Acta

Approval of Graces submitted to the Regent House on 14 June 2017

The Graces submitted to the Regent House on 14 June 2017 (Reporter, 6469, 2016–17, p. 656) were approved at 4 p.m. on Friday, 23 June 2017.

Congregation of the Regent House on 21 June 2017: Honorary Degrees

A Congregation of the Regent House was held this day at 2.45 p.m. The Chancellor was present. Before the Congregation processions formed and then entered the Senate-House by the East Door. The train of the Chancellor’s robe was carried by David Horvath-Franco of Corpus Christi College.

Music was performed at the Congregation by the Cambridge University Trumpet Ensemble, by Ms Stephanie Childress of St John’s College, and by members of the choirs of Clare College and Gonville and Caius College. The programme of music was arranged by the University Organist, Andrew Nethsingha, Fellow of St John’s College, and the choirs were conducted by Dr Geoffrey Webber, Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, and Mr Nethsingha.

The following titular degrees were conferred:

Doctor of Law (honoris causa)

Malcolm Grant, kt, c.b.e., m.a., f.ac.s.s.,

Honorary Fellow of Clare College, formerly Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Land Economy, sometime President and Provost of University College London, Chancellor of the University of York, Chair of NHS England, lawyer, and university leader

Doctor of Law (honoris causa)

Adair, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell, b.a., hon. f.r.s., hon. f.r.s.e.,

Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, sometime Rede Lecturer, former Chair of the Financial Services Authority, past Director of the Confederation of British Industry, and formerly Chair of the Committee on Climate Change, economist, and businessman

Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

Jean-Marie Lehn, for.mem.r.s., hon. f.r.s.c.,

Formerly Alexander Todd Visiting Professor in Chemistry, Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, and Emeritus Professor, University of Strasbourg, Honorary Professor of Chemistry, Collège de France, Paris, Nobel Laureate, chemist

Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

Eric Maskin, m.a., f.b.a.,

Honorary Fellow of St John’s College and of Jesus College, formerly visiting student of Darwin College and Overseas Fellow of Churchill College, Adams University Professor, and formerly Louis Berkman Professor of Economics, Harvard University, Director of the Advanced School in Economics at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Nobel Laureate, economist

Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

Janet Rossant, c.c., ph.d., f.r.s., f.r.s.c.,

Honorary Fellow of Darwin College, President and Scientific Director of the Gairdner Foundation, University Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist and Chief of Research Emerita, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, developmental biologist

Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

Stephanie Shirley, c.h., d.b.e., f.r.eng., f.b.c.s.,

Honorary Fellow of Murray Edwards College, former President of the British Computer Society, and sometime Master of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, information technologist, businesswoman, and philanthropist

Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

Sophie Wilson, m.a., f.r.s., f.r.eng., f.b.c.s.,

Honorary Fellow of Selwyn College, co-designer of the Acorn Microcomputer and ARM Processor, designer of the Firepath Processor, Senior Technical Director and Fellow, Broadcom, computer scientist, and software engineer

Doctor of Letters (honoris causa)

Manuel Castells, f.b.a.,

Honorary Fellow of St John’s College and Director of Research in the Department of Sociology, University Professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication Technology and Society, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Research Professor, the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, Erasmus Medallist, Holberg Prize-winner, Balzan Laureate, sociologist

The Orator delivered the following speeches when presenting to The Chancellor the recipients of these Honorary Degrees:

QVOTIENS hoc in Senaculo alicui aliquid noui ferenti homines prudentiores respondere audiimus non malum uero esse propositum, sed intempestiuum uideri? attamen tempus, ut scripsit Franciscus ille noster, mespili est simile, quod priusquam coctumst pendet putidum.1 si quis igitur uel Procancellarius ipse rerum nouarum cupidus pristinam uestram auctoritatem, Magistri, uult restringere, uel Suadae medullam ipse se facito, uel Cethegum alium sibi satellitem alligato. adest nunc huius modi uir non nobis ignotus qui, etiam si Orphei more feras lyra detinere nequit, tamen huius ordinis animos ui orationis adeo placuit ut Vniuersitatis administrationem renouare posset. postea ad Londiniensis remotus Collegium Vniuersitatis aliquamdiu discordiis obsessum ad tranquilla tandem directum x annos summa prosperitate gubernauit.

sed ne plura de Academiae comptis ebore parietibus dicam, etiam in foro eloquentia eius resonare solet. ex aliis muneribus quibus pro re publica functus est memoria dignis, hoc unum adduco: cum de particulis genetiuis frugum demutandis disceptaretur et negoti gubernatoribus et iis qui talia monstra repudiant in contionem conuenientibus, disputationis praesidem ac iudicem aequum se praebens non uerebatur ne hominibus rei publicae potentissimis displiceret si populo abhorrente cum mora cautionem suaderet. rarissimam enim auem eum esse tradunt, qui modo cum ciuitatis administris consocium se coniungere uelit, modo religione quadam permotus consociis resistere non dubitet. qua quidem indole non obstante apud eos penes quos est res publica gratia ualere pergit: nonne ei primo offici salutaris procuratoribus praefecto imperium nuper continuatum est?

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregium hunc uirum, equitem auratum, excellentissimi ordinis Imperi Britannici commendatorem, Magistrum in Artibus, Academiae Scientiarum Socialium sodalem, Collegi de Clare honoris causa socium adscitum, nostrae Vniuersitatis Procancellari uice olim functum, oeconomicae agrariae apud nos quondam professorem, Collegio Vniuersitatis apud Londiniensis quondam praepositum, Vniuersitatis Eboracensis Cancellarium, eorum qui in Anglia nationis sanitatem procurant praesidem, iurisconsultum et academicorum ducem,

MALCOLM GRANT,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Iure.

HOW often have we heard in this Senate-House, when someone has proposed some innovation or other, those of a more cautious disposition respond that the idea is not a bad one; but that the time is not yet quite right. But time, as Cornford warned, is like the medlar: it has a trick of going rotten before it is ripe. And so, if someone, even a reforming Vice-Chancellor, should wish to change the procedures of the University, he had better make himself ‘the very marrow of Persuasion’,2 or find for himself an ally with the powers of Cethegus. There is present such a man well known to us, who, while he may not, like Orpheus, be able to charm savage beasts with a lyre, nevertheless won over the Regent House with his arguments and guided the reform of our governance. Later, having taken himself to London, he united University College, for some time mired in dispute, and led it through a decade of the highest prosperity.

But let us not dwell in the ivory towers of Academe. Many are his services to the State which are worthy of recall, and of these let us single out one: that during the public debate about genetically modified crops he brought to the same table the protestors and the representatives of industry, and showed himself the fairest chairman and judge, who was not afraid to risk the displeasure of politicians when, in the face of public scepticism, he advised caution and delay. For he is, as they say, that rara auis who is willing to work with ministers, but who does not hesitate to oppose them when his conscience so moves him. And this is a quality which has put him in good standing with the political class: having been appointed as the first chair of NHS England, has not his term of office recently been extended?

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

MALCOLM GRANT, kt, c.b.e., m.a., f.ac.s.s.,

Honorary Fellow of Clare College, formerly Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Land Economy, sometime President and Provost of University College London, Chancellor of the University of York, Chair of NHS England, lawyer and university leader,

that he may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Law, honoris causa.

QVOQVO in discrimine uersetur res publica, hospitem hunc nostrum tradunt consulendum. primum industriae quaestuosae ducum consociationi, postea mercedis iniquae triumuiratui praefectus, adeo aequabilem se praebuit ut etiam apud operariorum sodalitates laude floruerit. idem pensionum nouemuiris praepositus multas inter se repugnantis quaestiones ut Alcides serpentis capita excidit et diuersas partes ad unum consensum conduxit quem etiam si non omnibus omnino placuit, nemo tamen totum repudiauit. et meministis, Magistri, cum in America magnas permulti res amisissent et fides concideret, et apud nos pecuniarum ratio eodem motu labefacta uacillare coepisset, meministis eundem haud multis post diebus faenoris moderatorum praesidem creatum argentarios ad temperantiam hortantem praeceptis restrinxisse ne immoderata superbia deducti totam salutem publicam periclitarentur et in eandem calamitatem traherent?

nunc rem publicam admonet sic ut nauta qui incidat in Scyllam cupiens uitare Charybdin1 aes alienum maius quam quod sustineatur conflasse ne id obiciatur quod syngraphis suis emendis pecuniam e nihilo creasse uideatur. talem uirum si quis neglegit monentem, caueto.

si alio loco natus esset haud scio an inter eos adscriptus esset qui τεχνοκρατικοί et ἔναρχοι nominentur. a quo nomine ipse non abhorret. sed his temporibus cum scientia a nonnullis contemnatur, cum ii qui usu et sapientia praestant sint ludibrio, hoc dicamus: uir adest animo integro et libero, ingenio argutissimo, iudicio acerrimo, cui pro multis in rem publicam datis meritis gratias nos hodie agimus singularis.

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregium hunc uirum admodum honorabilem, Baccalaureum in Artibus, Regiae Societatis apud Londiniensis necnon apud Edinensis honoris causa sodalem adscitum, Collegio Gonuilli et Caii honoris causa socium adscriptum, lectorem olim Redianum, officio ad faenatores moderandos instituto quondam praefectum, Fabrorum Britannorum Confoederationis quondam rectorem, concili ad mutatas tempestates uestigandas commissi quondam praesidem, rerum ut dicuntur oeconomicarum studiosum, negotiatorem,

ADAIR Baronem TURNER de ECCHINSWELL,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Iure.

OUR next honorand has been described as the answer to every crisis in public policy. When he was Director of the Confederation of British Industry, and later Chair of the Low Pay Commission, such was his reputation for fairness that he garnered admirers even among the leaders of the trade unions. Appointed then to chair the Pensions Commission, he faced a labour equal to that of Hercules sent to slay the Lernaean Hydra; yet he defeated the many-headed monster and built a consensus which, while at times uncomfortable, could be supported by all. And I am sure you recall that barely a week after the mortgage crisis and collapse of credit in America had threatened to topple the banking system on this side of the Atlantic, too, he took up the chair of the Financial Services Authority, bringing upon himself the task of restraining the bankers lest with excessive risks they plunge the whole economy into the same catastrophe. Now, in his recent book Between Debt and the Devil he warns that to avoid the charge of printing money by having central banks buy government bonds, the state continues to amass unsustainable debts. Such a warning we ignore at our peril.

He is the closest thing in England, they say, to an énarque; nor is ‘technocrat’ a description which he shuns. In the present climate, when there are those who insist that ‘we have had enough of experts’ and knowledge itself is too often derided, let us say this: there stands before us a man of impeccable political neutrality, of intellectual rigour, of the soundest judgement, to whom, for his many services to the State, we now give particular thanks.

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

ADAIR, Baron TURNER OF ECCHINSWELL, b.a., hon. f.r.s., hon. f.r.s.e.,

Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, sometime Rede Lecturer, former Chair of the Financial Services Authority, past Director of the Confederation of British Industry and formerly Chair of the Committee on Climate Change, economist and businessman,

that he may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Law, honoris causa.

ADSIT mihi, comprecor, Camena, magna chemiae mysteria expedituro, ne uirum patre musico natum indignis numeris canam.

haud secus ac campum cum Mauors ictibu’ radit

quisque suum miles scutum protendit ahenum

dexteram uti socii seruet, seruetur et ipse

a socio et coniuncta acies manet inuiolata:

non aliter binis nonnumquam consociatis

particulis quae uim portant electrida dictam

in longas coeunt series primordia rerum

aut nodos fingunt iam tortos, iamque coronas.

primum Gallus homo mortalem extollere mentem

est ausus factis ut naturam exsuperaret.

flexos in torques connectit prima elementa

qui chelae similes comprendunt semina quaedam

atque in se sorbent, celant, penitusque recondunt

ut flendum muta celatur funus in urna.

his e contextis finguntur uincula quorum

quidque suum corpus complectitur indupeditum

cuius adaptatumst ad formam concipiendam:

captat enim formaturam, captatque figuram.

nec mora daedalus est grex ortus materiarum

quae sese e membris possunt componere paruis

et iam compositae totam mutare figuram

mobilis in uitro uitae speciem simulantes.

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregium hunc uirum chemiae studiosum, palmis Nobelianis coronatum, Regiae Societati hospitis iure adscriptum, Regiae Societatis Chemiae honoris causa sodalem adscitum, quondam apud nos Alexandri Todd hospitis iure chemiae professorem, Vniuersitatis Argentoratensis professorem emeritum et Instituti Studiorum Superiorum professorem, Collegio Francogallico honoris causa chemiae professorem adscriptum,

JEAN-MARIE LEHN,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Scientiis.

COME, O Muse, attend thy servant and expound the mysteries of chemistry in a mode befitting the son of a musical father.

When Mars with war besets the field

Each man holds forth his brazen shield

To guard his mate upon the right—

And so the line withstands the fight.

Just so by Nature’s fruitful laws

Do atoms share their seeds of force

And with electric shells entwined

Form rings and knots and drawn-out lines

Held tight by strong covalent ties.

A Frenchman is the first who tries

To better Nature’s own designs.

Six O’s, two N’s he intertwines

And bends into a hollow crown

To draw a chosen ion down

As in his claw the crab holds gripp’d

His prey, or in the silent crypt

The mournful corpse sequestered lies.

And from these parts see now arise

A molecule of shape ordained

To take hold of another’s frame.

Behold! a whole menagerie

Of minuscule machinery

From smaller parts itself contrives,

Rebuilds, transforms, and seems alive.

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

JEAN-MARIE LEHN, for.mem.r.s., hon. f.r.s.c.,

formerly Alexander Todd Visiting Professor in Chemistry, Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and Emeritus Professor, University of Strasbourg, Honorary Professor of Chemistry, Collège de France, Paris, Nobel Laureate, chemist,

that he may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.

PATIENTIA uestra me non abusurum spero, Magistri, rem mirabilem dictu uobis narraturus. nuper in somniis mihi uisus uir sapientissimus ‘fac, quaeso,’ inquit, ‘te quoddam crustulum habere—aut castanearum placentam dicamus aut scriblitam amygdalinam aut quaslibet pistoris arte confectas delicias—duos inter liberos (nomina sint eis Antoniae et Balbo) ita partiendum ut utrique sua pars quam maxime placeat neque ullam utrique det querendi facultatem. id quo pacto diuidendum esse censes?’

‘non aliter,’ inquam, ‘quam ut in dimidias partes concidatur.’

 cui ille ‘ipsi tibi,’ inquit, ‘crustulum concidendum et partes in liberos distribuendas iudicas?’

‘certe,’ inquam. ‘μὴ παιδὶ μάχαιραν.’

at ille, ‘quod si aliter tu rem intueris, aliter Antonia, aliter Balbus, nonne fieri potest ut partes tibi aequae uisae aut huic aut illi nescioquo modo iniquae uideantur ut causae sint rixae et obiurgationis?’ cui cum adnuo, ‘nonne melius igitur,’ inquit, ‘si placentae ab altero concisae utramlibet partem eliget altera? cur enim queretur illa si minorem sibi partem elegerit, cur ille si partem maiorem a se ipso concisam illa ceperit?’

cui ego ‘at mehercle’ inquam ‘est ut dicis. alter dividito, altera eligito.’

tum ille, ‘quid nunc si inter tres diuidenda est placenta? aut si Balbus scriblitae crustam pluris aestimat quam qui intus est cremorem? quid nunc faciendum iudicas?’ cui cum nil haberem quod responderem, Magistri, e somnio expergefactus sum.

adest qui ad huiusmodi quaestiones soluendas se adhibuit. alii enim rerum oeconomicarum studiosi legibus quibusdam et praeceptis in negotio quouis agendo institutis quid et qua re eueniat scitantur. hic uir quibus rationibus instituendis euentus efficiat desideratos machinatur.

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregium hunc uirum palmis Nobelianis coronatum, Magistrum in Artibus, Academiae Britannicae sodalem, Collegi S. Iohannis Euangelistae necnon Collegi Iesu honoris causa socium adscitum, Collegio Darwiniano hospitis iure quondam adscriptum, Collegi Churchilliani hospitis iure socium olim adscitum, apud Haruardianos Vniuersitatis professorem Adamsianum et quondam rerum oeconomicarum sub nomine Ludouici Berkman professorem, in Hebraeae Vniuersitatis Hierosolymitanae Studiorum Superiorum Instituto Scholae Rerum Oeconomicarum Superioris rectorem, scientiae oeconomicae studiosum,

ERIC MASKIN,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Scientiis.

I HOPE I shall not try your patience if I tell an odd story. A wise man recently came to me in a dream and said, ‘Imagine, please, that you had a cake—a chestnut pie, say, or an almond tart, or some other delicacy of the baker’s art—which you had to divide between two children (let us call them Alice and Bob) so that they are each happy with their share and they have no reason for complaint. How should the cake be shared out?’

‘It is obvious,’ said I, ‘that the cake should be cut in half.’

‘And would you cut the cake yourself and give out the pieces?’

‘I would,’ said I. ‘For who would give a child a knife?’

‘But what if you see the thing one way,’ said he, ‘but Alice and Bob here see it differently? Could not the halves which to you seem equal seem either to him or to her to be somehow unequal, and so cause an argument?’ When I agreed, he continued, ‘So would it not be better if Bob cut the cake and Alice chose whichever half she wanted? For how could Alice complain if she herself chose the smaller share? And how could Bob complain if he cut the cake unevenly and Alice chose the larger?’

You are right,’ said I. ‘Bob should cut the cake, and Alice should choose her piece.’

‘But what,’ he went on, ‘if the cake had to be divided into three parts? Or what if Bob preferred the pie crust to the custard within? What should we do then?’ I had no idea what to reply, and I awoke in confusion.

Our honorand has devoted his life to the solution of problems such as this. Other economists study what happens when certain rules have been established in some business or other; he engineers the rules which will produce the desired outcomes.

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

ERIC MASKIN, m.a., f.b.a.,

Honorary Fellow of St John’s College and of Jesus College, formerly visiting student of Darwin College and Overseas Fellow of Churchill College, Adams University Professor and formerly Louis Berkman Professor of Economics, Harvard University, Director of the Advanced School in Economics at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Nobel Laureate, economist,

that he may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.

HOMERVS Amisodarum quendam memorat ὅς ῥα Χίμαιραν θρέψεν ἀμαιμακέτην πολέσιν κακὸν ἀνθρώποισιν;1 eandem his uersibus describit Hesiodus:

δεινήν τε μεγάλην τε ποδώκεά τε κρατερήν τε·

τῆς δ’ ἦν τρεῖς κεφαλαί· μία μὲν χαροποῖο λέοντος,

ἡ δὲ χιμαίρης, ἡ δ’ ὄφιος, κρατεροῖο δράκοντος.

πρόσθε λέων, ὄπιθεν δὲ δράκων, μέσση δὲ χίμαιρα,

δεινὸν ἀποπνείουσα πυρὸς μένος αἰθομένοιο.2

adest iam mulier digna et ipsa quae chimaerae si non draconum mater nuncupetur. pusilla quae producit prodigia toto sunt corpore murina. neque flammas possunt anhelare, neque humanae genti sunt exitio sed maximae saluti. particulis enim eorum genetiuis quolibet modo demutatis, ut haec altera elidatur, altera ab alieno semine erepta in alienum inseratur, incipientis uitae magna mysteria percontatur. quibus rationibus ductae cellulae in germinis cistula se multiplicantes aliae in fetum ipsum se transformare cogantur, aliae in placentam, aliae in sacculum quo fetus crescens protegatur alaturque detexit. praeterea quemadmodum formetur placenta, qua re nonnumquam accidat ut placenta deficiente fetus aboriatur recognouit. eadem cordis pulmonum uenarum conformationem descripsit. accedit quod semper ad usum et artem medicinae prospiciens, morborum geneticorum aliorum et cancri ipsius maiorem potestatem non modo cognoscendi uerum etiam sanandi medicis donauit. neque hoc mihi praetereundum iudico, quod cellulis e placenta excisis uim transfigurandi mirabilem ita restituit ut eorum uitae germinum quae

omnia transformant sese in miracula rerum

osque lacertososque toros albosque medullos3

fetu intacto fontem nouum aperuisse uideatur.

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregiam hanc mulierem, excellentissimi ordinis Canadae comitem, Doctorem in Philosophia, Regiae Societatis sodalem, Regiae Societatis Canadensis sodalem, Collegi Darwiniani honoris causa sociam adscitam, Fundationis Gairdner praesidem et scientiae rectricem, biologiae molecularis apud Torontinos professorem, in Liberum Aegrorum Nosocomio Torontino rerum indagatricem seniorem et uestigandi caput,

JANET ROSSANT,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Scientiis.

HOMER recalls a certain Amisodarus, ‘who reared the raging Chimaera, a bane to many men’. Hesiod describes the monster thus:

A creature fearful, great, swift-footed and strong,

Who had three heads, one of a grim-eyed lion,

One of a goat, the third of a snake, a mighty dragon.

In her foreparts she was a lion, behind a dragon, in her middle a goat

And she breathed forth a fearful blast of blazing fire.

Our next guest too can claim to rear chimaerae. But no monsters, these: they are small, and have the nature entirely of mice. They cannot breathe fire and are no bane to mankind. Indeed, they are a positive boon. She modifies their genetic code, knocking out a gene here, implanting one taken from another embryo there, and so investigates the mysteries of the start of life. She has discovered the mechanisms which guide the fate of the cells in the blastocyst, such that some develop into the fetus itself, some into the placenta, some into the sac which protects and nourishes the fetus as it grows. She has discovered how the placenta is formed, and how it sometimes fails to form, so that the fetus is not brought to term. And she has revealed the development of the heart, the lungs, and the whole circulatory system. Always looking to the medical application of her research, she has given doctors new powers to diagnose and treat cancer and other genetic diseases. But this, perhaps, is the most remarkable of all: she has taken cells from the placenta and restored to them the miraculous, protean power of transformation by which they can grow into any tissue—bone, say, or muscle, or white marrow; and so she has opened up a new source of stem cells, which can be exploited without harm to the embryo.

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

JANET ROSSANT, c.c., ph.d., f.r.s., f.r.s.c.,

Honorary Fellow of Darwin College, President and Scientific Director of the Gairdner Foundation, University Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist and Chief of Research Emeritus, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, developmental biologist

that she may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.

SEXTO nondum completo anno quae nunc adest mulier inter liberos a parentibus dimissos ut terrorem qui illis diebus Europae imminebat effugerent, omnibus quae possidebat in paruo uidulo collectis, sorore comitante, e Vindobonensium finibus profuga ad litora nostra aduenit. ‘titulum habebamus,’ inquit, ‘in ceruice infixum; sic pitaciis infiguntur res amissae. equidem dixerim nos quoque simili ratione amissas fuisse.’

postea praestantissimo ingenio uiso, a monachis quibus magistris utebatur ad puerorum scholam missa ut geometricam artem persequeretur, nullo tamen ad academiam incitamento permota—quae enim scientia nisi quae ad animantium vitam pertineret eo tempore muliebri menti apta habebatur?—in tabellariorum elaboratorium ad uictum petendum se contulit. ibi rudibus apparatibus ratiocinatoriis electride ductis studebat; ibi talium machinarum potestatem non corporeis in membris sed in mandatis quibus dirigerentur sitam esse cognouit; quod si quando aliis persuadere conabatur, tum cum femina quae tali officio fungebatur rarissima esset auis et a uiris circumsessa, quis monentem mulierem audire uolebat? itaque nomine in masculinum uerso ne a masculis praeteriretur idem negotium suo ipsius consilio exsecuta est. mulieres per occasionem conduxit ab alio labore aut infantium aut ceterorum indigentium cura exclusas, magnum tandem lucrum comparauit. quam fortunam fere totam aliis largita est. nec tempus nec spiritus mi sufficit quo nomina eorum quibus succurrit memorem: hoc tamen non omitto quod tantum cum pecuniae tum oti et in iis qui εἰς αὑτοὺς ἀπέρχεσθαι uidentur subleuandis et in huius mali causis inueniendis collocauit.

at cur hoc faciat si requiris, ‘non aliter,’ inquit, ‘quam ut qui mi subuenerint non frustra me seruasse uideantur: itaque aliis a me subueniendum.’

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregiam atque humanissimam hanc mulierem inter comites honoratissimos adscriptam, excellentissimi ordinis Imperi Britannici dominam commendatricem, Fabrorum Regiae Academiae sodalem, Societatis Britannicae Computatoriae sodalem et quondam praesidem, Collegi Murray Edwards honoris causa sociam adscitam, Technologiae Communicatiuae Venerabili Societati quondam praefectam, negoti gubernatricem,

STEVE SHIRLEY,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Scientiis.

OUR next honorand arrived on these shores on a Kindertransport at the age of five, an exile from Vienna fleeing the Nazi terror, accompanied by her sister, with everything she owned in a small suitcase. ‘We had numbered tickets hanging around our necks,’ she says, ‘as if we were lost property. In a sense, we were.’

The nuns who taught her recognised in her a special talent and sent her to a local boys’ school to study mathematics. But because at that time the only science suitable for women was thought to be biology, she had no desire to go on to university, and so went to work with primitive electronic computers at the Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill. The power of such machines, she came to realise, lay not in their physical parts but in the programs which directed them; but if she tried to persuade others—this was a rare profession for a woman, remember, and she was surrounded by men—well, who would listen? And so she went into business for herself, and shortened her name to the masculine form so that she would not be dismissed out of hand by men. She offered work on a freelance basis to women who were prevented from taking full-time employment by the need to care for children or other dependants, and soon she made her fortune. All of that fortune she has given away. There is not time to recount the extent of her philanthropy, nor if there were would breath suffice; but I cannot pass over the continued support she has given, both financial and out of her own time, to help those who struggle with autism and to discover its causes.

‘I do it because of my personal history,’ she says. ‘I need to justify the fact that my life was saved. Now it is my turn to help others.’

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

STEPHANIE SHIRLEY, c.h., d.b.e., f.r.eng., f.b.c.s.,

Honorary Fellow of Murray Edwards College, former President of the British Computer Society and sometime Master of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, information technologist, businesswoman, and philanthropist,

that she may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.

MI PVERO pater olim domum retulit capsellam quandam rauam rubrarum clauicularum ordine insignem et noctua Mineruali ornatam, quae multa cum magnetophonii ululatione iam figuras rudis et viii coloribus distinctas in cistellam uitream proiciebat, iam sonorum seriem tenuem et acutam sed eo tempore admirandam reddebat, iam carmina tristia facere uel etiam sermonem instituere uidebatur. machinam illam scilicet cognostis, Magistri, cui sodalitas nostra praeconia nomen suum idcirco imposuit ut re computatoria familiarius uteremur. cuius inter auctores erat haec mulier. eadem penetralia eius et intima itinera flexuosissima metata est. eadem libellis isagogicis pellucide scriptis quo modo dirigeretur nos docuit. nec me confiteor prius sermonem huic senaculo aptiorem aggressum esse quam linguam illam ab eadem excogitatam βασικήν dictam cui tanta erat simplicitas ut ne tirunculi quidem abhorrerent, tanta tamen subtilitas ut uiri peritissimi eius uerbis colisque contextis uelut magica quadam arte quidquid uolebant construere possent.

postea ad nouum Apparatum Ratiocinatiuum Mirabilem aedificandum se contulit qui Redacta Iussorum Superuaceanorum Copia celeritate inaudita instructus ui electrica tam pusilla utebatur ut cum primum temptabatur nullo electridos fonte per errorem coniuncto quanta opus esset ui e propinquis membris surrepta se sustineret. alii maioribus opibus sed parum INTELligentia praediti nequiquam eundem scopum appetiuerant: haec mulier omnia mente sua tam prospere enodauit ut hodie haec assulae decies numero homines quotquot sint superare dicantur.

salutemus igitur mulierem daedalissimam quam dicere audeo paludem nostram uentosam glande quam cum collegis conseuerit in silicem mutasse.

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregiam hanc mulierem, Magistram in Artibus, Regiae Societatis sodalem, Fabrorum Regiae Academiae sodalem, Societatis Britannicae Computatoriae sodalem, Collegi Selwyniani honoris causa sociam adscitam, machinarum computatricum creatricem, assularum auctricem, in Societate Broadcom technologiae praepositam et sodalem adscitam, scientiae computatoriae studiosissimam, instrumentorum electronicorum rectricem,

SOPHIE WILSON,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Scientiis.

WHEN I was a child my father one day brought home a wonderful beige box with a row of bright red buttons and bearing the sign of Athene’s owl. After much screeching from a tape-recorder it projected blocky figures in eight colours on its glass screen, or played musical sounds—tinny, it is true, but remarkable in those days—and even seemed able to compose sad poems or hold a conversation. You doubtless recognise the Acorn Microcomputer, which the BBC adopted for its computer literacy project. This woman was one of its creators. She laid out the labyrinthine pathways of its circuits. She wrote the user manuals with wonderful clarity. And your Orator must confess that before he had approached the idiom more suited to this Senate-House, he had learned the language that she devised: BASIC in name, and simple enough to encourage beginners, but so powerful and subtle that those skilled in its use could weave together its commands to work magic.

Afterwards she designed the Acorn RISC Machine. With its set of instructions pared down to the minimum, it worked at incredible speed; but it required so little power that when, in an early test, the connection to the electricity supply had been forgotten, it drew all the current it needed from the surrounding components. Others with greater resources had tried with supercomputers to devise similar designs, but to no avail. Our honorand worked it all out in her head. And so successfully, it must be said, that there are now ten of the chips that she designed for every human being on earth.

Let us greet, therefore, a woman who helped to plant an acorn and pave a fen with silicon.

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

SOPHIE WILSON, m.a., f.r.s., f.r.eng., f.b.c.s.,

Honorary Fellow of Selwyn College, co-designer of the Acorn Microcomputer and ARM Processor, designer of the Firepath Processor, Senior Technical Director and Fellow, Broadcom, computer scientist and software engineer,

that she may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.

QVAM bene Saturno uiuebant rege, priusquam

 tellus in longas est patefacta uias.

his uersiculis queritur Tibullus amplificata communicandi facultate pristinum illum statum uitae quo maiores nostri beati et omni cura liberi fruerentur amissum esse. sed quid dicat poeta in nostram aetatem transiectus si hodiernis technologiae miraculis obuiam uenerit? quid si machinationes illas conspexerit quae inter se contextae et totum fere mundum rete quodam continentes non modo cogitare uerum etiam sponte sua ita agere uidentur ut incertum sit utrum nos auctores eas regamus an ab eis regamur? quid si sermones imagines cuiusuis rei rumores per aethera statim missiculari, et famam rerumque cognitionem ab alio ad alium transmissam nulla mora etiam remotissimas in oras prius peruenire quam a censore uel seuerissimo supprimantur? si sibi obstupescenti itineris ducem poposcerit hunc uirum commendem, qui spatia incorporea indagauit per quae rerum scientia fluit; qui inusitata temporis momenta cognouit non ordine sequentia sed ante oculos una turba disposita ut cuique perpenso pretium suum assignetur; qui in plus xx libris societatis contextum percontatus ausus est nouam Scientiae Aetatem tribus explicare chartis doctis, Iuppiter, et laboriosis.1

philosophiam contemplatiuam tanti modo aestimandam esse dicit quanto quod obseruet enodare possit. tam igitur ratione quam rerum ipsarum obseruatione perductus, ut qui caelum assidue suscipiat caelestiaque contempletur, omnis res humanas sibi facit speculam et inuestigationis officinam. nec futura praedicere solet—nil enim nos sine errore uaticinari posse, praeter quod erraturi sint uaticinatores; satis esse si quae scripserit aliquantulum ad usum pertinere uideantur.

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregium hunc uirum, Academiae Britannicae sodalem, Collegi S. Iohannis Euangelistae honoris causa socium adscitum, doctrinae socialis apud nos uestigandae rectorem, Californiae Meridianae apud Angelopolitanos Vniuersitatis technologiae communicatiuae necnon societatis nomine Wallis Annenburg professorem, Liberae Vniuersitatis Cataloniensis apud Barcinonensis professorem, Vniuersitatis Berkeleianae professorem emeritum, laureis Erasmianis Holbergianis Balzanianis coronatum, humanae communitatis in societatem confirmandae studiosum,

MANUEL CASTELLS,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Litteris.

HOW blest Man liv’d in Saturn’s golden Days,

E’er distant Climes were join’d by lengthened Ways.²

The poet Tibullus complains that as the power of communication has increased, we have lost the simplicity of life which our ancestors enjoyed free from all care. What would he make of the technological marvels of today’s world, I wonder? What would he say if he saw our computers, holding the whole world in their web, and seeming to think and act for themselves so that it is no longer clear whether we are their masters or their slaves? What if he saw conversations and images and rumours of who knows what transmitted instantly across the ether, so that news and knowledge can be passed from person to person without delay, before even the strictest censor might suppress them? If in his confusion he sought a guide, he could do no better than our final honorand. He has probed the insubstantial spaces through which information flows. He has witnessed timeless time, where moments do not follow one after the other but are set at once before our eyes so that each may be valued and assigned a price. In more than twenty books, and above all in his great trilogy The Information Age, he has laid bare the new fabric of the networked society.

Theory and research, he says, are only as good as their ability to make sense of what we observe. And so, guided as much by theory as by empirical observation, like the astronomer who looks up at the night sky and ponders the heavens, all the world is made his observatory and his laboratory. And he steers clear of ‘the dubious ventures of futurology’ (one thing alone can we predict with confidence: that those who predict the future are invariably wrong); it is enough, he says, if what he has written relates to our experience.

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

MANUEL CASTELLS, f.b.a.,

Honorary Fellow of St John’s College and Director of Research in the Department of Sociology, University Professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication Technology and Society, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Research Professor, the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, Erasmus Medallist, Holberg Prize-winner, Balzan Laureate, sociologist,

that he may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.

E. M. C. RAMPTON, Acting Registrary

END OF THE OFFICIAL PART OF THE ‘REPORTER’