Looking back at more than 20 years of Imperial news stories

As Imperial's monthly newsletter Reporter marks 300 issues in print, we take a look at over 20 years of College news stories.

Everyone at Imperial is familiar with how quickly the College changes over a relatively short period of time – it’s in the Imperial DNA to constantly evolve in response to global forces. The Reporter newsletter has tried to cover some of this diverse, dynamic activity over 300 Issues, starting more than 20 years ago in 1995.

Firstly, we take a take a look at a timeline of highlights and major events as covered by Reporter (click here or on the image below). Then we delve deeper into the some of the surprising, funny and poignant stories from 300 issues of Reporter.

Going global

For more than 60 years, intrepid Imperial students have set out to every corner of the globe on unique and daring expeditions combining adventure with research − supported by the College’s Exploration Board. Reporter has followed the exploits of these students, whether navigating the high peaks of Nepal (Issue 75), tracking the frozen tundra of Greenland (Issue 142) or cycling across the silk road route (Issue 288).

One story that stands out from the records though is that of alumnus explorer Andreas Mogensen. As a student, Andreas went out on two trips to South America. The first one, called Netspedition (Issue 34), involved canoeing to inaccessible areas of the Venezuelan Amazon to document butterfly biodiversity, sending regular digital reports and photographs via satellite phone to be uploaded to the embryonic internet.

In 2015 Andreas happened to be reading Reporter, which included the latest student expeditions, and got in touch to say that the Exploration Board had been the catalyst for his career in exploration and that he was now an astronaut for the European Space Agency, due to launch to the International Space Station for his first mission in a few months’ time. Reporter of course interviewed him before his big day (Issue 288, p10).

Asked by Reporter what makes a good explorer Andreas said: “Curiosity, a sense of wonderment at the beauty of our world, and a desire to explore and discover not only our surroundings but also our own mental and physical limits.”

Extracurricular

While the College is mostly know for science, engineering, medicine and business, sport has long played an important role in galvanising the community.

The archetype for the sporting academic is perhaps Sir Roger Bannister, St Mary’s alumnus and miracle mile runner who featured in Reporter, for example when he opened the £250,000 Sir Roger Bannister Lecture Theatre (Issue 139).

The Imperial College Boat Club at Putney has long been part of College life for many student rowers. A high point for the club came when three alumni – Simon Dennis, Louis Attrill and Luka Grub – secured gold at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 (Issue 97).

Imperial took another Olympic podium 16 years later at the Rio games, this time in the women’s eight with alumnus Mel Wilson and fellow boat club rower Zoe Lee taking silver (Issue 296). Paralympian and PhD student Dave Henson also secured silver in the T42 200m (Issue 296)

Many staff and students also did their bit as ‘Games Makers’ for the London 2012 Olympics (Issue 250).

 Long service

Constant change has always been a theme of Imperial, as old buildings make way for state of the art facilities (see Issue 285 for a comprehensive look at how the estate has changed). But what stays the same is a dedicated body of staff – many of whom remain at the College for several decades. A surprising number of academics remain active in their field and publishing well in their 80s and even 90s, as with Reporter regular Emeritus Professor Colin Caro (Issue 292). Just as impressive is the longevity of support staff.

Aeronautics technician John O’Leary retired in 2006 with exactly 50 years of continuous service to the College (Issue 161, p2), having started working in the Department in 1956, aged just 15. Whilst working at Imperial John also gave 23 years of service to the police as a special constable – for which he was awarded an MBE. The Reporter edition notes that he also gave selfdefence classes to staff in the department.

Mick Reynolds, Harlington Sports Ground Manager, retired in 2013 after 48 years of service, most of them spent living on onsite at Harlington (Issue 267, p14). Mick was awarded the President and Rector’s medal for supporting the student experience at Commemoration Day that year.

Trevor Beek, a technician in Physics marked 50 years of continuous service in 2015 and is still going strong. Trevor has had the unique honour of having worked on numerous space missions.

All these cases speak to the community spirit of Imperial and the people who make up the family. But perhaps the most colourful quote from the archive belongs to long-serving technician Ray Gingell, who commented to Reporter on his 45-year stretch: “If I’d have done a murder, I’d have been released by now.” (Issue 117)

Reading list

Many members of the Imperial community are frequently published authors through the journals in which they disseminate their research and ideas. But some have also achieved more mainstream literary success. No doubt the most famous of these is Royal College of Science alumnus Herbert George (HG) Wells, the father of modern science-fiction and author of War of the Worlds (Issue 22). His legacy was celebrated recently when a student on Imperial’s Horizons humanities module won the HG Wells Short Story Competition (Issue 292).

Professor Larry Hench, an Imperial biomaterials pioneer, found great success with his series of children’s books featuring Boing-Boing the Bionic Cat, aimed at inspiring young readers about science and engineering. Professor Hench told Reporter in Issue 89: “My grandson, Danny, was partially allergic to cat fur and I dreamed up the cat as a story to cheer him up, then the others wanted to hear about Boing-Boing too.”

Professor Hench’s close collaborator Dame Professor Julia Polak also found some literary fame, when her remarkable story was immortalised in the novel Intensive Care (Issue 105). In 1995 Julia fell ill with the very disease she had been studying. She required a lung transplant, which was performed by colleague and friend, Imperial surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub.She went on to co-found the Imperial College Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre.

Another poignant story was that of Professor F.J. ‘Felix’ Weinberg FRS. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1928, he survived internment in the Nazi concentration camps as a boy, then moved to England aged 12. He excelled at school and eventually became a Distinguished Research Fellow at Imperial in combustion physics.

It was painful to write his memoirs, but he finally started it in his eighties finishing  Boy 30529: A Memoir just before he passed away. He writes: “I had a very happy childhood. It came to an end too soon and too abruptly, thanks to Adolf Hitler, but I believe that it is the early years that count.” (Issue 158 p2, 256 p14).

Lasting legacies

An important part of Reporter has always been to mark the passing of members of the community – both to celebrate their achievements and allow their friends and colleagues at the College a chance to mourn and remember them.

Although difficult to pick out particular figures, the tribute to Nobel laureate Professor Abdus Salam stands out. One of the foremost theoretical physicists of his generation, Salam was the first Muslim to win a Nobel Prize. The tribute to him in Issue 36 of Reporter was by one of his mentees, Professor Sir Tom Kibble, who wrote: “Salam has a secure place among the great men of science. He was a most stimulating colleague, a man of humanity and passion, with many friends and admirers, and some detractors, not least in his own country.” Sadly

Sir Tom himself passed away in 2016, having made just as enormous impact on the field of theoretical physics as his mentor Salam. His obituary was published in Issue 295 of Reporter and online − where scores of his friends and former students posted their own tributes to his vision, humility and kindness. Among them was Imperial alumnus Professor Neil Turok, Director of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. “It is heartbreaking to hear of Tom’s demise. His unique and acute intelligence, wisdom and generosity set the very highest example to all of us fortunate to know him. He was a true giant of science and of humanity. We miss him sorely.”

 And finally…

Imperial is of course a serious academic institution, but we don’t necessarily shy away from the lure of big screen and Reporter has been there to document those rare occasions. Issue 123 recalls how Professor the Lord Ara Darzi collaborated on a James Bond film Die Another Day, and allowed the use of a Da Vinci surgical robot for one scene where a captured Bond is subject to medical experiments. Professor Darzi has been fascinated with Bond films since very young. “Surgeons and spies are alike as both aspire to serve their subjects with minimal fuss while using the best technologies around. Bond films have always been an inspiration to those with a technology interest,” he said. “I never thought that one day, the department I headed would be making a contribution. It’s great that Imperial College’s know how has made it to the movie screen.”

The College also provided set location for another Hollywood blockbuster, with parts of Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction filmed at the Business School and Faculty Building (Issue 154). Perhaps fortunately, that didn’t include many of the film’s risqué scenes.

For some reason known only to the producers, Pop Stars, an early version of the popular audition show format, was filmed at various locations at the South Kensington Campus(Issue 121).