Comment 024 May 1987

King's College London (KQC) newsletter

o CAVALRY CO

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OVER THE HILL...

In the second of a erie of three campus briefing, the Principal and the Finance Officer pelt out to Strand taff the full eriousne of the College' financial ituation. The dual purpo e of the meeting, held on 20 May in the ew Theatre, was to make a wide a ection of taff a po ible aware of the full fact and also to reinforce a ense of participation, both collective and individual, in the College' plan for financial tability.

King' pre ent ituatJOn wa~ de 'cri bed by thl:. Prim:ipal a "very eriou .. , and whill' acknowledging that il reflected a natlonal problem, he pointed out that we were m dIffIculties in two pecific respect, FIrStly, an accumulated deficit has built up, brought by each of the three constituent ollege in the merger; econdly. academic activity i currently split over three ites whIch both cau e and exacerbate financial problems. The College is already acting on the 'econd powt, having raIsed the IS ue at the la l (ourt meeting and the Principal having made our case lO the Ice-Chancellor, Lord Flowers.

Members of tafT WIll doublle also be aware of our success m obtaining governmental permission to purchase the lea e of Cornwall Hou 'e. The 'e positIve moves may well have a favourable effect. financially, in the long term, but that pro peet doe n't dimini h the need to make immediate avings, from I ugu, t, the beginl1lng of the new financial year.

On pril 29 the College ho ted the laun h of Irginia Gamba' book, The falklandsl Mah'inas War - A fodel for, orth-South Crisis Prel·ention. irginia Gamba i Director of the Strategic StudIes In titute in Bueno Aire and currently a VI it1l1g 31:.ademic 111 the Department of War Studie hil t this i her fifth book on the subJed, it i the fir t to be written in nglish.

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David Ball, the ollege Finance Officer, gave taft an overview of our iluation which encompas ed hi torical background, a review of resource allocation and indications for the future. The three pre-merger Colleges all suffered in the 1982 round of cuts, meaning that the corn bined College started its working life in debt de pite a merger enhancement grant. Until thi session, however, there had been room for some optimi m; the 1982 cuts had been coped with and the annual deficit had been reduced from £ I ,526,000 in that year to £65,000 in 1986.

By this time, though multi-site operation was taking its toll, and thi ses ion both the new London resource allocation system and significant unfunded salary increases have served to reverse sharply the previous trend towards recovery. Only 3.5% was built in to this year's budget for salary inflation, set against actual ettlements of 24% (over three years) for academic and related staff,S. % for technician and a likely comparable award for clerical and related tafL This anomaly has obviou Iy led to a major escalation in deficit with the re ult that our cumulative deficit will be un ustainably large by the end of the current financial year.

The prognosis for the future is not any brighter; our block recurrent grant for 19 7-8 announced by the University Court represents an increa e of only 1.7% (the base line of the 'safety net' the Court is operating) on the 1986-87 amount - a full 2% less than expected. So our totaJ available non-medical re ource of £32.6 million will be significantly overspent which in turn will add further to the cumulative deficit. We have also been given provisional figures by the Court for the years up to the 19 9/90 session which indicate the equivalent of a real cut of over 20% in the next three years in our block grant.

The implication of such cuts are clearly horrendous, but the ollege will have critical problem of liquidity well in advance of their implementation. An overdrait iacility of £2 million has been arranged with our bankers which gives a 'breathing spa_c' but thi is at best a debt and i certainly not a solu tion.

A part of a course of action to obviate such a cri is the ollege has put in train a resource allocation system which mirrors the University' . A t present the University formcontinued in ide, p.2

The launch, held in the Committee Room, wa introduced by Professor Lawrence Freedman Head of the Department of War Studies. Responding, Profe or Gamba emphasised the important nature of her work, which thi year has extra significance a it marks the fifth anniver ary of the commencement of the conflict.

Approximately 30 people attended, reflecting a wide spectrum of interest; the media, academic institu tion , council, family and friend were all represented. Virginia Gam ba's work on the conflict has aroused much attention with articles in the Indepen dent and the Times Higher J::ducation Supplement, radio interviews and po sible involvement with an edition of Panorama.

Copies of the book, published by UnwinHyman Ltd, are available from most good bookshops, priced it5.00 for hardback and £ .95 for paperback.

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INGOVER Continued from p.I ula of distribution i detrimental to King' becau e it includes a significant judgemental factor calculated on the results of the UG peer review. The University distribution pattern which reflects that of the UGC allocates a significant portion of the resources available in selective judgemental terms.

The ollege has suffered here because of its record in re earch ratings and research income in scientific areas. Undoubtedly this reflects judgements made before and during the merger period. We are beginning to see the improvements in some departments which we expect to be the legacy of the merger and will be giving evidence of this to the ourt. However, the immediate implication of all this is that the College has target savings of £3.6 million to achieve. If thi figure were applied as staff cuts it would translate as 200 jobs, 70-80 of which would be academic. But the Finance Officer indicated that the optimum approach would be the generation of more more income rather than the sole reduction of staff.

Although the Principal traced the root of our problems to a basic shortage of funds as a direct result of government policy, he aid that there was no question of the "cavalry coming over the hill" in a few weeks with a solution, which, in effect, lies mainly in our hands. Staff should en ure that all income associated with research, including gifts of equipment, is accounted for through central books, as such income earns add-on cash through the Court grants system. Additionally, flexibility of approach could lead to secondment onto other salary bills or redeployment within different areas of the College to redress the balance. Individual members of staff are also encouraged to seek details of PRCS, which could often be applied without financial detriment. A letter is going to all members of Academic and AcademicRelated Staff.

Both the Principal and the Finance Officer declared themselves heartened by the initial response they had received from staff to the College's situation. Despite the very serious problems, David Ball said, there was now room for cautious optimism.

And the Principal described the College's task as "daunting, but not unmanageable if we all act together".

THE COMPUTER A 0 THE GYM Recent press articles may have drawn your attention to the fact that it is currently proposed to house the new mainframe computer in the present Strand gym in A corridor. Or Venetia France, with the endorsement of -

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Mr D Hughe (Sub-Dean, Laws) Professor A Whittall (Head, Music) Dr Smith (Sub-Dean, ngineering) Profe or M Gin burg (Dean, Basic Medical Science) Dr M W Robin ( ub-Dean BMS) Dr P B unn (Sub-Dean BMS) Mr G RP Lawrence Sub-Dean rt) Revd R J Coggin (Sub-Dean, Theology) Profes or S G Hall (Head, Christian Doctrine and Hi tory) has written a follows to the Principal:-

LOCA no OF THE COMPUTER

EW COLLEGE

Dear Principal We understand that it has been agreed by the Building Committee that the new mainframe and ancillary services are to be 10 ated in the tudent gym at the Strand: further, it seems that tenders have gone out for conversion works before the proposal has been agreed by the Planning and Resources Committee. We heard of this plan very recently and the lack of consultation is a matter of concern.

We know that taking over the gym will reduce the attractiveness of King's for pro pective tudents. Falling rates of application are now of concern in some departments: many of us are already em barra sed at the lack of student facilitie when showing applicants round. More than half our six thousand students are taught on this site. Present students have indicated at open meetings that this plan is unsatisfactory and the alternative rooms on offer in the S [rand building are not an adequate substitute for the facilities they will lose. As subdeans and others, we are particularly aware of the bleak future if we fail to attract adequate number of undergraduate students to King's.

It ha been propo ed that computer ser-

vices best upply the academic needs of the College if they are physically adjacent.

With modern networking and a merged College this hould not be considered. It is an immediate primitive solution which is unsatisfactory in view of the considerable damage that would be done to the attractiveness of the College to pro pective studen ts.

Yours incerely Venetia France The view of the Chairman of the Building Committee and of the Chairman of the Computer Policy Committee and Director of Computing Services are outlined below.

THE BUILDINGS COMMITTEE AND THE STRAND GYMNASIUM The letter from Dr France and her cosignatories contains errors of fact, and an

untested a sertion that the Building om mittee ha made a decision that put undergraduate recruitment seriou Iy at ri k.

0 invitations to tender have yet been is ued, and discus ion with relevant student officer have been a priority and are continuing. The matter wa mentioned at the last Planning and Resources Committee in accordance with normal Buildings Committee practice.

The decision by the Building Committee in re pect of the Strand site gymnasium was prompted by two major policy decisions of the College. A grant of £ I. 7M from the Computer Board for the instalation of a new main-frame computer has been accepted, and the Finance Staffing and General Purposes Committee has decreed the closure of the Pulton Place annexe in 1987 instead of in 1991 in order to save over £300,000 per annum in recurrent expenditure. To do this, it i necessary to find accommodation for that part of the Computer Centre preently there, and for substantial re earch units belonging to the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, a well as solving the problem of placing the new computer on a suitable site before March 1988. This deadline is imposed by the financial procedures of the omputer Board.

Do all these activities require to be housed on the Strand? Long-term planning indicates that they must be. The unification of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering on the Strand is an essential part of future College strategy and it would be financial and academic folly to contemplate an intermediate move of electronics research to another outlying site. Similarly, a decision eventually to place the major part of the Computer Centre on the Strand was taken as long ago as 1985 when a room, now known to be too mall, was reserved for what was then to be a relatively modest accession to our computing facilities. In any event, the securing of the lease of Cornwall House means that we expect to dispose of all other College campuses within the expected lifetime of the new computer.

Certain areas of the Strand site are ready for redevelopment, notably the top floors of the East Wing and the former Engineering Library rooms on A corridor. Others can be made available as Civil Engineering contracts, and by more efficient use of teaching rooms. Detailed studies of the possibilities led to the assignment to the Computer Centre of the old Engineering Library rooms together with currentlyused offices on either side, and the withdrawal of some of their existing facilities elsl'wherc on A corridor, now required for Engineering from Pulton Place. The net gain of space by the Computer Centre from these moves was inadequate, and use of the gymnasium as well is the only way to house the new computer in a satisfactory manner within the limited time available before the

omputer arrive. Mo t of the other p ce available ha had to be as igned to the Engineering faculty, apart from a room. or room . re erved to pro ide ome at least of the facilitie currently a ailable III the Strand gymna ium. The cheme adopted by the BuildlIlg Committee will give the College a rea onably atisfa tory location for the nev. main-frame computer and the a ociated activities, with rather le than adequate pace for electronics re earch unit withdrawn from Pulton Place. It is an imperfect olution but wa judged to be the be t that could be achieved at the pre ent time.

The 10 s of the Strand gymna ium ha quite properly arou ed oncem. he Building Committee did not lightly accept it, but could find no other way of atisfying the academi requirements consequent upon the two major poli y deci ion referred to above. Every effort i being made to mlllgate the problem which arise from the 10 of the Strand gymnasium, both In the hort term and in the longer term. An earlier proposal to place a sport complex on the 'playground' ite instead of the one- torey building pre ently there is being re-examined and ketch de igns prepared in con ultation WIth intere ted partie . ObvJOu Iy this cannot happen immediately. The pre ent building house Civil Engineering activitie , and finance has yet to be arranged but planning mu t start qUickly, and the need for Indoor sports facilItie on the Thame ide campus kept firmly in view.

Profe or H.J.V. Tyrrell Chairman, Building Committee THE ACCOMMODATIO pun GCENTRE

OF THE COM-

The omputer Policy Committee which came into existence after the merger undertook an immediate analy is of the central computing and communications facilities which were available to the new College. They were found to be not imply poor in compari on with other comparable institutions but completely inadequate and a major handicap to the effectiveness of the College' teaching and re earch programme at a time when the competItion for re ource between universille I growing.

Member of the Computer Poltcy ommittee and the omputing Centre therefore began a major exercise to convince the niver ity and the omputer Board of the eriou ne of the ollege' ituation. t fir t, ÂŁ 00,000 wa on offer to upgrade facilitie . but finally, after a great deal of effort by mem bers of the ollege, the figure wa increased to ÂŁ 1,700,000. This represents a major achievement and it will enable the College to be provided with academic computing resources which will be comparable with the best in the country.

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wa not untiJ the end of January 19 7

that the ollege knew how much money it had to pend and then not until the end of ~1arch 19 ,when the propo 1 0 upplier had been recei ed, hortli ted and dis u ~d with in tallation engineer. that the ollege -new how much pa e would be needed by the new y tem. The College \\a pre ented with a urther problem ince it i also vital that the pa e i a\'ailable before hr tma 19 : not only be au e of the urgent need to I1TIprove facilitie , but ab-o becau e of the way in which money i pro ided by the Computer Board and the ri 0 10 tng at lea t the fir t in talment were there to be any delay beyond thIS date. ubstantial Machine Room 1 needed to accommodate the new y tem and it peripheral and communication equipment.

However, there are also e ential a ociated pace requirement. tape hbrary/dala tore mu t be adja ent int:e it al 0 will need to be au conditioned and operator will be regularly carrying tape ba k and forth between the data tore and the machlIle room control room for the computer operator must be provided nearby, together with an associated area where users can go to collect computer output and commUnIcate with the operators over a counter about any matter 111 onneclion with the running ot their job. It IS also Important that oft ice for ystems taff arc provided nearby ince they, like operators, have a regular requirement to move back and forth between their offices and the Machtne Room. In addition, it i highJy de Hable, from a u er's point of iew, to have the applications advisory office physically close to the operations desk since it is often necessary to refer user from one to the other.

We note that the letter from Or France and others makes the point that it is unnece sary for the Centre' facilities to be physically adjacent to one another. In fact. although it would be highly desirable from the point of view of the efficiency of the Centre for many of it facilities to be adjacent to one another, it is physically split acro s four site (including K SMD) and on the Strand campu alone, even allowing for the new accommodation planned for A corridor in the main Building, it will remain in three 'eparate locations. Only tho e activitie which are vital to the efficient running of the new Machine Room are planned to be physically associated with it.

Or France's letter also refers to the danger of prospective students being discouraged by a lack of faciJitie . We entirely agree and we hope and believe that Gym facilitie can continue to be provided. But computing and communications facilities will also be of growing interest and importance to potential students in all discipline since they will be increasingly central to the effectiveness of the ollege's teaching and research programmes and therefore to its national and international reputation.

Finall , we mu t onvince the Computer Board and the Uni er ity that e are adoptlIlg a radically ne approach to omputlng or there an be no guarantee that the ollege will continue to be funded at the new level It ha man ged to hleve after the very on iderable effort of 0 many taft Pro e or R E Burge - Chairman, Computer Polic Committee Or A J Byerley - Director of Computing Sen'ice

E S FROM KCL RESE RCH E TERPRISES UF CTUR-

CME (Application of Computer to Manufacturing Engineering) wa et up by the Science and Engineering Re earch Council in 19 4 to fund and coordinate re earch and training In univer Hie and polytechnics in the field of advanced manufacturing technology. According to it nnuaJ Report for 19 5/6, A 1E awarded 7.3 million pound worth of aid dunng this period to S I projects beIng conducted in 54 K In tItulc . Re earch is carried out in collaboration with indu trial partner who arc expected to provide 5-20% of the total proJect cost. Within the Report, ACM continues to encourage appli ation which pre. ent innovative and commercially relevant research in all manufacturing areas, for example in computer aided engineering design, advanced production ystems and machine, artificial intelligence and planning and management. A Mh also gives support to potgraduate training and conferences relevant to manufacturing. or further information, please contact KCL Re earch Enterprise at the Kensington campus (extension 474 or 394, or on 937 314).

EWS 0 RESEARCH AID FROM THE EUROPEA COMMU ITY K L Re earch Enterprise have produced a brochure entitled The European Com-

munity's 1987-1991 Framework Programme jor Science and Technology Research. This is a summary of the grant being offered by the European Commis ion in various field ,including health, energy, the environment and information technol- I ogy. Five copies have been sent to each Department with a potential interest in any of these areas, for circulation. Regular update concerning the current tate of each Programme will be issued within a Bulletin distributed periodically by Research nterprises. A summarised li t of the Programmes being dealt with in each of these Bulletins will appear in Comment for general reference, Our success rate with the European ommi sion grant funding ha recently been

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running at a low level. Staff are a ked to consider where their research interests might fit into Community funding.

Additional copies of the brochure and further information may be obtained from Ruth Bishop, Secretary to the Director KCL Research Enterprises, at the above address.

LECTURES, MEETINGS AND SEMINARS DEPARTME T OF ELECTRO IC AND ELECYRICAL E CINEERING RESEARCH SEMINARS Thursday 4 June I TEGRATED IG FET LOGIC 0 Mark Bowser

ACADEMIC DEVELOPME T FU D 1987-88 The arrangements for the administration of awards from the ADF for the coming session will be similiar to those applied last year, with some adjustments: in the criteria by which applications to the Fund will be assessed; in the division of the resources available and in the manner in which submissions should be constructed.

The income from the Fund for 1987-88 will be comparable to that generated for 1986-87, that is, approximately £40,000.

The aim of the Fund, as stated by the Principal when it was established last year, is to stimulate 'new ideas within King's which hold promise of growth and development in its widest sense ..... in principle any initiative which has scope for aiding and a betting the academic development of the College can be considered.' Thus, a successful application to the Fund is likely to be one which displays not only originality, but 'promise of growth and develop men t' within an existing or proposed framework of research.

There has been a marginal, but important, adjustment to the administration of the Fund. Last year its income was allocated in three blocks, the first having a minimum value of £20,000 and the second block being a collection of smaller awards and grants, with a value of about £5,000.

This session Block I will be in the region of £25,000, while Block 2 will consist of either one award with a maximum value of £ 12,000, or two awards totalling approximately £ 12,000. Block 3 will be used for topping-up or for schemes which could not qualify for Blocks I and 2.

Applications for Block I funding should be made through departments bu t filtered by faculties, Block 2 applications may be made direct by departments or individuals.

Applicants will be scrutinised by an independent panel of 'moderators' and in the case of Block 2 applications, they will look carefully at schemes which exhibit originality and coherence.'

For details about how to apply and the guidelines of the Fund, contact Stephen Harrow, Assistant Secretary (Planning).

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GAAS

1.30pm - 2.30pm, Room B202, Pulton Place Thursday 11 June LOW-COST IMAGE SENSORS Oliver Sedlacek 1.30pm - 2.30pm, Room llA Strand campus

DEPARTME T OF MECHA ICAL E Cl EER G RESEARCH SEMINAR Wedne day 3 June CAD I I DUSTRY: A US R'S E PERIE CE Or L 0 Seneviratne, KCL 3.30pm . 4.30pm, Room 2808, Strand campus

CENTRE FOR EDUCATIONAL STUDIES SEMINAR

Thursday 18 June DECODl G TECHNIQUES FOR CONVOLUTIO AL CODES Or W G Cham bers

Wednesday 3 June RESE RCH AND DEVELOPME TIN ADULT VOCATIO AL EDUCATIO Or W A Bridge, ewham Community College Chaired by Tony Mansell

1.30pm . 2.30pm, Room B202, Pulton Place

4.30pm . 6.30pm, Room 3.020, Hudson Building, Chelsea campus

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SEMINARS Wednesday 3 June ARE THERE REVOLUTIONS 1 MATHEMATICS? Ms C Dunmore, Wolfson College, Oxford Wednesday 10 June ISSAC NEWTON AND HARMONIC SOENCE:ASEVENTEENTH~ENTURY

PYTHAGOREAN? Or P Gouk, Linacre College, Oxford Wednesday 17 June PLATO'S ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUATION Or M M Mackenzie, New Hall, Cambridge Wednesday 24 June LONDON CHEMISTRY IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Or 0 M Knight, University of Durham

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON PUBLIC LECTURES Wednesday 3 June The William Townsend Lecture THE GRAND MA NER Mr Clement Greenberg Tuesday 9 June An Inaugural Lecture FROM MOLECULES TO MEDICINES Or C R Ganellin, Smith Kline and French Professor of Medicinal Chemistry Thursday 11 June The Stewartson Memorial Lecture DYNAMICS OF FLUID INTERFACES Professor S H Davis, Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, orthwestern University

2.1Spm, Room IB06, Strand campus

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN MEETINGS

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY COLLOQUIUM

Thursday 11 June The Clifford Paterson Lecture AT HOME WITH SCIE CE A 0 TECHNOLOGY Professor G G Roberts, FRS

Wednesday 10 June ME TAL ACT AS VEHICLE Professor Richard Wollheim, Berkeley Discussion opened by Professor Christopher Peacocke 4.30pm, Room 2C, Strand campus

Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 June Discussion Meeting FREQUE CY-DEPENDENT SELECTIO Organized by Professor B C Clarke, FRS, Or L Partridge and Professor A Robertson, FRS

THE MAY BALL The King's Colleg~ nnual Ma~ Ball again proved to be an overv.. helming succe .

ThlS year' event v.a the ~ ond in a r cent revival 01 n old College traditIOn dating back to the 1920 v.hen Reggie. the Colkge mas ot, 'a only a ub. ny doubt a to the fea ibihty ot holdtng u h a fun tion In th~ I Y Cl . parth.ularly with regard to tudent upport han: now been dispelled. and hopefully the Ball will run, in it pre ent form, for many year to come.

On Saturday 2nd May, 380 member~ and 'honorary members' of College enjoyed a memorable evening at The Savoy Hotel In the pre ence of HRH Reggie and icePrinCipal, Profes or Tyrrell, who gave a brief introductory speech.

fter the Ro> al toa t, propo ed by ndrev. Cox ( hairman, Ball Committee), who al 0 gave a loyal toa t to HRH ReggIe, ralOe prize were drawn by the Ma ter of Cercmonie~. The 1irst prize, won by Katic Southern, wa. a mixed ca e of excellent wines including 2 bottles of champagne. Other prize included two hall ca"e 01 wine. tv. 0 magnum 01 champagne, and a bo ot Belgian chocolate.

Although the rel:eptJon was cheduled to tart in the A braham Lincoln Room at th~ early time of 6.30 pm, such wa the enthu ia m 01 everal student that they arrived at 6.00 pm. eager to enjoy themelve and get the party off to a good start. These lucJ..y few were privl1eg~d to ee ome of the la t minute preparation~ and get ome idea of the va t amount 01 work pu t in by the organi er , Ul ord~r to en ure an evening to remember.

u ic for the re t of the e\ening wa uperbly perlormed by the Johnny Howard Dance Bam.l In full 13,plcce lormat. It I a fitting tribute to th e \ery t Icnted mu iciam that thl' dan e floor n:m3In'd pa ked throughollt t hl'lr very v.lde repertOire 01 popular mu i , old and new, v.hlch ranged lrom Glenn MIller to the late t ~adonna hIt. The Ball wa fittingly rounded off with Auld L ng Sync and the • 'ational nthem.

.~r

By 7.00 pm the majority of the guests had arrived and the Abraham Lincoln Room was packed with some of the best-dres ed students and College taff in the country.

Atmo phenc piano mu ic was provided throughou t the reception by Mr George Ready and a highly professional dl play. designed by Miss Keiko Obayashi and Or Tatham, on some novel aspects of College's foundation and previou student activities had pride of place along one wall. Further entertainment wa supplied by members of the Ball Committee attempting to ex tract money from guests for rame tickets.

Dinner was called by our Master of Ceremonies for the evening, Mr Marlin icholl and everyone made their way up to the Lanca ter Ballroom, the entrance to which wa guarded by Reggie. fler a brief welcoming speech by Profe or Tyrrell who also said grace, the gue t settled down to a sumptuou dinner beautifully erved, as ever, by the Savoy's Banquetting staff. This year' menu was particularly well received with an imaginative com bination of a mousse starter; cream of vegetable oup; lamb cutlets and a pUlk champagne orbet; with wines to match.

Subtle background music was played throughou t the meal by a trio of the Johnny Howard Band.

Reggie declined the offer of a meal and zealously maintained his vigil at the entrance to the Ballroom. He had been smuggled from his den within the bowels

Reggie's tranSformation: (top) a wash and brush-up ill the quail, (left) the joum the embankment, and (next page) in pride olplace at the Sallo\' Bal/room.

The official function finished at I am, but a few hardened revellers managed to continue the celebrations at S tringfellows until 3.30 am. Encouraged by this feat of endurance, they retired to recover their strength with large amounts of black coffee and braced themselves for dawn. They had. one more important engagement still to perform. These urvivors were all present at the Savoy (at 8 am prompt) for breakfast in the distinguished presence of Reggie who had awaited their return. After an extermely lively four-course breakfast, Reggie was finally escorted back to the place from whence he came.

Keiko Obayashi - Reception display and history of Reggie

Mr P 8aunders (Biology Department) 9l9th 2h 46m 23s

Dot Papuga and Karin Mursinghi - for the sale of raffle tickets, help with Ooral decorations and moving Reggie.

Or P Markham (Microbiology Department) 9,922th 3h 43m 33s

And of course, to all the Savoy Banqueting staff and members of the Johnny Howard Band for making this Ball a very special occasion.

However, the biggest' thank you" of all must surely go to the Chairman of the Ball Committee himself, Mr Andrew Cox. The revival of the College Ball last year was primarily his doing and without his expert guidance, this year's event might not have got off the ground. He leaves us at the end of this academic year to pursue a career with Chemical Bank - we wish him well; his experience will be sorely missed.

Work is already underway for next year's Ball and those involved promise to make it an even better event. Put Saturday, 7th May 1988 in your diary and start saving for what will undoubtedly be another spectacular evening and definitely one not to be missed. Watch out for further details in Comment for when tickets come on sale, they sell out very quickly!

David Kettlewell Publicity, Ball Committee

STAFF NEWS Many thanks and congratulations are due to all those who so willingly gave their time and effort into making the Ball the tremendous success that it was, including: Coutts & Co, (College Bankers) for their valuable financial assistance for the Ooral decorations; Sandra Gee, Principal's Secretary, for her time, energy and very professional Ooral displays in the Lancaster Ballroom, Reception Room and around HRH Reggie; Also to Sandra and J ane for ticket sales, table plans and all those "little' problems;

OBITUARY PROFESSOR A J B ROBERTSON It is with regret that we announce the

death of Professor A J B Robertson who passed away on 29th April 1987.

Professor Robertson was a Fellow of King's College and also Emeritus Professor of Chemistry.

ACCOMMODATION OFFICE Mrs Clare Beddoe took up her post as Head-Leasing Assistant on 22 April and will be based at the Strand Office.

TELEPHONE CHANGES DEAN'S OFFICE Mr EH Warrell (College Organist) - Extension 82600 (not S2391)

1987 GOLF COMPETITION The 14th Annual Golf Competition (2nd QEC Memorial Tournament) was held on Wednesday, 6th May at Richmond Golf Course. A large field of entrants enjoyed the fine weather, which helped to produce under-average scores.

Surprise winner was Fred Armitage (Chemistry) who produced his best-ever round (net 86). John Wrigglesworth (Biochemistry) was runner-up with a net 92. Keith Ewart (Microbiology) took the best score trophy with a 78, and eil Bramwell (Food Science) earned the wooden spoon with 125. Commiserations were exchanged at the 19th hole in the Dysart Arms.

Thanks are due to Steve Whiting for organisation of the facilities.

Pete Bennetto

A memorial service is being arranged and details will be given when finalised.

MARATHON MEN

To members of the Committee: 8usan Kenworthy - Mr A Cox's understudy and general dog's body (Vice-Chairperson)

Four members of staff took part in and completed the 1987 London Marathon (did anyone spot them on TV?). We think congratulations are due to:

David Kettlewell - Pu blicity, tickets and washing Reggie

Or W J Harvey (Mathematics Department) 158th 2h 29m 44s

Karirn Elmasry - Finance and transport of Reggie (hope the Volvo is alright)

Mr J Thomas (Estates Office) 436th 2h 37m 54s

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Special congratulations to Or Markham who was participating in his first marathon.

Let's hope it won't be his last!

LIBRARY NEWS ANNUAL RECALL OF BOOKS BORROWED FROM THE STRAND Mem bers of the College are reminded that all books at present on loan from the Strand must be brought into the Library by 30 June. On this occasion, loans may not be renewed by telephone.

OPE ING HOURS Every effort will be made to maintain the advertised opening hours until the end of the examination period, staff shortages may oblige us to close some parts of the Library at short notice.

On Saturdays up to and including 13 June except those preceding the bank holidays, the following sections will be open: Laws Library, Strand Building Library and Queen Elizabeth Library.

During June, opening hours will be reduced as shown below: Strand Campus Embankment Library closes 1730 daily from 12 June Laws Library opens 0930 daily from 22 June closes 1730 daily from 15 June Music Library closes 1730 daily from 15 June Old Library closes 1730 daily from 15 June Strand Building Library opens 0930 daily from 15 June closes 1900 daily from 12 June closes 1730 daily from 22 June Strand LevelS closes 1730 daily from 5 June Kensington Campus The Queen Elizabeth Library will close at 1730 daily from 15 June to 30 June (the last full day of term), after which it will close at 1700.

BROW ,Rosemary.

Good retirement guide 1987.

Duckworth 1986. £8.95 (Sponsored by Save and Prosper)

NEWS ROUND-UP PEARL IS 0

THE MOVE AGAJ

There are 388 pages filled with advice (general and financial), names and addre ses of associations, government departments, societies, etc., which someone contemplating retirement may find useful. The 'early retirer' gets an occasional mention, when there is a variation from the normal retirement payments of benefits.

The first 100 pages deal with money and its management, another large section covers the means of starting an independent business or looking for paid work, whilst leisure health, and holidays receive su bstantial attention also.

A useful check list for those approaching retirement.

The book is held at Manresa Road Library, for one-week loan.

DONATIONS Rowntree-Mackintosh have kindly donated £50 to the Library to help towards the purchase of Nutrition textbooks. This is their contribution to King's to mark the 50th Anniversary of Kit Kat. £200 has been generously donated by J Sainsbury plc to enable the Library to purchase more technical food science monographs.

ENHANCED PHOTOCOPYING SERVICE IN STRAND BUILDING LIBRARIES

College staff in the vicinity of the Great Hall on 30 April may have been surprised to see a flurry of activity, the object of which was 'Pearl' - the steam locomotive housed on the balcony half-way up the stairs. The above picture shows members of the Mechanical Engineering Department manoeuvering the engine by means of pulleys and tracks, so that it could be moved (temporarily) to Rhymney Museum for an exhibition commemorating the 6-0th anniversary of the Rhymney, Hythe and Bimchurch Line. Happily, Pearl will be back with us in late Septem ber, when the engineers will presumably have the unenviable task of getting her back up the stairs!

Chelsea Campus a) King's Road Up to 3 July, the Coleridge Library will be open as follows: Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri

09.00 - 20.00 09.00 - 20.30 09.00 - 20.00 09.00 - 20.30 09.00-17.00

b) Manresa Road Evening opening until 20.00 will continue up to 18 June. From 19 to 26 June the Library will close at 18.00, and from 29 June it will close at 17.00

RETIRING? In view of the current financial climate, and at the suggestion of an academic member of staff, the Library has a copy of

We have recently installed a new photocopier on each of the four levels of the Strand Building Library. These machines, which replace the two machines previously available on Levels I and 4, offer reduction and enlargement as well as A3 and A4 copying. Until certain modifications have been made to the Flexicard system, staff Flexicards may be used only at the photocopier on Level 1.

LIBRARIAN ELECTED Congratulations are extended to Derek Law the College Librarian, on his appointment to the Council of the Library Association. He is one of only two university librarians on the Council.

TADION-RIDEAL PRIZE The 1986 Tadion-Rideal Prize of £ I ,000 for the most distinguished PhD in Molecular Science was shared between Dr T Enver, Biophysics Department, Dr Marion Rand Weaver of the Biochemistry Department, and by Dr M K Wilkinson of the Physics Department, who received his certificate and cheque from the Principal at the Graduate Reception on the 12th May. Entries for the 1987 prize are now welcomed. The closing date for receipt of applications for the prize (which must be accompanied by a copy of the PhD thesis) is 30th June 1987. Applications should be addressed to the Deputy Academic Registrar.

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PL

~1ETROLOGY

b) One free opy of a Forensl len e So iet} Monograph of the Student' hoi -e.

A heque being a ontnbutlon to the purcha I.' 01 a econd boo' 01 the lUdent' hOI 'e.

Foren I lence SOl,lety pldqul::.

ARD

ongratulations are olfered to Profes or harles Turner ..... ho ha been awarded one of the.' JlIonal Phy i al Laboratory 19 7 ~1etrolog}l pnzes for his wor' on acou lial imagmg devices. The Prize. worth £. 1.000, i one 01 three awarded annually in a 'ompetJllon open to all a ademi' tall in UK umver'itie and polytechmcs.

Thl a\\ ard v. ill be presen ted 10 the uc stultudent al the Society , G~1 lor v. hich lravelltng and a ommodation expen'e wlll be met by the Society.

Prole or Turner was a1 0 recentl} elected halrman of the Engineering Profe or Conference.

P R LLEL COMP TER EXPERT ISITS COLLEGE Professor Roger Hod..ney. an mternationally renowned expert on parallel omputers. VI Ited King" on Monday I May to gJW a SpeCial gue t lecture to the ompuling tudent of C 6 and mem bers of staff from the Computillg Centre and lhe Department of Computing. The invitation to the College resulted from a chance encounter between Roger Hockney (who had JU t returned trom a year' sabbatical in Rome) and RI hard Overill of the Computing Centre, at a recent meeting of the Bnti h omputer SocIety' Parallel Proce sing Speciah t Group.

Both the Briti h Academy of Foren ic Science and the Foren ic Science Society v. J1I be awar9ing prize thl year for the mo lout tandmg MS tu dent on the Foren ic Science cour 'e.

The former are offenng an award of £ 100 for the be t project work submitted. mem ber of the J\cademy will be repre ented on the SelectIOn Panel.

The latter award consists of: al Free Member hip of the Foren ic Science Society for one year.

In hi lecture, Professor Hockney gave a

BIOTECHS OFFER TO SOLVE THE COLLEGE'S Fr Once again thl year all the competing tcams in Barclay Bank BIOtechnology Inve tment Competition did better than average on the London Stockmarkel. The winmng tcam increased their initial £ 10,000 to £ 18,896 over a period of nine weeks. Detail are gIven below. It is reliably rumoured that Messrs Morrison, Anwar and Ahmadi may make their expertise available for a modest monetary consideration.

ma lerl overview of the many novel and e Oll de Ign of parallel omputer Whl h have recenlly appeared on the ene, unple lolio\\ ed by a lucid e riptlon of model -haracterising the per10rman e of u h omputer n real programs. He 'on luded by pre enting newly obtained re ult 01 per orman I.' mea urement on the L AP computer'ystem ill Rome.

Theul:e of Ihe le ture may perhap be gauged by the fact that Professor Ho kney afternard found him elf une. pe tedly inundated with requests to autograph tudent . personal copies 01 hIS text book 'Parallel Computer' !

Richard Overill

o A one day conference on the above tOPIC i to be held by the department of ur mg StudIes at the Chel ea ampus on Wednesday, 17th June.

The aml of thi' national conference on I ur mg Research in Terminal Care is to enable nurse Interested in thlS subject to meet together and exchange idea. Research IS ues In terminal care will be addre sed and a number of studIes which have been completed or are currently being undertaken by nurses WIll be presented.

For further details contact: Mrs Sally Sims ursing Studies Chel ea Campus (552 King's Road)

Biotechnology lnve tment Game - Final Positions as at 16th April 1987 TEAM TOTAL O. COMME Cl G OFSH R I ESTME T I VE TME T "ALLOWA CE" TRA SACTIO S A B C D E

B Fifteen S Fifteen BTwo S One B Four S One B Twelve S Eleven B Twelve SSix

9.15%

FI AL POSITlO I G ME

10,000

III

I ,896

10,000

39

11,979

3

10,000

26

11,358

5

10,000

31

16,431

10,000

19

11,440

STOCK EXCHA GE I DEX 27th January 1411.2 16th April 1540.3 CREASE

ACCR ED DEPOSIT ACCO T I TEREST

WI

I G T AM- A

D MORRISO FA WAR K AHMADI

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Profe or T Smith ha been appointed Senior Pro-Principal of Queen Mary College for a 3-year term. Trevor Smith i Profe sor of Political Studies at the College and currently Vice-Chairman of the PolitIcal Studies ssociation of the United Kingdom and a Director of the weekly ocial science Journal ew Society. He ha been a Trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Social Services Trust Limited since 1975 and recently became its Chairman.

Profcssor 1 W Roxburgh, Head of School of Mathematical Sciences at Queen Mary College has been appointed Pro-Principal of the College for a 3-year term.

9.15% on original £ I 0,000 = £ I 0,916 Professor M A Laughton has been reap-

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pointed Pro-Principal until July 1988.

He is Professor of Electrical Engineering at the ollege.

HOUSE EXCHA GE Adelaide (South Australian) dentist wishes to exchange house and carts preferably with a professional or academic person (and their family) in the UK (preferably in London area). The house in Adelaide has 12 rooms (5 bedrooms) and there are two family cars. The house is 5 minutes from the University, main city hospital, medical and dental schools. The exchange required would be for a reasonably large house and car in the UK during the period of May to July (approximately) in 1988.

Write to: Dr Dale Gerke, 60 Seventh Ave., St. Peters, 5069, South Australia.

HOUSE TO LET

FLATTOlEf

DORDOG E: riverside house in delight-

Primrose Hill - I minute Chalk Farm tube, S minutes Regent's Park. I double bedroom, large reception, fitted kitchen, bathroom/wc. Available 1st June 1987 for six months. £ 120 per week inclusive.

01-5867986 for details.

fullocation, Brantome: sleeps I I in two separate and self-contained flats, 3 downstairs and 8 upstairs. Available now through Septem ber with the exception of some weeks already booked in July/ August. For further information, photos, etc., please ring Ext. 366 I, Chelsea.

THE LISTE ER HOME FROM HOME If you fancy visiting Belgium this summer, you could stay at the State University of Ghent in their student residences. As well as accomodation facilities, it is possible to organise conferences and meetings there.

Further details are available from the Accomodation Office.

A complete, unbound run of this periodical from January 1982 to date is offered for a nominal charge. Please contact: Richard Overill, Computing Centre, Strand Campus.

ANNUAL COLLEGE OUTING COLLEGE APPOINTS NEW DEAN Reverend Canon Reginald Askew has been appointed Dean of the College.

Currently Principal of Salisbury and Wells Theological College, Canon Askew will take up his appointment on I January 1988.

Canon Askew succeeds the Reverend Richard Harries, who was ordained Bishop of Oxford at St Pauls Cathedral on Thursday 28 May. A full profile of the new Dean will appear in the next edition of Comment.

TO:

The Annual College Outing will be on Wednesday, 5th August 1987. Coaches will depart from the Embankment Entrance, Strand Site, at 9.15 am for Windsor, where the party will board a river steamer for a relaxing journey to Cook ham (for lunch) and Marlow. The coaches will leave Marlow at 7.30 pm and should be back at the Embankment by 9.00 pm. The cost will be £ 10 per head. Numbers are limited so apply now to J Rumbell, Stationery Store, Strand, Ext. 2290, or P James, Biology, Kensington, Ext. 284, or alternatively please fill in the reply slip below.

J Rumbell Stationery Store Strand campus Ext. 2290

OR:

COMMENT is produced by the King's College London (KQC) Information Office on the Strand campus.

NEXT EDITION: Copy date Friday 12 June for publication in the week of 22 June.

P James Biology Department Kensington campus Ext. 284

ANNUAL COLLEGE OUTING Wednesday 5th August 1987

I would like to receive I enclose a cheque for £

ticket(s) at £ 10 per head.

.

Name ( in capitals)

.

Signed

.

Date

.

Please return reply slips as soon as possible.

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