Michael Slocombe (Physics & Philosophy, 1969)

Michael works for Trinity College, Gawler, Australia, now as Manager of Educational Programmes at the Environmental and Conservation Centre.

I was a student at what was then Barnstaple Grammar School in North Devon. There was no great tradition of Oxbridge success at the school. I remember our Headmaster suggesting I choose which college to apply for at random. I made a lucky choice.

Neil was a charismatic Australian. I did enjoy Quantum Mechanics and Nuclear Physics, and I did well enough at these subjects to convince Neil I had some potential. It was largely through his influence, I believe, that I was offered a Commonwealth scholarship to study for a PhD in Nuclear Physics at the Australian National University in Canberra, which I duly completed in 1976, and decided to settle in Australia.

I went on to have a career in secondary education and was for many years a school Principal. I continue to work at the school part time and each year give a talk on Nuclear Physics to our final year students. It could well be said that Neil gave me an education and a country in which to use it.