5. What was it really like to be in the
Biophysics Research Unit at King’s?
J T Randall was not only a distinguished
physicist in his own right but also highly effective at
attracting grants and fellowships and high calibre staff to
fill them. Always well dressed, although sometime categorised
as a Napoleon, he also ate lunch with staff in the joint dining
room on a nearly daily basis. Staff also regularly came
together for morning coffee.
The idea that the atmosphere of the Unit,
or indeed the College, was unsympathetic to women is mistaken.
When, for example, Franklin joined, eight out of thirty-one
biophysics staff were women, several in high positions
including Honor Fell (a biologist), Jean Hanson (a biologist)
and Majorie M’Ewen (a physicist). A further six were
active in research and the senior photographic technician,
Freda Ticehurst, was headhunted from Randall’s old lab at
GEC. These numbers were significantly higher than many labs in
higher education and industry at the time.
A key event was the annual cricket match,
a keenly contested match and general social occasion attended
by many staff.
