Sir Peter Mansfield

[Lawrence Jones]

Undifferentiated V-neck pullover science – dreadful radio. If you spend hours and hours alone in an R&D lab., then the radio and music become your best friends. Clearly Sir Peter didn’t spend millions of hours listening to Mary Goldring, John Peel or Alan Black. He didn’t even appear to read Wireless World or Practical Wireless. Boo-hoo, it would have been good to hear him speak about the importance of acorn valves within his life – or even OC170’s!!!!!!!

[Crusoe]

Hmm, well, I was quite interested in Sir Peter’s story: it’s good to know that not being an academic child needn’t be a barrier to later intellectual development. But the music was very disappointing.

He seemed to make the sort of trite choices that would have been the equivalent of “Imagine” and “We Are the Champions” in a slightly younger person.

You are right: there seemed to be no particular passion for music or radio at all. The other funny thing was that I think the only mention that was made of his wife during the whole programme seemed to come near the end, when Ms Lawley suggested he could have spent some prize money on treating her to a cruise (a suggestion which Sir Peter didn’t seem particularly keen on).

[Lawrence Jones]

webb said:

Hmm, well, I was quite interested in Sir Peter’s story: it’s good to know that not being an academic child needn’t be a barrier to later intellectual development. But the music was very disappointing.

I found Sir Peter’s monotonic voice a real disincentive to follow the programme. I’m wary of young Ph.D students (1), but the genuine ones will always speak with enormous enthusiasm about their first discovery. Of course someone will have made the same ‘discovery’’ years ago, but it’s still a first for the Ph.D student. That was the appeal of Prof Jardine’s talk when she spoke about the enthusiasm of her Ph.D student who’d decoded (can’t recall the precise story) that script. Sir Peter didn’t sound very enthusiastic.

it’s good to know that not being an academic child needn’t be a barrier to later intellectual development

I dislike the word ‘academic’, especially when considering disciplines relating to science and technology. There are plenty of occasions at school when one can learn the maths – and get the ‘correct’ answer. However the grasp of the concept often comes much later on in life and it isn’t always examinable! I think Sir Peter’s misfortune was to come from a family with limited economic resources and nothing to do with intellectual limitations.

The musical choices were both baffling and depressing – and yes you’re right, we did seem to be dealing with the classical equivalent of Imagine and We are the champions. I’m at a loss to understand why music hasn’t been important within his life. I know quite a few engineers and scientists who always retreat into music when they’re struggling with a knotty problem.

I thought Miss Lawley’s question about what he did with the prize money was quite sensible and reasonable. The sudden acquisition of a large sum of money often induces interesting silliness concerning the way it’s spent. However he didn’t even tell Ms. L. that it was none of her business! You’re right with the comment that he didn’t sound too keen on the cruise idea. I agree that it would also have been interesting to hear more references to his wife, together with some comment on the role she’d performed throughout his career.

I thought Miss Lawley sounded unconvincing when she tried to give the listener the impression that she understood the principles of MRI. This highlights the need for potential R4 producers and presenters to study engineering at university, rather than PPE!!! I believe all potential applicants for the Vacant DID presenter’s position should have to prove they possess practical skills, rather than simply sounding posh. You’re right with the comment that he didn’t sound too keen on the cruise idea. And yes, it would have been interesting to hear more references to his wife, together with the role that she’d performed throughout his career.

Another point that I found rather baffling was towards the end when the issue of practical skills was discussed. Am I right in thinking that he responded with words to the effect that he’s a theoretician? Didn’t he mention that he was employed as a book binder initially? I was also left with the impression that he’d constructed the equipment (he made the reference to transistors) described during the programme when proving the basic principle. He must have got his RF experience from somewhere. Surely he built valve receivers when he was a kid?

Notes

(1) Did you here that rather arrogant young undergrad. speaking to Clare Balding on Ramblings last week? She’d already assumed that she was going to be accepted to read for a Ph.D!!!!Can you imagine what it would be like going for a walk with someone like that?

[Crusoe]

Lawrence said:

I found Sir Peter’s monotonic voice a real disincentive to follow the programme.

Yes, it’s always a bit of a chore to listen to someone who drones monotonously. It’s strange (although probably not uncommon) that someone who should be able to inspire and educate students seems to lack the ability to convey passion or interest.

Lawrence said:

I’m wary of young Ph.D students (1), but the genuine ones will always speak with enormous enthusiasm about their first discovery. Of course someone will have made the same ‘discovery’’ years ago, but it’s still a first for the Ph.D student.

I think that the enthusiasm probably depends upon the context. My sister is currently completing some research and I get the feeling that she’s a little bit disillusioned since very similar research has been conducted before and the results have been fairly unpromising.

Lawrence said:

I dislike the word ‘academic’, especially when considering disciplines relating to science and technology. There are plenty of occasions at school when one can learn the maths – and get the ‘correct’ answer. However the grasp of the concept often comes much later on in life and it isn’t always examinable!

I think one of the reasons why science is so difficult for many people and why it is so unpopular amongst many students is because it requires both. Grasping the principles is essential but there is still a need for integration, complex numbers, fourier analysis, laplace transforms and the like.

Lawrence said:

I think Sir Peter’s misfortune was to come from a family with limited economic resources and nothing to do with intellectual limitations.

Well, clearly he is an intelligent man and this cannot have been due to intellectual limitations but I did get the impression that he didn’t particularly enjoy much of school as a boy/ teenager and that, consequently, most of his exam results were fairly poor. This may, though, be due to cultural reasons, as you suggest.

Lawrence said:

I’m at a loss to understand why music hasn’t been important within his life. I know quite a few engineers and scientists who always retreat into music when they’re struggling with a knotty problem.

As you said before, this is particularly surprising given that there is so much solitary work to be done during most research projects. I wonder what the soundtrack to his life is, if there is one.

Lawrence said:

I thought Miss Lawley’s question about what he did with the prize money was quite sensible and reasonable. The sudden acquisition of a large sum of money often induces interesting silliness concerning the way it’s spent.

A good point – especially in people of certain age who may be prone to a mid-life crisis. It is a bit disappointing, really that Sir Peter just spent the money as if it was part of his general income, rather than spending at least some of it on a memorable thing.

Lawrence said:

it would have been interesting to hear more references to his wife, together with the role that she’d performed throughout his career.

I thought it was very odd not to have heard a little more of his wife. Until that part of the programme I’d assumed Sir Peter must be a bachelor, living in university accommodation and married to his work. I wonder what held them together?

Lawrence said:

I thought Miss Lawley sounded unconvincing when she tried to give the listener the impression that she understood the principles of MRI.

I suppose that this may have an advantage in that it may have helped draw out more of a “layman’s” description to help non-technical listeners.

Lawrence said:

This highlights the need for potential R4 producers and presenters to study engineering at university, rather than PPE!!! I believe all potential applicants for the Vacant DID presenter’s position should have to prove they possess practical skills, rather than simply sounding posh.

At the very least they ought to be able to construct a bivouac and construct a makeshift fishing rod

Lawrence said:

Another point that I found rather baffling was towards the end when the issue of practical skills was discussed. Am I right in thinking that he responded with words to the effect that he’s a theoretician? Didn’t he mention that he was employed as a book binder initially? I was also left with the impression that he’d constructed the equipment (he made the reference to transistors) described during the programme when proving the basic principle. He must have got his RF experience from somewhere. Surely he built valve receivers when he was a kid?

He definitely said that he was more of a theoretician than a practical person and I suspect that his practical projects will have been relatively rudimentary and constructed slowly, without the finesse and speed of someone who builds electrical equipment on a regular basis. I think I have told you before of a friend who works for a large electronics and aerospace company in which the use of soldering irons by engineers is frowned upon. As for Sir Peter’s RF experience, I suspect that this was all picked up from text books: his musical choices suggested that there wasn’t much he’d want to build a wireless to listen to.

Lawrence said:

Did you here that rather arrogant young undergrad. speaking to Clare Balding on Ramblings last week? She’d already assumed that she was going to be accepted to read for a Ph.D!!!!Can you imagine what it would be like going for a walk with someone like that?

I didn’t hear “ramblings” (it’s not a programme I can really get into, I’m afraid – there have been other programmes about the British landscape that I have enjoyed but I’m just not stimulated by this one) so I can’t really judge the young student in question. As with the issue of excitement over research results, I suspect that context could be relevant here, as well. Whilst becoming an undergraduate is not so great an achievement as being accepted to read for a Ph.D., it is not something which everyone would expect to do. The vast majority of pupils from the school I went to went on to university and, as a child, my mother told me that the stages of education were primary school, secondary school and university. I always thought I would go to university, simply because this was what people did, apparently. I’d have thought that a similar situation could apply to some people intending to go on and do a Ph.D.