Speech at Somerville Appeal Dinner

Daphne ParkPrincipal, Somervillians, past and present, my Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It isn't often that an occasion combines so many things dear to my heart:

— education, which is central to our country's future;

— technology, the foundation of so much successful business and so many other things too; [end p1]

— and Somerville, which has such a special place in my affections.

Daphne Park has made science and technology a continuing theme of her time as Principal of Somerville.

GEC have funded a research lectureship in Engineering.

The governing body now includes, as well, a Computation Fellow, and an [end p2] IBM Fellow in Information Technology who, among her other duties, runs a course on ‘Computing for the Terrified’.

Through its fostering of science and technology, the college remains true to the spirit

of that remarkable Victorian, Mary Somerville. [end p3]

Our theme for this evening is ‘education in a technological age’.

Of course education must change with the times.

Education enlarges its scope as new ideas are born, as the needs of commerce and industry change, as knowledge itself grows in geometric progression. [end p4]

But there are some qualities a good education must aim to impart whatever the age, whatever the economic context:

— a respect for high standards and excellence;

— a vigorous, enquiring and an imaginative mind; and

— a capacity for communicating one's thoughts and feelings to others. [end p5]

The computer experts among us will forgive me if I also say that none of their microprocessors will do away with the need to read, write and do arithmetic.

At least I hope they won't. That certainly wasn't my intention when five years or so ago we decided to make sure that every school has a microcomputer. [end p6]

Computers may, I say may, involve us in the longer run in reading less on paper and more on a visual display unit.

But the result tends to be more words not fewer as the discipline of putting pen to paper recedes.

I for one increasingly like to mull over the printed word, look back over the [end p7] paragraphs and chapters to see aspects of the work which escaped my mind at first reading.

[Words missing] again and again passages which have a remarkable lucidity or almost musical beauty.

(And while we are on that subject, I noticed recently that the entry on Oxford in the Oxford English Dictionary runs to seven column [end p8] inches.

There is of course no reference whatsoever to Cambridge.

The supplement to the dictionary manages to squeeze out four inches on Cambridge.

You can feel the reluctance of the authors. But they have compensated for their generosity by adding thirty two more column inches on Oxford. [end p9] You could say that Oxford wins by a yard.)

It was Francis Bacon who organised a group whose purposes he described as “the knowledge of causes and the secret of things, and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire to the effecting of all things possible.” His vision of the marriage of science [end p10] and technology, as we would call it, is coming to pass in our age.

Oxford has been the home of many outstanding scientists.

One, Dorothy Hodgkin, is here tonight and very glad we all are to see her, and to say what a debt we owe to her genius.

And Oxford has not neglected [end p11] technology: Lord Cherwell 's role in the last War is proof enough of that.

But I do have a feeling that for many technology was seen largely as Lord Nuffield 's task at Cowley; whereas science was seen as the higher concern of the South Parks Road and some of the laboratories which Nuffield had generously endowed [end p12] from the profits of industrial endeavour.

Technology is the bridge between science and other disciplines, and between science and business.

So much of today's research in basic science needs the fruits of technology: indeed, in nuclear physics the smaller the particles we [end p13] try to smash, the greater the force required.

We see that at CERN in Switzerland where the scientists of twelve nations are trying to establish the fundamental nature of matter.

And technology in its turn applies the fruits of fundamental science, from lasers to microchips, from genetic engineering to medical [end p14] scanners.

Technology provides the tools which multiply the power of our arms and brains. It is the basis of our prosperity. Increasingly it takes away the drudgery of life, both in the factory and at home.

It has enriched the arts, bringing us recordings of music and opera of a [end p15] quality undreamed of.

And it has enlarged our understanding, showing us images from the Moon to the depths of the oceans.

The real thing we have to fear from technology is not change, but that our industrial rivals will harness it before we do. [end p16]

The history of radar, nuclear power, jet engines, molecular biology and of so many other things, is so often that we made the discoveries but other countries turned them to greater profit.

But I believe things are changing.

And that is due in no small way to the approach adopted by colleges like [end p17] Somerville.

They are the modern exponents of the tradition, which began on the European Continent, of turning the scientific discoveries of the few to the benefit of the many.

Scholarship has relevance over and above scholarship for itself. [end p18]

Somerville is getting closer to industry. Somerville knows that scientific excellence needs also to be translated into tomorrow's products and into successful business. An appreciation of finance, of marketing, of design, and of how to get people working together, all this is part of the process of turning the scientific triumphs of today into the [end p19] wealth and prosperity of tomorrow. Just as some people have a zest for science, others have the vitality to build a business.

In Somerville we like to think we can bring both together.

Increasingly, technology is a team activity. Although there will always be room for the brilliant individualist for [end p20] that is where an idea begins. But more and more our scientists and engineers have to work in a team. They need to develop their communication skills alongside their technical and scientific prowess. I believe we also need more technically qualified people in positions of influence and power if we are going to take the best [end p21] advantage of the technologies.

The key issue is the quality and the understanding of teachers throughout the whole system, and I am not here referring solely to the shortage of maths and physics teachers.

That is only one part of the problem. We need teachers at all levels who are themselves technologically aware. [end p22] Only then will they be able to convey to their pupils the central role technology plays in society and the influence it will have on their lives.

Employees are learning that technology is not to be feared, but rather to be developed to their use to compete with others in the market place of the world. [end p23]

New technology may lead to initial loss of jobs and we have to do everything we can to cushion the effects of change. But historically technology has created whole new industries, new commercial possibilities and new jobs—all beyond the dreams of our forefathers.

It is the same now, as many jobs of today come from producing products [end p24] and services which did not exist yesterday.

Much of today's industry is science based, whether in new products or in the latest methods applied to the production of traditional things.

When industry shows the value it places on its scientists and engineers, that will [end p25] in turn have its effect on the subjects which schoolchildren choose to study.

I believe that our business leaders are now giving proper weight to science and technology in planning for success.

I have myself no doubt that science is a suitable career for a woman—and my [end p26] choice of a later career meant no disrespect to it!

Indeed none of us, as guests here tonight, paying or otherwise, can have any doubts on the matter.

For more than a century Somerville College has enabled talented women to gain degrees from the University of Oxford. [end p27]

Daphne Park, the Fellows, and all those concerned in the Somerville appeal are succeeding magnificently in their endeavours to see that this great college continues and expands its work.

Somerville knows the importance of science and technology and of the wider [end p28] scholarship to the health and wealth of the world of tomorrow.

The leadership it has shown deserves our strongest support.

I ask you now to rise, to drink a toast to the future of Somerville.