich and gave him a demo, he is also keen on
the Munich Course, also Tony Appleton introduced a chap from ICI who
woulf come and see us in Oxford about a consultancy job. Tony asked
about Fred Eastham, are they collaborating I wondered, and what is Tony
doing at RAL?
Plate 130...Maroon lake, a superb morning,...
After lunch we packed up the stand Bob and Marylyn left and Rita
and I saw the equipment off on Federal Express Van. Afterwards we
drove to Aspen and spent time in the Explorer Book- shop, nice
atmosphere but books laid out in a haphazard way also I don‘t much like
the use of recycled paper in books these days in the US.
Late breakfast then by car to Maroon lake, a superb morning, there
had been snow overnight, 1 inch reported in Leadville, the Aspen trees
were beautiful, shades of yellow, brown and green against the snowy
peaks of the Maroon Bells; we took a short trail along the lake and
326
beyond, watched dippers and saw much evidence of beaver dam
building. Back in Snowmass there was a tremendous thunder-storm
followed by heavy rain. Later into Aspen to look at books— bought some
Robert Frost.
0900. Departed for Denver, via Independence Pass (12,095ft),
interesting road the high peaks freshly covered with snow. I came the
other way last time, it was in June and the weather was clear, unlike
today which was misty at the top. The weather improved as we
descended to twin lakes, following the trail of Arkansas River near its
source. By the time we reached Leadville the weather was fine and the
old mining town (10000 ft) looked clean and tidy in the sun. We walked
up one side of the main street and down the other, buying a plate for our
collection in the Sears Roebuck store (used to be the assay office).
Unfortunately the Tabor Opera house was shut (only on Saturdays) so we
couldn‘t do the tour I did five years ago (June 9, 1985). Then, the owner,
Mrs Evelyn Furman, showed me around and I purchased a copy of her
book on the history of the house which she signed for me. I still marvel at
the thought of Oscar Wilde addressing a packed house of miners on
aestheticism and style.
Next to the Tabor we found a really nice shop full of books, rugs
and things—we bought a Tree of Life rug, not woven by the Navaho,
these are far too expensive, but imported from Mexico, for $50 5x3 ft
approx. We had a snack lunch and prepared to leave but, as we tried to
pull out into the street, a noisy procession of cars, horns tooting, young
women in bright dresses decked with flowers and young men dressed in
black tail suits yelling greetings to all and sundry, came noisily by and
then continued to circulate the street up and down—it was a local
wedding. We eventually were able to pull away and get on our way. We
climbed up over Fremont pass to cross the great divide for the second
time today, passing the giant Climax Molybdenum workings, a whole
mountain brutally scarred. We were now descending by the South Platte
River and soon were on the I70 again, passing Dillon where I once spent
the night overlooking a beautiful lake, but today the views were closed in
because of cloud and some rain.
We stopped at Georgetown and watched the loop railway hooting
and puffing its way up the valley (though now a tourist attraction it was
once a mining train); this brought back memories of Bob, Larry, Chris
Riley etc. riding the train on my first visit here. Rita spotted a bird of
prey, brown and quite large, hovering above the track below which she
found far more interesting. We didn‘t linger long and before we quite
Vector Fields Ltd
327
realized it we were in Denver and at the airport and safely at the Ramada
Inn to spend the night.
Up at seven, breakfasted, and at the Airport at 8.45. Leaving Rita
there I returned the car to Hertz. All went very smoothly, a man received
the car, he had an online computer terminal in his hand, worked out my
charges, inspected the car and all was done, the cost for three weeks
superb motoring was $872. I then returned to the airport and found Rita.
A good flight, pleasant lunch and we were soon in Chicago (1430), with
1 hour lost. Luggage and comfort van soon found and with some half a
dozen others we were on our way to Naperville and Aurora. After
dropping people off at Lisle, Naperville we arrived at the Fox Valley
Best Western. I left two cassette tapes and a pair of Polaroid spectacles in
the car. Hertz kindly posted them to Oxford, and they arrived shortly
after our return
We were shown into the Bridal Suite, so called, in fact it was a dirty
room with hideous furnishings, no drawers for clothes etc, champagne
corks still littering the floor, and a balcony. I suppose the epithet suite
was justified because of the balcony—who wants a balcony, I can‘t work
on a draughty balcony, which incidentally had a sliding door to the room
without a lock. I returned to the desk and inquired to see if we had been
allocated the wrong room by mistake.
The pleasant blonde lady in reception nervously informed me that
our booking for the executive suite had been cancelled by the owner. I
was very annoyed. I asked to see the owner, who turned out to be
Chinese. She was away for the day but I could see her husband. He came
and told me that there was to be a family wedding and the suite was
required. It was explained to him by the receptionist that we had the prior
booking made two months ago for an uninterrupted stay of three weeks.
In fact she said she made the booking herself. Mr Wang was not
impressed, he said to me, ‗we can do business, yes?‘, he offered me a
reduced rate for the bridal suite, I said, ‗no‘. I am not prepared to do
business; I refused to pay less for something I don‘t want, and I would
rather pay more for something I did, I pointed out to him that in my
business the customer is always respected and we had a contract. He
appeared upset that I wouldn‘t do business, as if we were bartering for
chickens in Beijing. I refused to budge, either we got the suite as booked
or we leave. The lady pointed out that I was the President of Vector
Fields, a local company, suggesting their business might suffer if we did!
Rita came down to add her weight to the discussion and we began to
collect our belongings as if to leave, Mr Wang (His wife runs the hotel
and he is a realtor) said he would sort something out, so you need a desk,
328
then I will put a desk in the room, I shook my head, I said I needed a
separate room, he then tried to move people around to see if he could find
two rooms with a connecting door, but he failed. He was playing
Hilbert‘s Hotel. I recalled that the mathematical genius, David Hilbert,
once explained the idea of infinite sets by telling the story of the hotel
manager who was able to accommodate each new arrival in room one by
moving its occupant to room two and the guest in room two to room
three and so on..., unfortunately in Mr Wang‘s case, for this to work, you
need an infinite hotel.
At this point I said we were very tired and I would have to leave
since he was not prepared to honour the contract. The girl said, they‘re
going to leave you know, you had better do something; he then suddenly
capitulated and gave us the suite we had booked. I took the key and went
to the suite which turned out to be quite good though rather grubby. We
accepted it. I said to the girl I was sorry to have embarrassed her but I
had to be firm with the owner, she said, revealingly, you have to be firm
with people like him. We assumed he would sort out his wife‘s problem
later, about the wedding. I suppose she thought we would accept her high
handed treatment of us, the colossal nerve to just instruct the receptionist
to give us the dirty bridal suite without even telling us.
October 1, Monday
A good night, the bed is comfortable, exercises then a good
breakfast, there seems to be no animosity from the hotel staff. Bob came
at nine and we told him the tale, we said we would discuss it with Betty
at the office to see if we should do anything. It turned out that Betty tried
to confirm our booking on Friday and was told that the owner said we
were let the suite in error as it had already been booked by someone else
for three months! So we were told lies, more damned lies. Betty called
the catering manager Linda, who had confirmed the original
arrangement, and said we were perfectly right to object and said she
would undertake to see we were not bothered further. In fact, when we
got back to the hotel later, we found that the suite had been carefully
cleaned and there was a gift of fruit, sweets etc. and a nice note from
Linda, apologising on behalf of Best Western. At the office I got
organized, collected the car, a red ford Tempo, set up my TEX files and
filed away my ASC papers, then called VF and spoke with JS who said
all things were well. I needed to talk to D Lavers about the Alcan bench
marks.
October 2, Tuesday
Another good night, only awoke once. After exercises, we
breakfasted then went into VFI, continued with my mail, wrote to
Vector Fields Ltd
329
Dinah(fax) actions from ASC, called VF, spoke to JSW, CPR, CSB and
BFC. JSW said that Fujitsu had signed and that 3 UK firms had made
good enquiries. It was agreed that JS should come out to do the west
coast user group meeting and hold the course for Western Atlas. I called
Larry, agreed to go to ANL tomorrow. Rita made some nice rolls for
lunch. I wrote recommendation for Mohammed for a chair at Florida and
looked over the benchmarks for Alcan, I am worried about the style and
the substance of the problems posed—is Lavers setting us an exam
paper? Back to Fox Valley Best Western for dinner, drinks and music,
we listened to Berlioz (Nuits d´ete) and later Dvorak (American
Quintet)237—his longing for Europe from 19 C. Iowa, struck a chord with
me in late 20 C. Illinois.
October 3, Wednesday
To VFI to review the PE2D course material. There were some
problems with DEC VT340 terminals but we can cope. To Argonne after
lunch to meet Larry and Lauri Kettunen, I drove there via 75th and Cass.
Eventually I found the old building, Bldg 362, with the rock outside that I
remembered from previous visits. We discussed EDDYNET and GFUN.
I was now happier about the proposed work.
October 4, Thursday
9.15. Finished preparing for PE2D course. After a Pizza lunch I took
Rita to Geneva to the hairdressers. We looked round the town, not too
interesting, weather showery, felt generally low. Back at VFI, completed
my practising on PE2D, and must begin OPERA tomorrow. I am worried
about the Toronto paper, unless JS sends me some further material I
cannot possibly complete. We went back to hotel feeling very tired, had
some dinner then music—Elgar 2 restored my equilibrium.
October 5, Friday
Five weeks out today, the radio, as usual, was outputting bleeding
chunks from classical works238; they do like to do this even on the
prestigious public service stations. I had lunch with Sandra Risvold our
US accountant, she said US taxation rules will only allow the work
proportion of expenses in a combined holiday/work trip, i.e. for our three
weeks only 1/3 is tax deductable. This only affects the air fares which
were common to both, so only 1/3 of air fare is deductable. Privately I
doubted this. After lunch Bob took us on a trip round Aurora in order to
237
The one in E flat composed just days after the more famous American Quartet in F
238
Just like Classics FM today in the UK
Major
330
fix the geography. Back to the office, I finished verifying TOSCA course
problem.
October 6, Saturday
Breakfast late, a gathering of Chinese for the Wang wedding, we
wondered how they were coping without the use of room? Afterwards we
went to Aurora, looked at shops in North Gate Mall but were
disappointed. We then went on to Fox Valley again, I looked at the Egg
Head software shop while Rita bought some clothes, and I later bought
her a hand bag for her birthday. We returned to VF office for lunch and
some work. We decided to try yellow pages to find a decent record store.
Rose Records in Naperville seemed likely, I called them and surprise, I
found that they were just next to the Fox Valley! We went there a back
way, over the tracks by Eola, seeing the people at their yard work, as Bob
describes it— Saturday morning outdoor chores. At Roses they have a
fine Classical department. I bought a new Chabrier disk, at last the
Overture to his opera Gwendolyn — the result of his flirtation with
Bayreuth, Rita wanted some Vivaldi concerti, which we also bought.
After resting and listening to some of our new CD‘s we found Papa
Bears full so went to Geneva for dinner, most places there were crowded
too. We had earlier tried to book a table at the Mill Race by phone (only
parties greater than six and a two hour wait), but we ended up at the most
expensive place in town, 302 Restaurant, and we had an excellent lamb
in the cocktail bar, very pleasant waitress and altogether a meal
appropriate for Rita‘s birthday.
October 7, Sunday
Happy Birthday Rita! I gave her my card at midnight, late breakfast
10.30, called Larry, we have to be at his house at 1.30 pm, we are going
to see a musical show. 1315 Arrived at Larry‘s house then on to
Oakbrook with them to see a show at the Drury Lane Theatre. The show
was a Broadway musical called On the Twentieth Century, based on a
play about a fading theatrical actor and his now famous leading lady,
who meet on the train from Chicago to New York (The Twentieth
Century). The plot concerns the antics of these two plus a religious nut
and others to put on a new show. I remembered the old film version with
John Barrymore and Carol Lombard (lovely lady). The staging was fast
and delightful, despite unmemorable tunes, and we all enjoyed it
immensely. In the cast was the lady who sang at the Compumag Chicago
banquet, she was very good playing a number of small character parts.
We afterwards had dinner at the theatre which was also good and then
went back to Larry‘s house for a special birthday cake for Rita.
Vector Fields Ltd
331
Altogether a fine day which Donna and Larry provided, they are very
kind to us.
October 8, Monday
I went to VFI to prepare for the course also Rita came and spent the
day helping Betty in the office—they say she is proving to be very
useful. It rained all day.
October 9, Tuesday
First day of PE2D course, we were up at seven and at VFI by 08:30.
There were five attendees; Bob Frierson and Joshua Kolawole from
Eglin (SAIC) Florida are prospective customers; the others are all
existing customers. Josh and Bob were very friendly and anxious to
establish good rapport; they were very frank about our competition and
said that Dave Rodgers (University of Bath UK) had offered to sell the
MEGA system for $30k. We paired off Stuarte Stampke (SSC Lab
Texas) with Mike Barnes (TRIUMPH Canada) and they performed
slowly but were very careful and—they identified a bug in the course
problem I liked their approach which was thoughtful and constructive.
The Eglin pair worked fast and able to tolerate the inconsistencies and
appeared less critical, certainly less vocal, but they seemed equally bright
though. Ed Tipton (David Taylor Research centre, MD), who was
assigned the DEC terminal, with all its problems, was also very capable
and in fact covered the work the fastest. Altogether a hard but stimulating
day and it was still raining!
Plate 131: ...Josh and Bob were very friendly
332
Second day of PE2D course, and all went quite well, with the good
friendly atmosphere maintained. VFI hosted a nice dinner at Tollgate Inn
for overlap students. It is still raining.
October 11, Thursday
The First day of the TOSCA course and the attendees were:
Bob Frierson and Joshua Kolawole (SAIC), Michael Barnes
(TRIUMPH), Michael Vella (LBNL), Philip Jonas and H B Zou
(Intermagnetics General Corp), Kumar Dharmasena (University of
Virginia) and V. Thiagara-Jan (SSC). It proved a very hard day, I had
private reservations about the code pre-processor, but somehow we got
through. I returned to the Hotel 19:00 very, very tired. At least it has
stopped raining.
October 12, Friday
Dinah arrives today, weather much better. Second day of the course and
Bob and I did sterling work, some of the problems in the software are
now at least understood. Michael Vella appeared pleased with the
outcome and thought he could make good use of the software. The Eglin
pair continued to gain confidence and told us they had got a lot from the
course. They were recommending us as opposed to Bath partly because
of our support organization. However no decision would be taken until
further funding is secure, but the low Bath price is a problem.
Kumar Dharmasena (Univ. Virginia) is a prospect but has a difficult
coil modelling problem. The Indian, Ra-Jan from SSC became
demanding, but he liked the course, I showed him BIM2D which may be
useful for shim design. The two from Intermagnetics General were
pleased also but needed more guidance with ELEKTRA. Rita and Betty
went off to O‘Hare to meet Dinah at 3.30. I think Rita has enjoyed
working in the office which she has done every day. Bob, Marilyn and I
went to our Lawyers‘ office party; we met Wayne Wyler and his crew,
also other owner of the building, Bill Trumper. There is a notice outside
that says our building is for sale; apparently one of the partner‘s wishes
to sell out but Bob is not worried. Soon after, Dinah arrived safe and
well, if a little tired. We went home, had a light meal at Papa Bears.
October 13, Saturday
Vector Fields Ltd
333
After breakfast we took Dinah to Fox Valley. At 6.0 pm. we went to
Bob‘s for dinner. A lovely evening; we enjoyed a very tasty meal. Bob is
a good host and Marilyn a good cook. We saw their video of Aspen.
October 14, Sunday
We spent the day with the Turners in Chicago. The girls went to the
water tower, Sears Tower and the Art Institute, while Larry and I went to
57 St. for books. The day was spoilt a little because of the heavy rain,
and Dinah didn‘t get very good views from the tower. We met Scott and
Valerie for dinner at a Siamese restaurant. Scott Turner, Larry‘s second
son, writes plays and is an actor but in order to live he worked as a
carpenter. We knew him as a child in England years ago. They are a nice
couple and we enjoyed the meal.
October 15, Monday
I had a hard day writing my Toronto paper but I was very glad to
receive some information from JS. Bob and Dinah went to Fermi lab
after lunch.
October 16, Tuesday
I received faxes from John Simkin on the Alcan tests. He would
send me more information for the Toronto paper. I sent him my draft
version for his comments.
We went to Betty‘s for dinner and were made to feel very welcome.
We enjoyed the meal and talk, Ken is very direct in the US manner and
has some odd opinions (to us) about Europe. He knows good scotch and
wine and they have a fine house and a horse!
10.30 To the Morton Arboretum to see the superb Autumn Colours.
I hosted Lunch; Marilyn, Betty, Dinah, Rita, Bob and me. Bob presented
me with the VF Inc. lecture pointer which pleased me, also they gave
Rita a pretty necklace to say thank you for her assistance in the office.
1430. Dinah and I to Argonne to see Lauri, Larry and John Hull. We
were in a fierce thunderstorm on the way back, how fast the weather
changes here.
1700. With Betty and Ken to Chicago to attend Solti at Orchestra
Hall, Solti‘s 21st and last year here, I came here in 1970 at the beginning
of his reign (see page 70). Tonight we had Shostakovich No 10, Bartok
Dance suite and Debussy‘s A l‘Apres midi... a very fine concert. We had
dinner earlier at Berghofs.
334
October 19, Friday
Last day here, we have been seven weeks away now. Spent the day
putting the finishing touches to the Toronto paper, it‘s been a hard day‘s
week. At six we went to the Macues banquet hall with Bob and Marilyn
for dinner. We had to wait some while but it was not too bad, there were
several elderly people enjoying dancing. In fact the place appears to be a
geriatric club. There were some Anglophiles there, at one stage Rita and
Dinah went to photograph the lady organist, who had electric earrings,
and caused a patriotic outburst—the lady played God Save the Queen.
One old chap came up to me and put his arm around me and whispered a
tale of frantic romance in Bournemouth during World War II, he was
stationed there in the US Air force.
Plate 132: Dinah at the Morton Arboretum
Bob came and saw us off, and we were soon on our way to O‘Hare.
All went well and we were soon in Toronto, at the Westbury Hotel. The
first thing I did was to try and buy a new razor, I found a discount shop in
Yonge St., pronounced Yung, where they had the Remington which I
wanted, I bargained with the Indian lady and she agreed a good price but
I discovered later that it didn‘t work so I had to take it back, it was the
Vector Fields Ltd
335
only one they had and it was too late to get another until Monday. Larry
called. They had arrived but were seeing friends that night. We went to
Sam‘s later, the largest record shop in the world. Toronto seems to go in
for this sort of hyperbole, e.g. largest bookshop, tallest building and
certainly the seediest street (Yonge St.).
October 21, Sunday
ISC meeting all day, many problems were resolved. We met Simon
Polak in the lift. Jean Claude Sabonnadiere didn‘t turn up but most of the
others were there, Richter, Miya, Barran. We adopted the rule of six, six
members to resign by rotation at each conference, the total number of
members not to exceed 18. In fact five will retire at Sorrento since we are
under manned at present. These will be me, J C Sabonnadiere, Larry
Turner, David Lowther and Simon Polak. At 4PM we were joined by
three members of the CEFC committee, Lavers, Salon and Konrad. It
was a constructive meeting with mutual cooperation the keynote, we
even decided to merge the refereeing committee. The conferences would
coexist for the time being.
October 22, Monday
The Conference started today. I met PPS who greeted me, shook
hands but was quite cool, he was far more affable with Brian Davis. I
suppose I was unbending too. His lecture was well delivered but nothing
new, I told him my feeling of déjà vu about his suggestions and reminded
him of our discussions at RAL years ago. He said that I wouldn‘t do it
then (the use of Green‘s functions to recover fields), but this was not true.
I said to him, we had always used Green‘s functions and still do; but in
our own way — so sad. The day‘s doings were not too interesting to me
after that. I had lunch with Polak; he bent my ear about space charge.
Afterwards I went into town to buy a razor, I found another Remington.
We had dinner at the Hop and Grape with the Turners, Sabbaghs, LK,
and Giorgio. Dinah felt ill and went home with Rita soon after we had
finished.
October 23, Tuesday
I was a little concerned about Dinah today. I also tried to prepare my
presentation but did very little because I do not have much faith in the
material. I got advice from Doug Lavers about a Doctor for Dinah, since
when she awoke she said she couldn‘t breathe properly. I made an
appointment for her at 1.30. The afternoon session I attended and gave
my paper at 1545, a terrible performance!
Dinah saw a Dr Coutts who was very kind and considerate, he
thought she was probably suffering from an allergy; he was thorough,
336
testing the usual things, he thought she would be alright in a few days.
He prescribed some pills. In the evening Rita and I went with Giorgio to
the Hotel for dinner. What a charming man he is. The Poster session was
good. We met many old friends including people from China whom we
last saw in Harbin. Also I had good friendly exchanges with CEFC
committee people, Lavers, Konrad etc. Talking with Isaac Mayergoyz it
appeared that he was under the impression that I had rejected one of his
papers for Compumag—a scurrilous suggestion since he is not supposed
to know who the referees were; I certainly could not recall having done
so and I denied any knowledge of it, vehemently! Someone is making
mischief, I wonder who? He seemed to believe me and we had a good
chat about English and Russian literature
The Last day of CEFC and I played an active part in the morning
session on Optimization. We went to the CN tower (tallest building in the
world), went to the top and enjoyed the view, Dinah was a little better but
still suffering somewhat, staying in her room. In the evening to the
Czardas, Hungarian restaurant, with the Sabbaghs, David Stein (Editor of
ACES) his wife Joanne, Giorgio, Larry, Donna, Lauri Kettunen, and
Alain Bossavit.
First day of the TEAM workshop; Jim and Helen arrived from
Chalk River. Nearly 50 people, I should think came. It was an excellent
meeting. Particularly interesting was the discussion on problem 13, our
results are not too good but some understanding emerged, Bossavit gave
an impromptu analysis of B methods versus H methods.
1900. No-host dinner at Czardas, we sat with the Diserens and the
Turners, it was fine fun, I got the Gypsy violinist to play Dvorak
(Humoresque) and Brahms (Hungarian Dances), great stuff. I nearly
forgot to tip the musicians however I was gently prompted by a sideways
glance from the maestro and cheerfully paid up!
October 26, Friday
Called VF, discussed with JSW the request from Graz for OPERA,
he agreed to send me a quote by fax, also had a long discussion with JS
about our problem 13 results. He is somewhat concerned but I am not too
bothered, we have shown our honest results and I believe understand why
scalar potentials in this case give inferior results. We know that B(A)
formulation works better for transformer type problems (see RCA
problem). It was the second day of TEAM, morning only, at Ontario
Vector Fields Ltd
337
Hydro. I gave a final summary. An excellent meeting over all, Aces
group gave solutions to NDT problems 1a and 8T, which showed the two
groups interacting. I particularly liked the moment method solutions of
Harold Sabbagh. I made some general comments on the need for
measurement errors and a rationale for CPU timings. The meeting also
had interesting reports from a lady from Los Alamos, on their software
compendium. and from a lady (Eva) from Ontario Hydro giving their
circuit method for the electrical utilities. She wanted to meet me and
made some nice remarks about our work. We said our farewells then
Giorgio and I had a lengthy discussion about VF/Genoa collaborations.
Plate 133...they had a splendid day at Niagara..
Lunch at Frans with Giorgio, Lauri and Larry, then the four of us
went to Queen St. to the bookshops. I had been told their whereabouts by
Elizabeth Silvester (she has been in Toronto all week and met me briefly
and was very, very friendly) and it proved a rich environment for second
hand books. In one shop I was shown a Canadian first of Conrad‘s ‗The
Secret Agent‘, priced at $1250, a nice copy though. I did buy, however,
Jessie Conrad‘s Cook Book and a first edition of Olivia Manning‘s
second book in her Balkan Trilogy. Later we found a music specialist
shop. Here we said goodbye to Lauri Kettunen who was returning to
Chicago in the evening, an engaging lad who holds his own very well in
the community. He will be working with Larry for another year and
should do well. Quiet dinner with R and D in the Hotel, they had a
338
splendid day with Donna at Niagara, and even flew over the falls in a
helicopter! I don‘t believe Rita would have done this if I had been there.
0800. Awake and got ready for our departure to Boston, Breakfasted
with Larry and Donna. Paid bill $2100 or so, used up all my Canadian
TC plus $300 from Visa. Said our farewells, Giorgio, and the Turners,
and the Steins and we were off. We experienced a messy unfriendly
procedure at Toronto airport in baggage and lack of trolleys. We said our
goodbyes to Rubinacci and Albanese who are on the same flight. We
experienced a very smooth arrival at Logan (airport) and a fast taxi to the
Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Found Bob and Marilyn in the check-in queue,
they were about to go off on a sight seeing tour, but we agreed to meet up
later. The weather is brisk and sunny here and the city looks very
interesting. After a very late lunch I explored Newbury Street district
where there are many book shops and art galleries. We had a late dinner,
Rita and I, but sadly Dinah is still feeling rotten. The clocks go back
tonight.
October 28, Sunday
Trolley trip with Bob and Marilyn, we saw the Tea Party place and
many other historic sites. We got off the trolley at the water front and
walked to see part of the freedom trail including Independence hall and
the famous corner book store. Then on to Quincy market where we left
Bob and M. R and I returned to the wharf to rejoin the tour. It was
windy-cold and we were kept waiting some while (I paid for this later!).
The trolley driver turned out to be a brash young man anxious to tell tales
of Boston; he was mildly amusing about Paul Revere— ‗his bells, his
ride and his 16 kids‘. We saw the USS Constitution, Bunker Hill the
churches and the burial grounds of the founding fathers. After a late
lunch I visited some more Bookstores. In the evening we met up with
Bob and Marilyn for dinner in Legal Sea Foods.
October 29, Monday
Bose Corp user meeting, we had to drive 25 miles west in our rental
car to Framingham, the weather was fine and sunny, altogether a
beautiful autumn day. The company is in Framingham and Bob came off
the Mass Pike too soon so I had to navigate the back roads. The offices
turned out to be on the top of a hill with gorgeous fall scenery all around,
the lovely woods glowing yellow and red set against blue lakes. There
were 8 users at the meeting, two from GE(Knowles) a hush-hush lab,
Mike Perry a colourful, excitable big man who is quite enthusiastic about
TOSCA and a younger colleague who has been using PE2D. Also three
Vector Fields Ltd
339
from BLNL, including our old friend Pat Thomson and three from Bose,
beside Rakesh Pandey there was Rick Carreras and one other. Bob gave
the VF preamble and I followed with a presentation on the software
updates. The meeting went well with plenty of feed-back and
constructive, friendly criticism. There is no doubt that the users want a
book of sample problems.
Dinner in Cambridge at a restaurant called Bel Canto with Rakesh
Pandey, his pretty wife Jugnu, Rick, Bob and Marilyn.
October 30 Tuesday
Up early and off to Canada to visit Alcan (Via Montreal to
Saguenay). A Tedious journey, it was well below freezing when I arrived
at Jonquiere (Arvida) and snowing. Arvida is named for the founder of
Alcan up here, one Englishman or was he Welsh, by name ARthur
VIning DAvis a nice conceit, though the French nationalism has caused
this lovely name to be dropped in favour of Jonquiere! Vinko Potecnik
and his wife met me for dinner at the hotel Rousillon, she is a charming
French lady who works in the travel business. By bedtime I had
developed a severe head-cold and sore throat. I endured a very
uncomfortable night with no medication. I felt very low.
October 31 Wednesday
I went to Alcan for my visit and to give my Lecture. We started with
a discussion with the magnetostatic group, Vinko is not really in charge
of this any more, and, as well as Vinko, there were three other people
present, Leblanc who is in charge and two others including a FE expert,
who maybe wants to use ANSYS since they already use it for other
things. Nevertheless I defended our corner and in the lecture that
followed I spoke for nearly two hours about VF and our developments.
The head of the lab was there and he congratulated me, also Mark Read,
the UK guy who also works for the Magnetostatic group and was missing
earlier, appeared, it was he who has made the arrangements with Lavers
at Toronto for the bench marking and was a little embarrassed to meet
me. I made our points about the actual problems to him and he defended
the choice by saying it was only a preliminary screening exercise? I was
questioned about the multi- valued potentials; they seemed to have got a
false idea of TOSCA from Toronto. I also met Claude Lorenson from
Alcan (Hamilton, Ontario) who had come up specially to talk about HF
problems in microwave ovens.
Vink, Claud and Mark took me to lunch, which was really good but
my cold limited my enjoyment. We spoke more about the possibly of VF
winning the Alcan contract, they all appeared to be encouraging, but I
don‘t completely trust Mark, though Lorenson was very positive. After
340
lunch we had a meeting about eddy currents and high frequency
problems. I promised to look into Lorenson‘s microwave modelling.
Vinko made me sign a confidentiality document then took me on a trip to
see the smelters, very impressive, bubbling electrolyte, large bus-bars
carry kilo-amps and glowing bauxite; hard hats, heat, and industry. He
then drove me to the airport. I liked Vinko.
November 1, Thursday
Our last day in USA, going home, quiet day in Boston, went to top
of Hancock Building and found some more book shops. I liked one
antiquarian shop off Boylston, Anne and David Bromer‘s, the lady
showed me a mint first edition of Almayer‘s Folly priced $1500, this was
very tempting indeed. They also had a second impression of Shakespeare
1832(Second Folio), a snip at $65000—and much more beside e.g.
Ulysses, first UK edition, and Oscar Wilde (Dorian Gray).
20:41 Take off, but after 7 minutes we had an alarm sounding off,
the bleating lasted a few minutes whilst stewards rushed around with fire
extinguishers. It turned out to be some oil in air-conditioning packs? Rita
thought that the pilot said it was a short circuit; the public address system
is so poor. The flight was not too long this time, just six hours, but I was
uncomfortable with my cold and sore throat. The film was a bore and the
meals tedious. We arrived just before eight and were soon on our way
home, the taxi was waiting. We dropped Dinah off in Oxford and
proceeded to Frilford where all appeared well with lots of lovely
magazines, news etc. to read before collapsing into bed. Nine weeks
away and it is already feeling like a dream.
The Rest of the year 1990
Dinah saw her Doctor, he found nothing obviously wrong but gave
her some medicine—poor girl was still suffering from breathing
problems intermittently. The following Monday I had to go to Italy to
give a lecture at ISPRA (Italian National Laboratory). They had
organised a course on CEM and several of us from the Compumag
community were making presentations. I was met at Milan airport and
driven to a hotel called Re at a place near Lake Maggiori by name Sestre
Callende. The next day after breakfast we went by Bus to ISPRA and
were given a good reception by Eves Creutzen. The weather was superb,
alps and lakes all around dressed in lovely autumn colours. My lecture
went quite well, about 20 persons there. A introduction was given by
Prof. Volta, head of the unit, I was followed by Kurt who gave an outline
of their work on the Boundary Element method followed by a good lunch
with tasty rolls and some superb Chianti—quite a merry affair.
Afterwards Dave Rodgers presented his Mega program with excellent
Vector Fields Ltd
341
visuals showing advanced computation involving moving systems. Eves
Creutzen presented us with a small gift, a Euro tie and badge, very
thoughtful of him. I returned to Milan airport in time for the 2030 flight.
On the following Monday I had to go to Brussels to attend the Esprit
conference to give a lecture on the ACCORD project. I spent the day
preparing at VF and departed for Brussels in the evening. The next
morning I took a taxi to Palais de Congress for Esprit conference. They
wouldn't let me in without a badge! I nearly came home, but Trostmann
(our project reviewer) persuaded me to go to main reception and get one,
there they tried to get me to register for the conference. I explained that I
was only here for the beer (lecture) then I was off, I didn‘t see why I
should pay? After all I was there at their invitation. Finally they
reluctantly gave me a badge, Brussels Bureaucracy. I eventually got to
the lecture hall late, but since I was on second it didn‘t matter too much.
The talk went quite well, with some interesting questions. J P Pattereau
chaired the session well and there were over 60 people there. After
Coffee and a quick tour round the exhibits I went back to the airport and
a smooth flight home.
That evening we listened to Sir Geoffrey Howe‘s resignation speech
on TV. It was an impressive performance, showing the deep rift between
himself, Nigel Lawson and others with Margaret Thatcher over Europe.
A leadership contest is now likely, will Michael Heseltine win? We
certainly need a positive attitude to Europe. Many of us have been
working in Europe for years and the current negative feelings of
Margaret Thatcher was undermining our efforts and ultimately would
leave us as outsiders. I am not too keen on single currency or federalism
per se but we must find a positive solution with the other states and we
can only do that as a fully committed member. I agree with Howe there is
a middle way and that can only be the view of Germany and France too,
they will not want to lose their identities either.
The expected leadership contest took place the following Tuesday.
We heard the results of the first round on TV, Thatcher 204, Heseltine
174— a terrible result for Maggie, she spoke from Paris and said she
would fight on into the second ballot. Then on Thursday Rita rang me at
the office and told us the news, Margaret Thatcher has resigned. The now
has to be a leadership election with new candidates, Douglas Hurd &
John Major. The following week I went to Munich for the short course
with Richter and Molinari. The BA pilot announced election results,
Major 185 votes. Heseltine 154, Hurd 57, Heseltine and Hurd conceded
hence no third ballot with John Major now PM. Snowing in Munich,
Taxi to Vier Jahresziten, met Giorgio and Kurt and we prepared the
course material. The next day was the first day of the course with seven
delegates, plus one freebie. Hans Steinbigler from University of Munich
342
chaired with the lectures that were split between, Kurt, Giorgio and me.
JSW arrived later but I was not involved with his Munich contacts. I later
asked the hotel concierge to get me Opera tickets for Friday.
On the course second day I gave the opening lecture. One delegate
didn't turn up. The attendees were very appreciative of our efforts and I
had some discussion with Andy Slade from Racal Redac who would like
to cooperate with Vector Fields. My second lecture was enhanced by the
use my APPLE program on the RS6000 to demonstrate some of the
techniques of electromagnetic field computation described in the
lectures.. That evening I went to the opera, as the concierge had a
obtained a ticket for to night‘s performance of Danton's Tod by Von
Einem.
The Stats opera is only two blocks from the hotel, a most beautiful
house. My seat was in the centre of the fifth row, the arrangements in the
theatre leave nothing to be desired, in the stalls anyhow, your coat is
stowed in a cloak room on a peg labelled with your row and seat number.
The house is bright in red and gold, lined to the roof high above with
tiers of boxes and balconies. Danton's Tod turned out to be quite short,
just under 90 minutes; the music to my surprise was easy on the ear, quite
late romantic in fact with brilliant orchestration. The staging of this
version of George Buchner's play was fast paced and evocative with
plenty of visual excitement and excellent singing both by the many
soloists and large chorus. I could not follow the story line very well but I
got the general drift and found it moving, especially the plight of the
Lucille, the wife of Camille Desmoulins who is left stranded by the
Guillotine after the execution of Danton, Camille and their friends. I
bumped into a course attendee on the way out he said he enjoyed it very
much. On returning to the hotel I met Giorgio and the others for a
bedtime drink in the bar.
The last day of our course but I had a free morning so I walked
around Munich. I bought CDs of Danton's Tod and Elektra at a splendid
shop called Die Zauberflote. The wall of the main room was covered
with signed photographs of the famous in music from Klemperer to
Barenboim, Schwarzkopf to Thomas Allen and not forgetting Wolfgang
Swalvalisch the guiding spirit of Munich music. It was very cold and
snowing with a keen edged wind. Everywhere the preparations for
Christmas are in evidence. The Stalls for the colourful Xmas markets are
in preparation. A large brilliantly decorated tree adorns the hotel foyer.
Munich is a solid city, with wealth it seems to me, much of the fittings
and fixtures in shops and restaurants are well made with quality wood.
The Bavarian national colours of blue and white are in evidence and
there is no litter.
Vector Fields Ltd
343
After lunch I spoke with Giorgio about futures. The last lecture of
the course was given by me and we had a nice discussion after. Later in
the evening I entertained Hans, Kurt and Mila, and Giorgio to dinner. We
went to a typical Bavarian restaurant, nice soup, egg and bread followed
by huge slabs of Pork, tasty but far too much, I insisted on a topless glass
for my beer as the metal lids get in the way! We discussed, as older
German and Austrians eventually do as the evening progresses, WW2,
they seem to want to explain things and, understandably, to distance
themselves from those responsible. Kurt is very sensitive to Waldheim.
We also had a muddled discussion on Iraq. Giorgio surprised me
somewhat, he felt the world should destroy Saddam Hussein whether
they leave Kuwait or not, but none of us is good at suggesting real
solutions for the situation as we only make comments based on
hindsight. Back at the hotel we had a brief meeting to discuss future
courses and agreed to run it next year here in Munich sponsored by VF.
Back at VF the following Monday I heard that Prof. de Hoop is
recommending me for membership of the Royal Netherlands Academy
honour and has asked for an up date of my CV. Then early in December
Bruce Charles came with a representative from General Accident to
discuss our application for huge insurances against our lives to give us
share protection. It means medical examinations and a general facing to
things not at all pleasant. For the first time I wonder whether I should
retire? I cancelled going to RAL Christmas party tomorrow. I also
confirmed a visit on Monday of two Soviets, a legacy from K S
Demirchian.
We had snow in the night the following Saturday and it continued
snowing during the day, our first white landscape for some years here. I
finished reading the latest and last collection of letters of EE edited by
Jerold Northrop Moore. It was interesting and moving to have a glimpse
of the late Delius correspondence, it shows them both to be generous
spirits, also the loving care to EE of GBS in that sad, very sad, attempt to
revise the aging composer‘s will to compose.
On the following Monday I met the two Russians at Oxford station,
Yuri Kizimovitch and Eugene Mazin. They demonstrated their PC
package, ELCUT to us, making a good impression. Statics only at this
stage but has good ergonomic features and a mesh generator, PostProcessor only displays field maps. The next day we had a scientific
discussion about their methods and we heard about their company
(TOR). These young men clearly understand the theoretical basis of FE,
Functional Analysis and error estimates. Also they have done good work
on Linear Algebra. Later John Whitney and I had marketing and
exploitation discussions with our visitors; but they were somewhat
inconclusive. However we decided to explore various options. (a) We
344
would recommend ELCUT for PC if no conflict with VF products and
(b) They will make soundings on marketing VF in USSR and report to
us. I took them home for dinner. A pleasant dinner with our young soviet
entrepreneurs, we learnt something of their life and families. They are
both half Jewish and most of their colleagues are Jewish. They believe
that management skills is what their country needs not an excess of
material aid. Yuri was born in the Gulag, his father an imprisoned
dissident. In fact Demirchian managed to get the KBG off his back when
his career was stuck. Next day I heard that Yuri was unable to pay his bill
at Bowood House Hotel, this was embarrassing but we paid. It is a great
pity that I didn‘t establish this before hand, never mind it‘s our little bit
for Glasnost! On the last day of the year: Brenda rang to tell us that
David has been awarded the OBE in the New Year honours list. I
telephoned him at his office (Conservative Party HQ) to congratulate
him.
Excerpts from my Diary 1991
The main events in 1990 were the publication of my book on the
history of the Trowbridge Family, VF turn-over exceed £1M, attend
Compumag Sorrento and the submission of VF for the Queen‘s Award
for Technology Innovation.
January 8, Wednesday
Today we listened to the 'gulf' news of the ‗last ditch‘ talks between
US and Iraq taking place in Geneva. Stalemate, and war now looks on,
the UN deadline is next Tuesday. Pleasanter things from CD, we listened
to Le Compte Ory (Rossini) after supper. A fine performance directed by
John Eliot Gardener in fine fettle with his French forces from Lyon. The
French performance in diplomacy in the gulf crisis is not so fine?
January 12, Sunday
Home all day, Simon and Dinah came to lunch. The news from the
Gulf dominates. The last attempt at diplomacy now seems to have failed.
The UN secretary general's visit to see Saddam in Baghdad has ended in
humiliation for him and I suppose by association the rest of us? The Iraqi
supremo will not climb down; he will not and never intends to withdraw
from Kuwait. So what happens now?
January 13, Monday
I heard from Cambridge, Dr Evetts, that my article for the Pergamon
encyclopaedia was quite satisfactory, he said it reads well and that he was
pleased.
Vector Fields Ltd
345
The evening was dominated by the news from the Gulf. Last minute
creepy negotiations from the French, no-one minds them trying but why,
oh why are they so underhanded, selfish and opportunist? We also had
paraded on the box rival pressure groups of doves and hawks. Some of
the doves could only make their points by shouting, particularly the
politically motivated loud-mouths like Tam Dalyel, however one
understood the passion of parents with kids in the forces. I find it hard to
ignore the cool experience of General Farrar Hockley and others who are
prepared to state unequivocally that the time has come to act. Other
people I have admired don't agree though, Ted Heath is one, after all we
have stopped Saddam's expansion plans in the middle east by the united
nations force in the Gulf, so why not let sanctions run their course. On
the other hand, a few moments ago, that admirable man, Sir Crispin
Tickell, our former ambassador to the UN, quoted Saddam as saying, ‗I
am smelling the perfume of paradise‘.
January 15, Tuesday
Drove home at 1830, heard war debate from the commons on the car
radio on the way home. I tuned in as Wedgewood Benn began to hold
forth: he spoke well as usual with passion and guile. Apart from his
peace at any price prose he drew attention to the shaky constitutional
position with threats of closed government, censorship, and
dictatorship—all so predictably political but I give him five for
consistency. He was followed by that other great demigod of our age Ian
Paisley, arch orange bigot but today also passionate and on this occasion
wholeheartedly behind the need for action but stressing the blood letting
to come, which he deplores, will be a torrent compared to the thin dribble
of Ulster. I felt he was sincere in his compassion and in his exultation for
the house and the nation to pray. Next was Sir Ian Gilmore former
Ambassador to the UN at the time of the Falklands, he supported the
view that sanctions should be given more time. .
January 17, Thursday
We awoke to the news that it has started. Around Midnight the
allied air forces began the first strikes of military targets all over Iraq and
Kuwait. No casualties on the Allied side and they seem pleased with their
efforts so far. I have very mixed feelings, from our cosy standpoint
rhetoric is now irrelevant but a feeling of excitement certainly exists.
Everyone will be thinking foremost about those actually doing the
fighting, on both sides and indeed the innocent parties all around.
Diplomacy has failed and we lose our rights as civilised people?
However our clergy tell us that there is such a thing as a just war—when
it is the lesser evil. What are the evils in question in this case; on the one
346
hand whereby a ruthless dictator is rewarded and continues to encourage
and actively participate, by all accounts, in the callous disregard of the
rights of his victims; and on the other hand the sickening violence done
to both combatants and civilians alike in a devastating war. So if the
lesser evil is short lived, confined to the stated aims and casualties
minimal the action may be justified but there too many ifs about for
comfort at this stage.
January 18, Friday
After a restless night we woke to hear the latest news from the Gulf.
Iraqis attack Israel by scud rockets! No major casualties; the US will be
able to persuade them not to join in but what if further rockets cause
deaths? It then would be doubtful if the Israelis would keep stand clear.
January 19, Saturday
News reported that there had been another Scud raid on Israel, again
with very low casualties. There is mounting pressure for Israelis to enter
the war. But US still manages to persuade them to keep out. Sadly
another RAF plane reported missing. Went to Oxford with Rita after
lunch; I watched the peace demo, there were two ‗Corn Market Street‘
lengths of marchers, an untidy throng of protesting people totally
convinced by the rightness of their cause. The press has now been
ordered out of Baghdad, John Simpson‘s accurate and articulate
dispatches will be missed.
January 20 Sunday
Further RAF losses, they have now sustained the most casualties of
any group. The news unfolds giving the world front line seats in the
theatre of war. The scale of the allied attacks growing, Naval and air born
sorties from ships in the North of the gulf, succeed in taking AA batteries
on Kuwait oil rigs, 15 prisoners taken. In the evening another Scud raid
on Riyadh, all three shot down by Patriot. Several prisoners (7) of war
paraded in Baghdad. Two were RAF officers, they were described as in
poor shape and some, it appears, made anti war remarks, however editing
may have been used for propaganda.
Two more Scuds landing just reported from Arabia. One good thing
about this war is that it has banished "Cell Block H from the TV". Losses
reported: 16 Iraqi planes, 16 Allied, 6 RAF missing.
January 21 Monday
News dominated by the display of allied pilots on Iraqi TV,
including 2 RAF officers. These prisoners looked as if they had been
subjected to some extreme discomfort.
Vector Fields Ltd
347
At VF I received a fax from William Beeckman, ADB-Belgium,
listing many errors he had found in my book; one of these is quite
substantive, not just typographic! I shall now refer to the Beeckman test!
I began to insert the corrections. Did my first lunch time walk; went
along the canal south, passing VF and Bankside on the other side of the
water. Muddy, but I wore my trainers and made good progress, passing
just two groups of people. I came to a lock and bridge which I crossed. A
gate allowed access to the railway which I also crossed and entered a
housing estate. I then returned to the office through the estate to the main
road. The round trip took just over half hour.
In the evening we listened to the TV debate between the linguistic
philosopher Niam Chomsky and Lord Jenkins. The academic
regurgitated unrealistic cant attacking the US and England, why not UK?
Is he going to drag in the Irish question to boost his cyclopean view?
Jenkins was superb, wise and relevant. He was well able to squash the
catalogue of evil listed by Chomsky. Even if true, which is highly
questionable, it is history and no reason not to do the right thing now.
January 22, Tuesday
Papers full of the allied airmen exhibited in Baghdad. The headlines
varied from calling the Iraqi authorities 'The Bastards of Baghdad' in the
Star to 'War Crimes threat over Airmen' in the Daily Telegraph. There is
considerable outrage expressed by nearly everybody.
I walked this lunch time along the tow path toward Thrupp. This
time of year the Oxford canal is deserted. The holiday and house barges
are moored alongside the path waiting patiently for the coming for the
season. They reminded me of travelling fair vehicles, same style of multicolour decoration. The names of the barges included 'Old Bolingbroke',
'Rudyard Kipling', 'Hilda Ogden', 'Sir Reginald', and one with a local
reference 'The Thrupp'ny Peace'(sic). At Thrupp I crossed the canal and
followed a path across the meadows following the river Cherwell down
stream toward Kidlington. The weather was calm and quite balmy, the
mild winter countryside comforting and inviting, today at least no-one in
sight. Time overtook me so I decided not to go on to Kidlington village,
the church steeple was enticing but I will go there another day. I returned
the way I came, just under 1 hour.
January 25, Friday
348
Home at 1700, CPR called from VFI to tell us that he had heard that
Jim Diserens had had a stroke. Poor Jim, just as he was settling into his
new job. I got their Chalk River home phone number from their son
Tony, who had heard the news on Wednesday, and called Helen. She told
us that Jim had suddenly lost the sight in one eye at work; he was taken
to hospital where a thrombosis in a vein on the retina was diagnosed. He
was put on a drip to thin the blood but it is feared that he will lose his
sight in his right eye. He should be home in a day or so and will after a
while be able to return to work. Helen said he is in good spirits but is of
course worried about how he will cope.
January 26, Saturday
War news dominated by the giant oil slick, the wretched Saddam
has opened the taps at Kuwaiti oil terminals and is polluting the Gulf. We
saw desolate pictures of cormorants dying on TV.
January 29, Tuesday
I went to London for the Kings Lecture. I met with Ted Deeley who
told me that he would be semi retiring in July and would be able to
devote more time to research and less to teaching. Lecture at 1100, I met
Bill Chambers, the lecturer in charge, who turned out to be a voluble but
very nice man. My two hours went well; there were at least 40 students in
the class. I seemed to communicate with them well enough; some were
lively and made good comments.
War news a naval attack on Iraqi patrol boats. The latest from
Baghdad states that an allied POW killed in an air raid, so they have
carried out their threat to place POW's in dangerous areas, what low
mean way to behave.
1250 To Thrupp by car for my mid-day walk. I went along the tow
path to Shipton-on Cherwell, the banks crowded with barges just here,
the canal is wider and Thrupp appears to be a haven for barges. The
names colourful as ever one called 'Sweaty Betty' took my fancy. Near
Shipton-on-Cherwell I took the footpath to Hampton Gay first crossing
the river over a wooden bridge and then the railway at a 'stop and look'
place. To the left of the meadow stretched out before me stand the
deserted village of Hampton Gay consisting of a small church (appears to
be intact) with a delightful squat tower and some ruined buildings. I
walked on across the meadow and on to Hampton Poyle which is
decidedly not deserted. Manor Farm there is well stocked with horses.
The path wanders behind the little chapel and then across the river where
it divides. Straight on to Kidlington church with its tall slender steeple or
Vector Fields Ltd
349
sharp right alongside the river leading back to Thrupp. All told I only
saw a lone fisherman and a man with his dog. The round trip of about
three miles took me 65 minutes.
January 31, Thursday
Weather dry after some snow during the night, my car is well
covered. The war on the land has broken out. The Iraqis have invaded
Saudi Arabia taking the allies somewhat by surprise by occupying the
seaside town of Al Hafji (This place is 12 miles from the border and had
been abandoned and is of no strategic importance). However the battle of
battalion size was bloody but soon under control, the Iraqis were soon
driven back with heavy losses. Some eleven US marines reported killed,
but there is a rumour that over half were caused by a mistake (friendly
fire)
February 1, Friday
Allies now claiming to have regained Al Hafji and have driven the
Iraqis out of Saudi Arabia, it appears that this was an attempt by Saddam
to persuade the allies into a land battle before they were ready, this
strategy has failed. They lost some 40 Tanks and 400 prisoners were
taken. Casualties unclear
February 4, Monday
I worked on tomorrow's lecture for Kings. I walked from Thrupp, to
Hampton Poyle alongside Cherwell then back across the fields to
Hampton Gay. I had a good look around the lost village. Manor house in
ruins and then at the church, St Giles, I read about the history, once a
flourishing village in medieval times up to late nineteenth century. The
suffix "Gay" is apparently a perversion of the name "Gait", the manor
being held in 1138 by Sir Robert Gait. This place was the scene of the
largest GWR train crash (1887), 37 people killed on the Birmingham
train from Oxford. Derailed near Kidlington and finally crashed into the
bridge near St Giles. Caused a great rescue at the time, the injured
conveyed by the Duke of Marlborough to the Radcliffe infirmary at
Oxford. The manor house was used as a temporary hospital. This house
was destroyed by fire soon after, never to be restored. The notice gave
information about restoration and protection of the site, the largest and
most important site in Oxfordshire it said. Indeed the church has been
restored and offers fortnightly Sunday services in the summer. The
tombstones in the yard bear local names, like ‗Bartlett‘, I returned via
Shipton-on-Cherwell along the canal. It was a beautiful walk in the weak
winter sun.
350
February 5, Tuesday
Rita took me to Oxford station to catch the train to Paddington.
Kings lecture was well attended but I found it hard going. I hope I
managed to convey the information. I had discussions with Thomas
Koch, who agreed to arrange the computer for my demo next week. I
returned to Didcot in the afternoon where Rita met me.
February 6, Wednesday
Very cold, we are promised snow from Siberia by the end of the
week and temperatures around -12 deg. C. At VF to finish my lectures
for Kings and start preparing my seminar presentation in Oxford at the
DTI seminar on European funded projects.
February 8, Friday
Heavy snow overnight, Siberia is here! But we had only 2 inches
locally. Nevertheless I decided to work at home. Why add to the troubles
on the road, especially now as I can access all my systems at VF over the
telephone network. Walked with Rita to Marcham PO to post letters, we
returned via the village and then across the fields towards the Ark then
right to the Garage. A walk in the cold, driving wind very invigorating!
.
Heard the war news, allies bombed an air-raid shelter killing several
hundred woman and children in Baghdad. Later, the US authorities said it
was a military target, clearly identified as a camouflaged command
bunker and they did not expect civilians to be inside it. Terrible news:
unspeakable injuries to innocent people, and so it raises again the moral
basis of the war. The allies are convinced that Saddam deliberately
allowed his people to be in the bunker to provoke propaganda. I must say
that on his record he would be capable of such evil, but is it true? Or is
this merely an example one of the cock-ups of war?
February 15, Friday
To The Moat House, Oxford where I met Michael Barratt239; he
calls himself Businessman and Broadcaster. The seminar was well
attended and my piece went well. I fear I said too much about Esprit
bureaucratic difficulties but I hope I stressed my enthusiasm. Several
people congratulated me; ―the highlight of morning...‖ one of them said.
Barratt gave me a splendid introduction and chaired the meeting with
239
Ex TV News Reader & Journalist
Vector Fields Ltd
351
expertise; I think he wants to sell us some of expertise? On the way home
I heard the announcement from Baghdad, Saddam will withdraw!, great
initial excitement but it soon became apparent that the side conditions
were no improvement on the pre-war stance of Iraq, i.e. Linkage with
Israel, a major say in so called democratic elections in Kuwait, allies to
pay for Iraqi war damage etc. Hopeless it appears, the attitude in the west
must be that they are playing for time. The man is a terrorist, sadist and
total opportunist he must be removed somehow. Nevertheless the media,
the peace movement and over anxious meddlers will have their say.
February 17, Sunday
Dinah and Simon came to lunch. We walked after lunch to Garford
then back to Marcham via Ark. I wore my gum boots which proved to be
a sad mistake since I now have a painful blister. Interesting Alan Bennett
play on the TV; concerning an event from the life of Marcel Proust. How
he becomes infatuated by a viola player of a string quartet and persuades
the young man, a soldier wounded at the front in 1915 on convalescent
leave, to bring his colleagues to play the Franck quartet for him at his
home—in the middle of the night. The piece has many overtones of
ambiguous sex and decaying romanticism. I particularly liked the
housekeeper, an attractive mature woman, who is a kind of protector and
guardian angel.
February 18, Monday
Terrorist bombs explode at Paddington (no casualties since it
occurred at 4.00 am) and Victoria. The bomb at Victoria was much later
during the rush-hour and there were some casualties reported. News from
Victoria, one person killed but many injured, IRA suspected. War news;
the Iraqi's offer to withdraw taken seriously by the Soviet Union, Tariq
Azis now in Moscow, returning later today to discuss the Gorbachev
plan. How the US etc will view it remains to be see. I am sure there will
be no cease fire until Iraq withdraws unconditionally from Kuwait.
February 19, Tuesday
Saw Dr Kirshaw at Marcham. Blood pressure up a little. He showed
me his report to ‗Legal and General‘, he has played things down. He also
suggested that to-days reading maybe reaction and he would like to see
me in two weeks before having the insurance medical! We discussed my
prostate problem. He examined me and confirmed that the gland is
indeed enlarged. He will arrange for me to see a urologist privately. I was
quite impressed with him; he appears to be genuinely sympathetic. At VF
a letter from Michael Barratt, suggesting a meet about the video, also a
flattering letter from TNT. I suppose its to be expected that the only
352
people to write me after Friday's presentation are those who have
something to sell? Lunch time I drove to Yarnton, walked up Dolton
lane, a sunken track—very muddy, to the side of Begbroke. Weather was
calm but misty and very pleasant for walking. I passed by Hall's farm
taking the path through a fine wood gently up hill to Bladon. Saw one
other walker, a lady in light blue with a small whippet. At Bladon the sun
came out and I stood over Sir Winston's grave among all the Churchills.
St Martin's church is a fitting place for the great man's end. I wondered
what he would think of the current war in the Gulf, how would he have
dealt with Saddam Hussein? I returned across field to the A34 near
Campsfield and thence back along the cycle track to my car, 4.5 miles,
90 minutes, splendid.
February 21, Thursday
At VF, spoke to Beeckmann who is on the TOSCA course here; he
gave me some more corrections for the book. On the way home I heard
the latest news. Saddam just gave out a speech, rejecting everything so
that appears to be that and a land war is now certain. Iraqi's et al are then
to die on the whim of a truculent, megalomaniac.
February 24, Sunday
Invasion began at dawn in Iraq; 48 hours news blackout. At 1030 we
all, plus Brenda, depart for London to visit my brother David for his OBE
celebratory lunch, M4, and South Circular. Good journey to Dulwich all
things considered. We had a very enjoyable lunch and family reunion.
Peter was there and Simon and Dinah came as well. War news good so
far; 5000 Iraqi prisoners and there has been little front line opposition.
No hard news yet but they are attacking on all sides and are deep inside
Kuwait already. It was good to see David; he has done well at the Tory
central office. He feels proud to have been honoured and so are we all for
him.
February 25, Monday
Saddam announces that he is now prepared to withdraw from
Kuwait. This is clearly too late. The allies will want to defeat his army
decisively to prevent a future resurgence of Saddamism. The soviets are
still meddling and muddying the waters.
February 26, Tuesday
0900 Saw the Doctor at Marcham and was given new pills for
prostate trouble also my Blood pressure is up, 160/100. War news: allies
Vector Fields Ltd
353
refuse to let Saddam Hussein off. They must concede all the UN
demands and give up their arms. News of Kuwait, allies in the city, great
news pictures.
At VF, found the people next door building a wall pinching 9" of
our space. Do we tell them to take it down? We decided to check up with
the plans; infernal cheek—why did they not consult us first, the
arrogance of some folks. Later Michael Barratt came to see me about
making a video. I was quite impressed but I need to talk to JSW. War
news, dreadful self inflicted incident with the Brits, 9 of our men killed
by US plane. The Iraqis are now in full flight. It looks as if the war will
soon be over. Kuwait liberated. To Eva's after lunch, Rita is going to
help them move from Wild West to a bungalow in the village. War news
on route, Baghdad announces that they will now accept other UN
resolutions but I think Bush will now decide when there should be a
cease fire. I spent evening with Bill taking down a mirror then putting it
back up because of the gaping holes behind.
February 28, Thursday
We awoke to the news of the cease fire, so it is all over. Bush
offered this a few hours ago and the Iraqis accepted. Several conditions
of course— and it remain to be seen if they will abide. It‘s clear war will
restart if they do not accept all of the conditions. Reports of the terrible
atrocities in Kuwait continue to come in. The latest figures of deaths on
the allied side are approx. 100. Sixteen Brits, 9 killed by the Americans
by accident. 500000 Iraqis taken prisoner or eliminated, I think their
death toll is enormous approximately 100,000, what price the 'mother of
battles' now? I returned home next day on my own.
March 1, Friday
I saw the doctor and he found my blood pressure up again, 165/95.
Stephen decided to change me to Kalten240 to fine tune for my insurance
medical.
March 3, Sunday
Cease fire agreement in the Gulf, we should now get back to normal.
Civil war was breaking out in Iraq. Does this mean the end of Saddam?
Dinah and Simon came to lunch. Afterwards Simon and I walked six
miles. First we went to Garford; via path by Millets, crossing the river
Ock and fields. Then to Venn on the Wantage Rd; on this stretch we were
240
Cocktail of Atenolol & a diuretic
354
quietly shadowed by a herd of Friesians! The next stretch took us along
the Drayton bridle path passing the model aircraft flying ground. The
weather was most beautiful, sunny and balmy. Simon held forth at length
about the Godwin-Shelley ménage, he has been reading them up and this
period of English letters has captivated him. We left the bridle path a
mile before Drayton and headed north across ploughed fields to the river
Ock again at Marcham Mill and thence along the lane to the village and
home. Most enjoyable, two hours.
March 6, Wednesday
I drove to Broadwindsor for Rita, A303 all the way. Found Bill and
Eva nicely ensconced in their new bungalow.
March 8, Friday
VF Teaching Company Interviews today (John Long, JSW and me):
we saw three candidates, two men and a lady. We preferred the lady, an
Algerian lass just completing a PhD at Nottingham. The two men were
essentially post grads with very little experience.
March 11, Monday
I had received a quite encouraging reply from ANSYS, a visit there
to be arranged when a director is conveniently near. Two firm orders just
in, 80k for Labein and 10k Zagreb University. At VF Inc. Brent
Anderson has accepted our job offer, he starts next Monday. We also
appointed Rachida Ait-Sadi as the ‗Teaching Company‘ associate.
March 14, Thursday
We heard the news that the ‗Birmingham Six‘ were released. A very
distressing affair which has discredited British justice---how many more
will there be I wonder? We must get at the truth, after all someone killed
21 people 14 years ago. To what extent are all IRA sympathisers guilty
of crimes done in their names? This is beside the point but the victims
will need answers and so do we all. How could we allow our standards of
policing fall so low?
March 15, Friday
0900 Marcham surgery, my BP 135/75! Well under control now.
March 18, Monday
I called Martone to confirm my visit to Rome on Wednesday for
ISC; he said he had received my two reports of last week. I had a call
from a Rita Johnson of DTI saying I was being considered for an
invitation to attend the Royal Garden Party in July. Was this a
Vector Fields Ltd
355
consolation prize for not being awarded the Queens Award for Industry
last year241. I may not be invited if certain conditions pertain perhaps
discovered after they run me through the computer!
March 29, Wednesday
To Rome: fine sunny weather to see the Pines of Rome—Respighi is
‗this week‘s composer‘. I enjoyed a lovely long walk to see the sights,
Via Cavour, Via Dei Forli Imperial, and Piazza Venetia and in the
Ricordi shop I bought a recording of Gluck‘s Iphigenie en Tauride. I then
went to the Trevi fountain, now covered over so I was not able to throw a
coin as I did in 1974. I remembered the old tale in which a coin thrower
is assured of a return visit to the eternal city. Back to Hotel very hot and
pleased with my walking exertions. I met Giorgio for dinner.
Plate 134: ISC Meeting in Rome March 1991
Members of ISC L to R: Molinari, Martone, Albanese, Sabonnadiere, Richter,
Tortschanoff, Polak, Lowther & Rubinacci, Old Friends, Polak and Trowbridge
March 21, Thursday
Breakfast at 0830 with Kurt, Giorgio, Theo, and Dave Lowther
arrived having spent most of the night in busses etc. because of foggy
weather. He finally arrived at dawn very cross to find his room not
available. Simon Polak was also similarly deranged, he found another
hotel somewhere. We walked to the University, stopping for sight-seeing
on the way. We visited St Maria Maggiori and later St Peter Invicoli to
see Michelangelo's Moses. Our Italian hosts already installed —
241
Our earlier attempts for the Export Award had now failed but we were planning to resubmit for the Technology Achievement Award in October
356
Rubinacci, Martone, Cocoresi and Albanese. Meeting began at 10.30
when Sabbo (J C Sabonnadiere) and Polak arrived. It was an excellent
meeting and delightful lunch, down by the Coliseum. I Took some photos
of the group. On the way back we were attacked by female gypsy
bandits blatantly trying to rob us. Giorgio held one off of me, she only
looked about thirteen years old, and he sternly rebuked them and she
vanished at once on being released. The Sorrento conference will have
some 269 papers there were 88 rejections. Meeting finished at 6.00 pm.
And afterwards we had a fine dinner at the Flavia Trattoria with Giorgio,
Dave Lowther, Jean Claude Sabonnadiere, Simon Polak, and Kurt
Richter.
March 23, Saturday
I worked on my Family History book all weekend. We went to the
Sheldonian Theatre to hear Gerontius, Dinah was singing in the choir.
Semi professional performance by Oxford Harmonic and SO conducted
by Robert Secret. A tribute was paid to Sydney Watson recently died,
complete with a short appreciation delivered by one of his former pupils
and a minute‘s silence. This performance of ‗The Dream‘ was dedicated
to his memory. The performance was moving if not perfect, but the choir
sang with considerable spirit and were particularly fine in the big
moments. The soloist were generally good, Rita thought the tenor
expressive, I thought he was a little hard edged but very committed. The
angel was sung with a fine sense of style and power. The bass in the
Agony music also involved me much. The orchestra was good, but some
minor blemishes here and there I thought. The work, as always, was
profoundly moving. The hall is diabolical, the seats penitential—it will
take a week to recover. An enjoyable evening except for some crass
comments from a the group sitting behind...'.I quite like the loud bits'....,
and earlier the same man said to his lady companion,'....its not often done
these days you know..', his lady friend, an opinionated culture vulture,
then remarked,' I suppose the hall is full of relatives'.
March 25, Monday
Walk from Thrupp, Shipton-on-Cherwell, Hampton Gay, Hampton
Poyle etc., lovely sunny day, took some photographs. Saw a fine grey
heron fishing and a small hovering bird; it was stationary some ten feet
above the River Cherwell bank, wings beating fast, reminded me in this
respect of a humming bird, its head and upper side was sky blue with a
read breast, Rita said later only Kestrels hover and it was probably a
'Little Kestrel', though the colours were wrong. Is she right? What
species was Hopkins bird in the 'Wind Hover'?
Vector Fields Ltd
357
March 26, Tuesday
I went to see Doctor Martin to day for Insurance medical. I walked
round Blenheim Palace Park, two miles. I saw the Doctor in Woodstock
at 2:00 PM. A pleasant man around 40, he had studied at Kings, he said.
He then gave me a thorough examination with lots of questions on my
medical history. I did my best as memory allowed. He took my BP four
times! (Because it was confrontational situation!), said it was around
160/80, it does vary doesn‘t It. He looked everywhere, even at my feet?
And finally he asked for a water sample. His parting words were, 'I hope
they don't demand a too high a premium. I spent a pleasant half hour
after in the village second hand book shop.
That evening Simon and I went to the Welsh Opera in Oxford
(Apollo theatre) to see and hear Rossini‘s Count Ory. The music was
fine, the parts well sung but the designs? Words fail me, a dreadful missmatch of trendy ideas with no sense of style or appreciation of tradition.
Even on its own slender terms it was so poorly executed, scenery,
dress—a ‗parish hall‘ production of the Gondoliers would normally be
better done. The chorus dress in Act 1 reminded me of a production I
once endured. It was wide brimmed hats that did it—the use of an
excruciating, nay nauseating English version of the libretto didn't help.
As for the interior costumes for Act 2, well the ladies of the castle were
dressed in brothel garb. The producer was deceived into making explicit
the old joke of the 'chastity belt' which dominated his thinking. I wish
these idiots would go in for a bit of under-statement and more irony.
Afterwards I had nice dinner with Simon in the bistro opposite.
March 28, Thursday
Dr at Marcham—Stephen is 40 to day and I congratulated him. My
BP still good, 135/75 fabulous! The higher reading on Tuesday must be
due to the confrontational situation.
April 3, Wednesday
Rita came up and we ate our sandwiches in the office. Then drove to
Thrupp and did the Cherwell, Hampton Gay, Poyle, etc round. Good
conditions, sunny, a little cooling breeze. First class walk and I think Rita
enjoyed it very much; she spotted a swan‘s nest and a brown trout in the
river.
April 4, Thursday
I went to Oxford to see Mr Joe Smith the Urologist. A charming
man, medium height, dark receding hair, late fifties (Initially one felt at a
disadvantage with him because of his status as a person who deals with
the most basic inner parts of ones psyche, that this description is probably
358
way off the mark!) The service in the consulting room was first class and
very efficient, I was ushered in on time, ahead of many others waiting,
such are the benefits of 'going private', a first for me. Smith asked me lots
of questions and then examined my inner (lower) parts most efficiently.
He then outlined two choices, (a) the standard procedure, five days in
hospital, then three weeks to recuperate, he could do this for me on his
return from Australia in three weeks time, or (b) a new French technique,
he was learning, which would involve some microwave probe. With this
method the whole beastly business could be done in one day with little
after effects. However he was not yet ready for this but he said he
thought I could wait a few months until he was ready, October, in fact he
said I was good subject for this. His examination revealed no problems
and the drugs I was on would allow me to wait with reasonable comfort.
So it was down to me to decide. I shall now talk it over with my doctor,
Stephen Kirshaw.
At noon met Simon and got enrolled at the Bodleian Library. The
admittance 'ceremony' was fun, I had a readers ticket in the early 1960's
but it had relapsed so I had to get a new pass with photo and then read
out loud the ancient promise, ' not to bring kindling wood into the
library...'. Had lunch with Simon, we talked most about the death of
Graham Greene, just announced, aged 86. A writer we both admired and
have collected for many years. He was a dominant figure in English
letters. It was sad to listen to Anthony Burgess's comments on TV last
night when he seemed to damn him with faint praise.
Back to the Bodley to look at the Bowerchalke Parish News, copies
held in the library — over twenty years missing, including the crucial
years 1885-1900, very disappointing. I am sure it was more complete in
1962 when a first looked at them here.
Later Dinah rang with the news that Bob Lari is upset over the short
article I got Larry Turner to write about him receiving a Patent award.
Incredible response I thought he would be delighted. I called him and he
insists on the issue being withdrawn. Ridiculous!, I informed him that
Dinah was not in any way to blame and that he should not have assumed
she was, she was very upset with his attitude. The responsibility was
mine and I object to a perfectly friendly gesture being rebuffed. He said
we should have respected his privacy and implied that Larry was acting
in less than good faith. It‘s beyond me. I reluctantly agreed to replace the
article with something else for the US issue. Despite this he may reach
for his pen and resign!
April 6, Saturday
We went to Sandleheath to Brenda's for the weekend. Good journey
via Salisbury and Rockbourne. Brenda gave us a good welcoming lunch.
Vector Fields Ltd
359
Afterwards I visited Rockbourne to see St Andrews church, I found two
MI242 in the churchyard; one was Charles Vincent, Frank's younger
brother. Then on to Salisbury, very wet afternoon, I got thoroughly
soaked visiting Milton St. and my grandfather‘s chapel, now abandoned,
and the Churchill Way Bye-pass has removed all trace of his former
dwelling,
April 7, Saturday
Brenda went to early service and returned with a pile of papers on
the people and the area, lots of photographs. Excerpts from old Parish
Magazines etc., all this was the property of Betty Waterman a friend of
Brenda's. I found some interesting information concerning a fire at
Damerham in 1864. I went to Rockbourne and Witham. Then did a drive
round Bowerchalke, I walked from Misselfore back into the village and
looked at the two chapels. Which one did they use, Baptist or Wesleyan
Methodists? Could be either, Charles was with the Wesleyan Methodists
in Salisbury and Baptist in Lymington. Weather much better, I drove on
to Ebbesbourne, Berwick St John and then returned via Tollard Royal.
Back for lunch, Dinah and Simon arrived and we had a jolly time. Simon
and I went to Damerham church yard and found several ‗Percy‘ MI's.
1430. Early evening we departed for home, after a very enjoyable visit.
April 9, Tuesday
The Kurds are in terrible situation in Iraq, Oh why did we not take
that evil Saddamite out when we had the chance. Bush was indeed only
interested in his oil! I had a bad night. I still have not made up my mind
about the prostate, should I allow Joe Smith experiment on me?
April 11, Thursday
I spent the morning working on lecture for tomorrow‘s conference
in Oxford on Electrostatics. Yuri Kizimovitch came after lunch, he is a
pleasant man, I agreed to be a sponsor for him as a scientific emigrant to
the US.
April 12, Friday
I attend to day the Electrostatics'91 conference in Oxford at the
Examination Halls in the High. My talk was the opening invited Keynote
paper. A lot of interest was shown by the questions after and we had a
good lunch in Teddy Hall. However, I don‘t think our software stand had
much business, still it only takes one new customer to make that part a
242
Monumental Inscriptions
360
success. After lunch I spent a happy two hours in the Duke Humphrey
reading room.
April 15, Monday
0915 To see Doctor, Stephen had heard from the GA Insurance, the
query was about the prostate problem. He said he had written back and
had reassured them about this. Also he had heard from Joe Smith and
thought I should wait and have the new treatment. My blood pressure is
an astonishing 135/80. Lauri Kettunen has come to implement with his
new version of GFUN (BARITONE)243 in OPERA .
April 16, Tuesday
Lauri to dinner, we had a pleasant evening listening to Sydney
Bechet and Sibelius. We also listened to Lauri‘s Jazz group CD, a bit
derivative but a fine effort with an outstanding soprano sax player
April 18, Thursday
Rita came to VF to help Dinah send out the latest software release.
Doug Allen came to VF, John Simkin and I took him to lunch at the Boat
Inn in Thrupp. He was in good form and appears to be having a busy
retirement. I would like to be as active at his age.
April 21, Sunday
Census day, it would have been helpful to have had the information
required on today‘s census in 1841. Knowing George Trowbridge's 244
intimate details would have helped a lot? I don't suppose they had a bath
or even two horses.
April 26 Friday
To Kings for the Open Day: an interesting day with Ted taking me
round the department. I enjoyed being the visiting professor. At lunch we
sat with an academic lawyer (criminal law) an Australian who has a nice
hobby-Uranium prospecting!
May 9 Thursday
Cris Emson and I drove up see Clive at his home in Pershore to
discuss ELEKTRA. We had a very constructive meeting and made plans
to try and pin down the DC limit case. Clive made us welcome and Helen
gave us lunch. I was very sorry to lose Clive last year, his contributions
were very effective but any hope I have of getting him back are receding;
243
244
1813.
Using Edge Elements and other improvements
I discovered later that George was transported to Australia for killing a fallow deer in
Vector Fields Ltd
361
he is totally immersed in his church work and fully intends to expand his
church. Our journey back to VF through the Cotswolds was enjoyable;
Cris gave me his humanist creed which makes an interesting contrast
with Clive's. Interesting, isn't it, that highly intelligent minds often lead
to different conclusions; it is a matter of faith —thank the lord! We
stopped at Burford to allow me to relieve myself, I found a shop selling
reproductions of maps by Speed, 1610, and I acquired Devon and Wilts,
to my delight I found "Trowbridge" at Crediton marked.
May 17, Friday
Today we go to our beloved Wales for a week. I had booked a room
in the Royal Goat Hotel in Beddgelert. The room is on the third floor,
with old beams and I soon bumped my head, but the views from two
windows are fine and so was the weather now, blue sky in all directions
with all the peaks clear—on the way we had a fine sightings of Cnicht,
Moelwyns, and Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) himself.
18 May, Saturday
Not so fine to day, sky overcast. A pretty fair breakfast and then off
out to our first walk. We chose route 1, from Showell Styles "Hill Walks
from Beddgelert", this turned out to be a great success, the way alongside
the Glaslyn down stream along the old embankment of the former Welsh
Highland railway was interesting, very few people about and that usual
feeling of well being at the start of an excursion because of much
optimism about its future development. After traversing a dark tunnel
through the rock, some 300 yards, we found our selves in a fine glade of
Oak, Birch and Chestnut, here we ascended up the Sygun Bwlch to the
old Copper mine. The valley is quite narrow but it has the look of a
typical welsh Cwm and it really is an attractive place with good views
behind, south to Tremadoc bay and the lower Glaslyn valley. To the east
the Moelwyn hills stand out and Cnicht from here begins to show its
ridge like character rather than the shapely peak viewed from Portmadoc.
All around are the debris of the old mine, it had a 200 year life from 1720
to 1924, rusty gear strewn all over the place, the first three stanchions for
the hanging bucket cable system still in place—the ore was loaded into
buckets and descended by gravity suspended from a cable in a continuous
line with the empty buckets returning for more. Above the works the way
led further up to the Bwlch from which we had superb views of the upper
Gwynant valley and the Snowdon group. From this vantage point we
could see a clear view of Moel Siabod as well. We then descended
toward the shore of Lynn Dinas stopping for our picnic at a point high
enough to get the best possible view of Snowdon.
362
19 May, Sunday
Walked to Lynn Glaslyn under the lee of Snowdon, 4 hours return
trip. Clouds cover above 3000ft. but dry and warm with occasional shafts
of weak, watery sun. Though not as busy as high summer there were
many walkers and trippers about. We got back about 4.00 PM meeting
the usual hopefuls, this time a young couple plus a tiny infant wearing
light clothes, bootless and naive, " how far to the top", she said; we told
her at least three hours and more and then about the same to return, we
also said it would be nearly dark before they got there. They had the
misplaced confidence of youth and after inquiring whether they could
take their car nearer the top!, they walked on up the track. One presumes
that after a while they would have the sense to return and be wiser next
time.
21 May, Tuesday
Trouble at breakfast, they didn‘t tell us they had changed the dining
room! We had an exchange of words. The hotel is not of the best. To
Ogwen, we walked to Idwal and then around the lake counter clockwise
the weather now lovely. To Bangor; we walked the pier — rich with
memories for me of my "Conway" days (1946-48) I swear I heard the
ghosts of voices as we reached the end —the kiosk where we waited for a
boat to take us off. On one occasion we sang songs of rebellion returning
from having the "term photo" and were subsequently subjected to an
emotional outburst from Captain Goddard, he thought our generation was
suspect because of war deprivations, I suppose he meant lack of parental
control and poor food, nonsense of course we were naturally bolshie.
After this sentimental journey we went on to Beaumaris for Tea, we
bought two brass artefacts from an antique shop, also a Dutch jug and a
Welsh dinner gong, neither antique but nice pieces, £40 the two. We then
enjoyed a nostalgic trip round this attractive town; we had our playing
fields here and used to march behind our band to church on Sundays. I
even played the base-drum.
22 May, Wednesday
Kipper, Llanberis then back to Pen y pass. Weather overcast with
drizzle, Pyg Track to above Glaslyn, had picnic in cold wind. We
returned to base (3 1/2 hours) and the weather got lovely. Beautiful
afternoon, we went to Portmadoc, looked over the Welsh Highland
railway now under rebuilding; one day they hope to run the 23 miles up
to Dinas near Carnarvon. To Criccieth for dinner, back via "The Rivals",
Penygroes and over the Nantle pass to Rhydd-du.
23 May, Thursday
Vector Fields Ltd
363
We endured a poor breakfast; revolting scrambled eggs. We decided
on ‗Styles‘ second route today to Pen-y-gaer; this turned out to be a good
choice, weather fine and clear all the way. The route gave us some minor
problems but we found our way round more or less cleanly. The climax
was at the ―step" where the lively Afon tumbles from the upper glen
Cwm Cyd. Here we had our lunch as recommended. This is near the
deserted house of the farmer poet Will Oerddwr, which is in a remote but
lovely setting just by the prehistoric fort of Pen-Y-Gaer. We admired the
view from the top of this hill; we could see virtually all of southern
Snowdonia from Y Wyddfa and the ‗horse shoe‘ as well as Moel Siabod,
Cnicht, Moelwyns and the Rhinogs. The way back was a hard descent
through the woods at Aber Glaslyn to the main road, then an enjoyable
scramble along the Fisherman's path by the Glaslyn river. The walk took
us 4hrs 15 minutes.
Plate 135: Cwm Idwal looking East, May 1991
24 May, Friday
Our last day; we awoke to bright sunshine. We decided to have a
lazy day. First we went to Llanberis via Rhdd, following the way of the
WHR then to Waenfawr. At Llanberis we parked and walked the town,
saw part of the "Power of Wales" exhibition and then had some coffee in
the old jail, now a restaurant. On the wall there were photo-copies of the
jail admission sheets, vital local history documents for the town, one
recorded a man accused of poultry larceny in 1947 just about the time I
364
stayed in Llanberis during my Conway days; also another accused of
drunkenness on Sunday! How times have changed. We followed a
sentimental journey to the waterfalls. We took the path up past the church
and vicarage where I used to stay. Memories of a very cold house, 1947
was the coldest winter for years, we slept on the floor in the attic and
laughed ourselves to sleep telling carnal stories; earlier in the evening I
remember listening to the Rev J H Williams (Vicar and Scoutmaster)
practising the piano, he could just manage the first two movements of the
Moonlight Sonata. It all looked just the same. In fact Llanberis remains
the same; we desperately needed the toilet but no facilities to be seen.
The man in the sports shop said he had never seen one but recommended
"Petes Eats" to which we rushed. We felt we had to pay for the service
so we ordered cheese on toast for me and R had a sandwich. Petes turned
out to be famous; the hard man's paradise, the rock climbers watering
hole. The walls are plastered with the lads in action, including great
photos of some of the best in the business hanging on by the skin of their
teeth. The cafe has received a lot of publicity; a montage of adverts from
magazines and even the Guardian also adorn the walls. The menu
features such gastronomic delights as "Big Jim", enough food for four
days and the "Grease Bomb" a delicate hamburger. After lunch we
visited the Dinorwic Slate Theme Park where we bought a map showing
wrecks along the welsh coast including HMS Conway. We also admired
the lake-side steam railway. I have been thinking of the Welsh narrow
gauge railways a lot this trip. Later, after dinner at the King Arthur, we
explored the site of Beddgelert station and once more I recall during my
visits here in the late 1940's how intrigued I was by the line that appeared
to bore through the mountain side and connect the Menai Straits with the
Cardigan bay; the maps of the day showed the railway and I really
believed it would start up in the post war period. But sadly it had stopped
actually in 1937. Now plans are afoot to rebuild!
30 May Thursday
Jim and Helen arrive, Jim looks OK considering his recent minor
stroke, and he is still blind in one eye. I took him into VF to have
discussions with JS, BFC, CRIE and JSW. David Thomas rang to discuss
Eric Munro, he said Eric was causing some problems but matters would
be settled shortly.
In the evening we all went to "The Cherry Tree" for a get together
with the old RAL group. Present were John and Ann Collie, Brenda and
Alan Armstrong, Pam and John Peisley, Jim and Helen, Rita and me, also
Chris Harold, Morgan Chow and Julian and Margaret Gallop came; a
very enjoyable evening. .
Vector Fields Ltd
365
7 June, Friday
To Wales with Simon, we stayed at the Victoria Arms, Llanberis.
After checking in we went to Joe Brown‘s and bought Simon a pair of
boots. The weather was fine and the area looked enchanting so we went
exploring to test the new boots. We drove up behind Padarn lake and
walked up into the old Dinorwic quarry, now a fine nature reserve. Alas
this fine weather was the last we had this weekend!
8 June, Saturday
Overcast next morning with rain promised later. We decided to walk
the Snowdon Horse Shoe. We set out at 9.00 AM from Pen-y-Pass
reaching Bwlch Moch in forty-five minutes. There were crowds of
people, and a tail-back on Crib Goch but we were on the Summit by
10.45. Weather closing in, no visibility. The scramble along the knife
edge was enjoyable. Strong wind at Bwlch Goch and drizzle by time we
reached Crib-y-Dysgl. Crowds thinning and we reached Carnedd Ugain
at noon and Snowden by 1230. There were crowds on the top, the train
bringing them up by the hundreds as well as sponsored walks, several
groups carrying people up to the top in wheel chairs. The noise of people
singing and shouting in the ever increasing rain and gloom was
depressing. The cafe was packed to bursting but we squeezed in and ate
some of the food we were carrying. After all the rain was tipping down
and so we decided not to do the second part of the Horse Shoe and return
via the PYG track. We arrived back at Pen-y-Pass at 1615 very tired but
pleased to have achieved what we did. After bath, whisky we had a steak,
the food is good in the Victoria, then we drove to Bangor and Plas
Newydd to show Simon some of my "Conway" past.
9 June, Sunday
We had a day sight-seeing because of the bad weather. We went to
the Welsh Highland Railway, actually rode the mile to Pen-y-Mount, the
train was pulled by "Russell" a splendid loco.
11 June, Tuesday
Olek telephoned, arranged Bottura's thesis exam Aug 8th. Julie
Shepherd joined Vector Fields this month as an administration assistant;
her role is to support Dinah in all aspects of administration and the
smooth running of the office.
30 June, Sunday
Rita and I set off to Italy today via Alitalia. Unfortunately the
French Air Traffic controllers were on strike again so the flight was
366
delayed 40 minutes but we arrived at Pisa in time for the 14:40 train to
Florence. Train was quite full but the weather fine, warm and wonderful.
At one point a morose young man (from the South) came in and sat next
to Rita puffing smoke; I pointed out the no-smoking sign and he
proceeded to verbalize me, probably abuse. After a while he took himself
off. At Florence we had to struggle with our luggage, a long, long
platform without a luggage trolley. Eventually Rita found one but by then
we had humped our bags with increasing pain at least 300 yards. Now
we were mobile, found a taxi and soon found ourselves in Fiesole. The
Aurora hotel people welcomed us and proudly showed us the view of
Florence from our room. After a brief unpack we broke off to have a
snack in the Blue Bar. Later we strolled round the village, climbed up to
the Monastery and admired the lovely view of Florence. Dinner at
Mario's across the square,
1 July, Monday
To Florence by bus, we did the Viecho Palace, admired the room of
the 500 but the Michelangelo statue was missing. A long pleasant light
lunch in the Piaza della Signoria. After a fruitless search for the book
area, we popped in San Croce church but we didn't realise that here are
interred the greatest of Italy, an impressive role-call of bones:
Michelangelo himself, the amazing Galileo, the crafty Machiavelli, and
that marvellous mad organiser of music himself Rossini. What a
collection! and Dante buried nearby as well. We returned tired and
looking forward to our dinner again at Mario's, I had the splendid
Tuscany Soup (three soups in separate bowls) and Rita had the lamb
chops. Rita had a bad night because of the hard pillow.
2 July, Tuesday
We went into Florence by bus to tour the Uffizi. We joined the
queue which snaked well out into the Piaza della signoria, but it moved
along quite fast. We had ample opportunity to study all aspects of the
statues, I particularly liked the ruffled stockings of Piccolini and Lorenzo
(Il Magnifico) with young boy. We were in the gallery in 40 minutes and
soon admiring the Giotto virgin. For me as last time the things we
enjoyed most were room 7 with the Uccello (The Battle of San Romano),
tremendous and unforgiving, the Piero della Francesca portrait of the
Duke of Urbino (the scale of the head, clothed in red against the
landscape of blue is riveting), and the Fra Angelico (Coronation of the
Virgin). This latter I discovered was originally painted for the Church in
Fiesole. I also lingered over and enjoyed the several pictures by Cranach
(Martin Luther portraits). We also admired the Antonio Polliao portrait of
a lady and of course many others. I must say the Botticellis, the
Vector Fields Ltd
367
Michelangelos and even the Leonardos made little impression this time,
perhaps because of the large tour groups receiving pedantic instruction in
front of these pictures—it was like the tower of Babel. We spent a good
two hours there and were pleased to sit in the Piazza for lunch to rest.
Afterwards we walked across the Ponte Vecchio to visit the Pitti palace
galleries only to find them shut. The Boblio gardens were open though,
so we had a stroll round but the heat was tiring. We returned by bus after
visiting the shopping street Tornabuoni, not to be compared with Bond
St. in any way, drab and dull. Rita was robbed on the bus returning to
Fiesole, her purse was removed from her hand bag! She didn't feel the zip
being opened so skilful was the thief, fortunately it just contained her
driving license and some address labels245.
3 July, Wednesday
We went to Arezzo today to follow the Piero trail and the legend of
the holy cross. 11 am. Train, good journey, sat with two charming US
students on the mini grand tour. Arezzo turned out to be a delight, not at
all crowded; we went straight to the old town where we enjoyed an
omelette and salad. The church of San Fresca was near and we were soon
gazing at the famous fresco. Only half are visible owing to the restoration
(they are hoping for completion by 1992, the 500 anniversary of Piero
della Francesca's death). The right hand side we could see though
appreciation of the upper panels was difficult because we were unable to
stand back. But we could see the wonderful "Constantine's dream" with
its amazing night light on the tent. Also, the lower right panel depicting
the processional battle scene with the morning light that so impressed Sir
Kenneth Clark. I loved the riders with their head gear, helmets and hats
of all shapes and sizes, and the horses quite static but with tremendous
potential for action if necessary. There was so much to think about. We
bought a reproduction mounted on wood from the Francescan Monk in
the little shop, he wrapped it most carefully, and the scene we chose was
part of a panel we couldn't see, the geometric city representing Jerusalem
(Arezzo); this forms part of the big panel on the left currently under
restoration depicting "The discovery and proof of the true cross". After
visiting a bank to pay the Friar I had another long look at the frescos.
Later we explored more of the old city and climbed up to the old piazza
where they hold the Sarcen's festival, this is most beautiful a large
expanse surrounded by renaissance buildings and almost empty of
people. The return journey took longer as we selected a slow train. Back
in Fiesole we had dinner in Mario's. Afterwards we visited the cathedral
245
Her purse and driving license were later found and returned by the good offices of
Paolo Molfino.
368
where some kind of service was underway, they were holding it in the
crypt and appeared to be blessing something, and several men were
unpacking some object from a box. The organ sounded superb.
Plate 136: Compumag Sorrento Poster
6 July, Saturday
Vector Fields Ltd
369
We journeyed to Naples via Rome, snack lunch, changed money at a
good rate. Naples train was delayed 40 minutes and we met Osama
Mohammed on the platform who is hoping to host the next Compumag.
We found our coach and loaded the luggage. I had an altercation with an
ignorant young American woman who was occupying our seats,
travelling with a quieter older woman (mother?). After some tiresome
exchanges it was discovered that they were in the wrong coach (compare
the two students we travelled with to Arezzo). Rita was not impressed
with my lack of self control. The wait in the train was exceedingly
painful, no air conditioning. At Naples we took a taxi to Sorrento with
Mohammed, cost 120,000 Lire but worth it as we were now exceedingly
tired. After checking in we explored the facilities which appear to be first
class
We began meeting people, first Steve Williamson and his wife Zita
a very pleasant lady from Wiltshire, Steve was full of himself and
Cambridge and soon giving me advice on the politics of Compumag.
Plenty of that to come I am sure but for the moment we just wanted to
relax. Chris Emson arrived during dinner. The organisers arrived in force,
Rubinacci, Martone, Albanese, Cocorese all with there families a very
congenial bunch. Japanese also arriving in strength, Miya, Takahagi,
Homna and the Okayama group, Taka, Norio Takahashi (smiling) and
Fujiwarra.
7 July, Sunday
At breakfast we met EMF and Dave plus their ladies, and our
Chinese friends also arrived, Tang, Fan Ming Wu and Yan Weili and
many others. I had a brief discussion with Tang, he appears to have a
problem, he said he will retire soon and wanted to propose Fan to the
ISC, I said I would support him, I also told him that I wanted John
Simkin to join the committee, he urged me to attend his ISEF conference
in Hanchow next year. We had lunch in town with Ted Deeley, Cris, Jan
Sykulski. Then the ISC meeting in the afternoon was held at the hotel for
the committee election. The results for the first vote were: Simkin 10;
Konrad 10; Mayergoyz 9. After the reception at the hotel we then had
had dinner in town with Ted, Larry, Donna, Shirley246 and Lauri
Kettunen.
8 July, Monday
First day of Compumag, over 330 delegates, a great turnout,
everyone pleased. The big theatre looked very fine with the huge
Compumag logo in Oxford blue with the 'C' magnet, it made me feel
246
Donna‘s sister
370
proud and memories flooded back to the time some 17 years ago when
John and I first designed it. It appears to be a tradition that I chair the first
session but I think that this will be the last time. A new order is coming,
as I retire now from the ISC so it was with some emotion to me that the
first session got underway. So much so that I could not concentrate to
manipulate the speaker timing system, my fellow chairman was the nice
Prof. Bobbio from Napoli. However we managed with old fashioned
'wrist watch' method to control the speakers quite effectively. We had
lunch in the garden, our stand now up and running with Rita and Cris.
DEC computer arrived late as they were involved in an accident on the
way.
To Pompeii by train for a chamber concert in the amphitheatre,
sadly Rita couldn't come as she had developed a migraine. We heard the
amazing viola and violin duo (Mozart) and framed by some splendid
Italian music by Mozart‘s contemporaries, Cimarosa etc. the atmosphere
and playing was marvellous. The audience became somewhat restless
and not very informed as they wanted to clap every movement. We began
by sitting next to Fan Ming Wu who soon got fed up and cleared off
somewhere behind. I remember him going to sleep in Bejing once during
the Peking opera—he told me he preferred hard rock! Ted was able to
collect lots of cushions for us in the interval from the absconders so we
had considerable comfort in the second half. The journey home in the
Cicumvesuviana railway was unpleasant.
9 July, Tuesday
Busy talking most of the day both inside the lecture theatre and at
our stand. Rita was feeling better today so was able to come to the second
concert in the evening. We walked down to Sorrento in a huge crowd,
again supervised by the local gendarmerie, I found I was walking next to
Doug Lavers and we talked over the Alcan affair. The performance,
which was given by an aging singer of Neapolitan songs — A Morro,
accompanying himself on the guitar, was delightful. The setting was
superb again, a cloister of an old church down by the sea shore. He sang
all the old favourites and the audience were suitable enraptured. There
were budding Paverottis there who joined in at the climatic moments,
two in particular were persuaded up onto the platform to sing along with
Morro who was very kind to them. He himself though with plenty of old
fire to entertain was really past his sell by date in voice, an amplified
baritone. Nevertheless, the large crowd were delightfully entertained.
Come back to Sorrento...
10 July, Wednesday
Vector Fields Ltd
371
My birthday and I got rather tipsy at the banquet—Rita very
displeased. I feel keenly that this is my last fling at the centre of
Compumag247 and I ended the day feeling upset.
11 July, Thursday
Today was the last day of the conference and the day of my Lecture.
There are nine of us that have attended every Compumag conference.
Members of the Compumag 9 club: Ted Deeley, Kings, UK, Larry
Turner, Argonne, USA, Alain Bossavit, EDF, France, Bill Trowbridge,
VF, UK, J C Verite, EDF, France, Simon Polak, Philips, Holland, Dave
Rodger, Bath, UK, Zoltan Cendes, CMU, USA, Theo Torschanoff,
CERN, Switzerland
Plate 137: VF Stand at Compumag Sorrento
L to R: Cris Emson, Rita, Bill and Dr Schneider (ISEI Inst.)
18 July, Thursday
Very busy day today Rita and I go to the Queen's garden party at the
palace; first I took Larry, Donna and Shirley to Didcot station to catch
the 9.32. I gave them a good send off, seven items of luggage in heavy
247
In which I was quite mistaken as later events would prove.
372
rain; I must say I was not sorry to see them go, friendly as they are and
very old friends too but we have other things to think of today. There had
been a serious road accident on the southbound A34 near RAL causing a
long tailback. This affected us slightly as our taxi to Didcot had to go the
long way round. It didn‘t delay us much and we caught the train at 1108.
On the train there was another couple on the same business as ourselves,
already dressed for the occasion and not minding travelling like a 'dog‘s
dinner'. We were safely ensconced in the Cumberland by 1230 and
pleased with the room. After lunch we got ourselves ready, Rita looked
lovely in her new hat. I decided to leave the topper behind as I thought it
would be a nuisance. We departed in taxi at 3.15 our driver, a young
black Londoner, was much amused, and this was a first for him too. He
read carefully the instructions for drivers as he meandered down parklane and thought he should display the card as instructed, he also spotted
others on the same mission. In fact people were converging on all sides,
on foot, in cars, all sizes and taxis like us. I told our driver I wanted the
back entrance (you can enter the palace for the event in three places) but
he would have none of this and drove us to the grand front door at the top
of the Mall. Police directed us to a place to stop near the main gates.
By this time there was a torrent of people streaming in and we were
soon carried along by the crowd—not a very exclusive affair. However
we felt very grand in ‗full fig‘ as we mounted the steps up to the palace
entrance, passing the palace guard, and had our blue invitation card
collected by a flunkey. There must have been three thousand or more
gathering, we walked through a courtyard and then entered the grand
entrance hall, portraits of the royal family adorning the walls; I
particularly liked the one of Prince Albert. Still, we were not allowed to
linger. So in the company of Admirals, Generals, Bishops, Captains of
Industry, Scientists,....Public Servants, Major and Minor Officials, Social
workers and political party workers etc. we were ushered out onto the
terrace thence down on the huge lawn. The scene which greeted us was
most colourful, the crowd was very diverse and in holiday mood, though
morning suits for the men were much in evidence in several styles.
People in uniforms from all countries and services gave variety and as for
the ladies! Well they were much dolled up. My eye and ears were drawn
to the two bands playing in two separate pavilions spaced diametrically
far apart on the circumference of the lawn. The bands were both from the
services and played suitable music alternatively; light classics, show
tunes and traditional songs. On the two sides of the area, which was
placed between the terrace and a lake, were the tea enclosures large
enough to feed the five thousand! These were already supplying tea and
food to some of the multitude but most people were standing in lines ten
or more deep to wait for the Queen. We joined this throng but we didn‘t
Vector Fields Ltd
373
think we would see much. At 4.00pm there was a hushed silence and the
royal party arrived on the terrace.
The diminutive form of the Queen stood still and the band struck up
the national anthem. The uniformed officers stood smartly to attention
and saluted. The Queen was accompanied by the Queen mother, sprightly
as ever in her ninetieth year, and by Prince Philip (morning suit without
the hat!). Next began her slow progress down the centre of the line of
people. Stopping every so often to speak with someone, either in the line
or someone special, who was with the small group or brought there by
the army of stewards, household chiefs etc. We waited patiently for
nearly half an hour for her to work her way down to where we were
standing, we could see little until then but finally we did get a good view
as she stood in the centre chatting to an important looking cleric. She is
no taller than Dinah (5ft 2in) and has a plain face until she smiles and
then it lights up her beautiful complexion. She was dressed in a red short
silky coat and blue dress with a very smart small brimmed blue hat, three
ropes of pearls and huge drop earrings.
After she moved by we went to the tea pavilion and had tea, this was
excellent with plenty to eat, served without fuss by an army of ladies,
there was considerable choice of delicious snacks and a good cup of tea
in chinaware (they needed thousands of cups!). I ate egg, cress, potted
meat sandwiches, pastries, cakes etc, we sat and ate gazing at the lake
and listening to the band. After this we went back and watched the royal
party continuing their progress along the line. By this time the action had
reached near the end where there were many rows of chairs, we stood
behind the crowd. There was a short Canadian woman who got very
excited as the Queen approached, she even stood on a chair to get a better
view. Rita said it would be better if the Queen mum stood on a chair then
we would all see her, laughter all round. She proceeded to show us a
photo of the Queen mother with King George VI taken by her in 1939
during the state visit to US and Canada. This reminded me that I was also
taken in that year to Southampton by my mother to see the royal couple
arrive on RMS Queen Mary on their return from USA. I recalled seeing
the two princesses with their parents in the car as it proceeded from the
docks. The Canadian lady wanted to show the Queen her picture and
asked one of the officials where she could stand to see the Queen leave; I
think she thought she might be able to make contact—no chance. By this
time the QM had tired and was escorted to the royal tea enclosure where
she was served by a red coated footman, she sat quite alone at the end
away from the crowd of special guests. Soon after the Queen herself left
the line and went to join her mother. My most precious memory of the
day was seeing the two of them chatting over a cup of tea, I found the
ordinariness quite moving, I don‘t know why. I caught sight of Peter
374
Tanner (BTG) in the crowd but saw no one else I knew personally. We
decided to walk round the garden and leave, this we did by the
constitution hill gate where we had our photograph taken. We walked up
Park Lane back to the hotel. It had been a most interesting and enjoyable
afternoon. In the evening we went to see CATS, very noisy and banal
music, though dancing was exciting and the T S Eliot‘s verse does come
through occasionally. We had a late dinner in ―El Paradiso et Inferno" in
the Strand and collapsed into our beds at the Cumberland at around
1.00am very tired.
19 July, Friday
We did the national gallery after breakfast, the new Sainsbury wing
with the early Italian pictures. Splendid layout with the collection
superbly displayed. It was especially interesting to see the Piero Della
Francesca‘s', the Baptism of Christ and the Nativity scene, the latter with
its wonderful pop group of angels without halos and the former with the
orthogonal lines of the white dove above the Christ‘s head intersecting
the line of his hands and much more besides. We returned home at lunch
time, after an eventful two days feeling exhausted. I slept in the afternoon
only to be awakened by Brian bringing the Math Co-processor for my
Viglen.
23 July, Tuesday
I went on a day trip to Dublin to attend IMACS 91. Rita took me to
Oxford; I caught bus to HR and flight to Dublin at 10.00 I was at Trinity
College by 1130. I had lunch with Giorgio, Cris, and Nathan Ida. My
session went very well with eight papers, a good discussion, and well
attended (60 or so). Also met Adel Razek, the Graz group, Nakata,
Takahashi, Paul Lenard and many Compumagers! A very eventful day;
back at home by 10.00pm.
7 August, Wednesday
Train to Swansea for Bottura's PhD exam. We began at 1330 and it
lasted two hours. He did well, with Olek in good form. We had afternoon
tea in the Osbourne then a pleasant walk along the beach. In the evening
we had a celebratory dinner. Helen and Ken Morgan's wife joined us and
it was a jolly affair. We also talked a lot about Europe and the future and
later got onto Genealogy. Olek‘s mother was a Penny and I told him
about the Dorset branch of that family. Helen said she was pure Scottish
with both sides coming from farming backgrounds. Lucca Bottura is a
very pleasant young man who knows how to charm. He is gifted
technically and will do well..
Vector Fields Ltd
375
14 August, Wednesday
I went by car to Litchfield to meet Peter Lawrenson and Ken Binns
to discuss the final matters of our book. Wiley‘s promise 15% in
royalties and maybe an advance. We agreed to do final revision at proof
stage unless Wiley‘s decide to go out to a reader again. We agreed to
complete the Authors questionnaire ASAP.
18 August, Sunday
I finished my Family History book which was to be printed by
Wessex Press in Wantage. Mike Coleman ,the proprietor of Wessex
Press, who had worked with Dinah on most of the promotional
publications on behalf of Vector Fields was also helping me with the
printing of my technical book, ‗An Introduction to Computer Aided
Analysis‘, see page 293.
19 August, Monday
The hard liner Coup in USSR is announced on the news today with
Gorbachev under house arrest in the Crimea—the end of the Soviet
Union? We witnessed on TV the great drama in the streets of Moscow
with Boris Yeltsin emerging as the man of the moment defending both
Gorbi and democracy. We also went to Wantage to discuss printing of
Family History book with Mike Coleman; Rita came too to discuss the
cover colours.
21 August, Wednesday
The coup fails in Moscow and Gorbi returns and with the plotters
under arrest, the breakup of Soviet Union now seems inevitable.
23 August, Friday
Boris Yeltsin is now firmly under control, statues of the
Communists are being pulled down— the KBG and Communist Party
suppressed.
30 August, Friday
I met Bela Konrad at Oxford and brought him to VF for a visit. We
had some discussions on High Frequency Field computation; he appears
to have some odd ideas about us and our approach. There is a culture
difference. I expressed some concern about CEFC conferences but Bela
assured me he would be a good Compumag supporter. We sent a joint
card to Chari and we agreed to contribute to his article on PC compilers.
2 September, Monday
376
Rita goes to Broadwindsor with Simon but I am off again, this time
to Bilbao with Bryan Colyer for an IDAM project meeting.
3 September, Tuesday
Meeting all day at Labein during which we planned the new
proposal as well as having a useful update on the status of IDAM. There
was a protracted lunch on top of a nearby hill with splendid views of the
city. We were entertained by the head of Labein, a sociable and amiable
character, Jose Mendia Urkiola, whom I liked as he promised to sort out
our payment! Lunch lasted from 1400 to 1615. Later we had a midnight
dinner by the sea proceeded by whisky, walking and rain.
4 September, Wednesday
Meeting continues, good plans made for IDAM2 (MIDAS, my
suggestion for a new name was adopted). We have framed the project inline with the VF forward strategy. I was told that the Labien accounts
department were processing our account. They owe us £80,000. After the
meeting we were shown around the labs. At noon we visited the
Electrical Engineering department where our software is used. The group
leader, Santiago Arrien, showed us around with pride and fully justified
too. He gave us a brochure which contains several good TOSCA and
PE2D pictures. It was good to see TOSCA being used; the demo was
done by Mikel Echavarren Serrano who had been to VF for a course.
6 September, Friday
With Simon to Wales, 6hrs to Peny-Gwrd hotel, 30 min stop for
dinner. I have never stayed at this famous hotel of mountaineering lore
before. The rooms are Spartan but the atmosphere, people and food
excellent. The bar, surrounded by mementos of Everest 1953, is pleasant
indeed. It is a place full of character where the guest can sit and chat for
hours into the night surrounded by photographs from past Himalayan
expeditions. The land-lady Mrs Biggs is a bit of a card, rather camp and
friendly, certainly encouraging the imbibing. Our rooms were very small
and no bath.
7 September, Saturday
Very good breakfast, we decided on the Carnedds to day and went
immediately to Aber. Leaving the car in the forestry car park we set off
up to the falls climbing up the eastern side to the lovely valley above.
The weather was fine and warm (quite hot actually), we were aiming to
explore the central hills of the range starting with Llwtmor. On the steep
hillside we came across a wrecked airplane, I thought it was a British
plane and what we found was I think part of the cockpit of a small plane,
Vector Fields Ltd
377
possibly a WW2 fighter, and the debris was mostly Aluminium and
wood. All went well with me at first but inexorably the going began to
bite and I was finding it hard to keep up with Simon. I did make it to the
summit but with much pain and decided that this was far enough for the
day. We returned more or less the way we came and, despite the
shortened route, we were walking for five hours. I was tired and jolly
pleased to get back to the hotel for a hot bath, whisky and dinner, and a
good dinner too. Before dinner we chatted in the Bar, an odd mixture of
people were staying here including a salesman for a molecular modelling
computer company, the chief fire officer and his wife from Surrey, a
Physicist from Munich and a London photographer and his theatrical boy
friend. After dinner we went straight to bed.
8 September, Sunday
After a good breakfast we drove to Ogwen and did the north ridge of
Tryfan, much better performance today. It was a splendid climb
scrambling on rock all the way. At the summit we watched young men
jumping from Adam to Eve with casual ease. We descended down to
'Australia', Lake Bochlwydd where we joined a party of Lancastrian fell
walkers paddling in the lake, bliss and delightful chat, mostly
reminiscences of climbs past. Excellent day, but I am not fit enough to
really enjoy it. A toe nail on my right foot has been severely damaged,
despite my Brasher Boots and my experience.
9 September, Monday
We returned to Frilford via, it seemed, the whole of Wales,
including bookshops at Machynlleth and Hay on Wye, it took twelve
hours. Rita returned from Dorset and said she had enjoyed her visit to see
her sister.
378
Plate 138: ISEF Conference, Southampton 1991
17 September, Tuesday
To Southampton today for the ISEF248 conference with Rita
18 September, Wednesday
Conference first day, my talk appeared to go well; Martyn Harris
was the chairman and was very good and the VF stand looked very
professional. The conference dinner was held on a boat and was a fine
affair. I sat at a table with Percy Hammond, Martyn Harris and Professor
Turowski (the conference chairman).
19 September, Thursday
The Conference second day with the VF hosted dinner at Bucklers
Hard on the Beaulieu River at the ‗Master Builder‘, the famous hotel
celebrating the ship building from former times using the new forest
timber. We also toured the museum showing artefacts and models of the
great wooden ships of Nelson‘s time.
20 September, Friday
Dinah goes to Bonn with the Oxford Choral Society for a joint
performance Gerontius with the local choirs at the Bonn Festival.249
248
International Symposium on Electromagnetic Fields
Vector Fields Ltd
379
29 September, Sunday
To Genoa from Gatwick, I was met by Mauritsio Repetto and Silvia
(his lovely wife), Dreadful weather, torrential rain and gales. I was lucky
to land more or less on time as later the airport was closed. Silvia and
Mauritsio took me to their apartment facing the raging sea and we had
lunch overlooking the Genoa Gulf. Later they dropped me off at the hotel
only to be whisked off again for dinner at Paolo Molfino‘s—Great music
and company.
1 October, Tuesday
Kurt Richter came and we discussed plans for the next CEM short
course to be held in Berlin. Giorgio and I were guests of Richter and Mila
for dinner.
23 October, Wednesday
To Barcelona with Rita: checked in Hotel Arenas, 1600. First
session of the Zienkiewicz birthday conference. About 50 people present.
Everyone who spoke made generous and sincere tributes to Olek. We all
had dinner at the Seven Doors restaurant which was enjoyable, Geoff
Hollister made a fine speech, quoting Longfellow —'footprints in the
snow' etc.
24 October, Thursday
250
Second day of seminar; my little tribute
went well enough
judging by comments received. Eddie Dillon (A civil engineering Prof
from Cork, actually older than Olek and was his best man at his wedding
with Helen) turned out to be a most interesting and likeable man. He and
I got on well. His Irish accent is charming—he always refers to OCZ as
'himself' or 'your only man', his talk followed mine and was on the
subject of explosions---I nearly collapsed with delight. Ken Morgan's
paper presented by one of his co-authors was very interesting and may be
useful to us. I was also congratulated by another old friend of Olek (the
senior man present in age), one Prof. George Herrman from Stanford.
The Official dinner for Olek was held at the 'Jockey Club' down
town and turned out to be a fine affair. Roger Owen and I talked over old
adventures on ESPRIT, specially in Eindhoven. Rita and I sat with
Roger and Eddie Dillon also Dr Gupta, head engineer at Nasa Ames, who
249
Dinah later co-authored a piece describing this historic performance in the Elgar
Society News letter.
250
‗Finite elements and magnetic scalar potentials‘, J Simkin & C W Trowbridge, In
‗The finite element method in the 1990‘s‘ dedicated to O.C.Zienkiewicz, Springer-Verlag,
CIMNE Barcelona, page 509.
380
showed considerable interest in VF products. The meal was capped by
speeches and a presentation to Olek of a silver tray with all our names
engraved. Afterward M.Ohayon played Mussorgski (Pictures at an
Exhibition—The Great Gate at Keiv and some Rachmaninov).
24 October, Friday
Free day: Rita and I toured the town, looked at the Cathedral,
Picasso museum, and the Gaudi. We had lunch in La Ramblas and
booked tickets for a concert. We ran into George Herrman at most of
these places! The concert started at 2100 just like the old days in Buenos
Aires. The OCB (Orchestra of the City of Barcelona) played Berlioz
(Fantastic Sym) preceded by the harp concerto of Ginastera played by
Zincarra and Don Quixote by Roberto Gerard. We enjoyed it all and had
a late dinner nearby after.
29 October, Tuesday
My History of The Trowbridge Family (100 copies) arrives from
Mile Coleman of Wessex Press. I am very please with the result. Today I
submitted our case to the Queen‘s Award Office for Technology
Achievement for 1992. We had been working on preparing this for some
time and we felt confident as the case for our Technical Innovations was
a strong one with good export figures to match.
31 October, Thursday
To Pam's leaving presentation at RAL Cris and I collected the VF
present, a cut glass bowl with her name engraved. A huge crowd there,
David Boyd made an affecting speech and after that I said a few words
too. Pam had marshalled her sisters and husband to provide a mammoth
feast which we all enjoyed---just like Pam, generous and gregarious right
to the last but much appreciated.
2 November, Saturday
We went to the Ark for Pam's retirement dinner. All the old core
group were there, Alan and Brenda Armstrong, John and Ann Collie, and
John and Sue, also Cris and Janet. Brenda full of Somerville, she is the
secretary there and is run ragged by all those females dons. About 35 folk
present and the meal was quite good and Pam was pleased. She
astounded me and everyone else by announcing she had accepted a
temporary job from? Who else but RAL and is starting next week.
5 November, Tuesday
Captain Bob drowned, announced on the News. Robert Maxwell the
Czech Jew adopted English Tycoon, Citizen Bob. Founder of Pergamon
Vector Fields Ltd
381
press etc; Doug Allen said many years ago that he was an interesting
man, like Enoch Powell in reverse, Socialist Billionaire. Was he pushed
or what?
25 November, Monday
Up early to catch a train from Didcot with Cris, for London, to
attend the CEM conference at the IEE HQ, Savoy Place. The next three
days were very hectic apart from chairing three sessions. We had our VF
stand in the exhibition and many people to meet. My memory of it all is
quite blurred. PPS gave the invited talk on Mathematics CAD type
packages, rather dull and irrelevant I thought, though he speaks well as
always. Aptaker's presentation went well enough, only a minor hiccup,
he had too much time—which seem to confuse him. The message was
well delivered though and I think he should be pleased. We stayed at the
Strand Palace Hotel. In the evening Dave Rodger and I entertained some
people at the Inferno, one was a charming lady from Poland who gave an
excellent talk, Małgorzata Celuch by name, flaming red dress and blonde.
She was keen to meet people and get her work published. I agreed to help
a little.
26 November, Tuesday
Second day, I had to attend a meeting of the Wiley Journal editorial
board. Before this I handed over to the Wiley Ladies, Mari Ann Franks
and Laura Deny the latest version of my part of the BLT book. Polak and
PPS were both at the meeting which was a pep talk by the publishers to
us sluggards on the board to promote the journal. Brother David came
and met my colleagues then he took me to lunch at his club. We had
good food and wine and it was very pleasant to have a good chat with
David whom I don‘t see very often. Afterwards I saw his office in Smiths
Square and met his team of ladies. On the way there I bought a suit at his
Tailor's nearby. The man in the shop, a Mr Nicholls, is an excellent
salesman! I was lucky to get out with one suit but I fear he will sell me a
second when I return to collect it.
17 December, Tuesday
Visit from Martyn Harris and the Southampton group, Richard Stoll
and Jan Sykulski. It was a useful meeting to set the scene for a new
Teaching company scheme. We decided on an applications shell and
Martyn will write us a proposal.
19 December, Thursday
382
To Brussels with Bryan and Jan Van Maanen for the IDAM review;
the plane delayed 90 minutes. We arrive at Metropole hotel at 1400 in
tine for the first meeting. The rehearsal proceeded reasonably well and all
seemed well, the whole team were there, Giorgio and Paolo from
UGDIE, Pico, Barrabochi, Donatella, Vivaldi and a new researcher from
Ansaldo. Alonzo and Emaldi came later from Labein. We all had a jolly
dinner in the Grand Platz before retiring. Giorgio told me all about the
ISC meeting in Miami. My statistics report was helpful he said and the
251
new democracy is underway. He also said my society proposal would
be adopted and a committee will be set up with me and some of the old
hands.
20 December, Friday
Review day. We met the reviewers two from UK and one Spaniard
plus the Brussels bureaucrat a Dutchman by name of Furth. After a good
set of presentations we were amazed that the reviewers rejected some of
our deliverables. They were implying that our oral presentations were
possibly faked and they now had to insist on a live demo of everything.
This is unfair because we had offered this in the first place. Giorgio was
incensed and everyone felt let down. I saw Furth after and he did concede
that IDAM was good project better than most. Why he didn‘t say so to us
formally I don‘t know. We have to accept things though we have no
choice. I have a dim view of the referees; they asked no real pertinent
questions, a possible exception was the Spaniard who did seem to know
something about FE and incidentally appeared to dissociate himself from
the results of the review! I later had the childish pleasure of ‗cutting‘ the
British reviewer who made ill-informed comments during the review and
I suspect he may have been our main problem. Brussels should get better
people for their assessments, but maybe cash is the problem. People like
the above, are called independent consultants and make a living out of
EEC projects. The other Brit was such a non-entity that I cannot even
remember his name. I purchased a bottle of Bowmore for Simon—as it
was his birthday.
This year has been momentous both generally and specific. The
soviet empire has collapsed and my family history book was brought out!
The beginning saw the gulf war but Saddam is still there torturing and
people are still starving. Terrorism is rampant but Terry Waite is home. It
was announced later that Gorbachev has resigned, there is now no such
thing as the USSR
251
We had been talking for some time about starting a CEM society; this was to gel over
the next two years.
Vector Fields Ltd
383
1992 Queen’s Award Year
Towards the end of January I made a trip to Japan. The main
purpose of the visit was to make personal contact with KBK and to assist
them maintain our contacts with existing customers and to generate new
business. We had been concerned, for sometime, that our business in
Japan had been declining, despite assurances from KBK last year that a
substantial growth this year would take place, and it was now time to
assess the situation. There had not been a visit to Japan by a VF director
since September 1989 and the opportunity arose when we were asked to
participate in the ISEM conference at Nagoya, to combine a technical
and business trip. KBK agreed to exhibit at the ISEM conference.
The evening before departure (24 January, 1992) I had been
working late at the office and Rita collected me at 7.00 pm. Her car hit a
curb on way home, blew out both near-side tyres, the car had to be
rescued by the AA, and Simon came and rescued us. He had dinner with
us. I had a restless night anticipating the trip to Japan to come.
I was met by Shingu-san at Narita who took me by train to Tokyo
central (JR). I was far too tired to talk or discuss things with him
seriously. He got me on the 1.00PM Shinkansen to Nagoya. I arrived at
Meitetsu Grand Hotel, very near the station at 3.0PM and checked in my
room, rang Rita, and collapsed into bed for the restless and slow business
of fighting the jet lag; a noisy room with a large, very large family next
door whose social life spilled out into the corridor? I forced myself to
stay in bed until 0630.
The next day was Sunday and after a shower I had breakfast in the
restaurant on the 18 floor, top of the building, with a good view over the
city of Nagoya. Food was excellent, English style eggs and bacon. I now
felt very much better. Next I did some shopping in the nearby mall; I
bought a leather hand bag and had a haircut. Feeling even better I
decided to visit Nagoya castle. I admired the Don-Jon, completely
restored after the war during which the whole building was raised to the
ground. Inside there is a fine portrait of the Shogun Tokagawa who
founded modern Japan.
Late in the afternoon I went to the Nagoya conference centre to
register for ISEM. I was greeted at the door by Morisue, now a professor
here but today responsible for registration. He took me to meet the
conference chairman, Prof. Uchikawa who was very welcoming.
Unfortunately there was no computer available; he had sent me a fax to
say time was too short to get one. Morisue was not invited into the inner
sanctum of the chairman. Even he, a very distinguished scientist, is part
of the hierarchy and must know his place
384
At the reception that evening I met some old friends, Tony Moses
from Cardiff, Oscar Biro from Graz and Prof. Honma from Sapporo.
Harold Sabbagh also came late as did the Silvesters, Peter and Elizabeth.
The reception was a stand-up buffet with plenty to drink. There were
several Russians present. I was now very tired so I returned to the hotel
to enjoy another restless night with frequent disturbance from the shrill
voices of children and social chatter next door.
Monday was the first day of the conference and I sat with PPS for
the opening session. We heard a good lecture on the Aharonov-Bohm
effect by an outstanding scientist from Hitachi, A Tonomura. He
described his experimental work in which the effect is now finally
established after decades of controversy and also some applications in
Holography and Microscopy. The bottom line is that in QED (Quantum
Electro Dynamics) vector potential exists even in flux free regions. I
then attended the parallel session on cold fusion a current talking point as
most scientists believe this to be spurious with misleading results
generated by poor experimental technique. Although the new papers do
not, in any way, resolve the situation, neutrons have been observed etc.,
but at a very low level suggesting, perhaps, some interesting physical
chemistry252. Some experiments are reproducible but most are not it
seems, and it may be a case of the philosopher‘s stone! It is interesting
that the Japanese like to be topical and be seen to be promoting forums
for discussing these controversial matters.
The posters looked good, laid out on flat tables, there is to be a
competition for the two best posters in each session. At the end of the
hall, on the 4th floor of this very large and new congress centre, the three
trade exhibits are situated. I met some new KBK people, Mr Eiichi
Shinohara (his maternal grandfather was the first president of KBK) who
will be involved with the promotion of VF software in the future, and Mr
Shinichi Tachibana, a jolly, well meaning chap with an appealing
manner, who is on the marketing and sales team. Also a young lady,
Sayoko Kobayashi (Sally) Mr Nomura's secretary, joined us and for this
show is to be the smiling face of KBK. I will return to the new KBK
organisation later, however Nomura heads up the marketing side under
Inakatsu, whom I will meet tomorrow.
Lunch with Shingu at the sandwich bar in the centre, this centre is
huge and somewhat vulgar. A large, very large Samurai warrior astride a
huge white horse stands guard outside the building. It must be at least 20
feet high and very white, smooth and ugly. I tried hard to get Shingu to
get me a Personal Computer (PC) so that I can demonstrate PCOPERA.
252
Even this is now believed to be spurious
Vector Fields Ltd
385
He claimed that such machines were not widely available in Japan but I
was not convinced.
That evening there was a reception at the hotel for the foreign
guests. Karaoke singing was the entertainment. The Silvesters and I
declined but Biro sang (slightly off key) a German drinking song but two
Russians were marvellous, a soulful ballad from the Caucasus sung with
panache and sentiment. I stayed to hear the conference chairman sing,
pace Sinatra, ‗I did it my way‘; I decide that Uchikawa is rather pompous
in the Japanese way, fully conscience of his position and quite keen to
keep his underlings under control. It was a pity that the outstanding,
Morisue, was not invited!
The next morning at the conference I attended the optimisation
session, Sabbagh was good, full of the ‗moment method‘ as usual, but I
hated the Gottvald presentation, no mention of electromagnetics; PPS
thought he could have been optimising flies! Miya arrived and we had a
good talk agreeing to meet next week in Tokyo. Inakatsu and Nomura
also came during this talk and I joined them for coffee immediately after
the session, hoping for a good briefing. Yoshitaka Nomura is the
marketing manager of SDI (Systems Development & Integration
Operations) business Dev. Dept. and Shosaku Inakatsu is the general
manager of SDI so I suppose Nomura and Shingu both report to him but
more of this later. They told me about the new organisation and promised
substantial improvement in performance. He appeared constructive about
the PC versions. He said there were good prospects from Sumitomo HI
(Shikoku Island, inland sea) 90%, and Kawasaki HI (Tokyo) also
90%,.They would know by April, he also said, from now on, two persons
will be involved on VF business! Is all this smoke screen? He promised
an in-depth discussion in Tokyo next week.
I had lunch with Shingu and Sally at a local cafe, very tasty fried
rice; I told them the story of Madame Butterfly which seemed to enchant
Sally who comes from Yokohama. Shingu still not convinced about PC
software in Japan. At the banquet that evening to my delight I found
Nakata there who had specially travelled up to Nagoya to see me (or so
he said). We had a good discussion and made arrangements to meet in
Germany in April. The banquet began with speeches, a long winded one
from Uchikawa, but good natured and friendly, followed by a toast to the
committee by PPS, also long, a little laboured as is his style but well
received . Not much food but good convivial company. Miya and I had a
good talk about KBK politics. He suggested that he send a student to
VF.
Later Inakatsu, Nomura, Tachibana and I went out on the town at a
Karaoke bar and they all sang songs. I liked the Japanese songs best,
soulful and dramatic. We were hosted by a charming young lady, Aya,
386
delightful manners and pretty face. On Wednesday there was a poster
session on Advanced Computation, I thought Takagi's was excellent,
good technical content and attractively displayed. PPS had a rather dull
poster visually but rather a neat technical nuance on curvature of finite
elements.
The KBK stand is adequate but lacks variety in the examples
displayed. We must send them more. They do their best but our system
could be more eye-catching. Met several engineers from Toshiba who
expressed a strong interest in our, MRI and HF work. Many companies
showed interest.
In the afternoon I chaired the session on Advanced Computation.
Three papers, both Biro and PPS repeated earlier papers. PPS talked
about symbolic algebra programs and repeated word for word his IEE
talk. The best was Kameari who introduced a new algorithm for force
calculation, his rough style of delivery is quite interesting and made us
laugh, e.g. ‗I no like‘, ‗again no like‘, but finally, ‗this I like‘. He was
referring to Maxwell Stress, Coulomb's method, and lastly to his own
method.
At the wrap up session the poster prizes were distributed by
Uchikawa. Surprise-surprise PPS got one, but so did Takagi. Some of the
authors had earlier lobbied me for their votes, including the abrasive Dr
Saito from Tokyo University. It was sad that Kioshi Yoda, a very
intelligent and charming, fluent English speaking researcher from
Mitsubishi, was not given a prize, I thought his effort was of the best.
PPS said that the common denominator was McGill253. Nevertheless we
got on quite well together and he agreed to support the formation of a CE
Soc.
Weather was good so far, sunny days and not too cold, quite a
surprise for me, for once in Japan I was getting good views. I go to Osaka
today with Shingu-san. He collected me from the hotel at 10.00. We
caught the 10.20 Shinkansen to Sin-Osaka. It is a trial travelling with
him, he insists on smoking! I am too soft to stop him. On arrival we
checked in to the Seibu Members hotel, a good quality hotel, quite cheap
at KBK rate (Y5000), and better than Nagoya! We had a light lunch near
the hotel and caught local train to Tsukaguchi to visit MELCO.
On arrival we had a long walk from station, very vexing, we
crossed over railways, very dubious level crossing with no protection, I
was also gassed by the waste effluent from the local sweet factory,
Shingu said proudly; the largest sweet manufacturers in Japan—a
subsidiary of Mitsubishi. I had to address seminar of Mitsubishi people
from all parts of the company. This was 19th Seminar on Field
253
Uchikawa had been at McGill it was said.
Vector Fields Ltd
387
Computation and was attended by 11 people, including the pleasant Mr
Kiyoshi Yoda who impressed me at Nagoya. Another nice surprise was
the presence of Shiro Nakamura who came to RAL in 1980 and used
TOSCA—he remembered JS and me well and was very appreciative of
our help. He is probably the first TOSCA user in Japan. The seminar was
chaired by Dr-Ing. Shigekazu Sakabe the Electromechanics Group
manager, he was agreeable and helpful throughout. He thanked us for
looking after the four delegates to the TOSCA course last December at
VF. Three of them were present, including the delectable Mrs Toshie
Takeuchi (Shingu fancies this lady I think, but she is already spoken for)
who is to teach the Mitsubishi TOSCA course, Tetsuro Miura a theorist
and algorithm engineer, and Kimikazu Hazumi, a TOSCA user .
The meeting raised many important questions which I, for the most
part, was able to answer. Meeting went very well, there was interest in
High Frequency Magnetic Field effects (HF) from a Y Sato and the
prospects are good for VF business in the future. However their budget
is tight at the moment but they are hopeful to place orders for Elektra etc.
next year. They also want to discuss the PC products in more detail.
Afterwards we were entertained at the Mitsubishi social club for
dinner by Dr Sakabe, Mrs Takeuchi (who brought some special soup),
Tesuro Miura and others. Tesuro told me his other hobby was German
wine. The meal was thin strips of high quality beef, fried in an open
earthenware pot on a hot plate, which we dipped into raw egg. The beef
was interleaved with fried fresh vegetables. The dish is known as Suki
Yaki. Tasuei Nomura joined us later. I have known him since 1983 when
he visited RAL. I visited him here in 1987. We also met in Graz. He has
been a good supporter of our software from the beginning. He now works
at Osaka University but still collaborates with Mitsubishi and hopes to
use TOSCA again.
The next day we went by train to Sanda to visit MELCO Institute of
Technology where the TOSCA course will be given. This is a new
institute where they are going to educate their staff in all branches of
Engineering Science. The journey was typical of travel in Japan, trains,
nearly always full, a great deal of standing but the timings are accurate
and the service efficient. A day trip normally involves several changes on
to local lines, some of them private. Shingu always needs a smoking
section, again much to my discomfort. To day we changed once at Osaka
central and then went on quite a long journey to Sanda which is near the
mountains. In fact the scenery was interesting for a change, since most
routes I have been on to companies in the past are through densely
populated areas. Today we followed the course of wild rivers and
attractive foot hills. At Sanda, a new development, we were ringed, in the
distance, by snow capped mountains. The weather is still fine and sunny.
388
We took a taxi to the Institute which was situated far from town on a hill,
a splendid location.
We were met by Dr Eiichi Hirasawa, a senior staff member of the
electrical engineering department. He gave us a presentation of the work
at the institute; He then gave us a tour of the building, a complicated new
building of only 4 floors but with several wings set in spacious grounds
that are being landscaped. It is a Mitsubishi show place, but only for
MELCO, not M-HI, M-Motors or M-Atomic Power. There is residential
accommodation for the visiting students, up to good hotel standard. The
education facilities here are state of the art. Lecture rooms of varying
sizes, from class-room to lecture theatre. All equipped with advanced
visual aids, full colour on-line projection from the formidable array of
networked computers, including satellite links to all parts of the
Mitsubishi company, eventually to be global. In one of the TV studios, I
was placed at the lecturing position and could then see myself on
multiple TV screens, and presumably in any part of the building. My
lecture material could be my notes, computer output, slides, O/H's all
capable of being zoomed, etc.
Mrs Takeuchi joined us and she showed me TOSCA in a large class
room full of work stations. She is to teach the first TOSCA course here in
April. She needs more examples, could we send them some? I agreed to
help. We then went by Mitsubishi car to have lunch in Sanda at a famous
Japanese steak restaurant which entertains the diners by showing live
performances of Noh plays. Unfortunately, today there was no show but
the open country surroundings, no industry, and fine mountains in the
distance lent enchantment. The meal was excellent. The steak, I had a
fillet, was tender to a degree I have never experienced before. The staff
wore very traditional costumes and kept us supplied with good things. Dr
Hirasawa was a good host and told us more about MELCO, he said that
perhaps MELCO + MHI = Hitachi. Train back to Osaka, weather
changing, rain, or snow on the way. We caught the 3:30 PM Shinkansen
for Tokyo. Heavy snow developed on the way and when we arrived in
Tokyo there was chaos! Huge queues for taxis so we decided to get the
JR rail to Shinagawa to get to my hotel. I finally checked in the Pacific
Hotel at seven PM. I was really tired so had a snack meal and went to
bed. End of first week here, and first month of 1992.
The following day was Saturday but heavy snow seems to have
stopped the traffic. I tried to get money on my Access card using my pin
number for UK, no luck, the wretched machine kept my card! I
complained to the management and they promised to sort it out. It meant
calling out an engineer but the snow would prevent an early arrival. I
decided to call the AMEX office in Ginza and they said I could get
money direct from them.
Vector Fields Ltd
389
KBK had appointed MR Tachibana to take me out to see some
sights today but Shinohara-san called to say that he would come instead
as Tachibana was caught in the snow somewhere. Shinohara arrived mid
morning. He spoke with the management but the engineer had not yet
come. So we went to Ginza by train and I got some money. Next we went
to Akihabara to look at PC's, 386 equivalents, and at the LAOS store we
found that indeed they are available here, from Toshiba and Mitsubishi
etc. but at a significantly higher cost, I collected several brochures.
We returned in the slush to the hotel, I gave him lunch and then sent
him home; He lives at Yokohama, not too far away. Spent rest of the day
in and near the hotel, I looked around Wing, a department store and
rested in my room. I had supper in the sky lounge on the 31 floor. Heard
a girl singing with a good rock band, noisy but lively, the weather had
cleared and the view of Tokyo at night is quite something. I could see the
Towers at Shinjuku and The red Tokyo tower nearby.
During the night I awoke suddenly, thrown on to floor, earthquake!
The shaking lasted for nearly a minute and was quite frightening, I was
on the 21st. floor so the effect was quite dramatic, the building rocked
several times but the shock waves decayed rapidly. I opened the door and
people were doing the same as me, staring up and down the corridor, but
there was no panic—all part of the scene here! A message came over the
telephone, the voice said, ‗this is the manager speaking, do not worry this
hotel is designed to stand earthquake, all lifts have been stopped, if you
want to come down to the lobby please use stairs‘—and so on, a recorded
message, and one could imagine the manager to be miles away! I looked
out of the window and there was no activity at the vast Shinagawa
station, I then looked across the densely packed houses of the suburbs
and could see no signs of damage. So I went back to bed, there were
occasional tremors I thought, and later the TV reported that the quake
had been measured 5.7 on the Richter scale with only minor damage and
that only 30 people injured so far, people falling out of bed I suppose!
Rita and I were once in California when there was quake measuring 5.7
and several people were killed and extensive damage done. On that
occasion we had just taken off from San Francisco airport after visiting
Olek Zeinkeiwicz in Monterey who was there analysing earthquakes by
the finite element method.
The next day, Monday, Shingusan collected me to travel by train to
Chiba to visit Furikawa (Existing TOSCA and PE2D Customer). This
involved the usual tortuous journey by train across Tokyo, this time
toward Narita. We changed trains at Chiba a huge dormitory town and
took a local line to Ichihara. We had lunch near the station then we
endured a long wait for a taxi, lunch-time break for taxi men, and so we
eventually arrived late at Furikawa at 13:30. I visited this place once
390
before with JSW and CRIE in 1986, at that time Furikawa Oxford was
part of the group but now the Oxford Company is quite separate and has
moved to a different location together with Antony Ford. We were met
by Koji Mogami, Deputy Manager, whom I don't think we met last time,
he was very welcoming and quite lively. He was joined by Akio Kimura,
senior engineer, who we did meet in 1986; he was, at that time, a Quality
Assurance Engineer. They both had had contact with Alan Armstrong but
not since the OMT-Siemens merger.
Koji Mogami made several good remarks about TOSCA and PE2D
and they both expressed a strong interest in ELEKTRA. I was asked to
explain the functionality and algorithms used. They hope to include
ELEKTRA in their next year‘s budget, March 92/93. They would like to
see more examples in our documentation, etc. like ANSYS (this comes
up again and again). They have been looking at the ANSYS
documentation and feel that VF could do better. A training course in
Japan for Furikawa is a possibility that they are keen on, say five persons.
We returned to Tokyo, to KBK offices. I insisted on going there to try
and motivate them about PC OPERA. Nomura tried to find me a
machine. We tried two, a Toshiba lap top but this machine didn't have a
VGA screen. Then a desktop 386 but there was no mouse available—
very unsatisfactory. Brief meeting with Inakatsu, his attitude annoyed me
as he appears not to grasp the significance of our new policy and kept
distancing himself. He started cancelling meetings for me that had been
scheduled for later in the week. I want to meet his in-line managers! On
my way out I told Shingusan that he should impress upon Inakatsu that I
want to speak with him seriously about VF/KBK relationship and that he
should contact me by telephone at my hotel to make an appointment. I
was feeling very annoyed and was debating whether to contact Rikei
Corp to explore other arrangements. I returned to the hotel.
I called JSW to talk things over with him. I took a bath and during
this the phone rang, it was Nomura. He said that Inakatsu would come
and see me now at the hotel! So my displeasure must have registered.
In the event I failed to have a quiet conversation with Inakatsu on my
own, as both Nomura and Tachibana came too, safety in numbers I
suppose. We had dinner at the hotel but the noise of the band prevented
decent conversation, but they assured me they would do what they could
to promote VF business. At least I may have cleared the air a little for
better discussions later on in the week.
The next day I took a Taxi to Tokyo station to meet Shingusan. We
were to take the Joetsu-Shinkansen to Kumagaya to visit Hitachi Metals
(Existing TOSCA Customer). We failed to meet, I was told to be at the
Shinkansen ticket office which was outside the inner station system
(Tokyo station is really huge), but Shingu was inside at some other ticket
Vector Fields Ltd
391
office. Eventually we met after frantic telephone calls to KBK office. We
missed the train but caught a later one. We bought nice box lunches to eat
on the train. The cut sandwiches here are tasty and quite like our style in
UK. Kumagaya is beyond the Tokyo conurbation and is a middle size
city near the mountains. A lengthy taxi journey through very narrow
streets finally took us to HML. I had come here before, 13 April, 1988,
and according to Shingu that first visit led to them signing for TOSCA
and subsequently CSB visited Kumagaya to install it.
It was a very large factory and research complex. We had to go to
the lab where TOSCA is used and this necessitated the changing of shoes
etc. and then a long uncomfortable walk through many huge open offices.
Finally we reached the traditional eastern conference room with those
very large covered arm chairs and green tea. Our host was Takuzo Shiba,
last time it was N. Goushi who was very receptive then and I was
disappointed not to see him to day. However Mr Oda was also present
and he remembered me and said he was an enthusiastic TOSCA user.
They were interested in ELEKTRA which I described. They want
more information on Voltage driven problems, motion term and nonlinearity. We should write to them stating the current position. They will
try and include ELEKTRA in next year‘s budget but Hitachi is a very
slow company in purchase matters. Shingu rates it as 60%. We saw a
good demo of TOSCA on the IBM power station very impressive with an
elaborate model. We returned to Tokyo on the Shinkansen. A horrible
journey as we had to stand most of the way. Then we had another nasty
local rail trip to Kawasaki to visit Toshiba (New prospect). I gave Shingu
a hard time; there was much walking in the heavy rain. We arrived late.
Shinohara was already there. We were received by Toshiyuki
Taniguchi, deputy manager, scientific applications. He was accompanied
by Atsuko Baba a young lady. This is a first contact so they wanted
detailed information on all our products. They asked many questions and
Taniguchi proved to be very knowledgeable. He asked detailed questions
about the need for two potentials, etc. in TOSCA, also he knew well the
ANSYS code. His questions were shrewd and he explained they were
doing a intensive code evaluation for Toshiba requirements, both on
work stations and Cray, they would provide bench mark problems. The
main application areas are very broad but include MRI. They are aware
of our good reputation in this area and he said that he had received good
reports from Toshiba people, who attended the Nagoya conference, about
our software. Other applications are High frequency, EMC etc., Eddy
currents, motion, the complete system in fact! He was also very positive
about our integrated systems, PCOPERA, OPERA2D with the stress and
thermal solvers.
392
They showed a strong interest in VF and made copies of several
reports and inspected the colour pictures very carefully. They also asked
for a copy of my book. I felt we had made a good impression and I am
sure we will be assessed very carefully by the experts here who I think
are of top quality. Our edge in MRI and 3D solutions will, I think,
eventually secure this business.
On Wednesday we visited IHI (an existing customer, TOSCA and
Elektra) this morning at Otemachi. Shingu collected me at 10.00 and we
were in the building next to the Maranouchi Hotel opposite the KBK
main offices by 1100. Shinohara came too. I first visited IHI April 18,
1988, and I remember being entertained well on that occasion by Mr
Kohno and Mr Ueseka (an old friend). These two have now both left so
today we met new people, Hiroshi Ukikusa, Manager Advanced
Technology Development Dept, Masayuki Takabe, particle accelerator
group, and Mizuho Ida, advanced technical department. IHI now have
several new users to train since Ueseka has left (he is now with Miya at
Tokyo university, I will see them both tomorrow) and they made a strong
request for Japanese version of the manuals. They also would like to see
more data input checks to trap user errors. They are interested in courses
in Japan also.
They were encouraging about maintaining the links with VF and
showed some interest in PC-OPERA. The meeting was concluded with
an excellent lunch in their executive restaurant, I once again admired the
scope of IHI activities from ship building to table top cyclotrons.
In the afternoon we went to KBK at SDI, NF Park Building, for a
meeting. This is what I had been waiting for; to judge just how positive
they intend to be in the future. Present at the meeting were the following:
Inakatsu, Nomura, Shinohara, Shingu, and Tachibana (later). I was
annoyed that Yamada was not present but I decided to hear what they had
to say. I requested that a record of the meeting be made and Shinohara
was appointed to write minutes, but they turned out be little more than an
Agenda. Inakatsusan described the SDI set-up, Systems Development
and Integration Operations. The role of the Engineering department is not
clear. What is clear, however, is that Shingusan will not be involved too
much in marketing and that Mr Nomura is now a key figure. I also got
the impression that in April he will be in overall charge of Business Dev.
But where does that leave Inakatsu?
I asked for their opinion on the marketability of the products. They
agreed with our price order of Y2M for PC-OPERA, but were concerned
about detracting from the existing market for work-stations. They are in
favour of limited functionality. But could see the advantage in portable
use for pre and post processing for full sized problems and transferring
data to larger machines for solutions. I had shown them that suitable m/c
Vector Fields Ltd
393
e.g. 386/486 etc. are available in Japan. Both Toshiba and MELCO
make them, and that there is interest by the customer community. KBK
agree to prepare a detailed strategy in a few weeks. I was impressed by
Nomurasan's attitude throughout this discussion.
The Japanising of manuals was discussed at great length. It was said
that it would cost Y5M to do it by a professional company and a poor
result was probable. It would far better to use Takagi (Sendai U.) or
Uesaka (Tokyo U.). Nomura said the cost should be recovered from 10%
of software cost. KBK will consult with these groups as a matter of
urgency. They requested a copy of the VF Japanese Mail Shot list.
Another course on the lines of the one CSB and I did at Ikebukuro should
be repeated and June or July this year was suggested. I emphasised the
need for another technical back-up person in Japan, someone fully
trained at VF for an extended period. Maybe a specialist person from one
of leading universities in the EM area, Tokyo, Okayama, Sendai,
Sapporo, Nagoya etc. could work 1 year at VF then join KBK. Shingusan
asked for an example set for all the VF software to be sent. I agreed that
this was a common request from all the companies we visited and that I
would try and arrange this when I return to Oxford.
Market research was not carried out in Japan in a systematic way; I
was assured that the new SDI organisation will change this. I asked if the
VF business was cost effective for KBK. They said yes! They are
promising 5/6 new licenses in 92/93. I reminded Inakatsu of his promise
to us in Oxford last year. He gave me a wry smile. We then reviewed the
PC product again. They would like a demo disk as soon as possible and
also they asked if it is possible to make a version that runs on the near
compatible Japan machine e.g. NEC.
Tachibana had arrived late, out of breath; he had legged to Toshiba
and Canon to see the Munro Electron Optics contacts. He really exceeded
his brief! I had only asked him to call them on the telephone to arrange
an appointment for me to call them. He actually visited both places
today; I think this may well embarrass me. Anyhow, he spoke with Dr
Yamazaki at Toshiba who said that in Japan the Munro software is well
established and marketed by JEOL NIPON DENSHI, no surprises there.
Toshiba bought it, last year, for a Sun W/S. He said it is good product
and he has made a modification for his own application.
Tachibana then went to NEC to see Dr Ishida, he found out that the
software was installed on a PC by Eric and he paid $50,000. He said the
software is very good. The following day I telephoned NEC and Toshiba
to make my peace for Tachibana's visit. They must have thought I was
trying to get the VF agents to sell them VF products. Both thought the
software good but could be extended. I said I would send a questionnaire
to them both by Fax. Shingu and I are to visit TOKO today (New
394
Prospect). We first went by Taxi to Ikebukero and then caught a local
train to Tsurugashimashi, about 50Km from Tokyo in a NW direction.
Here we found a compact company specialising in small electrical
devices downsizing to components for electronic circuits, transformers,
inductors etc. Our two hosts, H Fujisawa and Mr Aida had very little
English. They let us tell them about the VF products in detail. They
would like to do Hysteresis one day but at the present time are concerned
with basics. They are new, new to FE computations and wish to get
started. The bench marks we did were very satisfactory giving good
results.
After a two hour session they then announced that their company
only wanted one system to do all, so they have decided to buy ANSYS.
They had also looked at Magnet but thought VF was the best in EM. I
have a feeling they will be back to us later on though when the going gets
tough. We then returned to Tokyo, all day I had been insisting on
meeting Yamada since he didn't come to the meeting yesterday. I felt
aggrieved that they, and I believe Inakatsu, was trying to prevent the
meeting. I was now told that he would not be joining us for the final
dinner tonight. But I might be able to see him later in the afternoon at
Otemachi. I suspected that Inakatsu had primed Shingu not to bring me to
the KBK offices until the last minute and in any case to keep me down
stairs until he, Inakatsu, arrived. I was furious, so I ignored all this and
went straight up to Yamada's office leaving Shingu stranded. He
immediately agreed to see me.
We had met some years ago when he was the KBK manager in
London. We talked over coffee in his conference room. He is certainly
several cuts above Inakatsu; we had a frank exchange of views. I didn't
complain directly about Inakatsusan but welcomed the positive points
about Nomura and the new organisation. I also took the opportunity to
praise Shingu, who really does his level best. It was agreed that VF
should relate directly to Yamadasan in future if necessary. He assured me
that he would make sure that KBK will promote the PC product but he
didn't want to reduce the work station sales, of course we agree about
this. He also listened very keenly to me and was concerned that we have
not done too well in Japan of late. He assured me that the new business
development group would be more active on our behalf and that he will
be supervising things personally.
Inakatsusan arrived, very flustered, with Shingu, and there was
much bowing and scraping to the top dog. Yamadasan then spoke quietly
but severely to them both for several minutes and they sat quietly heads
bowed. He then apologised for not being able to join us tonight and we
said our farewells. I like him, he appears sincere and of course his
command of English is better than the others by far.
Vector Fields Ltd
395
We went to the Maranouchi hotel for dinner. Miya came and we had
a quiet drink together with Inakatsu in the bar. We discussed our new 2D
integrated system, Miya made many suggestions to Inakatsu, in Japanese,
about possible future customers. We then went on to the translation
issue, Miya said he would give this serious thought; he is a consultant to
KBK after all. Mrs Miya then arrived, she greeted me warmly and we
discussed what had happened to us since we last met at her house 1989.
Uesaka then came and also Nomura and we went in to dinner. There was
a very bad moment when Uesaka asked me about VF selling his
software. This led Miya to a long outburst of venom. He rated his man,
Uesaka, in the most comprehensive manner. Of course I couldn't'
understand a word but Miya made himself clear nonetheless. Uesaka had
committed a major gaff in discussing such things at dinner and without
prior consultation with his superior. It is indeed remarkable how
hierarchical pecking order still works in Japan. Uesaka sat in humble
silence, head bowed, as he was soundly ticked off.
I excused myself and went to the loo. When I returned all was well,
the bad moment had past. Uesaka had taken his admonishment well and
they were all chatting happily once again. I enjoyed Mrs Miya
conversation, we discussed Japanese writers a little, I only know about
three, in particular, the book she gave me at the time of Compumag
Tokyo, called Silence, which I liked a lot, it was concerned the life of the
Japanese Jesuits in sixteenth century.
I was asked at one stage if I could explain Japanese success in the
modern world. I uttered the usual platitudes. I said I thought it was a
combination of their amazing ability to copy and improve, together with
their strong feeling for a hierarchical work ethic, coupled with their
custom of not taking that much out of the system for themselves.
Enough, we said our good byes until next time and I went back to the
hotel, I walked with Nomura and Uesaka to Tokyo station. On the way I
commiserated with Uesaka but he said, ‗Bill you shouldn't worry‘.
Today is Friday and I go home. To my surprise I was upgraded to
Club class at Narita so the return flight was more comfortable than I had
expected and I arrived safely, DG. Arigato Gozaimas (Thank-you).
My conclusions on this very hard trip were as follows. I came here
expecting to have some problems with KBK, but in the end I am
somewhat reassured by their new management structure. On the positive
side I welcome the personal influence of Mr Yamada. He has chosen a
good team on the business development side. Mr Nomura and Mr
Shinohara are both energetic and appear to be well motivated. Mr Shingu
will continue on technical support and will be less involved in business
development. On a personal level I found Shingusan most agreeable and
co-operative at all times.
396
I made good contact with our existing customers who I think will
continue to do business with us. There are several new prospects; most
exciting is Toshiba, but also Kawasaki Heavy Industry who are interested
in velocity effects.
My bottom line recommendation was that we persevere with KBK
but we must keep matters under review. Longer term considerations must
include more courses and Japanese manuals, and possibly of training a
Japanese expert here to join KBK later. They are promising substantial
business growth for 92/93.
A Winter Journey to Finland
The next event for me was to travel to Finland for Lauri Kettunen‘s
thesis examination. I set out on February 12th for Tampere via Helsinki
and was met at Tampere airport by Lauri at five pm. He took me to the
Hotel Cumulus in centre of town adjacent the fast flowing river that
connects two lakes. Very cold here, -12 degrees Centigrade maybe, with
deep snow and very wintery. The experience is like a time warp for me,
last time I experienced such weather was in Canada many years ago. In
England the coldest had been 1947 but not like this. The lakes here are
frozen solid and to say the least it is fresh! Lauri took me to a good
restaurant for dinner and we chatted about his ordeal to come but he is a
much organised young man and does not show any sign of worry. The
readiness is all. He left me at the hotel together with a tailed suit that he
had hired for me. The room is sparse but has everything that one needs.
I began the next day shopping for warmer clothes, scarf, gloves etc
at the superbly stocked ‗Stockmans‘ department store. At eleven I met
Lauri and Larry Turner who had arrived earlier. We went to the
Technical University to meet Profs. Erikson and Pohjavirta; after lunch
with Erikson I gave my lecture on the History of the RAL group. The
lecture appeared to go well and there was a good discussion afterwards.
In the evening we went to Erikson‘s house for dinner— a large bungalow
on the outskirts of town; all wooden floors in the Scandinavian Style.
Other guests were Lauri‘s father and mother and Dr Pohjavirta. Mrs
Erikson was charming and had prepared a somewhat formal meal but
really nice. Erikson and I discussed the format for the thesis exam; we
had to send Lauri away!
The following day, Friday 14th was St Valentine‘s Day and also
Lauri‘s big day. We began by dressing up; Tail-Coat and White Tie—
putting on the style. We took a Taxi to the University and found a crowd
of people all ready seated in the hall, Lauri‘s Mum and Dad, his jazz
band, two brothers, faculty members, Students, girl friends et al. Then the
Candidate, the Chairman and I (The examiner) processed formally to the
Vector Fields Ltd
397
platform and Lauri‘s ordeal began. After Erikson introduced us it seemed
it was pretty well up to me so I invited Lauri to summarise his thesis
project which he did most precisely in English (thank goodness). It was
very appropriate that Larry Turner should be present as the work was
largely carried out during Lauri‘s time at Argonne National Lab when he
was closely associated with Larry and the use of Integral Methods. Larry
and I had pioneered Integral Methods many years ago (1970) which
resulted in the GFUN code and to a small degree this is how Lauri‘s
work began, as he says in his thesis,
‘ The incentive for this work arose in a discussion I had with L.
Turner and C.W. Trowbridge in which we decided that it is worthwhile to
check if there is something to do for integral methods with the knowledge
of finite elements we have nowadays’.
The title of the Thesis ‗Volume Integral Formulations for Three
Dimensional Electromagnetic Field Computation‘ is innocent enough
but, as Lauri soon demonstrated in his introduction his work involved
applying the so called Whitney Forms254 (or edge elements as they are
often called), to the electromagnetic problem formulated by integral
equations. As Alan Bossavit255 had already shown these forms were very
effective in finite element formulations of the standard differential
equations and Albanese & Rubinacci256 had applied them to the problem
of Eddy Currents in non-magnetic materials using current flow integral
equations for a number of special cases. He stressed that his guiding
principle was to construct ‗well posed‘ problems, i.e. problems which
have the correct physical continuity conditions and the right number of
unknowns and equations. After he had outlined the work I asked him to
tell us what the new contributions to the subject he had made. This is
always very difficult question to answer in areas of front-line research, as
overall progress is not smooth and the best ideas nearly always have
more than one originator— there is nothing new under the sun principle.
254
First proposed by H Whitney: Geometric Integration Theory, Princeton Univ. Press,
1957. This class of mathematical objects originally had nothing to do with finite elements; it is
an example of lateral thinking.
255
A Bossavit,‘ Whitney Forms: a class of finite elements for three dimensional
computations in electromagnetism, IEE Proc.,Vol.135, Pt.A, No.8, November 1988, pp. 493507 and many earlier papers
256
R Albanese, G Rubinacci: Integral formulation for 3D eddy-current computation
using edge-elements, IEE Proc., Vol 135, Pt.A, No. 7, September 1988
398
Plate 139 : Lauri defends his Thesis
Lauri believed, and I was convinced of this, that he had devised a
procedure (A Graph Tree) which led to a reduced number of unknowns
and to a simpler numerical algorithm for practical implementation on the
computer without violating the strict rules of continuity. This was a
major advance for solving problems with non-linear magnetic materials
over that originally developed in the GFUN code for example.
I managed to keep the show running for two hours by which time
everyone was exhausted and in need of refreshment. Lauri did very well
and I had no hesitation in awarding him a ‗pass with commendation‘
which pleased everyone concerned. Over lunch I spoke with Lauri‘s
mentor Armo Pohjavirta, who started Lauri out on his quest years ago as
young student, who seemed delighted by the outcome, as were his
colleagues in general, in fact everyone seemed pleased. We then returned
to the hotel for a rest before going to a dinner apparently in my honour at
a nearby hotel. At the dinner were Lauri‘s father and two brothers (one a
Lutheran Minister, the other a male nurse), Pohjavirta and Erikson, Lauri,
Larry and me. It was a convivial evening at which I was told it was the
Vector Fields Ltd
399
usual practice to throw the examiner into the river afterwards but as I was
a foreigner I was exempt.
The next day Armo collected Larry and me and took us on a trip to
see the winter sights of the forests, lakes and rivers; Armo an inspiring
teacher with a deep knowledge of theory of Electromagnetism told us
how proud he was of Lauri. We also learnt a little about Tampere: it is
the third largest city in Finland and the largest inland city in Scandinavia,
it lies on an isthmus situated between Lake Näsijärvi, which
reaches far to the north, and Lake Pyhäjärvi in the south. The
Tammerkoski rapids that run through Tampere connect the two
lakes with a fall of 18 metres. The rapids became important as a way
of making hydropower. During the 19th century Tampere grew
rapidly to be an industrial centre, and in the latter part of the
century the town had almost half of Finland's industrial labour,
earning it the nickname Manchester of the North, founded by
Scottish immigrant James Finlayson in 1820, helped Tampere
grow into thriving industrial city. Nowadays central Tampere is
characterized by old red-brick industrial buildings, most of them
housing offices, restaurants, and cultural activities. Armo also took
us to see the landmark Näsinneula tower, topped by the inevitable
revolving restaurant, however terrific views of the surrounding country
were to be seen from the top.
That evening we went to see Lauri‘s parents and enjoyed a
Kettunen family dinner and discovered that Lauri‘s father was not only a
distinguished Chemical Engineer but a keen amateur genealogist and he
gave me a small book he had written about his family history with an
unbroken line stretch back into the sixteenth century. We also learnt a
little about the mythology of the Finnish nation and the Kalevaia a
collection of 32 cantos that had been compiled from the oral poetry
surviving from the peoples that lived in the North Eastern part of Finland.
Not only did these stories inspire the great Finnish composer Sibelius but
also at about the same time the late romantic painter Akseli GallenKallelea. Lauri showed us a print of the painting depicting a young man
blowing a huge reindeer horn which looked remarkably like a younger
Lauri himself, indeed a copy of this picture adorned the dedication page
of his thesis.
The next day, Sunday, Lauri drove us to Helsinki, on the way he
stopped at Sibelius house at Ainola but found it closed for the winter.
‗You must come back in the summer‘, Lauri said and we both said we
would try to, one day. He took us to the airport and we said our farewells,
I to London and Larry to Chicago. It had been an enjoyable experience.
400
Back to earth at Kidlington to write Lauri‘s thesis report, and to plan
software course using PC-OPERA at Kings with Charles Turner and Ted
Deeley. At long last we had a product that ran on a personal computer—
a great step forward. There were also the frequent meetings to progress
the IDAM & MIDAS projects with our European partners and at the end
of the month the short course on CEM, this time organised by Dinah
under the VF umbrella, was to be held in Berlin. The particle physics
conference (EPAC) was also being held in Berlin the week before and
David Carpenter would be attending to manage the VF exhibition.
Thomotronic our agents in Germany were sending a graduate student
from Aachen, Klaus Hoeffer, to help David and he would also be
attending our course the following week so was able to install the
software for the course demonstrations.
Accordingly Molinari, Richter and I met up with Arnulf Kost from
Technical University of Berlin at the Kempinski Hotel on Sunday 29th
March. I had been met at the airport by Klaus, who had all the equipment
for the computer demonstrations in the back of his van, and he rapidly
transferred me to the hotel. The course was a lively affair with some
tough questions from the attendees but on the whole was stimulating;
Arnulf was an excellent chairman as well as a great host; he organised a
trip to the opera to hear Aida and also to quiet bar where we were
entertained by ‗Weimar-Republic‘ cabaret style singer who was
marvellous. I enjoyed the company of Giorgio, Kurt and Arnulf, as we all
seem to share similar views; we discussed again the idea of forming a
society for CEM researchers and I received enthusiastic support for the
meeting I was convening to discuss this in Vienna in May.
All of this however was overshadowed by the news I received on the
Friday before leaving for Berlin, which had informed me that VF is to be
to be awarded a Queen‘s Award for Technological Achievement for
1992. This was very heartening news, we all felt honoured and it gave us
publicity and pleasure; we agreed to have the ceremony at the office so
all concerned could be involved.
To make the occasion special we decided to erect a temporary
marquee attached to the offices to allow our many guests to enjoy a
buffet lunch. Apart from the prestige of this award, which lasts for five
years, the company is allowed to display the distinctive Queens Award
Logo on its products, publications and documentation, in addition to
exhibition displays, ties and flags. The occasion passed off very smoothly
and I believe was enjoyed by everyone present. It was especially pleasing
to welcome David Thomas (ICST, formerly RAL) who had been the
guiding spirit at RAL for CAG for many years.
Vector Fields Ltd
401
Plate 140: Presentation of the Queens Award
VECTOR FIELDS257 is honoured to be chosen to receive the 1992
Queen's Award for Technological Achievement. The award was
announced on April 21st, the Queen's Birthday. The Queen's Awards
have been in existence since 1965 and are awarded annually for
Technological and Export Achievement. To receive the award a
Company has to meet stringent criteria which not only demonstrate an
advance in technology, but also evidence of commercial success. The
actual presentation ceremony was at the VF offices at Kidlington, Oxford
on June 16th. After an introduction by Marketing Director John Whitney,
the Queen's representative in the county of Oxfordshire Sir Ashley
Ponsonby, the Lord Lieutenant, presented the award to Vector Fields
Chairman Bill Trowbridge on behalf of the company. In his presentation
speech Sir Ashley praised the company in its achievement particularly
considering its size. Out of the 37 companies to receive the award this
year Vector Fields is one of the smallest, a considerable accomplishment
which reflects the excellence of the technical team. The citation of the
award specifically mentions the ELEKTRA and OPERA packages which
are also receiving tremendous commercial success in world markets.
257
From the Vector Fields Newsletter, Vol 10., No. 1, 1994
402
Plate 141: The VF Staff with Sir Ashley Ponsonby
L to R Standing: David Carpenter, Chris Biddlecombe, Cris Emson, Sir Ashley, Chris
Riley, Bryan Colyer; Seated: Rachida, John Whitney, Bill, John Simkin, Julie, Dinah
In my acceptance speech I traced the history of the company from
its roots at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and thanked the many
collaborators, suppliers and customers for their support and paid tribute
to the dedication of the staff.
After the ceremony Sir Ashley, Lady Martha and the guests,
consisting of technical collaborators, suppliers, staff members and
families and local customers, saw a demonstration of the software by our
Managing Director John Simkin and inspected a display of photographs
of products designed using VF software kindly donated by customers
from all over the world. Finally the buffet lunch was served in the
Marquee, giving the event something of the atmosphere of a garden
party. One of our guests was Charles Turner, the William Siemens
Professor of Electrical Engineering at Kings College who contributed a
short account of the work we had been doing with his students in my role
as a visiting professor at Kings; Charles wrote in the Vector Newsletter258
the following:
258
PC-OPERA at Kings College, Charles Turner, VECTOR Vol. 8, No. 2, 1992
Vector Fields Ltd
403
Plate 142: PC-OPERA at Kings College
Earlier this year Vector Fields latest product PC-OPERA was used
as a teaching tool by Bill Trowbridge at Kings College during his short
course on numerical methods for our second year students in
electromagnetics. The climax of the course was a session when all 32
students were able to have hands on use of PC-OPERA using our
network of PC (386) machines to solve an electrostatic problem by the
finite element method. This is the first time that an industry-standard
software package has been used at Kings for whole-class teaching.
The students were given a strip-line capacitor problem to solve.
They were able to create the model, generate the finite element mesh, and
apply the boundary conditions. Models created were of the order 1000
quadratic elements and were then solved using PC-Opera’s static
analysis program. Post-processing of the results then followed in which
the students generated field maps and line plots using the software. In
particular they were able to note the electric field discontinuities at the
dielectric surfaces and verify the capacitance per unit length of the
device.
The practical session has given our students additional insights into
numerical methods and illustrated many of the points covered in Bill's
lecture as well as my course as a whole. Two of my research students
404
also joined in the session and will be using the software on more
advanced problems associated with our collaboration with Vector Fields.
On the 6th of July I had a call from Adrian de Hoop to tell me that I
had been elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of
Arts and Sciences I was completely surprised at this great honour. I
immediately detected Simon Polak‘s hand in this as he had asked for my
CV a year ago and Dinah told me later that Adrian had contacted her for
the latest CV as well. Adrian said he had be asked to present the official
letter to me personally and as he would be in Oxford on July 29th with his
partner Analise, who was working on a research project at the Bodleian
library, for a brief visit. I said that Rita and I would be honoured if they
could be our guests. We arranged a small lunch party at the Woodstock
Arms on 29 July. We had an excellent lunch and Adrian presented me
with the official letter and also said I should arrange to visit the Academy
in Amsterdam and present my work at some future date; this I agreed
readily to do.
My brother Peter came for the weekend of August 15th; it was good
to have him on his own this time as I wanted to talk to him about his
memories of our old family life in Lymington in the 1930‘s, to aid me in
my projected auto-biography. He had recently sold his business in
Parkstone and was now living quietly in Poole with his wife Hilda, who
being several years older did not wish to travel far these days. Rita liked
Peter and they always got on; I always thought that Peter had a special
talent when it came to the ladies. Our daughter Dinah was singing
regularly for Choirs in Oxford and, during the summer of recent years,
had performed with Stowe Opera (a country house season at Stowe
School) this year they were doing Don Giovanni in which she sang in the
chorus; the musicians involved were amateur and semi-professional from
the Oxford Area and Rita and I liked to go, we would dress up
‗Glyndebourne Style‘ and picnic in the grounds during the long interval.
Rita and I had a lovely break in North Wales in September, staying
at the little climber‘s hotel at Pen-y-Gwryd, primitive but bracing with
good food and many fine walks. Later in the month Simon and I escaped
to the lakes for two days intense climbing. Also in September Giorgio‘s
group came en masse for detailed discussions on the IDAM project and
we had a party for them all at D‘Arcy‘s Field where they presented me
with a set of CDs of the music of Paganini, Genoa‘s own composer. One
member of their team, Piergiorgio Alotto, was about to join VF staff as a
software development engineer, a welcome addition.
Earlier in the year I was told that the IEE were going to award me
the 1992 Achievement Medal and, as the following piece from the IEE
Vector Fields Ltd
405
News makes clear, this was in recognition of the work of my colleagues
as well.
Achievement Award 1992 Science, Education& Technology259
The Science, Education & Technology Division Achievement Award
for 1992 has been awarded to Prof. Charles William Trowbridge in
recognition of his and his colleagues' outstanding contributions to
electromagnetic computation, for their help in providing computing
services to others, and for their efforts in promoting and supporting IEE
activities.
Prof. Trowbridge's group has won worldwide recognition for its
major contributions to the numerical solution of electromagnetic fields,
starting more than 20 years ago and retaining a leadership position as
the needs and interest in the area have expanded. Original work at the
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, where he was appointed group leader
of computer applications in 1971, followed by his chairmanship of Vector
Fields Ltd. from 1984 has provided sustained and effective leadership in
developing some of the best known of the large variety of magnetic-field
computer packages which are now available.
The value of the early software in solving problems in the
technology of large magnets used in particle physics, and the like,
rapidly established Prof. Trowbridge’s reputation, and by 1970 he was
being invited to give lectures internationally: His personal initiative in
the organisation of the first Compumag conference in 1976 was reflected
in his position as chairman, and his drive and enthusiasm did much to
ensure its continuing success and its international role.
The group was very active in making the Rutherford laboratory
computing services and software available to academic institutions in the
UK, and this did much to help foster a wider interest and capability in
electromagnetics computation. It also led to much used computer links,
and user group meetings played an important part in the exchange of
information among a large body of academics and others.
When changes at the Rutherford Laboratory forced a reduction in
activity there in 1984, Prof. Trowbridge and his colleagues took a major
risk in setting the group up as an independent commercial venture,
Vector Fields Ltd This has continued the software support and
development programme with great national and international success.
One of the ways in which the importance of the group has been
recognised is by requests to serve on the Committee of IEE Professional
Group S8 (Electromagnetics), which Prof. Trowbridge has strongly
259
IEE News 7 January 1993
406
supported both as a member and as chairman. Other members of his
group have provided continuing representation on the Committee over
many years, despite the cost which this represents to a small company,
and all have been very active as Committee members.
Plate 143: IEE Achievement Award 199, 22 November 1992
There was good progress on the proposed Southampton Teaching
Company project which was approved for funding. This was timely as
the Oxford Brookes scheme with John Long had now successfully
completed and indeed we had recruited the Teaching Company associate
Rachida to join VF as a development engineer. We interviewed
candidates for the associate on Nov 6th and selected Simon Taylor an
Oxford graduate engineer.
On November 6th I made a sentimental journey to Lymington to see
Fred Webster, see Volume 1, page 66, Fred and I had been close friends
as youngsters and I had been the best man at his wedding. He served in
Korea and stayed on in the army for 12 years but we had not met for over
thirty years. I found him much the same; settled in a house in
Buckland— quite near the site of my Grandfather‘s little farm. He and
his wife Joyce were very welcoming and we reminisced about the old
days for hours. Fred was a plumber in the town for most of his working
life but now had a part time job with the local undertaker. He proudly
showed me his small electric organ and played it for me, he was always
musical and as kids we explored classical music together.
On the 18th of November I received a letter from the Prime Ministers
office informing me I was being considered for an OBE in the New Year
Honours list; this was indeed the climax of a remarkable year.
Vector Fields Ltd
407
1993
The announcement in the New Years Honours list duly appeared
and the many letters of congratulations I received gave me much
pleasure; even my dear Rita was impressed but in truth the gong was just
as much for her as she had guided me so well for more than 40 years.
Turning up for work at Vector Fields on Monday 4th of January I found
that John and Sue had prepared a huge banner of congratulations which
adorned the front of the building, which made reflect on the help my
closest colleagues had give me. I heard somewhere, ―OBE that means
‗Other Buggers Efforts, doesn‘t it‘ — too true‖.
One of my main activities for VF had been in the promotion and
managing our external projects and I wrote the following short article in
our Newsletter summarising their status:
The next three years will see several major enhancements to our
suite of electromagnetics design software based on the results from three
new joint projects with end-user companies and academic institutions.
Two of these new initiatives are sponsored by the European ESPRIT and
EUREKA programmes respectively and the third is a new UK Teaching
Company scheme. Vector Fields has been involved in several
collaborative ventures since 1986, for example the three Esprit projects
ACCORD, BECAUSE and lDAM which have now been successfully
completed. Regular progress reports on these have appeared in previous
issues of VECTOR260.
The new ESPRIT project is to be known as MIDAS and is an
acronym for Magnetic Integrated Design Analysis System. The main
objective of this project as far as VF is concerned is to develop and then
to exploit an advanced prototype pre-and-post-processing environment
for three dimensional analysis (e.g. TOSCA, ELEKTRA etc.). This system
will include a new 3-D geometric modeller and automatic mesh
generator and will be interfaced to a data base management system that
uses the emerging STEP (STandard for Exchange of Product data)
standard. The other partners of MIDAS are Ansaldo Ricerche of Genoa,
LABEIN of Bilbao, University of Genoa, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
and Cranfield Innstitute of Technology. The Vector Fields component of
the work will be under the general management of Bryan Colyer and will
involve several members of the R&D team.
The Eureka project is under the JESSI (Joint European Sub-micron
Silicon Initiative) sub-programme on applications and is the second
phase in the development of an EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility)
260
Accord Project, VECTOR Volume 5, No 1 and Volume 6, No 1. lDAM Project,
VECTOR Volume 7, No 3. Project Update Reports, VECTOR Volume 8 No 1.
408
work-bench already started. Our partners in this project are Philips
Eindhoven and Redhill as well as Kings College London and others in
Europe. This contract is concerned with the development of algorithms to
compute high frequency radiation effects and will extend the range of
applicability of ELEKTRA. The work will be directed by Cris Emson and
will involve Professor Ted Deeley's team at Kings College London.
The new Teaching Company (TC) is with the University of
Southampton and is also for three years. We were encouraged to apply
for this project following the success of our first Teaching Company with
Oxford Brookes University (Formerly Oxford Polytechnic)261The basic
idea of these projects, jointly funded by the DTI and SERC together with
a company, is to provide a two way interchange of expertise between
industry and a teaching establishment. The central objective of the work
is to create application-specific program modules to interface with our
existing finite element software packages. These will establish strongly
supportive user environments for performing design studies of selected
generic classes of electromechanical devices. The principal investigator
on behalf of the university is Dr Jan Sykulski and a new graduate from
Oxford University, Simon Taylor, has been appointed as the TC
Associate to carry out the work under the direction of Chris
Biddlecombe.
Vector Fields is very proud to be associated with these projects
which should play a crucial role in getting state-the-art software in place
rapidly to benefit our end-users. It is expected that some of the ideas will
be translated into action well before the projects complete.
On the 16th of March I was commanded to attend the investiture
ceremony at Buckingham Palace; we decided to make the occasion even
more memorable by booking into a hotel the night before and have a
celebratory dinner at Simpson‘s in the Strand, accordingly then the four
of us drove to London and booked into the Strand Palace Hotel. The
great day dawned and I was quite nervous and somewhat bewildered and
hoped I would get through it without mishap. I had visions of tripping
and falling down in the middle of the investiture but from the moment we
arrived at the Palace the system took over and I was quickly guided to the
ante-room with dozens of other awardees to receive a short course from
the courtier, an extremely upright military type, of how to conduct
ourselves in the throne room. It really was a case of follow my leader.
The family had been directed there earlier and were being entertained by
the ‗palace orchestra‘ playing from a balcony whilst they waited for the
entrance of the Queen.
261
Teaching Company with Oxford Brookes University, VECTOR Volume 7, No 1.
Vector Fields Ltd
409
Plate 144: At the Palace with the Family, 16 March 1993
We were segregated into two rooms, CBE‘s & OBE‘s in one and the
Knighthoods in another. After what appeared to be a very long wait we
were called in alphabetical order to file through the long corridor to the
throne room and I found myself next to Richard Todd (Toddy) the film
actor, much admired in the days of my youth. In the throne room the
band were playing pleasant music, suitable to the occasion, I could hear
strains of Elgar at one time which gave me a lift. Our names were called
in turn by a RAF officer who acted as a kind of master of ceremony. I
remember standing behind Richard Todd as his name was called and he
strode forward, turned left bowed forward again and received his medal.
Then it was my turn, ‗Professor William Trowbridge, for services to
science and exports‘, and somehow I found myself before the Queen, she
hung the medal on the lapel clip provided and said a few words of
congratulations and I muttered something about Rutherford Lab, then she
shook my hand and firmly pushed me back, so that was it, all done with
such gentle skill.
As we filed off to the right the medal was taken from me to be
packed in its box and later handed back, and I soon found myself sitting
410
next to Toddy in the main body of the room where we watched the rest of
the proceedings. I could see now the Royal Party standing on the dais,
with her guard of honour, including a Ghurkha, soldier a reminder of our
imperial past. Where my family were sitting I have no idea and as we
waited for the rest to be invested I chatted to Toddy who was very
friendly and talked about the films he made and his career as paratrooper
on D Day. It was soon all over: the press grabbed Toddy and other real
celebrities, like Jimmy Savile (Jim will fix it) who had just been knighted
and was in deep conversation with a journalist. I found my family and we
went outside to enjoy the almost carnival atmosphere.
We lined up with the others and had our photograph taken, Dinah
noticed Gordon Strachan (a famous footballer) being photographed with
his family with the kids dressed in morning suits like their Dad. By then
people were beginning to drift away and we grabbed a taxi and returned
to our hotel for lunch and later we all drove home; a great day. A day or
so later the scroll of the award came, signed by Her Majesty and Prince
Philip (The Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire) which we
proudly framed and displayed. We also received a documentary video
about the awards system in general with clips from my investiture spliced
in, plus some hard copy stills.
Earlier in the year I had a letter and phone call from Lewis Gregory,
see Volume 1, page 67, my old friend from Lymington; we had been in
the Scouts together and shared many experiences during the war years.
He said he would like to visit and on Sunday 18th of February he came
with his wife Mary. He was arranging a 50 year re-union in the New
Forest for members of the Scout Troop and hoped we could come. It was
very pleasant meeting up with Lew again after all these years and I
looked forward to the reunion which was arranged for Sunday April 18th.
We had a lovely day for it and I was wondering how they would look
after 50 years. Though I had already met Fred Webster and Lew of
course and they had both worn pretty well. We met for lunch near
Lyndhurst and then went to the camp site at Holidays Hill Enclosure
where we camped in 1943; it was a memorable occasion and I kidded
myself that I could still hear our camp fire singing on the breeze in the
trees.
Vector Fields Ltd
411
Plate 145: Scout Reunion on 18 April 1993
L to R: Bob Cook, Fred Webster, Harry Veal, Bill, Harry Bradley, Denis Phillips, Lewis
Gregory, Eric Smith
The last few months had seen a number of new appointments at
Vector Fields both in the UK and USA. At Vector Fields Inc Chris Riley
was been appointed Vice President and from January 1st had been
running the company in the USA. Chris took over from Bob Lari who
had been in charge of the US office since its foundation in 1988. Bob
remains a Vice President until his and his wife Marilyn's retirement at the
end of April. Also at VF Inc in December we were sad to see the
departure of Betty Stoub to pastures new with husband Ken who has
secured a new senior appointment in California. In Betty's place we were
pleased to welcomed Lois Lee who will be involved in market
communications and administration with VF Inc.
In the UK Cris Emson was appointed Software Development
Manager looking after the many fundamental research projects we are
involved in, both in-house and in collaboration with other organisations.
Also in the UK, Chris Biddlecombe had been appointed Product
Manager. His responsibilities are for the support, maintenance, updating
and documentation of existing products.
412
I went to the US on 14 May with Rita to attend the Particle
Accelerator Conference in Washington DC; at the conference we met up
with Larry & Donna Turner as well as Chris Riley who was now running
VF Inc. I remember his remark to someone who said to me, ‗so we have
to call you Sir Bill now?‘, No I am only an OBE not a KBE and Chris
said, ‗he is one up on the Beatles who got MBEs‘. Whilst in Washington
Rita and I managed over the weekend to visit George Washington‘s
House on the Potomac as well as exploring the Capitol and looking
through the railings of the White House. From Washington we went to
Chicago and stayed a few days with Larry and Donna in Naperville. We
also had a chance to visit Bob & Marilyn and wish him well for his
retirement and to thank him personally on behalf of the directors of VF
for all he had done for the company; we gave him a personal computer as
a leaving present. Chris and Ramona invited us to their new house in
Batavia and we arranged to meet later in the Yellowstone Natational Park
as our forthcoming vacations intersected there.
We left on the 30th of May to fly to Denver where we hired a
Lincoln Town Car and drove to the Grand Teton National Park to the city
of Jackson and then to a Cabin we had reserved at Coulter Bay; here the
views were superb but the cabins primitive. We endured this for five days
before moving on to Yellowstone Hotel which was rather special,
situated on the edge of a glacial lake high up. We awoke to find ourselves
snowed in but it is amazing how quickly the weather changes and for the
next few days the weather was fine and the roads miraculously cleared.
After three days we moved to Grant Village and met up with Chris Riley
and his family by Old Faithful, the never ceasing geyser. A further three
days saw us on the way to Salt Lake City via Idaho Springs where I ate
the largest potato I have ever seen. In SLC we stayed at the Olympic Best
Western, within easy reach of the Mormon Family History Library, for
further research but we discovered nothing new. The final leg of this trip
was to San Francisco, a one night stop over before returning to the UK on
16th June.
It was time for Compumag again, this time in Miami, organised by
Osama Mohammed of Florida International University and to be held at
the Hotel Inter-Continental. I was no longer on the International Steering
Committee for Compumag, as several of us had stood down at Sorrento
to make way for ‗new blood‘ but I was now active in the formation of
the Compumag Society which will covered in the next chapter. Jan
Sykulski wanted very much to have the next Compumag in the UK at
Southampton. He had prepared a strong case and would be making a bid
in Miami— he even arranged for a representative from a professional
conference organiser company to travel out to Miami to present the
facilities available. Unfortunately for Jan the committee preferred Rio de
Vector Fields Ltd
413
Janeiro and the conference was awarded to Brazil under the chairmanship
of Professor Roberto Cardoso (University of Sao Paulo) with Joao Pedro
Bastos (University of Santa Catarina) as Secretary262.
Plate 146: Compumag Miami Poster
Osama‘s organisation for the meeting was excellent and Rita and I
enjoyed meeting up with so many old friends. Rita managed a trip to see
262
. JP Bastos had been a regular antendee at Compumag since Chicago in 1981 and in
fact Brazil had rapidly come to the fore in CEM with several prominent groups collaborating
particularly with France and USA. In recent years they had held series of regional conferences
known as CBMAG which had attracted many attendees from outside Brazil.
414
the Everglades National Park and do some Alligator spotting whilst I was
involved in planning meetings for the new society. It was to be only a
short visit as other matters were pressing back at home and in India.
Plate 147: a. Qutb Minar Complex near Delhi, b. The Iron PillarTest
c. Mashal Hotel and an Elephant
Earlier in the year I had agreed to join the faculty of the CERN
Accelerator School for a week long course to be held at Indore, India
from 7th to 16th of November this year. I knew the time table was tight
with only a few days after returning from Miami but we considered it
important for VF to try and capture business in the subcontinent, so I
Vector Fields Ltd
415
agreed. I flew to Delhi from Gatwick late Friday evening, arriving
midday the next day. I was met by a tourist agent who said there were no
flights going to Indore that day but arranged for me to fly to Bombay that
evening stay one night there then fly to Indore on Sunday. He then said
we had time for a tour of Delhi as the rest of the day was free; I was still
double jet lagged from Miami but I agreed as there seemed nothing else I
could do. I hardly noticed where we went as he drove me round
Connaught Place, The New City of Edward Lutyens, and then south
some miles to the Qutb Minar complex with its many beautiful
monuments. I did wake up a little here and admired the great watch tower
and the enigmatic Iron Pillar (4th C); some 7 m in height and no one has
been able to explain how it has remained free of rust. My guide told me
that the person who can encircle it with his hands held behind his back
will have his wish granted. Needless to say I failed. I was whisked back
to the airport to catch a flight to Bombay, and then on arrival to a hotel
near the airport. The next day I flew to Indore in the state of Madhya
Pradesh which is right in the centre of the country.
I was met there by a Sikh in a bright red turban (a young scientist
from CAT-The Centre for Advanced Technology who were hosting the
CERN course) who conveyed me to the Mashal Hotel which was situated
out in the country and seemed a very pleasant area. On booking in I
found I had a room next to Neil Marks (Daresbury Lab and VF-Opera
user), I found him suffering from Delhi Tummy but he groaned he was
slowly recovering— so be careful what you touch and eat. The course
had already been on for some days and on this day, a holiday, the
lecturers (the fit ones) had been on an excursion which, according to,
Thomas Weiland (someone I knew quite well from Darmstadt) had been
really interesting. Ted Wilson the course director greeted me and thanked
me warmly for coming so soon after Miami.
The next day we were conveyed to the CAT laboratory in a mini-bus
which went like the clappers through the narrow dusty streets scattering
livestock of all species from left to right in clouds of dust. A terrifying
ride, you‘ll soon get use to it, said someone. My two lectures were
scheduled for the first hour of today and tomorrow, from 9 to 10 AM, the
first one on static fields and the second on Eddy Current effects.. There
were about 70 students and they listened very intensely. I was able to
demonstrate the use of software for magnet design as Neil Marks had
already installed our software on to the network at CAT. After the
lectures I was approached by several people to run their particular
geometry which was a stimulating experience as they were all so very
keen. SS Ramamurthi, the project manager for the INDUS-I accelerator
was keen for me to show some of his design engineers our TOSCA
program for 3-D magnet design and this led eventually to the institute
416
becoming a customer. These two days were very intense for me and I
was glad to get back to the hotel to rest in the evening. On the Tuesday
evening, the last day of the course, we all went to a dinner where I have
to say the food and drink were very plentiful; I probably imbibed too
much whisky which was flowing like a river and so I had to make an
early exit to bed.
The following day was free so I did some local sightseeing; in the
morning I took a taxi to see the Lal Bagh Palace, saw the ‗Buckingham
Palace Gates‘, several statues from the British Raj and some stuffed
Tigers. Indore itself is teaming city of more than a million inhabitants
and is the garment making capital of India. Later that day Ted Wilson
and I, the only two of us left as the other lecturers had all departed, had a
long chat in the bar; he told me about his long collaboration with John
Adams the ‗founder of CERN‘. We also discussed the upcoming
accelerator conference to be held in London next year and said he hoped
that VF would be exhibiting. In the evening we were both invited to a
garden party hosted by the hotel owner for his family and friends. This
was an interesting side of life in India as all the guests were well heeled;
in stark contrast to the street life I had witnessed in travelling around.
Even an elephant turned up.
The next day I flew to Delhi and checked into the Taj Mahal Hotel,
a genuine 5 star establishment; the travel agent had arranged for me to go
to Agra the next day to see the real Taj Mahal. This meant an early start
on the special tourist train at 6AM; the journey took about 2 hours and
we were taken straight away to a hotel for breakfast. Travelling in the
same carriage were the board of directors for the Tetly Tea company and,
would you believe it, they were on a sales drive to India— talk about
‗coals to Newcastle‘. In the dining room of the hotel they all gave a cheer
when they noticed that the tea they were drinking with their bacon and
eggs was indeed theirs. My tour guide then whisked me away to the
shops, jewellery shops and persuaded me to buy a sapphire ring. I don‘t
believe they would have let me continue with the tour until I had bought
something, also in the shop was another of the CERN School lecturers
and his wife who had been similarly trapped.
We next went to see the Taj Mahal, and I was suitably impressed —
almost too perfect; I liked its position near the great river. Next back to
the hotel for lunch then off for the afternoon to Fatepur Sikri. A City
perched on the top of a rocky ridge, 23 miles west of Agra; we drove
along a dusty road passing two or three ‗dancing bears‘ on the way.
These pitiful captive animals chained to their keepers were out to waylay
any tourist who would stop, to be entertained for money. My driver hated
the practice and drove swiftly by to my relief. The great palace of
Vector Fields Ltd
417
Fatehpur Sikri or Akbar‘s 263City of Victory is a marvel of red sandstone
with many surprises to enchant the visitor, but on a two hour visit one
can only gaze and marvel and learn little but of this fantastic place. Back
to Agra for dinner then the train back to Delhi in time to check in at the
airport at midnight for the 0200 departure for Gatwick.
Plate 148: The Taj Mahal & Fatepur Sikri
263
16th C Mughal Emperor. Muhammed Jalal-ud-din Akbar
418
I returned to face a series of meetings on the MIDAS project that
lasted most of the last week in November to be followed in December by
a week in the Ackland Hospital in Oxford for the prostate operation. Joe
Smith had wanted to do it earlier but he said I shouldn‘t miss the
opportunity of visiting Agra and Fatehpur Sikri so we delayed it few
weeks. Joe said if gets bad in India just call me and I‘ll arrange a catheter
to be inserted and you can fly back! He has been in India himself only a
short time before lecturing to Urologists in Delhi and had visited the
sights of Agra but I fancy he was able to spend far more time on it than
me. I went in on December 6th and all went well and nothing malignant
was found. Rita visited me every day and both Simon and Dinah came
too plus, one day, John Simkin. The treatment in this small private
hospital was first class and after a week I was home to convalesce. So the
year ended in some discomfort but it had been, for me at least, a kind of
‗annis mirabilis‘.
Creation of a Society
419
5. International Compumag Society
(1994-1997)
This chapter concentrates mainly on the final phase of my career,
both with Vector Fields and the emerging Compumag Society. In 1995 I
became semi-retired but continued to remain as Chairman and worked
part-time for a further ten years. However 1997, for many reasons seems
an appropriate point, to halt these memoirs.
The Creation of a Society 1994
The origins of the International Compumag Society took place in
1992 so it is necessary to backtrack a little.
I had been discussing the need for an international association of
CEM specialists for some time and in 1993 the Compumag Steering
Committee agreed to the formation of a working party to examine the
idea and make recommendations. The full working group was as follows:
A. Konrad (University of Toronto), D A Lowther (Mc Gill University,
Montreal), T Nakata (Okayama University), S Polak (Philips Medical
Systems, Eindhoven), K R Richter (IGTE, Graz), C W Trowbridge
(Vector Fields, Oxford), L R Turner (Argonne Nat. Lab, Chicago).
The term of reference for the working party was to explore the
feasibility of such a society and to report directly to the ISC during its
upcoming meetings throughout 1992 and 1993. It was with this time
scale in mind that the Vienna meeting was convened, however in the
event only three members of the WP were able to attend and therefore the
opinions and suggestions were very tentative and are not at that stage
fully representative.
The first meeting of this working party took place on June 1st 1992
and was attended by Kurt Richter, Simon Polak and myself at the Hotel
Stefanie. To help us deliberate I prepared a short paper, ‗Towards
Forming A Computational Electromagnetics Society‘264. Over two
intensive days we came up with a report which I circulated to the
members of the working party265. I was pleased with the outcome and
the timetable looked realistic. One of the actions was to circulate a
questionnaire to members of the CEM community and the results of this
indicated strong support for forming a society. My son Simon came with
me on this trip and we managed to go to the Opera twice, Tchaikovsky‘s
264
265
ICS Archive in possession of the author
As above
420
International Compumag Society
‗Ace of Spades‘, and Verdi‘s Don Carlos; we also visited many of the
Composer Museums.
The working party suggested a tentative name, International
Compumag Society (ICS)266 and proposed that a founding board should
be established. It was recognised that a crucial element was to appoint an
effective secretary; this post required unselfish dedication, energy and
would be entirely voluntary. ‗Cometh the hour cometh the man‘ and Jan
Sykulski stepped into the breach and volunteered and what was crucial
he was able to secure the support of his university (Southampton) in the
production of a Newsletter. From then on events moved quickly, Jan
produced a Newsletter and Kurt Richter reported our findings to the
Steering Committee at Compumag Miami (see page 36). The proposal
was endorsed, a founding board appointed of which I had the honour of
being the president, and the next important task defined i.e. to draft a
constitution. The first issue of the Newsletter appeared in time for the
conference and Jan created a style which was to set the tone for future
issues, see Appendix 3 on page 444. Apart from an article by me on
formation of the society there was included a Technical Article by John
Carpenter on ‗EM Field Computation without Electric or Magnetic
Fluxes‘, a thesis that suggests that potentials are more fundamental than
fields; in this he cites advanced Physics and modern computing
formulations as evidence — just the sort of article needed to stimulate
discussion among the community. Other articles included were by David
Lowther (News from the Compumag Editorial Board), T Morisue (A
Brief History of EM Workshops in Japan) Nathan Ida (Team
Workshops), and Giorgio Molinari (Integration of Engineering Analysis
Environments).
The second issue of the Newsletter was published on 15th June 1994
and announced that the ICS had taken off and the names of the members
of the founding board were listed. These included the 15 members of the
current Compumag ISC (International Steering Committee): A Kost, Z
Cendes, M Fan, N Ida, A Konrad, O Mohammed, G Molinari, A
Nicholas, D Rodger, G Rubinacci, S Russenschuck, J Simkin, T Takagi,
and N Takahashi; thus the total membership of the founding board is 23 a
large number but felt necessary at this stage to command wide support. A
constitution committee was also set up consisting of Larry Turner
(Chairman), A Konrad, O Mohammed, G Molinari and the President. It
was hoped to have the Constitution in place and ratified by the
membership by Compumag Berlin in 1995.
266
Following a suggestion made by Bela Konrad
Creation of a Society
421
Plate 149: Founding Board of ICS
422
Vector Fields and Personal Matters 1994-1995
The first part of the year was taken up with attending technical and
project work on MIDAS (Esprit) and JESSI (DTI). Good progress had
been made with MIDAS which was significant for all users of Vector
Fields software since it should ultimately lead to the next generation of
software for electromagnetic design. The project started in 1993 and the
benefits of the partners‘ contributions were already being realized as the
first releases of software components were integrated together. Two
particular advances were the new geometric modeler and the new 3D
mesh generator. In April I attended the IEE Computation in
Electromagnetics Conference in Nottingham and was able to have
discussions with Peter Silvester on the new EM society; his first reaction
had been rather equivocal but now he was more positive, which was good
news to hear as his influence is widespread. I was invited to make the
after dinner speech and I used the opportunity to pay a tribute to the late
Peter Johns, the originator of the Transmission Line Matrix Method
(TLM) and former professor at Nottingham.
On May 7 I went to Helsinki to meet up with Lauri Kettunen; he met
me at the airport and showed me Helsinki and after staying one night he
took me to the Sibelius House, some 45 Km to the north, found it open
this time and we were shown round by the curator. The house is very
near the shores of Lake Tuusulanjärvic amid wonderful trees and is so
peaceful. It was a thrill to be near the spot where such works as Tapiola
and the Seventh Symphony were conceived. Once in Tampere I met Prof.
Erikson who had invited me to be on the program committee for the
upcoming Magnet Technology Conference to be hosted by Tampere
University (MT14) next year. I was amused and somewhat taken aback
by the casual way the reviewing of papers was done; the members just sat
round a table and the program committee chairman read out the names of
submitted papers and authors. Then, without much discussion either they
were passed (most of them were) if no one objected or rejected (hardly
any) if someone had a reason, like wrong topic or wrong conference etc. I
attempted to discuss one or two of the papers I had been sent and my
objections were rapidly overruled. After the review Lauri grabbed me for
some discussion with his group and to meet in particular Kimmo
Forsman who was working with TOSCA and developing a version of
Lauri‘s integral code to run with OPERA; they were calling this new
code BARITONE. After spending three days in Tampere I returned to
London via Helsinki
It was our 40th Wedding Anniversary in June and we decided to give
two parties to celebrate one for the family on the actual day Sunday June
19th and the other for our work colleagues and friends on Saturday 11th of
June. On the 11th we had excellent weather so we could entertain our
423
friends in the garden as well as the house. It was rare day, when we were
at peace with ourselves and everyone; it is surely a blessing that we can‘t
see what is waiting for us around the corner. The following week Rita
and I went to stay in Wales for a week; this time we went to the Gazelle
Hotel overlooking the Menai Straits on Anglesey. This was a perfect
week also, as we visited many of our old haunts and both climbed
Snowdon along the Rhd-ddu path.
Plate 150: 40th Wedding Anniversary Celebration at D’Arcy’s Field
Back home I had to attend the EPAC conference in London where
VF had an exhibition which was very popular. The dinner at the
Grosvenor House Hotel was fine; the food was at least eatable but the
cabaret? Was that the best we could offer— Morris Dancing? On the
fifth of July Rita and I attended the CEFC conference at Aix-les-Bains
with David Carpenter who was in charge of the VF exhibition. The
conference chairman was Jean Claude Sabonnadiere and he decided to
hold the poster sessions outside which proved popular as the weather was
good; I had not seen Jean Claude recently as our relationship had cooled
a little owing to a clash of interests in the commercial area; he was also
heavily involved in the French Software Company, CEDRAT, which
marketed software developed by his group at Grenoble. During the
meeting Doug Lavers (University of Toronto) came to see me to tell me
that they were proposing me for fellowship of the IEEE— a prestigious
honour, in the US. On our return Dinah took Rita to Woolacombe in
424
Devon for a short holiday and the following month Simon & I went to
North Wales. We had been recommended the Gogarth Abbey Hotel in
Llandudno, the place where Lewis Carroll use to stay in Victorian times.
It proved to be a bit of a disaster; a rambling old building by the sea,
better suited to Hitchcock‘s Psycho that a quiet retreat for ‗gentlemen‘,
apparent it was regularly used for ‗murder‘ weekends but this time it was
full of very noisy uncontrollable kids. We sat next to large family who
literally ran wild with their father quite oblivious. We fled in horror.
However we got one good days climbing, by ascending the Carneddau by
way of Foel Goch.
Plate 151: Dinah & Ted Deeley at the party
The annual VF users meeting was held at Blenheim Palace this year
on September 15 and, the evening before, we all enjoyed a buffet dinner
on a Salters Steamer cruising along the Thames. The Blenheim venue is
first class and was much appreciated by our visitors. On the 25th of
September I attended IGTE in Graz; I went primarily to present the
progress on the emerging new society and it was very satisfactory to
425
receive support from the IGTE attendees and to receive many new
applications for membership.
In October Rita and I departed for Hartford Connecticut to help with
an electromagnetics course organized by VF Inc. We checked into the
hotel in Windsor Locks, the Holiday Inn, the venue for the course,
starting on the following Tuesday, so we had two free days. We arrived
on Saturday which was the start of Columbus Week-end and the hotel
was full of noisy kids playing in a schools soccer tournament both on the
field and in the corridors. We visited the city of Hartford on Sunday and
to us if appeared to be a rather depressing place, rather seedy, soulless
and tired. Weekdays it would be different I suppose. After an indifferent
Lunch in the Sheraton we visited Mark Twain‘s Victorian Mansion and
enjoyed a delightful tour led by a passionate female who probably eats,
sleeps and has dreams about her hero. We learnt that Clemens‘ life was
full of sadness but what an observer of life and resourceful man he was.
The next day, Monday, was Columbus day and we decided to go to New
Haven by train— I had I hope of spotting some, ‗Trowbridge‘
connections as the prime settler, Thomas Trowbridge, came here from
Taunton in 1638, In the event, of course, all places such as Libraries,
Museums, Yale University etc were closed for the holiday. New Haven
itself, we were told, was unsafe at night and had become the way of
many cities, an urban jungle. However Yale is a lovely Campus built on
Oxford lines and we much enjoyed the architecture and the autumnal
colours—the weather this year was exceedingly pleasant, blue sky and
warm sun.
A minor mishap befell us on our return caused by extreme
overcrowding of the trains. Apparently the entire student population of
Harvard, MIT, Brown, Yale and Worcester Polytechnic etc was on the
move after visiting their parents on Columbus Day. The train from
Washington, New York etc at New Haven that we had to catch in order
to return to Hartford, unknown to us, was split and we were forced onto
the wrong part and after an extremely unpleasant hour packed in tight
like the black-hole of Calcutta we found ourselves, with many other
people, nearly in Rhode Island. Despite the truculence of the rail
attendant who was aggressively unhelpful we eventually found ourselves
back in New Haven, where we caught a much later train. Waiting for us
at the Holiday Inn we found Larry and Chris who had arrived from
Chicago earlier that day; it was good to chat in the bar with a nice
drink— all the kids have gone home.
426
Plate 152: Mystic Seaport
Tuesday was the first day of the course and we had 17 attendees and
one representative from ANSYS (Competitor). Piergiorgio Alotto (PG)
had now arrived and he had been asked to talk about ‗other‘ software,
e.g. competitors. On the whole the lectures went well with at least some
discussion. The course arrangements were mainly good apart from a lack
of marker pens, an additional VG m/c would also have helped. Most of
the students were quite expert in EM and many had had numerical
experience. CPR thought they were at a higher standard than the previous
course he had run in Milwaukie; The ANSYS man made it his business
to learn as much as possible about VF software. The second day of the
course went mostly as yesterday. PG's lecture on other software gave me
some concern, and it prompted me to question why we are we doing this
type of course? However, we may get business from an electrical
machine company man near Boston. CPR and I will visit them next
Monday. Others were interested in our HF software. The final reports
from the students on our performance as lecturers were mainly good.
We departed the next day for Boston. This was an interesting trip in
CPR's hire van. Larry navigating (always problematic!) led us on a grand
tour of New England. First we drove south east to Mystic Seaport. A
427
splendid museum with three well preserved sailing ships. A fishing
schooner (grand banks cod vessel as featured in Kipling's Captains
Courageous, an authentic New England whaler and of most interest to me
full ship (3 master) "Joseph Conrad". The latter I knew as she was
skippered by Alan Villiers as a Training Ship for many years. I had met
him during my Conway days. The seaport was a preserved sailing port
village with buildings from the period. Then we went to Rhode Island
and visited a beach near Newport, weather superb. Finally to Plymouth
(MA) where the Mayflower ended up in 1620 with the Pilgrim fathers.
The place is too commercialized and they have on show here the
Mayflower full scale replica which made the 350th anniversary crossing
with the same Alan Villiers in command in 1970. It is now set up as a
theme park type museum with actors— tasteless. We arrived in Boston in
time for dinner and to meet up with Chris‘ wife Ramona.
On Friday (14th October) we attended the VF Users Meeting held at
Bose Corporation in Framingham and then on Monday we attended the
Applied Superconductivity Conference. I was sufficiently concerned, at
the time, with issues of arising from our competition and I wrote the
following memo to my co-directors back in Oxford,
Some thoughts from ASC and the VF User's meeting
We have known for a long while that potentially the ANSYS software
has a competitive edge over VF because of their broad functionality
scope which includes most of the disciplines, i.e. Structures, Fluids and
Electromagnetics within an integrated system. Up to now this has not
been too serious because in EM, at least, VF has the superior product.
How much longer will this state of affairs last?
Evidence from our users at ASC has led me to believe that this may
not be very far in the future. Chris & I spoke with users from a number of
strong supporters of VF, e.g. LBL, BNL,… etc. who all need extensive,
advanced structural analysis and many cases thermal analysis as well
and, at present, use both TOSCA and ANSYS. Indeed, in some cases they
use VF software to optimise the mesh for a given accuracy then resolve
using ANSYS with this mesh so that they then have confidence in the EM
model plus the important advantage of the structural analysis capability.
Of course it is encouraging to see TOSCA being used as the standard in
this way but also very irksome at the same time when one realises the
trend will eventually be to give up using TOSCA altogether!
As we know, it is hard for the technical users to justify to their
financial controllers the use of two systems and I believe unless we
counter this threat by either having such superior EM system modelling,
efficiency, data exchange, optimisation etc. or by extending our
428
functionality to other disciplines we will ultimately, and I believe sooner
than we think, lose out. Now we are working toward the first alternative
but this will take time and there may well be conceptual and
compatibility problems (see below), as yet unclear, that will prove
bothersome and limiting. The second alternative is difficult for us
technically, and in any case it would require enormous resource but it is
an option. Perhaps a better approach would be to resurrect an older idea
we had which was to find a neutral software house specializing in
structures and mount a joint operation. The first alternative is necessary
but not sufficient in my view.
Fortunately, as we know, there are many areas, particularly in
cutting edge technologies, where the coupled facilities are not mandatory
and there is business to capture. These include high frequency, charged
beams, and R&D developments where the EM analysis is paramount.
Nevertheless in our traditional market of the design of large scale
magnets for accelerators, fusion devices and some aspects of MRI the
users require stress analysis and this is often the most critical area for
them. I do not believe it would right for VF to ignore this problem, or
even defer it as we sometimes do, so a strategy must be worked out as
soon as possible.
It wasn‘t all work as Rita, and I managed to attend a concert on the
Saturday evening before the conference; this was the first US
performance of the newly discovered work by Berlioz, The Messe
Solennelle , by the Boston Symphony Orchestra directed by Seiji Ozawa.
I enjoyed the piece very much and Rita said it was very rhythmic and
entertaining. Also whilst we were in Boston, Rita and I managed to hear
and see a semi-professional performance of Rigoletto at the Emerson
Majestic Theatre, good soloists but as usual awful design.
After Boston we went to Chicago to visit the office, stay with Larry
and Donna, have social meetings with the staff and visit Bob and
Marilyn. I also had a discussion with Chris about his future and outlined
what we would offer him on his return to the UK; we enjoyed a pleasant
meal with Chris and Ramona and I hope allayed his worries about
returning to Oxford. I had detailed discussion with Larry about the
constitution; he had now received comments from the members of the
sub-committee and he thought it could be finalised early in 1995, next
year, this would leave us enough time to seek approval from the
membership in time for Compumag Berlin. I proposed that there could be
a board meeting at the ACES meeting in Monterey next March to ratify
the constitution. We enjoyed a steak dinner with Bob & Marilyn and I
spent hours with him in his basement talking over genealogy which he
said I started him on some years ago; he also showed us his huge
429
Recreational Vehicle in which he and Marilyn tour the US for at least
half the year. He is enjoying his retirement.
Rita and I set off for our two week break in the far west, we picked
up a rental car in Salt Lake City and drive south to Bryce and Zion
Canyon national parks. Then on to Arizona, Grand Canyon, Phoenix and
Tucson, I much enjoyed a visit to the Film Studios near Tucson where
many of the John Wayne westerns were made. After a detour to have a
glimpse of Mexico at Nogales we went to Tombstone to see the sites of
the Earp brothers gun fight at the OK Corral. Finally we did a long a trip
to Texas to El Passo, where we stayed two nights, and another brief visit
to Mexico before returning to Albuquerque to fly home via Chicago.
Back home to the office and routine for the build up to Christmas
but in late November Simon and I had a treat, we went to Cambridge
(26th November) to see Elgar‘s only Opera, The Spanish Lady,
reconstructed by Percy M Young. This has been a life-time project for Dr
Young, who is now very elderly (>80), and the hall was full to cheer his
achievement. Not a great opera but an exceedingly fine Elgarian evening.
The 1995 was to be my last year full time with Vector Fields; I had
decided to start drawing my pension on September 1st and from then on
remain Chairman but only working one day each week. The first event of
the year was the news that I had been awarded a DSc by the University of
London for my work on Computational Electromagnetics; this was very
pleasing to me and also rationalised my title as people had been
mistakenly calling me Dr Trowbridge for years, no matter how often one
corrected them. In March Rita and I went to California to attend the
ACES (Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society) annual
meeting in Monterey. The ACES group specialises in High Frequency
Applications primarily in the US but for some while they had been
wanting our Compumag group to collaborate with them; however it soon
became clear that what they wanted was to take us over. We did have a
joint meeting between them and those members of our Founding Board
that were present at the ACES meeting but it rapidly became clear there
would be no merger as we were determined to remain international and
cater for the entire frequency range, i.e. from DC to ‗Daylight‘. The ICS
founding board met and worked on the draft constitution that Larry and
his committee had proposed and after two intensive days of meetings at
the hotel we agreed a final draft to put before the membership. After the
meeting Rita and I had a short holiday (3 days) exploring the coast, Big
Sur, Carmel etc and on the way back to San Francisco we stopped off to
visit Wade Cole at San Jose. Wade had formerly worked for IBM and
had long been a user of our software and latterly had been a consultant.
His wife sadly was severely disabled and Wade was looking after her
with great loving care. He had a special ‗van‘ specially equipped so that
430
she could travel around with him and indeed we all had marvellous lunch
together.
In June I attended the Magnet Technology Conference in Tampere. I
met up with Larry Turner in Stockholm and we journeyed on to Tampere
together. The conference was not too interesting for me but it was good
meeting up with Lauri again. Larry and I returned to London 19th June
where we met Donna who had flown over directly. Donna and Larry
were going to stay with us for three weeks up to the time we set out for
Berlin to attend Compumag, although Larry had to return briefly to
Chicago for a week in between. Donna was suffering from the flight and
was very poorly; her Lupis and knee problems were troubling her.
However we soon got her home and she began to recover. Donna had
asked us to organise a trip to Stratford and I booked tickets for a RSC
matinee for ‗Romeo and Juliet‘. The outing was not a complete success
as Donna became ill during the performance and I had to get her to a
doctor. The doctor was able to help and she needed some medication but
I was glad when we got her home. During the time Larry was away in
Chicago Rita looked after Donna and we took her with us to Berlin on
the 8th of July. As we arrived in Berlin the streets were crowded, 100,000
people turned out for the ‗Love Festival‘; these were ‗Techno‘ music fans
winding their way past the hotel. We wondered how they would ever
clear up the mess; by nightfall the streets were littered feet high on the
side walks. However by the time the next morning came we could see
that the streets were spotless— a triumph of German efficiency.
Arnulf Kost the conference chairman wrote about the conference in
the ICS Newsletter267:
The 10th COMPUMAG conference on the computation of
electromagnetic fields was held in Berlin, a town, where some important
roots of electrical engineering have grown in its history. The conference
took place for the first time in Germany, and the conference venue was
the Hotel Berlin from July 10 to 13, 1995. By the number as well as the
quality of the contributions it was shown in Berlin again that
COMPUMAG has become a more and more important event for
engineers and researchers, calculating and applying electromagnetic
fields for the design of a large variety of devices in industry and
research. Their spectrum is very broad and extends from micro-motors
over the localisation of cancer to optical waveguides, to name only three
applications.
267
ICS Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 3, November 1995
431
Plate 153: Compumag Berlin Poster
A highlight of the social program was the dinner on July 12, taking
place on a small island in the Havel River. On the small ferry boat from
the river bank to the island the conference participants and their
accompanying persons could enjoy the 'Water Music' by Handel,
propagating over the water and surrounding forest in a foggy but warm
evening atmosphere, and played by the brass quintet 'Ensemble Cornetto'
on the island. Thereafter the attendants enjoyed further music, and organ
grinder and a meal in a restaurant's garden, recovering in the open air
from the conference work. During the COMPUMAG Berlin meeting
Professor Toshihisa Honma from the Hokkaido University in Sapporo,
Japan, was elected as the chairman of COMPUMAG 1999 in Sapporo
The conference coincided with my 65th birthday on July 10th and we
had an enjoyable dinner with close friends. One slightly sour note was
that the conference bag donated by Vector Fields caused some irritation
among members of the board who objected to the size of the Vector
432
Fields Logo on the outside. My feelings were somewhat ruffled by the
remarks made by people who, from commercial motives, objected and
who did not have the enterprise to offer something to support the
conference themselves; firms have to make a small profit at least, or they
fold— that‘s life..
Plate 154: Arnulf Kost (standing second from the left) and his team
.
Plate 155: With Lewis and Mary Gregory in their back garden
433
Plate 156: Weimar and Eisenach, September 1995
Outside Goethe House (Weimar), (b) Outside National Theatre, (c) Luther‘s Bible
(Wartburg), (d) Wartburg Castle, (e) Bach House (Eisenach)
434
After the conference was over Arnulf entertained Rita and me to
dinner with his wife Regine and their daughter; he also took us on a trip
Eastern part of Berlin and we visited the Pergamon Museum which we
enjoyed seeing. Rita and I also managed to visit Potsdam to see the
Schloss Sanssouci, Frederick the Great's summer residence. In August
we did a series of visits to Dorset and Lymington; we stayed at the
Passford House Hotel268 in Lymington and I managed to meet up with
Lewis Gregory and Fred Webster. Lewis took me up the Church Tower
so I could survey the haunts of my youth. At the end of the month Simon
and I went to the lakes and stayed at the Borrowdale Hotel overlooking
the marvellous Derwent Water and with a fine view of Skiddaw. We did
several long hill walks together including a fine ascent in near perfect
conditions of Skiddaw.
September the 1st was the first day of my semi-retirement from
Vector Fields but I still had many professional activities to follow. I had
been invited to attend the 40th International Science Colloquium at the
former East German City of Ilmenau in Thuringia. I had to prepare a talk
and I chose to present the Vector Fields Story, ‗CEM in the market
place‘. Rita and I went flew to Frankfurt and then by Train to Erfurt and
Taxi to Ilmenau, we eventually found ourselves staying in a small hotel
on the edge of town. Professor Uhlmann called from a sick bed and said
he was so sorry not to have met us at Erfurt as planned.
The next day (Saturday) Hartmud Brauer came to collect us, we
knew Hartmud well and he had only returned to Ilmenau himself that
morning. As this day and the next were free days and he proposed take
us on a sightseeing tour of the area. The weather was fine and we enjoyed
the drive to Weimar where we saw the Goethe House, the castle and the
German National Theatre with the Schiller &Goethe monument outside.
Ilmenau itself, a small town among the hills of Thuringia, is full of
Goethe associations — Hartmud told us that he often stayed in the town
and walked the hills which inspired some of his best poetry.
Ilmenau still showed signs of the East German republic era, the
cobbled stone roads needing repair and many rundown buildings. The
next day Hartmud took us to the birthplace of J S Bach at Eisenach, the
museum is a model of its kind which, apart from the rich collection of
personal artefacts and memorabilia, there was live music; played
beautifully on Bach‘s own instruments, small table organs and the like.
We also visited the nearby castle at Wartburg castle the historic home of
the Minnesingers from which Wagner drew on for his opera Tanhauser.
268
Passford House is a fine hotel on the edge of the New Forrest some two miles from
Lymington. We were to stay here many times over the next ten years enjoying good food and
marvellous service.
435
The next day the meeting began and my talk was in the afternoon;
my friends from Graz, Oszcar Biro and Kurt Preis also gave a
presentation; they had driven over night to Ilmenau from Graz. The
following day we had to return home—it was a quick visit to a beautiful
area and we wished we could have remained longer but other events
awaited me at home. Hartmud was a marvellous host who showed us
much as possible in the short time allowed.
436
Envoi
Envoi
The year 1996 was as usual a busy year of travel; Japan and
Singapore in March, Professor under contract in Genoa for a month in
May, Venice in June and Brazil in November. The description of these
trips and indeed the many events269 that occurred in the ten years up to
2005 when we finally sold Vector Fields in my 75th year will have to wait
for another volume. But there was one event in 1996 which for me, in
many ways, was a climax of my career and that was the award of an
Honorary Doctorate by the Technical University of Graz. This was a
surprise and a real pleasure; Kurt Richter called me during the summer to
tell me that the senate of the university would like to make this award
and Kurt was keen that it should be done at the IGTE conference in Graz
in September.
We left for Graz on 21 September and were met by Kurt and Mila
who took us to the Park Hotel; we had stayed here so many times now it
was like a second home. The next day was Sunday and Kurt and Mila
took us on a long trip into the country, to the wine region near the
Slovenian border.
On Monday, the first day of the Symposium the ceremony was held
at 4.00PM at the University Aula and though I felt nervous I was
overwhelmed by the number of my colleagues that were assemble there,
including the Honoured Guests from Styria (General Commanding
Styrian Forces, Mayor of Graz etc). I entered alone to the strains of the
Trumpet Tune by John Stanley and sat out front facing the Academic
dignitaries of the University. Rita was sitting behind next to Mila.
The Rector, Dr Wohinz, opened the proceedings with a speech of
welcome in which I remember him saying, ‗I hope this day will live in
your memory…‘— it most certainly has. Then Kurt Richter gave the
laudation speech in which he pulled together the strands of my career
with commendable skill, warmth and good humour in a way which left
me with a comfortable feeling without any embarrassment. He gently
exaggerated my sea career by suggesting that I had as a youth I had ran
away to sea; in a sense that was correct as at the time it was a way of
evading responsibility. The after Kurt presented me with scroll the band
played Gaudeamus Igitur and then it was my turn to make a speech in
which I said:
269
These events included, Compumag RIO (1997), Sapporo (Japan, 1999), Evian
(France, 2001), Saratoga Springs (USA, 2003), Shenyang (China, 2005). Especially
memorable was my return trips to Argentina in 1997/98, which enable me to show Rita the
places I knew there those long years ago in 1949-55, see Volume 1, ‗So Long To Learn‘.
437
Plate 157: The Rector guides Rita to sign the register
Members of the Academic Senate of the Technical University Graz,
Honoured Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen:
I find it very difficult to describe the feelings that came over me
when I was told that this university was going award me an honorary
doctorate. The initial excitement soon gave way to some self-doubt as to
whether I fully deserved such a prestigious distinction as my work has
always been a collaboration of one sort or another with others. However,
on further reflection I concluded that, although I was lucky to be in at the
start of the digital computer revolution and even more lucky to have been
dealt a 'good hand' of colleagues over the years, I have always had a
strong sense of direction and knew where I was going - this may be due
to the navigator within me.
It is also a pleasure to be associated with this fine university and
garden city. The city of Graz, with its very long tradition in the arts,
humanities and science, has had many distinguished residents including
Johannes Kepler, E Mach, L Boltzmann and many others down the ages.
However, 'The Technical University' itself, among many famous figures,
can boast no less a founding father of electromagnetics than Nikola Tesla
who studied here in 1880. His work is familiar to all of us who care
about generation and transmission of electrical power. Indeed, many of
the people in this room today spend their working and even their leisure
hours dealing with parts of his legacy. Nowhere is this more true than
here in GRAZ .
438
Envoi
Plate 158: Receiving the Honorary Doctorate from Prof Richter
I first came into contact with the IGTE group during the Compumag
conference in Genoa in 1983 when they presented a paper on the
application of boundary elements for time dependent field problems, then
quite new. I actually met Professor Richter for the first time at Fort
Collins, Colorado during the next conference there in 1985 when he
made his successful bid to host Compumag in Graz. Since that time we
have collaborated on projects, courses and indeed on the formation of
439
the 'International Compumag Society'. The series of short courses I have
shared with Kurt Richter and another close friend and colleague,
Giorgio Molinari from the University of Genoa has been one of the most
stimulating episodes in my career.
I think our community has a strong sense of purpose with a well
defined program for the years ahead but, in my view, there may be
problems in the future of identity. In other parallel 'fields' there are
people like us carrying out computer simulations, automated design,
knowledge engineering etc. and this sometime leads to a dilemma and so
we must be on our guard to avoid insularity and make sure we are part of
the broader activity without sacrificing the special skills and enthusiasms
that we bring to the creation of electromagnetic devices.
Plate 159: Celebratory Dinner
L to R: Bill, Rita, Zol Cendes, Prof. Haznadar, Guiliamo Rubinacci, Alain Nicolas, Tosh
Homna, Osama Mohammed, Dave Lowther, Mila and Kurt. Others present were Giorgio
Molinarr, and Roberto Cardoso.
Then the band played a piece by Handel which was followed by the
exit procession to the strains of the Trumpet Voluntary. My mind was in
a whirl as I received congratulations from the members of the academic
senate, ‗Compumaggers‘ and friends alike. Kurt introduced me to the
senior faculty member aged 92 and also I remember Hartmud Brauer
who had showed us Ilmenau last year came up and warmly greeted us.
The Rector then presented me with the faculty tie —I was now an
honorary member and then asked us to sign the official register. In the
440
Envoi
evening we were invited to a special dinner at the Landhaus Keller, a
memorable meal with such good friends. After IGTE we returned home
via Vienna where we saw a performance of Lehar‘s operetta ‗The Land
of Smiles‘ at the Volks Opera.
Appendix I
441
Appendix I
The King Roberts’ Version of the Creation of GFUN270
In the beginning there was darkness all over the Isle, for no one
could solve a 3-D magneto-static problem. However, the spirit of Lord
Bill was stirring in this darkness.
On the first day of creation, Lord Bill summoned an assistant and
spoke thus: "DISERENS go forth into the forest of magnet design
problems and make me a path." And Diserens went forth and did as the
good Lord Bill directed.
On the second day, Lord Bill summoned COLLIE and said, "Go
forth into the region of field calculations of 3-D current elements and
bring me back lots of formulas." And Collie went forth and did as the
good Lord Bill directed.
On the third day, Lord Bill sent forth NEWMAN into the land of
graphics and directed him to bring back both preprocessors and
postprocessors so all could see the beauty hidden in the land of graphics.
And Newman went forth and did as the good Lord Bill directed.
Now the fourth day Lord Bill went to a higher authority called
banker THOMAS and said "Sir, I beseech thee to continue thy funding of
these travels into unchartered lands." And banker Thomas agreed and
went forth into his vault as the good Lord Bill requested. Lord Bill was
now able to summon an assistant from across the waters. He then spoke
thus: TURNER go forth into the forest of steel tetrahedrons and learn
how they magnetize." And Turner went forth and did as the good Lord
Bill directed. Thus, a tiny light began to shine forth in this land of
darkness.
On the fifth day Lord Bill asked SIMKIN to check on the formulas
brought back by the others and see what improvements could be made.
And Simkin went forth and did as the good Lord Bill directed.
On the sixth day, Lord Bill said, "ARMSTRONG go forth and try
these things we have assembled here." So Armstrong went forth and did
as the good Lord Bill directed.
270
Written by Robert J Lari (Bob Lari to his many friends) in September 19, 1981 then
at Argonne National Laboratory later the first Vice President of Vector Fields Inc. Aurora IL.
442
The King Roberts’ Version of the Creation of GFUN
On the seventh day, the Lord Bill rested from all his labors!
Now it came to pass that GFUN developed and propagated all over
the world. However one day Lord Bill said "It is not good for GFUN to
be alone." And thus, he gathered his people together to start working on
helpmates called BIM2D, PE2D, and TOSCA so GFUN would not be
alone in the world. This is the story of the creation of GFUN and
companions.
Appendix 2
443
Appendix 2
Vector Fields Statistics
Table 1 list the most important achievements in out first
ten years of trading the most notable being the formation of Vector
Fields Inc (see below) in 1988 and the prestigious Queen‘s
Technology award in 1992.
January
August
1984
1984
January
June
April
June
January
June
December
January
April
1985
1986
1987
1987
1988
1998
1988
1989
1990
April
May
April
1992
1992
1993
April
August
December
1994
1994
1994
First business plan for VFL
Formation of VF Ltd. to market TOSCA (3D Static
Fields) and PE2D 2D Static & Eddy Current fields
Trading at Osney Mead, Oxford
$1M sales for TOSCA
KBK appointed distributor in Japan
Move to Kidlington, Oxford
World-wide contract with Philips
$1M sales for PE2D
Formation of VF Inc.
Chicago office opened
OPERA (3D Environment) & ELEKTRA(3D Eddy
current fields) introduced
Queen‘s award for Technology
PC Opera (PC version of 2D fields) introduced
Opera 2d (Advanced work station
for 2D
fields)introduced
Soprano (3D high frequency fields) introduced
Tenth Year Anniversary
SCALA (3D space charge beams) introduced
Table 1: Vector Fields Ltd  the first ten years
444
Index
Appendix 3
ICS Newsletter First Issue
Index
445
Index
Adams
Dr John (CERN Director General),
105, 168, 416
Aikman, Freda (nee Trowbridge), 250,
312
Allen
Dr W.D, 3, 19, 34, 41, 47, 50, 133,
260, 381
Arranges authors transfer to Ion
Source Group, 25
Authors tribute, 50, 259
Bills lecture series at Reading, 81
Celebration Lunch for the Oxford
project, 48
Cycle accident, 15
Encouragement to start degree
course, 12
Formidable reputation, 6
Getting his staff promoted, 29
Harvey Rostens Graduation, 117
Leads the Oxford Project, 35
On accelerator tubes, 9
On vaccum guages, 7
Organises a group visit to
Liverpool University (1964),
41
Pat Stenning MSc Student at
Reading, 60
Project team expanded, 39
Recognises the authors strong
interest in Computing, 53
Support for Tube Building
Enterprise, 44
Welcome to Harwell, 4
Frank, 22
Nick, 4, 34, 41, 47
Thomas, 342
Alotto, Piergiorgio
University of Genoa, 404
Vector Fields Ltd, 426
Armstrong
Dr Alan, 64, 90, 96, 125, 133, 150,
159, 229, 259, 364, 390, 441
Atlas Computer, 59, 62
Ayris
Michael (Solicitor), 46, 236
Baker
Gordon, 6, 22, 25, 43
Bastos, Prof. Jaoa Pedro
University of Santa Catarina, 413
Biddlecombe
Chris, 119, 138, 150, 229, 246, 253,
255, 402, 408, 411
Joins VF 1985, 233
Binns
Professor Ken, 132, 152, 169, 173,
235, 293, 375
Birmingham, Boston Wayne
Head of Natiobal Bureau of
Standards Lab at Boulder, Co, 72
Biro, Dr Oscar (TU Graz), 384, 385,
386, 435
Board, Prof. Ken
Swansea University, 175, 379
Boot Cottage
East Hagbourne, 11, 14
Bossavit, Dr Alain, 123, 153, 238, 249,
336, 371, 397
Boyd, Dr David (RAL), 150, 244, 380
Brauer, Dr Hartmud (TU Ilmenau),
434, 439
Brauer, Dr John (AO Smith Inc), 173
Britten
Benjamin, 21, 44
Brookhaven National Laboratory, 54,
62, 68, 81, 98, 100, 117
Brown
Professor John, 120
President of IEE (1979), 144
Bryden, Dr Alan (RAL), 151
BTG (British Technology Group, 228,
230, 232, 233, 246, 247, 294, 295,
296, 301, 302, 374
Campbell, Bill (Headmaster of Cholsey
School), 58, 79, 266, 267
Cardoso, Prof. Roberto
University of Sao Paulo, 413
Carter
Charlie, 3, 14
Jimmy
Presidential Candidate, 131
Cayley
Sir George(d. 1857), 17
446
Chari, M V (General Electric), 99, 126,
127, 128, 146, 154, 166, 167, 172,
195, 196, 375
Charles, Bruce (W.S Brayshaws
Accountants), 229, 230, 247, 343
Chemistry Teacher
Mrs Hall, 13
Cholsey School, 76, 79, 103, 266
Churchill, Sir Winston, 324
Death 1965, 46
Clee, Peter, 61, 67
Cockcroft
Sir John, 1
Cole, Wade (IBM), 429
Coleman, Mike (Wessex Press,
Wantage), 375
Collie
John, 55, 62, 90, 96, 99, 124, 125,
132, 145, 150, 154, 259, 364,
380, 441
Joins HFBC Group, 55
Colonias
John, 141, 159
At MT2, Oxford, 1967, 61
Bill‘s visit to Berkeley, 1976, 131
Compumag Genoa, 166
Interactive Graphics and TRIM,
60
Visit (1970), 73
Colyer
Bryan, 175, 236, 237, 240, 294, 402,
407
Compumag
Berlin (1995)
Arnulf Kost Chaiman, 430
At the conference, 430
Chicago (1981)
Edge Elements introduced, 153
Larry Turner Chairman, 148
Fort Collins (1985)
Bill Lord Chairman, 170
Planning, 169
Genoa (1983)
Planning, 155
Sandro Viviani Chairman, 155
Graz (1987)
Kurt Richter Chairman, 241
Grenoble (1978)
Index
J C Sabonnadiere appointed
Chairman, 133
J C Sabonnadiere offers to
organise the next conference,
128
Olek Zienkiewicz Invited
speaker, 136
Miami (1993)
Osama Mohammed Chairman,
412
Oxford
Steering Committee convened
(1974), 119
Oxford (1976)
Attendance, 123
Bob Lari, 125
Conceived (1974), 119
Contacts with Peter Silvester, 126
Name, 119
Sorrento (1991)
G. Rubinacci Chairman, 293
Tokyo (1989)
Kenzo Miya Chairman, 264
Computing Applications Group(CAG),
91, 101, 111, 117, 125, 138, 139,
150, 168, 175, 190, 229, 235, 257,
400
Formed September 1968, 64
Stonehenge-Avebury Walk, 1971,
90
Wye Valley Walk, 117
Cornish, Don
Culham Laboratory, 139, 159
Davis, George (British Technology
Group, 228, 246, 247
Dawton
Dr Ralph, 25, 34, 35, 36, 40, 50
de Hoop, Adrian (Delft University),
238, 252, 343, 404
Deeley, Prof Ted (Kings College
London), 123, 162, 291, 296, 297,
348, 369, 371, 400, 408, 424
Diserens
Jim, 26, 42, 43, 50, 59, 62, 90, 99,
115, 125, 150, 151, 173, 229,
257, 259, 348
In Hospital, 95
Electrolytic tank, 20, 39
Elgar
Edward (1857-1834), 12, 21, 28, 93,
106, 107, 111, 178, 206, 209,
Index
216, 247, 256, 267, 301, 329,
409, 429
New Society, 83
Society-London Branch, 83
Emson
Dr Cris, 174, 233, 287, 290, 296,
297, 371, 402, 408, 411
Estes Park, 72, 160, 309, 311
Fan, Ming Wu (Beijing Atomic Energy
Lab. PRC), 145, 190, 213, 215, 216,
218, 219, 221, 222, 224, 270, 271,
272, 369, 370
Fell
Lionel, 43, 50
Fewkes
Dr (Regent St. Polytechnic), 19, 20
Fisher, Colin, 68
Flack, Jill (Murdered), 86
Fox, John, 104
colourful character, 62
Dies (1983), 168
Static Power Suppply, 62
Freeman
Professor Ernie, 123, 126, 132, 133,
142, 143, 146, 148, 161, 176,
186, 227, 228, 245, 247, 267
Gannaway, Norman, 302
GFUN Program, 81, 82, 84, 96, 98, 99,
100, 101, 102, 111, 115, 116, 117,
119, 121, 125, 130, 131, 139, 141,
146, 153, 154, 159, 168, 169, 173,
221, 228, 272, 293, 295, 307, 329,
360, 397, 398, 441, 442
Greenhalgh
Brian, 32, 33, 109
Greenough, Dr Chris (RAL), 244
Gregory, Lewis, 302, 410, 411, 434
Gulf War 1991, 344
Hailsham
Lord, 37
Halbach, Klaus, 60, 61, 73, 139
Hammond, Prof. Percy (Southampton
University), 123, 266
Hancox, Roger
Culham Laboratory, 73, 303
Handley, Vernon (Musician), 106, 178
Harris, Prof. Martyn (Newcastle &
Southampton University), 378, 381
Harwell
AERE, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 19, 21, 22, 25,
32, 36, 37, 39, 40, 45, 50, 117,
144, 257, 259
Haslett
447
Tony & Marcelle, 32
Hawkins
Jim, 19
Haworth, John
Headmaster of Cholsey School, 80,
240, 266, 267
Heighway, Dr Ed (Chalk River Labs),
164, 168
HENRY Computer Program, 102
High Field Bubble Chamber, 53, 55,
59, 65, 67, 101
HMS Conway, 56, 94, 364
Fight to prevent closure 1974, 110
Holloway
Gerald & Eileen, 32
Howlett, Jack, 40, 59
HRH Prince Philip
Visit to the Poly 1958, 20
Hyder, Richard McK, 39, 44, 47, 50
Ida, Dr Nathan, 159, 170, 245, 273,
288, 374, 392, 420
Inakatsu San (KBK), 250, 253, 272,
273, 274, 384, 385, 390, 392, 393,
394, 395
International Compumag Society (ICS),
119, 238, 419, 420, 421, 429, 430,
439
Irons, Bruce, 74
John Simpson
Journalist, 346
Keding, Prof. Zhou, 272
Kelvin
Lord, 21, 128
Kennedy, President J F
Assassination (1963), 44
Kettunen
Dr Lauri, 253, 296, 307, 323, 336,
337, 360, 369, 396, 399, 422
Konrad, Prof. Bela (University of
Toronto), 195, 335, 336, 369, 375,
419, 420
Kost. Prof. Arnulf (TUBerlin), 297,
400, 432
Kyokuto Boeki Kaisha(KBK), 247,
250, 253, 254, 255, 264, 272, 273,
274, 285, 287, 288, 289, 383, 384,
385, 386, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393,
394, 395, 396, 443
Laplace Equation, 42, 129, 130, 131,
160
Lari, Robert J (Bob), 125, 141, 146,
149, 150, 153, 159, 160, 288, 358,
411, 441
448
Laverick, Charlie, 73
Lavers, Prof Doug (University of
Toronto), 296, 328, 329, 335, 336,
339, 370, 423
Lawrenson
Professor Peter, 123, 127, 128, 132,
152, 235, 293, 375
Leake
Laurie, 19, 29
Life Time of a Negative Helium ion, 41
Lord, Bill (Fort Collins CSU), 123,
128, 159, 166, 170, 237, 238, 241,
245, 272, 273
Lowther
Dr David, 123, 126, 148, 161, 162,
163, 170, 191, 195, 196, 228,
237, 238, 245, 335, 355, 356,
419, 420, 439
Lymington (Hampshire), 93, 166, 168,
182, 187, 188, 302, 359, 404, 406,
410, 434
Manning
Dr G, 158, 176, 228, 245, 259, 337
Opens Compumag Oxford, 123
Matthews
Professor P.T., 37
Maxwell
James Clerk, 21
McLelland, Robin (Headmaster,
Cholsey School), 266, 267
Medway
Ernie, 34
MegaVolt Ltd, 44
Mick Montgomery
Springer Spaniel, 74, 79
Middleton
Alan, 54
Miller, John (Trinity College Dublin),
145, 152, 155, 166, 174, 175, 227,
228, 240, 241, 243, 244, 250, 288,
294
Miss Booth (Boot Cottage)
Local Probation Officer, 11
Mohammed, Prof. Osama (Florida
State University), 273, 274, 329,
369, 412, 420, 439
Molinari
Professor Giorgio, 123, 155, 163,
170, 250, 252, 257, 264, 265,
273, 288, 297, 355, 400, 420, 439
Morgan, Prof. Ken
Swansea University, 374, 379
Index
Moulsford, 45, 48, 49, 56, 75, 85, 112,
113, 181, 235, 240
Mullett
Dr L B (Deputy Director of RL), 30
Nakata, Prof. Taka (Okayama), 153,
155, 163, 241, 242, 255, 272, 288,
290, 293, 297, 374, 385, 419
Neave, Airey, MP, 111
Newman
Mike, 64, 90, 98, 107, 115, 116,
125, 150, 151, 168, 175, 220,
229, 259, 294
Camping weekend in North
Wales, 94
Newport
Ron, 54, 68, 101, 309, 427
Nicholas
Denys, 29, 39, 41
Owen, Prof. Roger
Swansea University, 379
Oxford Project, 35, 36, 40, 46, 50
Pam Peisley (CAG Secretary), 176,
229, 248
Partridge
Jack, 6, 12, 19, 22, 25, 31, 43, 50
PATHFINDER, 42
Perring
Peter, 101
Pickavance
Dr T G (First Director of Rutherford
Laboratory, 63
Polak
Simon (Philips, Einhoven), 116,
119, 123, 128, 137, 162, 170,
174, 175, 240, 241, 242, 243,
245, 252, 264, 335, 355, 356,
371, 381, 404, 419
PR China, 145, 190, 199, 200, 205,
206, 208, 211, 215, 216, 222, 224,
226, 228, 234, 268, 269, 272, 273,
274, 275, 276, 277, 279, 281, 283,
284, 287, 336
Preis, Dr Kurt (TU Graz), 241, 242,
435
Pyrah
Ted, 50, 51
Quinton Hogg (1845-1903)
Founder of the Poly, 17
Reichert, Konrad (AG Brown Boverie,
Switzerland), 123, 124, 126, 128
Reichert, Prof. Konrad (Swiss Institute
of Technology), 149, 242
Richter
Index
Mila, 263, 343, 379, 436, 439
Professor Kurt, 164, 238, 241, 242,
246, 252, 261, 262, 263, 271,
273, 275, 278, 281, 284, 285,
288, 335, 355, 379, 389, 400,
419, 420, 436, 438, 439
Riley
Chris, 138, 139, 159, 160, 235, 245,
261, 288, 326, 402, 411, 412
Joins VF (1986), 233
Robert Mitchell Medal, 37
Robins
Robbie AERE Training School, 2, 3,
4
Rosten
Harvey, 102, 117, 119
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
(RAL), 32, 41, 50, 53, 60, 66, 86,
92, 101, 102, 116, 117, 119, 120,
123, 124, 126, 127, 134, 136, 138,
139, 153, 200, 230, 231, 238, 257,
268, 291, 402, 405, 407, 409
Computing Facilities, 60
Merged with Appleton Laboratory
(1979), 144
Walkinshaw, Bill (Head of
Technology), 53, 54, 60, 101
Rutherford Laboratory, 32, 47, 55, 60,
62, 84, 123
Sabonnadiere, Prof. J C, 127, 128, 133,
136, 137, 148, 162, 241, 242, 293,
296, 335, 355, 356, 423
Seacombe, Harry, 74
Seybold
Captain William, 22
Shepherd, Julie (Vector Fields), 365
Shingu San (KBK), 253, 255, 383, 384,
385, 386, 387, 390, 391, 392, 393,
394, 395
Silvester
Elizabeth, 143, 195, 337
Peter, 123, 124, 126, 127, 128, 133,
138, 144, 148, 154, 159, 160,
161, 167, 196, 227, 228, 422
Simkin
John, 119, 121, 123, 125, 130, 136,
138, 139, 142, 144, 146, 150,
160, 161, 167, 176, 228, 229,
237, 241, 244, 246, 250, 252,
259, 261, 287, 369, 379, 402,
418, 420, 441
CAG, 101
449
Managing Director VF January
1985, 232
VF Company Secretary (1984),
230
Smith
Dr Peter
Rutherford Cable, 65
Snowden, Mac (RAL), 12
Sykulski, Prof. Jan (University of
Southampton), 266, 303, 381, 408,
412, 420
Takahashi, Prof. Norio (Okayama),
369, 374, 420
Tang, Prefessor (Harbin IT, PRC), 190,
201, 203, 204, 205, 207, 208, 209,
211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 218,
247, 248, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272,
274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280,
281, 284, 286, 369
Tanner, Peter (British Technology
Group, 229, 230, 246, 247, 294, 296,
374
Thatcher, Mrs Margaret MP, 101, 111,
157, 244, 245, 283, 341
The Polytechnic
Regent St, London, 12, 17, 18
Thomas
Dr David, 54, 121, 364
Appointed Pro Rector for
Research Contracts at Imperial
College, 245
Consultancy with University of
Swansea, 64
Elected Fellow IEE, 144
Encouragement to start Vector
Fields, 176
Head of High Field Bubble
Chamber Group, 53
HFBC Group in building R50,
62
SERC Director of Information
Technology (1981), 151
Support for Compumag, 119
Technology Division Head
(1972), 101
Visit of Engineering Board
(1975), 120
Visit of Sir Keith Joseph (1982),
158
Thomson
Paul, 101
TOPIC Computer program, 55
450
TOSCA, 130, 132, 146, 157, 159, 232,
246, 248, 255, 257, 272, 273, 288,
295, 332, 338, 339, 376, 387, 388,
389, 390, 391, 392, 407, 415, 422,
427, 442, 443
Short course at CERN (1980), 144
TOSCA code
Paper awarded IEE Premium 1981,
144
TRIM Computer Program, 59, 60, 61,
64, 69, 98, 238
Trowbridge
Bill
Attends Bubble Chamber
Conference in Chicago, 1970,
68
Attends Cryogenics Conference
in West Berlin, 1970, 66
Awarded DSc by University of
London, 429
Awarded Honorary Doctorate by
the TU Graz, 436
Awarded OBE(1992), 406, 407,
409, 412
Began work on new book with
Peter Lawrenson & Ken Binns
(1981), 152
BSc, 1962, 37
Calculating Magnetic Field
Distributions, 53
Chemistry at Abingdon, 12
Collaboration with Alan
Middleton, 54
Collaboration with John Collie,
55
Collaboration with John Fox, 62
Collaboration with Pat Stenning,
60
Computing Applications section
moves to R50, 62
Elected Fellow of IEE (1979),
144
Elected Foreign member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy
(1992), 404
EO, 1961, 31
First Aircraft Flight, 41
First Car, A35, 1961, 31
First Internal Publication,fn48, 41
First visit to CERN, November
1966, 55
GFUN Program, 82
Index
Group Leader of CAG,
September 1968, 64
Hangar 10, 36
Helium Minus Lifetime paper in
Physical Review, fn49, 41
Infected Thumb, 49
Ion Source Group, 1961, 34
Jim Diserens transfers to HFBC
group , third member of the
section, 59
Joined HFBC Group, 1996, 53
Joins Accelerator Tube section, 6
Joins AERE Harwell, 1
Joint paper with Middleton
Alan at MT2, 61
Mike Newman, Alan Armstrong
join CAG, 64
Move Office to Keble
Rd.Oxford, 47
MT2 at Oxford, 60
Oxford Project 1961, 36
Part 1 BSc, 29
Promoted to AEO, 1958, 19
Promoted to Pricipal Scientific
Officer, July 1968, 64
Promoted to Senior Experimental
Officer, 1965, 48
Promoted to Senior Principal
Scientific Officer, 133
Reflecting Telescope Mirror, 43
Regent St. Polytechnic, 17
Robert Mitchell Medal, 1962, 37
Scientific Assistant 1957, 1
To CERN with Jim Diserens,
1968, 63
Transfer to RL, 1961, 32
VF Chairman (1984), 230
Visit Lawrence Berkely
Laboratory, 1970, 73
Visit of Sir Keith Joseph (1982),
157
Brenda (Wife of Maurice
Trowbridge), 29, 33, 49, 76, 93,
180, 183, 187, 188, 251, 268,
302, 312, 344, 352, 358, 359
David (brother), 42
Awarded OBE(1990), 344
Dinah (daughter), 27, 29, 32, 33, 45,
56, 76, 92, 93, 106, 109, 112,
178, 179, 182, 185, 232, 233,
235, 332, 333, 335, 356, 358,
378, 400, 404, 423
First Employee, 229
Index
Maurice and Brenda, 15, 90, 96
Peter (brother), 42, 181, 321, 404
Rita
Mother dies, 1964, 45
Part Time Teaching at
Hagbourne, 45
Sister Eva marries Bill Boucher,
May 1962, 33
Starts teaching at Cholsey Junior
School, 1967, 58
Supply Teaching in Streatley, 56
Teaching at East Hagbourne, 11
Unstinting support, 259
Rita & Bill
Camping, 92, 94, 104, 105, 107,
109, 111, 193, 284
New Forest, 1971, 92
Daughter Dinah Mary born,
March 31 1960, 27, 28
Extensions at North End,
Moulsford, 75
Family Holiday at Beddgelert
(1971), 86
Family Holiday at Gyfyng (North
Wales) 1969, 78
Family Holiday in Ireland, 1968,
76
Family holoiday in Zermatt, 78
Gave up smoking, 1964, 45
Holiday at Ymlch Bach, 1966, 57
Holiday in Penzance, 1959, 22
Move to Abbott Rd,Didcot, 14
Move to Boot Cottage, 11
Moved to Moulsford, 1965, 48
Son Simon XE
"Trowbridge:Simon (son)"
born 20 December 1961, 32
Simon (son), 32, 33, 56, 58, 76, 80,
81, 85, 89, 92, 109, 111, 112,
177, 182, 234, 240, 267, 287,
299, 300, 301, 303, 353, 357,
358, 365, 376, 383, 404, 419,
424, 434
Arsenal V. Stoke, 1971, 85
Turner
Larry, 90, 96, 98, 123, 125, 146,
148, 150, 159, 160, 237, 246,
259, 264, 358, 371, 396, 397,
420, 430
Elected Chairman of Compumag
Chicago, 148
Larry & Donna, 141, 261, 288, 412
451
Turner, Prof. Charles (Kings College
London), 291, 296, 400, 402
Turowski, Prof (Lodz University), 378
Van de Graaf
Electrostatic Generator, 9, 15, 25,
26, 35, 36
Vaughan Williams
Ralph d.1958, 21
Veal, Peter (Harry), 411
Vector Fields Ltd, 235, 247, 253, 264,
272, 273, 293, 365, 401, 404, 405,
407, 408, 411, 422, 432, 434, 436,
441, 443
ACCORD Project, 241
Agreement with BTG to market the
RAL software, 230
At Magnet Technology Conference
in Zurich (1986), 241
Bill leaves RAL for VF (1987), 258
Bob Lari appointed VP of VF Inc,
287
Business Plan (1984), 228
Choosing the Name, 229
Compubag Affair (Berlin, 1995),
431
Conceived (1983), 169
Cooperative Ventures, 407
Directord Pension Plan, 247
First VF Newsletter published, 233
Formation, 6th August 1984, 230
Hosting TEAM Workshop in
Oxford, 1990, 291
Involvement with Infolytica Inc, 196
John Whitney Joins VF as Sales and
Marketing Director January
1985, 233
KBK Agent and Distributor in
Japan, 247
One Million Dollar Sales Award,
246
PC-OPERA used as aTeaching Tool
at Kings College, London, 403
Prospects in China, 287
Queen’s Award (1993), 401
Semi-Retirement (1985), 429
Support for forming FV from Geoff
Manning, 245
The Vector Fields Story presented in
Ilemanau, 434
Trading starts January 1985 at
Osney Mead Oxford, 232
VF Inc formed in Chicago (1988),
287
452
Visit of Professor Tang, 268
World-wide deal with Philips, 264
Viviani
Professor Sandro, 123, 128, 155,
156, 163, 170, 241, 242, 243,
252, 262, 265
Webster, Fred, 406, 410, 411, 434
Whitney
John, 138, 146, 151, 154, 169, 232,
233, 241, 244, 245, 246, 247,
248, 256, 259, 267, 288, 289,
397, 401, 402
Appointed Marketing and Sales
Director of Vector Fields Ltd,
233
Williams
Paul, 54, 68, 228, 245, 246, 247,
257, 259
Wilson
Index
Martin, 68, 72, 309
Rutherford Cable, 65
Winslow, Alan
TRIM Program, 59
Wohinz, Dr (Rector of Graz TU), 436
Yan , Prof. Weili (Tianjin IT), 269,
270, 369
Yarwood
John (Head of Maths & Physics at
Regent St. Polytechnic), 17, 19,
20
Zienkiewicz
Professor Olek, 64, 74, 99, 126, 139,
227, 256, 303
Sir Keith Joseph at RAL (1982),
157
UNESCO Meeting in Turin
(1985), 236

A Personal Memoir -- Part 2

Transcription

Similar documents

jackryn france

Welcome to 225 Fairglen Avenue

Rita Victor and Michael Davis Coldwell Banker Honig

Varnica - Dantex

WindReach Family Day

Impacts on the TETCO system

ALTO PART # 112756 INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS Ford CD4E

A Global Guide to Business Etiquette

Pencak Silat Mande Muda Maryland

RADISSON BLU PALACE HOTEL NOORDWIJK AAN ZEE