| Summary |
Robert McCredie May, Lord May of Oxford, OM AC Kt, born in Randwick, N.S.W. speaks about his family background, his schooling & early academic influences; his decision to choose a life in scientific research; his Bachelor of Science and a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Sydney; spending 2 years as Gordon MacKay Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; returning to Sydney University as Senior Lecturer in Theoretical Physics (1960) at age 24, later Reader and at age 33, the holder of Sydney University's first Personal Chair; meeting prominent researchers of British ecological research, then their American counterparts; how he eventually switched disciplines from physics to ecology; his move to Princeton University (Princeton, N. J.) as Class of 1877 (explaining the concept & its role) Prof. of Zoology in 1973; his pioneering ecological research in theoretical analysis of the dynamics of populations, communities and ecosystems while working at Princeton.
Lord May speaks about how from 1977 until he moved to Oxford, U.K. as a Royal Society Research Professor (1988), he was Chairman of the University Research Board at Princeton University, having broad administrative responsibility for all externally and internally funded research; how he was approached to become Chief Scientific Adviser to the U.K. Government (1995-Sept. 2000), and Head of its Office of Science and Technology; the biggest challenges he faced in his role as Chief Scientific Adviser; the role of & administrative structure of the Royal Society and how he himself was elected to the Presidency (2001-2005); the honours he received during his scientific career & the differences they have made to his life; the composition of the House of Lords, the life peerage system and his own involvement in the business of the Lords; the House of Lords in relation to questions of public trust; his role in the production of Tom Stoppard's play Acadia.
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| Biography/History |
Lord May, is the current President of The Royal Society of London (2000-2005). He holds a Professorship jointly in the Dept. of Zoology, Oxford University and Imperial College, London, He is a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1979, Australian Academy of Sciences as an Overseas Fellow in 1991, Academia Europaea in 1994, and (as a Foreign member) the US National Academy of Sciences in 1992.
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| Notes |
Recorded on Mar. 24, 2003; Mar. 26, 2003 at the Royal Society, London, U.K.
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