Teaching
The balance between the Colleges and the
Department has changed somewhat in the last fifty years, and, from 1991, an
altered first-year course, in which undergraduates will take three papers in
chemistry, one in mathematics, and one in another subject, probably in
biological chemistry or in physics, seems likely to accelerate this trend.
Lectures are more tightly organized, and the Part I examination papers are more
clearly linked to the lectures. Teaching for the Mathematics Prelim is done in
classes, often by graduate students, and many of the advanced aspects of
physical chemistry likely to be examined in Part I are discussed by consortia
of tutors with interests in these particular subjects. Similarly in Part II,
whereas it was once more common than not for a graduate to work with his
College tutor, now the subject of the research is, quite rightly, a strong
factor determining the choice of supervisor.
The possibility of the award of a B.Sc.
degree, whereby a good and perhaps fortunate - researcher could get a second
degree, almost, it might be said, for the price of one, by submitting an
extended Part II thesis, was abolished in 1974.
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The original teaching
laboratory. |
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Teaching for the Part I practical course
remains a substantial part of the activity of the Department, although there
remain wide differences of opinion between members of the Department as to the
nature and function of the practical course. No single view has prevailed, and
classical experiments on fundamental aspects of physical chemistry exist
alongside modern experiments that illustrate where the subject is now - and
where it is going. Thus the course now contains both experiments that past
students will recognize, and an increasing number using computers or modern
analytical equipment. The course itself evolves continuously, but the legacy of
the earlier developers remains. A large part, built (often literally) by Harry
Hall, James Lambert and John Danby, remains unaltered. Much of the course they
helped to create has found a wider audience through a recent book based very
largely on P.C.L. experiments, by Peter Matthews, who had been Teaching
Laboratory Officer, 1979-84. This post was introduced in 1978 on Harry Hall's
retirement and is now established on the University Lecturer scale; the present
incumbent is Hugh Cartwright who runs the laboratory with only two technicians.
As experiments demanding the use of computer
and data acquisition techniques have been developed, so too has the teaching of
computing. We now have substantial Unix facilities denoted by Fulcrum
Communications, and the prominence of the molecular modelling group in the PCL
is reflected in popular and intriguing experiments on graphics workstations.
This summer, it is the physical face of the
Teaching Laboratories that has been changing. Immediately before Michaelmas
1990, to the horror of the Laboratory Officer, Southern Electric inspected,
declared electrically unsafe, and closed the Teaching Labs. Emergency
band-aiding patched up the area temporarily, and allowed the practical course
to struggle on. This summer, extensive renovation of the electrical supplies,
heating, plumbing, desk surfaces and decoration will both transform the
appearance of the laboratories and make them safer and more pleasant for work.
There were at first no formal seminars, but
individuals volunteered to give informal courses. Ronnie Bell took us through Introduction
to Quantum Mechanics, (L. Pauling and E. Bright Wilson), Jack Linnett
discussed problems in wave mechanics, and Derek Long the mathematics of the
vibrations of polyatomic molecules. Later, in the early 1960's, the Monday
afternoon seminars were established, and these continue.
Other contributions to teaching should not
be forgotten. Wolfenden's Numerical Problems in Advanced Physical Chemistry
(OUP, 1938) was once much used, and Rex and Eva Richards provided a service for
undergraduates, if not for hard-pressed tutors, by revising and extending it in
a second edition (1964): numerical solution took time in the days of 5-figure
logarithms. Two textbooks by authors from the PCL have the unusual distinction,
for works of this kind, of running into four editions, namely, P.W. Atkins, Physical
Chemistry (Edn. I, OUP, 1978; Edn. IV, OUP, 1990) and E.B. Smith, Basic
Chemical Thermodynamics (Edn. I, OUP, 1973; Edn. IV, OUP 1991).
