Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?
Robert Browning (1812–1889) Andrea del Sarto
Sometimes he spent hours together in the great libraries of Paris, those catacombs
of departed authors, rummaging among their hoards of dusty and obsolete works in
quest of food for his unhealthy appetite. He was, in a manner, a literary ghoul,
feeding in the charnel-house of decayed literature.
Washington Irving (1783–1859) The Adventure of the German Student
Professor Kenneth Richard Seddon (Ken as he insisted to be called) was born on
the 31
st of August 1950 into a working-class family. Ken was the only child of
Muriel (née Pope) and Richard Seddon, who was in the merchant navy before
joining the engineering company Otis.
As Ken’s cousin Christine recalls, “Ken was not the most energetic of children—
I am reliably informed that he didn’t walk until he was two—and he hated the walks
our families would go on, by the seaside or in the country lanes opposite his family
home. He would continually moan about walking, something he never changed his
views on—he later told me that if people were meant to walk, taxis would not have
been invented. Exercise of any sort was anathema to him, and at school he would
take a book out onto the football or cricket pitch and return to the changing rooms
pristine—something of a family trait, I must admit.”
Ken attended Hillfoot Hey grammar school and loved chemistry from a very
young age, and he said that it was due to his brilliant chemistry teacher.
Ken’s mother Muriel recognised Ken’s scientific capability at a young age, and
she made sure that Ken could concentrate on his studies without distractions, so
Ken mentioned that he never had to get any part-time jobs thanks to his mother.
Ken progressed through Liverpool University, finishing his Ph.D. at the age of 22.
In Liverpool, Ken got interested especially in inorganic chemistry due to the fact
that periodic elements had very different properties yet some similarities in their
periodicity (periodic table principle), and also due to the fact that inorganic
chemistry is the chemistry of colours. Ken’s Ph.D. supervisor was Prof. David
Nicholls.
At the age of 24, Ken got a prestigious CEGB (Central Electricity Generating
Board) research fellowship at St Catherine’s and Corpus Christi College, which
allowed him to join Oxford.
vi
Dedication to Prof. Kenneth “Ken” Richard Seddon
Robert Browning (1812–1889) Andrea del Sarto
Sometimes he spent hours together in the great libraries of Paris, those catacombs
of departed authors, rummaging among their hoards of dusty and obsolete works in
quest of food for his unhealthy appetite. He was, in a manner, a literary ghoul,
feeding in the charnel-house of decayed literature.
Washington Irving (1783–1859) The Adventure of the German Student
Professor Kenneth Richard Seddon (Ken as he insisted to be called) was born on
the 31
st of August 1950 into a working-class family. Ken was the only child of
Muriel (née Pope) and Richard Seddon, who was in the merchant navy before
joining the engineering company Otis.
As Ken’s cousin Christine recalls, “Ken was not the most energetic of children—
I am reliably informed that he didn’t walk until he was two—and he hated the walks
our families would go on, by the seaside or in the country lanes opposite his family
home. He would continually moan about walking, something he never changed his
views on—he later told me that if people were meant to walk, taxis would not have
been invented. Exercise of any sort was anathema to him, and at school he would
take a book out onto the football or cricket pitch and return to the changing rooms
pristine—something of a family trait, I must admit.”
Ken attended Hillfoot Hey grammar school and loved chemistry from a very
young age, and he said that it was due to his brilliant chemistry teacher.
Ken’s mother Muriel recognised Ken’s scientific capability at a young age, and
she made sure that Ken could concentrate on his studies without distractions, so
Ken mentioned that he never had to get any part-time jobs thanks to his mother.
Ken progressed through Liverpool University, finishing his Ph.D. at the age of 22.
In Liverpool, Ken got interested especially in inorganic chemistry due to the fact
that periodic elements had very different properties yet some similarities in their
periodicity (periodic table principle), and also due to the fact that inorganic
chemistry is the chemistry of colours. Ken’s Ph.D. supervisor was Prof. David
Nicholls.
At the age of 24, Ken got a prestigious CEGB (Central Electricity Generating
Board) research fellowship at St Catherine’s and Corpus Christi College, which
allowed him to join Oxford.
vi
Dedication to Prof. Kenneth “Ken” Richard Seddon