Imperial College London

Henry Rzepa

Last year, I showed
[photos](http://www.ch.imperial.ac.uk/rzepa/blog/?p=18657) of wildflower
meadows in west London close to where we live, evolving as the seasons
changed. Today we hear the announcement that London itself is [set be
declared](http://www.nationalparkcity.london/?utm_campaign=success&utm_medium=email&utm_source=greaterlondonnationalparkcity)
the world's first National Park City in 2019.

What is a park city you may ask? It draws on the principles of National
Parks such as the [Peak District](http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk), the
[New Forest](http://www.newforestnpa.gov.uk), or the [South
Downs](https://www.southdowns.gov.uk) in the UK, but in a city setting.
It encourages people to explore how to improve life across the city,
such as more time spent in nature outdoors and indeed visiting wild
flower meadows! Meanwhile, [spread the
word](http://www.nationalparkcity.london).

As for those meadows, the "topping up" of last year's seeding will start
in March of 2018, and the area is set to expand substantially; it is
pretty bare at the moment. When I get the list of expanded or new
meadows, I will post here. Meanwhile I note that last year's seeding of
Cosmos produced a spectacular display which lasted at least three
months. I cannot help but note that one of the main attractions at the
RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) flower show at Chatsworth this year is
the creation of a field of 12,000 *Cosmos bipinnatus *'Razzmatazz', a
*river of flowers*, outside the iconic Chatsworth House. This (IMHO)
will be hard pressed to match that of west London last year!

::: {.wp_orcid_field}
[https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8635-8390](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8635-8390){target="_blank"
rel="author"}
:::


Last year, I showed photos of wildflower meadows in west London close to where we live, evolving as the seasons changed. Today we hear the announcement that London itself is set be declared the world’s first National Park City in 2019. What is a park city you may ask? It draws on the principles of National Parks such as the Peak District, the New Forest, or the South Downs in the UK, but in a city setting.

London: set to become a National  Park City in 2019.

The book of the title has [recently
appeared](http://www.worldscientific.com/page/pressroom/2016-12-28-05) giving
a rich and detailed view over 417 pages, four appendices and 24 pages of
photographs of how a university chemistry department in the UK came into
being in 1845 and its subsequent history of discoveries, Nobel prizes
and much more. If you have ever wondered what goes on in an academic
department, populated by and large by very bright and clever
personalities and occasionally some highly eccentric ones, then go dip
into this book.

Here you will learn that starting in 1845, the department had 26
enrolled students, each paying a fee to attend lectures and to do
experiments in the laboratories. You may observe the changes in
laboratory practices over the years, and wonder how many of those early
students survived their experiences and lived into old age. The book
centres around the people in the department, with many anecdotes and
stories about life in such a department, some of the stories about
chemistry and some not! The chemistry these people discovered and
recorded in journals can be quickly accessed using the (short) DOIs
provided for many of the entries in the bibliography.

Few academic departments can have been documented in such detail. Indeed
one must wonder whether the wealth of written material available to the
authors, Hannah Gay and Bill Griffith, during this period will be
matched by the much more evanescent electronic records that have become
prevalent since. Email was introduced into the department around 1987
and I suspect almost all that record has now vanished permanently. I
would not envy the task of anyone faced with updating this history from
2001-2050! 

An aspect that is much harder to document is the daily routines of the
undergraduate students. The book has a wealth of information about the
practical laboratories and the instruments and apparatus found in the
department, but a little less about the changing face of the lectures
and associated written materials, the tutorials and problems classes and
student's own interactions with the professors, once the core (academic)
activities and experiences of an undergraduate. Nowadays one may well
find sessions on entrepreneurship instead of a problems class, or a
flipped classroom replacing the lecture.

My own undergraduate stay in the department was from 1968-1971 and I
might append some of those memories to this post in the future. If
anyone reading this has their own evocative recollections of being a
chemistry undergraduate, either at Imperial or elsewhere, can I invite
you to share them here!

::: {.wp_orcid_field}
[https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8635-8390](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8635-8390){target="_blank"
rel="author"}
:::


The book of the title has recently appeared giving a rich and detailed view over 417 pages, four appendices and 24 pages of photographs of how a university chemistry department in the UK came into being in 1845 and its subsequent history of discoveries, Nobel prizes and much more.

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

London: set to become a National Park City in 2019.

The Chemistry Department at Imperial College London. A history, 1845-2000.