Norman N. Greenwood's Books

Recollections of a Scientist

Boyhood and Youth in Australia

By: Norman N. Greenwood

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Recollections of a Scientist

Boyhood and Youth in Australia

By: Norman N. Greenwood

Recollections of a Scientist 1: Boyhood and Youth in Australia (1925-1948) This illustrated book is the first volume of the Memoirs of a distinguished, internationally renowned scientist, Professor Norman N. Greenwood, FRS. It gives a lively and intimate account of his boyhood and youth in Australia during the nineteen thirties and forties and is divided into thirteen chapters. It is a personal account rather than a formal history and describes in refreshing detail his richly diverse experiences. Chapter 1 explains how he came to be born in Melbourne although both of his parents as well as his elder sister and younger brother were all born in Northern England---his father Professor John Neill Greenwood had just been appointed as the first Professor of Metallurgy in an Australian University. The scene is further set by a brief account of the extraordinary events that led up to the founding of the University of Melbourne following the Victorian Gold Rush of the mid nineteenth century and its subsequent development into one of the major Universities of the then British Empire. The young family settled in Mont Albert, one of the developing eastern suburbs of the expanding metropolis, but unfortunately his parents separated soon afterwards and subsequently divorced. The children moved with their mother to the neighbouring suburb of Surrey Hills and one of her sisters came out from England to help with the growing family. Norman goes on to describe the various schools he attended and has some perceptive comments on his teachers, the ethos of the schools and the gradual changes that have occurred in the approach to education in Victoria over the years since the nineteen thirties. Initially vacations were spent at a country cottage being built by his father at Kinglake in the densely wooded hills to the north of Melbourne, and Norman evokes a childhood view of the exotic plants and animals of the bush, the deep secluded tree-fern gullies and tumbling mountain streams. His father was one of the main protagonists for the development of the Kinglake National Park which he had helped to found. Tragically, much of the Park was engulfed by the enormous bush fires (the worst in Australia’s history) that wiped out the little township of Kinglake with great loss of life in February 2009. Other holidays were spent on the beaches of Port Phillip Bay or on the cooler slopes of the Dandenong Ranges to the east. Norman and his younger brother Eric (always known in his youth as Peter or ‘Nipper’) loved roaming in the Olinda State Forest and Sherwood Forest where the tall mountain ash (eucalyptus) trees towered above the dense undergrowth of tree ferns and other plants. Bush animals abounded as did the raucous cockatoos and multicoloured parrots. The great prize, however, was to sight a lyre bird performing his stately dance and singing his amazing repertoire of all the other birds’ songs and even the man-mad sounds of car horns, chain saws and steam engines. For the three years 1939-40-41 Norman attended University High School near the city centre and adjacent to the grounds of the University itself. It was a remarkable school with an excellent academic reputation but also known for fostering of musical talent and for its prowess in sport. Norman joined the School Orchestra (as second flute) and they gave concerts in the Melbourne Town Hall and occasionally on the State broadcasting station 3LO. He also edited the School Magazine, The Record, perhaps an early portent of his later prolific output of scientific research papers, reviews, monographs and textbooks. In the summer vacation of January 1940 (during which Norman had his fifteenth birthday) he went on and extended (1300 mile) concert-party tour of twenty eight country towns in Western Victoria and over the border into South Australia. The trip was organised by the Young Australia League (YAL) and took the form of a White Minstrels Review of thirty boys with songs, i

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ISBN 10

1469179377

ISBN 13

9781469179377

Recollections of a Scientist Volume 2

Expanding Horizons: England and Europe (1948-51)

By: Norman N. Greenwood

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Recollections of a Scientist Volume 2

Expanding Horizons: England and Europe (1948-51)

By: Norman N. Greenwood

Recollections of a Scientist, Volume 2 Expanding Horizons England and Europe (1948-1951) This illustrated book is the second volume of Memoirs of a distinguished, internationally renowned scientist, Professor Norman N. Greenwood, FRS. It takes up the story of his life from the first moment he arrived in England as a research student from Australia in September 1948. Term had not yet started in Cambridge so he spent a hectic first month visiting and getting to know the members of his parents' families who lived in London and Brighton. He also spent some time in the delightful countryside around Guildford and the Surrey Downs with a fellow passenger, following a shipboard romance during the long trip from Melbourne. He then visited the recently inaugurated Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell in Berkshire (where his former research supervisor was now a senior scientist in the chemistry division) and had the exciting experience of seeing Europe's first, recently commissioned nuclear reactor in operation. In Cambridge he took up residence in a set of rooms in Sidney Sussex College and began research discussions with Professor Harry Emeléus, FRS the most distinguished inorganic chemist in the UK at that time. The unique charms of the Cambridge Colleges and the arcane procedures of the University itself are affectionately described, and at various places throughout the book there are graphic representations of life in Cambridge in the late nineteen-forties. An early example is his description of the University's decision to allow, for the first time in its seven centuries of existence, women to be awarded substantive degrees (rather than merely titular ones). The first such degree to be conferred on a woman, in an appropriately grand ceremony, was on the enormously popular Queen Elizabeth, consort of King George VI (later known as The Queen Mother). At a more mundane level, post-war austerity necessitated the rationing of food and many other items at levels that were even more severe than those in operation during the war (WW2). The list given of a week's rations is a salutary reminder of those days. Norman is a past master at describing in accessible terms the research work that he was doing in the laboratory and its wider significance. He also gives perceptive descriptions of the international group of research chemists working in the laboratory at that time and of many members of staff. As earlier in Melbourne, he made the most of opportunities to attend lectures by famous visitors and distinguished members of the University in other departments of the University. There are memorable descriptions of a course of lectures given over two terms by Bertrand Russell on Philosophy, and numerous other lectures by Science Nobel Laureates. Vacations provided a wonderful opportunity to visit other places in England and Europe. Just before Christmas 1948 he went with the Oxford and Cambridge Ski Clubs to Sestriere in the Italian Alps, a splendid location for skiers of all abilities. Directly following this, and with virtually no money left, he spent a memorable Christmas and New Year on his own exploring the wonders and glories of Paris. And what wonders he describes. He had a room in the Latin (student) Quarter at 350 francs per night (i.e. 35p or £0.35) for bed and breakfast at the then exchange rate of £1 ~ 1000 francs. The next vacation, at Easter, was to southern Scandinavia to visit his sister, Margaret who had married a Swede in 1946 and was living on a small island in the Baltic Sea just off the coast near Karlskrona. [Volume 1 of these Recollections was dedicated to her on the occasion of her ninetieth birthday in 2012.] The journey was also memorable for a different reason for it was on the Flying Scot, en route to Newcastle upon Tyne to catch the ferry to Bergen in Norway, that he first met Kirsten Rydland whom he later married in 1951. [This Volume 2 is dedicated to her.] Norman was cl

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ISBN 10

1477151850

ISBN 13

9781477151853

Recollections of a Scientist Volume 2

Expanding Horizons: England and Europe (1948–51)

By: Norman N. Greenwood

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Recollections of a Scientist Volume 2

Expanding Horizons: England and Europe (1948–51)

By: Norman N. Greenwood

Recollections of a Scientist, Volume 2 Expanding HorizonsEngland and Europe (1948-1951) This illustrated book is the second volume of Memoirs of a distinguished, internationally renowned scientist, Professor Norman N. Greenwood, FRS. It takes up the story of his life from the first moment he arrived in England as a research student from Australia in September 1948. Term had not yet started in Cambridge so he spent a hectic first month visiting and getting to know the members of his parents families who lived in London and Brighton. He also spent some time in the delightful countryside around Guildford and the Surrey Downs with a fellow passenger, following a shipboard romance during the long trip from Melbourne. He then visited the recently inaugurated Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell in Berkshire (where his former research supervisor was now a senior scientist in the chemistry division) and had the exciting experience of seeing Europes first, recently commissioned nuclear reactor in operation. In Cambridge he took up residence in a set of rooms in Sidney Sussex College and began research discussions with Professor Harry Emelus, FRS the most distinguished inorganic chemist in the UK at that time. The unique charms of the Cambridge Colleges and the arcane procedures of the University itself are affectionately described, and at various places throughout the book there are graphic representations of life in Cambridge in the late nineteen-forties. An early example is his description of the Universitys decision to allow, for the first time in its seven centuries of existence, women to be awarded substantive degrees (rather than merely titular ones). The first such degree to be conferred on a woman, in an appropriately grand ceremony, was on the enormously popular Queen Elizabeth, consort of King George VI (later known as The Queen Mother). At a more mundane level, post-war austerity necessitated the rationing of food and many other items at levels that were even more severe than those in operation during the war (WW2). The list given of a weeks rations is a salutary reminder of those days. Norman is a past master at describing in accessible terms the research work that he was doing in the laboratory and its wider significance. He also gives perceptive descriptions of the international group of research chemists working in the laboratory at that time and of many members of staff. As earlier in Melbourne, he made the most of opportunities to attend lectures by famous visitors and distinguished members of the University in other departments of the University. There are memorable descriptions of a course of lectures given over two terms by Bertrand Russell on Philosophy, and numerous other lectures by Science Nobel Laureates. Vacations provided a wonderful opportunity to visit other places in England and Europe. Just before Christmas 1948 he went with the Oxford and Cambridge Ski Clubs to Sestriere in the Italian Alps, a splendid location for skiers of all abilities. Directly following this, and with virtually no money left, he spent a memorable Christmas and New Year on his own exploring the wonders and glories of Paris. And what wonders he describes. He had a room in the Latin (student) Quarter at 350 francs per night (i.e. 35p or 0.35) for bed and breakfast at the then exchange rate of 1 ~ 1000 francs. The next vacation, at Easter, was to southern Scandinavia to visit his sister, Margaret who had married a Swede in 1946 and was living on a small island in the Baltic Sea just off the coast near Karlskrona. [Volume 1 of these Recollections was dedicated to her on the occasion of her ninetieth birthday in 2012.] The journey was also memorable for a different reason for it was on the Flying Scot, en route to Newcastle upon Tyne to catch the ferry to Bergen in Norway, that he first met Kirsten Rydland whom he later married in 1951. [This Volume 2 is dedicated to her.] Norman was cl

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ISBN 10

1477151877

ISBN 13

9781477151877

Recollections of a Scientist

Boyhood and Youth in Australia

By: Norman N. Greenwood

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Recollections of a Scientist

Boyhood and Youth in Australia

By: Norman N. Greenwood

Recollections of a Scientist 1: Boyhood and Youth in Australia (1925-1948) This illustrated book is the first volume of the Memoirs of a distinguished, internationally renowned scientist, Professor Norman N. Greenwood, FRS. It gives a lively and intimate account of his boyhood and youth in Australia during the nineteen thirties and forties and is divided into thirteen chapters. It is a personal account rather than a formal history and describes in refreshing detail his richly diverse experiences. Chapter 1 explains how he came to be born in Melbourne although both of his parents as well as his elder sister and younger brother were all born in Northern England---his father Professor John Neill Greenwood had just been appointed as the first Professor of Metallurgy in an Australian University. The scene is further set by a brief account of the extraordinary events that led up to the founding of the University of Melbourne following the Victorian Gold Rush of the mid nineteenth century and its subsequent development into one of the major Universities of the then British Empire. The young family settled in Mont Albert, one of the developing eastern suburbs of the expanding metropolis, but unfortunately his parents separated soon afterwards and subsequently divorced. The children moved with their mother to the neighbouring suburb of Surrey Hills and one of her sisters came out from England to help with the growing family. Norman goes on to describe the various schools he attended and has some perceptive comments on his teachers, the ethos of the schools and the gradual changes that have occurred in the approach to education in Victoria over the years since the nineteen thirties. Initially vacations were spent at a country cottage being built by his father at Kinglake in the densely wooded hills to the north of Melbourne, and Norman evokes a childhood view of the exotic plants and animals of the bush, the deep secluded tree-fern gullies and tumbling mountain streams. His father was one of the main protagonists for the development of the Kinglake National Park which he had helped to found. Tragically, much of the Park was engulfed by the enormous bush fires (the worst in Australia's history) that wiped out the little township of Kinglake with great loss of life in February 2009. Other holidays were spent on the beaches of Port Phillip Bay or on the cooler slopes of the Dandenong Ranges to the east. Norman and his younger brother Eric (always known in his youth as Peter or Nipper') loved roaming in the Olinda State Forest and Sherwood Forest where the tall mountain ash (eucalyptus) trees towered above the dense undergrowth of tree ferns and other plants. Bush animals abounded as did the raucous cockatoos and multicoloured parrots. The great prize, however, was to sight a lyre bird performing his stately dance and singing his amazing repertoire of all the other birds' songs and even the man-mad sounds of car horns, chain saws and steam engines. For the three years 1939-40-41 Norman attended University High School near the city centre and adjacent to the grounds of the University itself. It was a remarkable school with an excellent academic reputation but also known for fostering of musical talent and for its prowess in sport. Norman joined the School Orchestra (as second flute) and they gave concerts in the Melbourne Town Hall and occasionally on the State broadcasting station 3LO. He also edited the School Magazine, The Record, perhaps an early portent of his later prolific output of scientific research papers, reviews, monographs and textbooks. In the summer vacation of January 1940 (during which Norman had his fifteenth birthday) he went on and extended (1300 mile) concert-party tour of twenty eight country towns in Western Victoria and over the border into South Australia. The trip was organised by the Young Australia League (YAL) and took the form of a White Minstrels Review of thirty boys with songs, i

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Published Date

ISBN 10

1469179350

ISBN 13

9781469179353

Book's by Norman N. Greenwood

Recollections of a Scientist

Recollections of a Scientist

Recollections of a Scientist Volume 2

Recollections of a Scientist Volume 2

Recollections of a Scientist Volume 2

Recollections of a Scientist Volume 2

Recollections of a Scientist

Recollections of a Scientist

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