Because of some problems including the conversion of pictures to the web format, this is an interim web edition, which will be followed by a full version next week -- John Sturdy (webmaster).
![[Rutherford]](May/Rutherford.gif)
``Take over, Cockcroft, it's your show,'' said Lord Rutherford one morning in 1932. Generators hummed, pumps throbbed, lightning crackled and flashed, a tall glass cylinder glowed and the Geiger counter began registering the fragments of splitting atoms...
Until the last quarter of the nineteenth century the University of Cambridge offered no practical work or laboratory courses in physics. In February 1869 a working party recommended the appointment of a Professor and Demonstrator in Experimental Physics, together with provision of the necessary buildings and apparatus. By the summer of 1870 no progress had been made on funding the new concept but in October 1870 the 7th Duke of Devonshire (who was Chancellor of the University from 1862 to 1891) wrote to the Vice-Chancellor: ``I am desirous to assist the University in carrying this recommendation into effect, and shall accordingly be prepared to provide the funds required for the building and apparatus.'' The building went ahead on part of the former Botanic Garden in Free School Lane, and the lecture theatre and laboratory were ready for Michaelmas Term, 1873. The building cost £8,450 (not surprisingly 34% above the estimate) and was paid for by the Duke of Devonshire, who performed the opening ceremony on 16th June 1874. The family name of the Dukes of Devonshire is Cavendish and so it became the Cavendish Laboratory and his motto of Cavendo tutus (secure by caution), the three bucks' heads from his coat of arms and a statue of him in Chancellor's robes (holding a model of the laboratory) can be seen over the gate of the building in Free School Lane.
Meanwhile in 1871 James Clerk Maxwell had been appointed the first Professor of Experimental Physics, having been Professor of Natural Philosophy at Aberdeen University (at the age of 25) and at King's College, London. Before the Cavendish was ready for use in 1873, he gave lectures on heat, electricity and magnetism and drew up detailed plans for equipping the first purpose-built physics laboratory in the world. The first students were all graduates who had taken the Mathematical Tripos. Maxwell became well-known for his work on the kinetic theory of gases and on the theory of electromagnetic radiation, but he had wide interests and he even made a rotating circular box containing a strip of pictures which was the forerunner of the cine film; it is preserved in the museum in the Cavendish. Leslie Stephen (a Fellow of Trinity, Editor of the Dictionary of National Biography and the father of Virginia Woolf) described Maxwell as an undergraduate as follows: ``He was a fascinating object to me; propounding quaint paradoxes in a broad Scottish accent; capable of writing humorous lampoons upon the dons, and turning his knowledge of dynamics to account by contriving new varieties of `headers' into the Cam.''
Maxwell died in 1879 at the age of 48 and was succeeded by Lord Rayleigh. After five years he returned to his own laboratory on his estate at Terling, Essex. (Lord Rayleigh's Dairies became part of MD Foods in 1996.) Lord Rayleigh later contributed to an extension to the Cavendish from his 1904 Nobel Prize and opened it in 1908 when he was Chancellor of the University.
Joseph John Thomson was appointed Cavendish Professor at the age of 28. He discovered the electron, which prepared the way for atomic and nuclear physics. `J.J.' (as he was known) received a Nobel Prize in 1906, was knighted and, after 35 years as Cavendish Professor, became Master of Trinity College. Ernest Rutherford from New Zealand joined the Cavendish in 1895 as a researcher on an 1851 Exhibition scholarship and, after professorships at McGill and Manchester Universities, he returned as Cavendish Professor in 1919. It was in his time that Sir John Cockcroft (with E.T.S. Walton) produced the first transmutation of an atomic nucleus in 1932. Cockcroft went on to become the first Director of the British Atomic Energy Establishment, won a Nobel Prize and became Master of Churchill College. Rutherford died in Cambridge in 1937 and, like J.J. Thomson, is buried in Westminster Abbey.
Sir Lawrence Bragg followed Rutherford at the Cavendish and established the Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology (which revealed the double helix of DNA) and research into radio astronomy, which resulted in the radio telescopes at the Mullard Observatory and the discovery of quasars and pulsars. The increase in the application of physics in industry after World War II made a larger, more modern building necessary and in 1974 the Cavendish Laboratory moved to its present site in West Cambridge. It currently has 280 projects in its research programme, funded by the Government and by industry.
The Cavendish Laboratory continues to be at the forefront of research of far-reaching significance. As J.J. Thomson said in a broadcast in 1930: ``A great discovery is not a terminus, but an avenue leading to regions hitherto unknown.''
Since the age of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, there have always been those who claim that there is some inherent conflict between science and Christian faith. Science is omnicompetent: any question that cannot be investigated by scientific means is either meaningless or not worth asking. Such is the position taken today by, to name just two, Francis Crick (joint discoverer of the structure of the DNA molecule from which our genes are made) and Richard Dawkins (Oxford zoologist who has written and spoken extensively --- and entertainingly --- on evolution and the meaninglessness of religious questions).
In my opinion, their position amounts to dogmatic scientism: philosophical assertion masquerading as science. Its premises are reductionist. That is to say it asserts, as dogma, that explanations of the behaviour of things can always wholly be found in the behaviour of their component parts: the whole is never more than the sum of its parts. Thus, even complex human behaviour, for example, can be entirely accounted for in terms of genetics and molecular biology: no room here for concepts of God or the spiritual life.
This is not the place for a systematic explication of the sterility of reductionism. It is very important to realise, however, that it is vigorously challenged, not only by theologians such as Keith Ward (see his God, Chance and Necessity) and ordained scientists (a thriving subspecies of Homo sapiens!) such as John Polkinghorne (Beyond Science and other books) and Michael Fuller (Atoms and Icons) but also by fellow scientists who can have no religious ulterior motive, such as the biologist and atheist Steven Rose (Lifelines: Biology, Freedom, Determinism).
There are some concepts that can only be understood as a function of the whole, not just of its constituent parts. A mixture of chemicals such as proteins, nucleic acids and lipids is not alive; a cell is. A nerve cell in a human brain is not conscious or aware; a person is. The human personality includes all the riches of self-awareness, free will, innovative thought and behaviour, creative imagination, intellectual and aesthetic inspiration, and relating to other people and to our Creator.
Dr David Girling
Great St Mary's will be welcoming several visiting preachers during May. On 3rd May the University Sermon at 11.15am will be preached by Bishop Basil Osborne, Bishop of Sergievo in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Revd Robert Atwell will preach at Mattins (11.15am) on 10th May. On 17th May the Revd Professor Nicholas Sagovsky will preach at the Parish Communion (9.30am). Professor Sagovsky is William Leech Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. (For further details please see his article in January's Majestas.) The Ramsden Sermon will be preached on 31st May at 11.15am by the Revd Canon Graham Kings, Henry Martyn Lecturer in Missiology and Director of the Henry Martyn Library, Westminster College.
On Ascension Day (21st May) there will be singing from the top of the tower at 7.30am followed by breakfast --- all are welcome; at 6pm a Sung Eucharist with combined college choirs, conducted by Sir David Lumsden, will take place. The sermon will be given by Professor David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity.
Two Open Enquiry Evenings are planned for May. The Revd Professor Daniel Hardy will lead a discussion on `Can Christians Agree on Serious Moral Questions?' on Sunday 17th May. On Sunday 31st May Dr Fiona Cornish (a General Practitioner) and Dr David Girling (see article in this issue) will lead an enquiry entitled `Does the National Health Service Have a Future?' Both evenings start at 8.30pm, in church, and all are welcome.
The Bible, having been written in a different age and a different country, can seem very off-putting. In theory we know it is relevant to us today, but in practice it often doesn't feel like it. That is why a scheme like the Bible Reading Fellowship Notes is so helpful. By explaining and pointing things out, the Notes help the Bible passage make sense. Each B.R.F. book of notes covers four months. One series, New Daylight, comments on a short passage for each day and the other, Guidelines, comments on longer passages with a longer time span. Both, in their different ways, help the good resolutions of regular Bible reading become something more than mere intention. The cost is the same, at £8.10 for the year (£2.70 for an individual booklet). There are also large-print versions of New Daylight available, which cost a little more at £13.50 for the year, with each booklet costing £4.50. The next booklets start on 1st May, so are available now. Regular subscribers will find their copies in the pigeonholes. If anyone would like a booklet (single copy or a year's subscription) please contact Catherine Smart, Tel: 01223 511210.
Come and find out more about the church at the centre of the city. Displays, stalls, tours, tower, music, refreshments. From 10am to 6pm.
At the end of March, the City Council floodlit the west end of Great St Mary's along with the Senate House and Old Schools in a two-day trial. A decision is still to be taken as to whether lights will be installed permanently.
Sorry, picture not yet available.
Can you discover the location of this object in Cambridge? Bring or send the answer, and your name and address, to Majestas, Great St Mary's, Cambridge CB2 3PQ, by 30th April. The first correct answer drawn out will win a book token for £10 donated by Heffers Booksellers.
The Fosters' Bank sign, pictured in the April issue, is over the entrance of Lloyds Bank in Sidney Street. Fosters' Bank was founded in 1804 and taken over in 1918 by Lloyds. The octagonal Romanesque-style building dates from 1890 and was Fosters' Head Office.
![[David_Girling_at_MRC]](May/David_Girling_at_MRC.gif)
David Girling sees medical science and the Church's healing ministry as complementary.
As Acting Administrative Director of the Medical Research Council Cancer Trials Office in Cambridge, I share with a colleague the leadership of a team of 40 people running clinical trials on the treatment of various types of cancer. Over the years we have built up a large network of collaborating cancer specialists, surgeons, other clinicians and expert advisers, both in this country and abroad. They look after the patients and enter them, with their consent, into the trials. We decide the most important questions to be answered, the appropriate designs for trial protocols, the data we need to collect for assessing the results; and we analyse the data and publish the results at international meetings and in appropriate journals.
A great deal of care is needed in designing trials to ensure that the results are unbiased and reliable and that treatment policies are acceptable to patients and not too toxic; this raises ethical as well as scientific issues. Patients' welfare depends upon our scientific judgement and integrity. For results to be reliable, the great majority of our trials involve large numbers of patients and are randomised: a computer `decides' which treatment among those being compared each patient will receive. Through sequences of related trials, the results of treatment steadily improve, although in some cancers far more rapidly than in others. For example, during the last 20 years there have been major improvements in the treatment of childhood cancers, cancers of the testis and the lymphomas. In contrast, results for cancers of the lung, oesophagus and pancreas have remained almost static.
But there is far more to people with cancer than clones of malignant cells. Correspondingly, there is far more to the care of cancer patients than the ablation of such cells by surgery, drugs, radiotherapy or other means. Medical science is an important part of the whole scene but it is only a part. Patients with cancer and their families and friends may be devastated by the news of the diagnosis. Whether that is so or not, they may experience all sorts of worries, fears, guilts, distress, doubts, resentments, questions, regrets. They will need love, compassion, understanding, and physical, psychological and spiritual support. Some of this may come from professional staff, but much needs to come from elsewhere.
For all these reasons, I welcome the part that the Church plays through its ministry of healing, and indeed through its other ministries, both formal and informal. This is not `alternative' medicine. There is a wholeness about the Christian view of human nature and a confidence in its essential goodness that lies comfortably with medical science. Correspondingly, there is a wholeness in our notions of healing and salvation. It is in this context that we search out God's healing grace. We do not have to understand all the sad intricacies of human suffering; we have to trust God and be honest about ourselves.
![[Praying_at_healing_service]](May/Praying_at_healing_service.gif)
At Great St Mary's, the healing ministry is exercised in a variety of ways. A group of us pray daily for people in special need and meet monthly to review and update the prayer list. We are joined by a number of people who receive the list and pray in their homes without attending meetings. Every month there is a healing Eucharist, either at lunch time on the first Saturday of the month or in place of Choral Evensong on Sunday. At these services the sick are prayed for and people can receive laying on of hands either for themselves or on behalf of others. There is also a prayer board by the candle-stand at the entrance to the chapel where visitors can leave prayer requests, and private ministries of personal help, laying on of hands, confession and absolution are available at all times. A major part of the healing ministry in its widest sense is exercised, however, by people who visit the sick, the sorrowing and the distressed, befriend them, attend to their needs and keep in touch with them.
As both medical scientist and Lay Reader in the Diocese of Ely, I am pleased to make some contribution to a vocation that aims to improve the treatment of cancer through research and also, to quote Bishop Morris Maddocks in his book The Christian Healing Ministry, ``to proclaim the Good News by preaching and healing''. But there is nothing unusual in this: each of us in our own particular ways can point people in the direction of the only true source of health and wholeness.
![[Fraser_Watts]](../by/Fraser_Watts.gif)
The Revd Dr Fraser Watts, Starbridge Lecturer in Theology and the Natural Sciences, argues for the compatibility of scientifc and religious truth, in the light of Albert Einstein's claim: ``Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.''
Susan Howatch's endowment of the Starbridge Lectureship in Theology and Natural Science in the University of Cambridge was a major event in the development of work on the interface of the two disciplines, and I felt enormously privileged to be appointed to it. To the best of my knowledge, it is the only permanently established post of its kind in any major university.
It was the trilogy of science and religion books by John Polkinghorne (One World, Science and Creation, Science and Providence), that got Susan Howatch interested in the subject. His approach reflects the fact that much recent work on the relationship of science and religion has focused on issues arising from the physical sciences and cosmology.
For the general public, questions of the origin of the world hold particular fascination, as evidenced by the astonishing sales of Professor Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time. Hawking himself is well aware that understanding ultimate origins raises issues about the `mind of God', though I think he is wrong to see his `unbounded' universe as incompatible with classical theism. My own approach to these matters would emphasise that science and religion each have their own contribution to make to understanding the origin of the universe, and it is dangerous to extrapolate too easily from one to the other. It is a mistake to see the two stories in competition --- theology or physics/cosmology. Each has its own story to tell.
There has been less recent work on the relationship between religion and the biological sciences. Nevertheless, the relationship of the human and biological sciences to religion is currently more problematic than that of physics and cosmology. The physical sciences are often dealing with the awe-inspiring, liberating us from the `tyranny of common sense', and evoking a mood that is at least compatible with religious faith. In contrast, the human and life sciences are often seeking to find simple principles to explain complex phenomena, and to demystify them. Demystification has long been an important objective of science, and there is a tendency to carry this to the point of claiming that human beings are `nothing but' this or that. I would argue that such ideas are always too simplistic to be good science. They also convey a view of human beings which sits very uneasily with Christianity.
![[Howatch and Ford]](May/Howatch_and_Ford.gif)
I am currently particularly concerned with issues arising from such areas of the human sciences as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and neuroscience. AI illustrates well the strengths and weaknesses of the human sciences. Much work in AI is valuable scientifically in helping us to model more precisely how the human mind works, and raises no problems for religious belief. The problem comes with what is called `strong' AI, the over-optimistic prediction that all functions of the human mind can be reproduced in computer form, and that the human mind is effectively `nothing but' a computer, albeit one that runs on the grey matter of the brain. These claims seem to me wholly unsubstantiated, and they sit uneasily with religious beliefs about the spiritual nature and potential of human beings.
Another related doctrine that is currently receiving strong support is the idea that there is nothing more to the human mind than the physical brain. It was popularised recently by Francis Crick in his book, The Astonishing Hypothesis. Of course, there is currently much fascinating research on the way the brain supports the functions of the mind, and nothing in such work that is contrary to Christian belief. However, Crick goes too far when he claims that we are nothing but a `bundle of neurones'. The anti-religious nature of his project is apparent in his subtitle, The Scientific Search for the Soul. Actually, Crick misunderstands what has generally been meant by the soul in the Christian tradition, and he is intent on countering a strange doctrine of the disembodied soul. Though he doesn't realise it, the Judaeo-Christian tradition has long affirmed, in its own way, the essential `psychosomatic' unity of the human person.
![[Newton]](May/Newton.gif)
In examining the relationship between theology and science, it is important to include a historical perspective. For example, a cursory examination of the history of the relationship of science and theology makes it clear that the widespread contemporary idea that they are in conflict gained ground only in the late nineteenth century. Most leading scientists before that, Newton for example, would have been astonished by the conflict idea. A historical perspective is very important in understanding the origins of our current sense of conflict between science and religion.
![[Frank Dean]](../by/Frank_Dean.gif)
Dr Frank Dean, Research Manager at Ion Science Ltd in Fowlmere, and member of the Parish Choir, reflects on his work as an industrial scientist.
![[Gas detector]](May/Gas_detector.gif)
My work concerns gas sensors, particularly for production-line leak testing. It's a fascinating job, and I really enjoy it. A sensor (a thermometer, for example) is often effective by engaging a very subtle or tiny physical effect. Therefore one has to be ready for anything, and ready to try anything. It is thrilling to see something of the molecular world from day to day. On rare occasions this comes as a revelation. It is a very special moment, similar to the time you first feel the heart pulse. If I am in the laboratory, I tend to pace up and down in a state of nervous agitation; if not, I head straight there. I wish to share the discovery with someone. Often I can only thank God. Communication of scientific ideas can be a bit difficult in industry, just like anywhere else. In a strong team, there'll always be people who yawn as soon as they hear the word `because'. And a customer tends to consider the team responsible for a piece of work, rather than some scientific cause. So, when one comes across something of possible academic interest, an investigation commensurate with a submission to a learned journal may require a major diversion of time and energy. In the particular field of gas sensors, there's a paucity of literature, and this is not just for commercial reasons. Academic studies of gases often take place in refined conditions. Dedicated and quite expensive analytical machines are deployed which are superlative in meeting two or three sensing criteria. Commercial gas sensors are often esteemed for their all-round performance: sensitivity, selectivity, dynamic range, as well as speed, reproducibility and linearity of response, and speed of recovery. Curiously, a device achieving all these criteria is not likely to be expensive, yet our ability to sense chemicals lags far behind information technology. A recent research trend is to emulate biological sensors, though, personally, I'm sceptical about this. Reproducibility is an essential part of practical science, commercial or otherwise. So, whilst I am sometimes remiss in communicating my work to others, I am as diligent as possible about keeping a log of experiments. Wherever possible, I don't use the computer when experimenting, just to stay `fresh'. Apart from fundamental and developmental research, I'm sometimes asked to look into a finished product. This holds for me the greatest pleasure. You must just let rip to do the drop test properly! I have no doubt at all that every iota of human knowledge is from God, and science is just the part of that knowledge which is ascertainable by observation and experiment. Paradoxically, quite how big a part that is may relate to how uncertain we are, both as people and as a society.
![[The Bishop at CMWA service]](May/Bishop-at-CMWA-service.gif)
An extract from an address given by the Bishop of Ely at GSM for the 90th Anniversary of Cambridgeshire Mental Welfare Association
A recent episode of a popular soap opera presented the plight of a man inappropriately discharged from mental hospital, causing disorder and threatening self-harm. Five members of the general public were presented in relation to him: three of them treated him as a `nutter', a third-person label they used in his presence; one treated him as a `case'; and one was plainly moved by compassion and created a dialogue with him. The Samaritan's care involved getting off his own animal. I have a suspicion that in our society we forget that would-be carers have to get off their donkeys.
The Samaritan found the man robbed, wounded and half dead; and he bound up his wounds. The way in which different people are afflicted with mental illnesses varies enormously. But precisely because these conditions bear upon social relationships the impact upon the ordinary network of acquaintanceships and friendships can be devastating. The loss of a job, or of prospects, or of income and security, or of respect and reputation amounts to robbery and violence. And this inarticulate, half-dead shell of a person is bound up; bound back, I would say, into the network of ordinary life. He resumes his journey and arrives at a place of safety, and there he is handed over, plus the cash to sustain him --- the first known instance of the purchaser-provider split. He has a cash-limited budget, we note, with an emergency sum for contingencies. Such are the benefits of social trust.
We care, when we get of our donkeys and bind the wounded back into the fellowship of humankind. We care when we acknowledge that there are others with the relevant skills to do the work, because we must be on a journey. We care when we provide the cash in a prudent and trusting way.
![[CiS]](May/CiS.gif)
Christians in Science is an international organisation based in the UK which links Christians who are active in the sciences. It was formed during the Second World War by Oliver Barclay and had close links with U.C.C.F. (Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship) until the 1980s, when a general association was founded. Members receive the journal Science & Christian Belief as part of their subscription as well as several bulletins each year relating to current developments in science/faith interactions. CiS also runs an annual conference, which in 1998 will be a residential conference at Churchill College, Cambridge, from 2nd to 5th August, held jointly with the American Scientific Affiliation under the title Science and Christianity: Into the New Millennium.
Several members of the national committee of CiS are based in Cambridge, including its Chairman Prof Colin Humphreys (Materials Science and Metallurgy), Prof Robert White (Dept of Earth Sciences) and Dr Denis Alexander (The Babraham Institute; Editor of Science & Christian Belief).
CiS has an active local branch in Cambridge organised by its Secretary, Dr Paul Shellard, Dept of Applied Mathematics & Theoretical Physics (e-mail: epss@amtp.cam.ac.uk). Together with other members of the national committee mentioned above, the Cambridge CiS committee also includes Dr Stephen Walley (Cavendish Laboratory), Dr Bryan Bache (Dept of Geography), Dr Laurie Friday (Dept of Zoology), Dr Ray Gambell (Executive Secretary of the International Whaling Commission), Prof Brian Heap (Master of St Edmund's College), Dr Robin Porter Goff (Dept of Engineering), Dr Peter Reynolds (Dept. of Biochemistry) and Prof Colin Russell (Wolfson College).
The local CiS Cambridge branch organises a termly public lecture, normally held in Trinity College, together with a discussion group. A branch of the local group also meets regularly at The Babraham Institute. The next lecture, Science and the Date of the Crucifixion, will be given by Prof Colin Humphreys in the Winstanley Lecture Hall, Trinity College, at 6.30pm on 1st June.
![[Road map]](May/Road-map.gif)
Detail from John Ogilby's map of the London to King's Lynn road, south of Cambridge
![[Milestone]](May/Milestone.gif)
On the outside of the tower is a circular plaque. This marks the position of the datum point cut in 1732 by Dr William Warren as the centre of Cambridge. From this point Warren measured three major roads out of Cambridge, setting up milestones many of which still survive. With the help of two men, using a 66 ft chain, he measured and placed milestones on the London Road (Trumpington St and the A10) between the years 1725 and 1732 as far as Barkway, over the Gog Magog Hills (along Regent St and Hills Rd) between 1731 and 1740, and in 1735 towards Huntingdon. In a recent history of Trinity Hall, Charles Crawley writes: ``The milestones to Barkway are still conspicuous. In June 1940, when the government ordered all place-names to be obliterated (in case of a German invasion), the roadman sensibly laid these heavy stones flat and buried them under the grass verge; they were re-erected in 1946, undamaged except that one had disappeared during work on an airfield.'' Warren was a Fellow of Trinity Hall, and the work was paid for out of a highways charity set up with bequests by two Fellows of Trinity Hall and Gonville and Caius. The Master and Fellows of Trinity Hall were trustees of this fund, which is why the milestones are marked with that college's arms. The original bequests were left by Dr William Mowse and Mr Robert Hare, whose arms appear, respectively, on the first and last milestones of the Barkway route. It is said that these were the first milestones to be set up at carefully measured distances in Britain. With modern maps and mileage counters, it is difficult to imagine the great usefulness of this innovation to travellers who previously had only approximate notions of distances to be travelled. Maps were available, some marked in miles (two different mile-lengths were in use until the legal mile was standardised in 1824), some in furlongs; but with no markers on the roads it would have been difficult to estimate how far one had travelled along the road. Warren was a clergyman and one of a long tradition of Christians who have used their scientific knowledge to improve the quality of life for their fellow humans. It is no coincidence that he chose what has probably always been the major church of Cambridge as his centre point. Not only was it the most readily recognisable public building of the time, poised on the edge of the market, but as the church of University and Town Council it represented the spiritual centre of Cambridge.
This article forms part of a series describing our Church building.
All events take place in Great St Mary's unless otherwise advertised.
Since this is the same from issue to issue, we have included a single copy of it on the site, as our Who's who at GSM page.
Majestas is edited by Robert Avery, Sheila Cameron, David Hollier, Philip Oswald (proofs) and John Sturdy (HTML) and published by: Great St Mary's The University Church, Cambridge CB2 3PQ, Tel (01223) 350914, Fax (01223) 426555.
Please contact the editors at the above address.
The deadline for the June edition of Majestas is 4hth May, and for the July edition, 7th June. Please submit copy to the Church Office.
For further details of the parish, including the regular service times, please see the GSM home page.