A life in science

As soon as I realised my early ambition to become a pilot was impossible through short sightedness I determined on a career in science. Generally although I was poor at many things at school ( and too lazy to do anything about it ) I was fairly good at science. Taking science in the sixth form I soon found I wasn’t much good at maths so I decided on chemistry as a degree subject.

At university under good teaching my maths flourished but ironically I rather lost interest in chemistry even planning to switch to physics at one stage. After graduating and being disenchanted with practical chemistry I got a job in information science. This was a very young discipline but I was fortunate to join a crack team, and even more important to join Unilever Research. When I was asked to go on secondment to a development group I was hesitant at first. However it worked out well and I never went back to Information Science.

Unilever also paid for me to do a research degree at Liverpool Polytechnic as it was then. It is to my lasting regret that I didn’t convert to a doctorate as I could have done. Again the demands of family meant I didn’t write my thesis for several years.  So I emerged with a master’s degree by research by the end of the 70’s ( this type of degree is unusual ) . I also took on a new job with Unichema, the Unilever chemicals subsidiary on Merseyside.  This could have been my breakout opportunity but company rationalisation saw the Merseyside operation close.

In a difficult period I first took a job with a small company on Teeside and then with Castrol at Hyde near Manchester. Working in a small company helped my self confidence immensely. Essentially I did everything from formulation through to pilot scale production and had customer involvement unthinkable with Unilever.

Eventually in the mid eighties I left Castrol reluctantly. After they talked of moving me  to Pangbourne near Reading the move was delayed so many times over several years that planning for our family future became impossible. I joined a small company , Techtron, in the West Midlands. After my previous experience in a small company I rose to the challenges which were by no means all scientific. I literally built my own lab from kitchen units in a bare space which just had plumbing.

Although fairly settled I had remained in contact with Castrol and after a while they made a very attractive offer to return. I took charge of an expanding group developing various production cleaners and temporary corrosion inhibitors. This technology was very much on the periphery of the main interests in lubricants and oil products. This did mean that I had a lot of leeway to choose our way forward but it also meant I had little support within the company.

In some ways this was a very confusing period as Castrol was busy hoovering up small companies which I found had small operations which paralleled my activities. I like to think I played some part in rationalising the resulting mess. I certainly started some co-operation in Europe and to a much lesser extent in the US.

It was while I was working for Castrol I suffered a stroke and although I went back to work with some success I chose to leave early. I was then able to work part time for Techtron. Before too long I expanded my role into IT ( only elementary stuff as little existed ) and with my experience I was able to do development on a shoe string. Money and facilities were very limited. I stayed with Techtron for 10 years finally taking definite retirement at 65.

After retirement I retain an interest, now much broader, in science. I do attend the U3A science and technology group but I find my interests are kept up by “New Scientist” and selected books. With no professional pressure I have indulged my interest in aerospace technology and also discovered new areas such as evolution about which I knew little.

It is being said that the 21^st century will be the era of rapid progress in molecular biology and so it has proved so far. The progress in physics awaits the grand unification of two theories, quantum theory on a small scale and relativity on a large. So far no grand synthesis has appeared although ample evidence for both exists. The key technological advance in my lifetime has been microelectronics. From being unknown when I started the advance has been remarkable and the future promise is stunning with the application of artificial intelligence. This AI is in fact of a limited sort but with everything from self driving cars through to artificial translations a great vista is opening.