Science Teachers in Scotland

750 NATURE to its reduction. However, when war ceased he again got together many rare and little-known species. His book on "Parrots and Parrot-like Birds in Aviculture" is an authoritative work. One of his special joys of recent years was to watch his "liberty budgerigars". It was indeed a lovely sight to see a number of these butterfly-like birds flying free. Not only was the Duke of Bedford a practical zoologist and ornithologist but also nothing gave him more pleasure than to assist others with like interests. He was ever ready to help, being kindness itself to many a young naturalist. FRANCES PITT October 24, 1953 VOL. 172 WE regret to announce the following deaths : Prof. C. Bia!obrzeski, formerly professor of theoretical physics in the University of Warsaw, aged seventy-five. Mr. P. E. Negretti, chairman and managing director of Negretti and Zambra, Ltd., on September 20, aged seventy. Prof. W. M. Roberts, O.B.E., lately professor of m~thematics in the Royal Military Academy, Woolwwh, on October 16. Dr. L. F. Richardson, F.R.S., formerly principal of Paisley Technical College, on September 30, aged seventy-two. NEWS and VIEWS Geology at the University College of North Staffordshire : Prof. F. Wolverson Cope THE University College of North Staffordshire, at Keele, was opened in 1950 with thirteen professors. The academic staff now numbers more than eighty, and two new chairs-of classics and geology-have recently been created. Each of these posts goes to the reader in the subject, and the new professor of geology is Dr. F. Wolverson Cope. Educated at King's School, Macclesfield, and the University of Manchester, Dr. Cope served in H.M. Geological Survey from 1934 until -1950. He is a field geologist primarily, his main work having been on the stratigraphy and palleontology of the Carboniferous system, especially in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire and North Wales. His research has on two occasions earned awards from the Geological Society of London. His work in south-west Lancashire was directly responsible, in 1939, for the discovery of a small oil-field at Formby. In the North Staffordshire coalfield, he was largely responsible, while with the Geological Survey, for the six-inch re-mapping, and his considerable local experience, both above and below ground, in this field is a ·particularly valuable asset to his work at Keele, where in three years he has built up a large department (soon to move into new premises). In an academic curriculum in which some science is insisted on for all students, geology is a popular subject ; but Dr. Cope has also a flourishing honours school, and is contributing to the training of geographers, who are required to take a year's geology. Technological Education in Great Britain IN an address to the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes given at Lancaster on October 2, Mr. Lincoln Gordon, minister for economic affairs at the American Embassy, London, and chief of the United States Foreign Operations Administration Mission to the United Kingdom, suggested that even if all the various means of expanding technological education-by the expansion of existing technological departments of universities, development of existing technological colleges, or the establishment of one or more independent institutions on the lines of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-were pushed to the furthest practicable limits, the resulting expansion would not surpass the ever-growing needs. The best technological training in Britain, he said, is second to none ; .but technological education should also reflect the growing part of the engineering profession as a source of general industrial management : educati~n for marn~,gement should become an important adJunct of higher technological training. Mr. Gordon is convinced that the science and art of management could, in large and increasing measure, be analysed, systematized and communicated to others : administration could be a genuine discipline. Properly handled, the case method can greatly enhance the student's ability to assume practical responsibilities and to contribute constructively to the operation of his firm. However, young men and ~omen who h~ve several years of experience in mdustry or busmess, owing to that background and their greater maturity, are much better students of administrative subjects than those newly graduated ; there are other advantages, too, such as the elimination of wastage, and an earlier start on a useful career, when entry on such courses is deferred. Mr. Gordon_ also suggested that Britain might have some_t~mg to learn from American experience in prov1dmg a greater number of intensive short-term cour~es_, si~ilar to those already existing at the Admm1strative Staff College, Henley, for men with te? to twenty _years of experience in industry who might be considered for promotion to the highest posts of general management. Science Teachers in Scotland THE Secretary of State for Scotland has appointed the following committee to advise him on the supply of mathematics and science teachers in Scotland : Sir Edward Appleton (chairman) ; Prof. E.T. Copson, professor of mathematics, University of St. Andrews; Prof. J.M. Graham, Lord Provost of Aberdeen; Mr. A. G. McKimmie, headmaster of Allan Glen's School Glasgow; Dr. A. R. Murison, rector of Marr College: Troon; Dr. H. B. Nisbet, principal of Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh; Mr. H. P. Wood, director of studies, J ordanhill Training College, Glasgow ; and Mr. A. L. Young, director of education, Aberdeenshire. Oil Pollution Research: Plotting of Currents in the North Atlantic THE National Institute of Oceanography will shortly initiate an intensive research into the surface currents in the North Atlantic to the west of the British Isles as part of the campaign against the pollution of the beaches of Britain by oil residue jettisoned by ships. It is planned to drop into the sea some ten thousand plastic. envelopes, each containing a numbered card carrying the date and position in which each is dropped. Finders will be © 1953 Nature Publishing Group  (...truncated)