After obtaining a PhD from Trinity College Cambridge and before joining University of Bristol, Dr Abhijit
Guha spent
several years as a Fellow at Gonville & Caius College. He first
stayed in Prof Stephen Hawking's house in Little St. Mary's Lane
(behind the 'GradPad'), and then moved to the Newnham Cottage (which
was the residence of the famous Lord Rutherford**) situated in the
Harvey
Court with a magnificent lawn in the front and a garden on the side.
It was a real privilege to have
regular interactions, including lunches and High-Table dinners, with the likes of Nevill Mott
(Nobel
Laureate), Stephen Hawking (Lucasian Prof), Sam Edwards (Cavendish
Prof),
David Shoenberg (FRS), Peter Gray (Master, FRS), David Tabor (FRS) and
similarly distinguished Fellows of many disciplines. In 1348 Edmund
Gonville bought a piece of land and left money in his
will, but it was not until 1490 that Gonville Court was built. Later,
in 1557, John Caius, a student of Gonville
College, refounded his old college as Gonville & Caius (pronounced
as "Keys"). The College has three gates symbolising the progress of the
students through the university. The student enters through the simple
and plain Gate of Humility. (The word "humilitatis" is carved on the
gate.) In the middle is the large and austere Gate of Virtue, built in
the renaissance classical style. Last but not the least is the ornate
Gate of Honour, with its sun-dials and dome. The student passes through
it straight into the Senate House to receive the degree. By 2008 the College
have had 12 Nobel Laureates, which is the second highest total (Trinity
College Cambridge occupies the first position) out of all colleges in
Cambridge or Oxford, including James Chadwick (discovery of
neutron), Nevill Mott (electronic structure of magnetic and disordered
systems, Mott transition), Francis Crick (double helix as the structure
for DNA), Max Born (quantum mechanics, statistical interpretation of
wavefunction), Howard Florey (discovery of penicillin and its curative
effect, sharing with Alexander Fleming and EB Chain) and Antony Hewish
(discovery of pulsars). The alumni of the College include Homi Bhabha,
John Conway, Ronald Fisher, John Venn, George Green and William Harvey.
In 1628 William Harvey published a book "On the motion of the heart and
blood" that contained a detailed and comprehensive description of the
systemic circulation. Since then the College has retained its
excellence in research. Stephen
Hawking is a Fellow of this college, who has become a legend during his
lifetime. The link below
gives a
presentation on the college life including music
from
the Caius Choir, with some magnificent new pictures of the College by
the Pulitzer Prize-winning Photographer in Residence, Dan White. ŠAbhijit Guha
Caius_College_Life Slide Show
Gonville & Caius College website
** Historical note: Prof David Shoenberg, the famous Professor of low temperature physics, on his visit to A Guha's residence in Newnham Cottage in 1995 made interesting recollections of his earlier visits to the Newnham Cottage in the 1930's to attend Rutherford's afternoon tea parties. British Society for History of Mathematics web-site notes: "Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), who succeeded J J Thomson as Cavendish professor in 1919, lived at Newnham Cottage, Queen's Road from 1919 to his death in 1937, caused by falling from a tree he was pruning in the garden."
Abhijit Guha and University of Cambridge
Abhijit Guha and Trinity College, Cambridge
Abhijit Guha and Caius College, Cambridge
Abhijit Guha and St John's College and Churchill College
Abhijit Guha and Whittle Laboratory, Cambridge
Abhijit Guha and Engineering Department, Cambridge
A short biography of Frank Whittle by Abhijit Guha
Famous Indian Scientists by Abhijit Guha
Personal Homepage of Abhijit Guha PhD (Cambridge)