Part 2 (Obituaries) - King's College - University of Cambridge

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64 OBITUARIES Peter was born in NewYork in 1954. His parents were German Jews who had fled the Nazis and made a successful career in America. In Israel, German Jews were called “yekkes”, because they would never take their jackets off even in the stifling heat, and from his upbringing Peter developed a strong sense of decorum and a reserve. Unlike many Fellows of King’s, he always wore a suit and tie to College, was never seen late at night in his cups in the SCR, and always taught with his door open. But Peter himself constantly belied his conventional appearance – much as it helped him in the corridors of power in the University and in the broader community. He was a brilliantly funny speaker, loved jokes and joking, was never pompous, and was, above all, far more intellectually open and engaging than many who choose to parade a superficial liberalism. Many new Fellows had the experience of being welcomed by Peter at lunch, with lively and instantly friendly and sharp conversation – welcomed, that is, as Fellows to fellowship: he thought hard about, and lived out what it meant to participate in a community. There was no group that was not made better by his engagement – an all too rare quality among the egos and geniuses of the University. He was often disappointed and baffled by his colleagues’ behaviour. Peter was educated at Fieldston School (with long hair, of course, as his yearbook shows: this was the 1970s), from where he went to Wesleyan in Connecticut to major in Philosophy and Physics. He was fond of reminiscing about cycling across the USA, which took one summer of those years. His later love of gadgets and particularly tools – he was always the one on a walk with the screwdriver to mend the buckle – found early expression in keeping the bike going. From Wesleyan, he went to New College, Oxford, for his BPhil in 1978, and DPhil in 1985. It was in Oxford that he met Diana. She was on her way to becoming a successful banker in New York, and latterly a Fellow at Newnham and then Lecturer in Jewish Studies at London. But they met in a hairdresser’s, where she was working to earn some holiday money as a receptionist. Peter’s friendliness and Diana’s drive obviously fitted together perfectly from the start. They married, moved back to America, where Peter took up a position as Assistant Professor at Williams College in Massachusetts and where their two children were born.
Peter returned to England and to Cambridge in 1991 as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science. He joined a Department which was divided to the point of dysfunction. Not only did he rise to be Head of Department (1996) and Professor (1997) with extraordinary rapidity, but he also turned the Department with similar speed into one of the best run and most intellectually stimulating in the University – and world-renowned.To the amazement of other arguing departments, he successfully held faculty retreats every year – a whole day at his house, compulsory for all academic staff; set up reading groups; insisted on properly organised and run meetings; insisted on a decent espresso machine; employed fine staff from secretary to lecturer and nourished the abilities of all of them. He led by example, in his teaching and care, and led too in fundraising, administrative order and intellectual standards. He managed to be a dominant leader and to promote the Department in competition with others in the University without alienating or appearing Machiavellian. There was no trickiness here: Peter was patently honest, hardworking and seeking after the best, however much Cornford’s theory of University politics would dismiss such behaviour as destined to fail. When Peter died, the Department was stricken. His office was left untouched for months, as no one could bear to go in. Peter’s own work focused on science and epistemology. His book Inference to the Best Explanation (1991; 2nd edition 2004) is a now-standard work on how we try to explain things by making inferences from evidence. He was also fascinated by medical ethics. He chaired a working party on ethical issues of pharmacogenetics as a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, and was a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2004, he was the Medawar Prize Lecturer at the Royal Society. Peter worked, that is, at the highest level of philosophy, and developed its engagement with medicine and public life. But what made Peter remarkable was his ability to bring his work to a wide audience. Typically, he gave his inaugural lecture as part of Science Week. He enthralled a packed audience in Lady Mitchell Hall, speaking without a note, and starting with the announcement that his lecture was designed to be 65 OBITUARIES
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114 OBITUARIES John volunteered whe
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116 OBITUARIES Tim’s intellect wa
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118 OBITUARIES Valiant. He was awar
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120 OBITUARIES LAMBERT ANTHONY CHAR
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122 OBITUARIES his time to his fami
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124 OBITUARIES contracted polio whi
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126 OBITUARIES Working as an astron
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128 OBITUARIES have been at the for
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130 OBITUARIES ALASTAIR CAMERON FOR
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132 OBITUARIES It was in 1957, when
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134 OBITUARIES intercepted Japanese
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136 OBITUARIES Jim was a driving fo
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138 OBITUARIES where he remained cl
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140 OBITUARIES WILLIAM HARRISON HAR
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142 OBITUARIES It may have been the
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144 OBITUARIES piloting planes duri
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146 OBITUARIES Shortly thereafter P
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148 OBITUARIES Michael returned to
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150 OBITUARIES benefits of the “M
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152 OBITUARIES diets of different e
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154 OBITUARIES duty-bound to care f
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156 OBITUARIES The College heard of
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158 OBITUARIES STEWART FERGUSON MAC
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160 OBITUARIES Hugh was born in Sal
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162 OBITUARIES EDWIN ROBERT MANN (1
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164 OBITUARIES to the needs of his
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166 OBITUARIES health permitted; he
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168 OBITUARIES GEORGE KENNETH MONRO
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170 OBITUARIES PAUL GERARD JOHN MOR
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172 OBITUARIES IAN LESLIE NICOL (19
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174 OBITUARIES consumers about meat
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176 OBITUARIES of the group in his
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178 OBITUARIES a committed civil se
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180 OBITUARIES A further career cha
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182 OBITUARIES after finishing at H
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184 OBITUARIES His accomplishments
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186 OBITUARIES teach Russian. He so
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188 OBITUARIES Polack’s by his si
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190 OBITUARIES In 1933 he joined th
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192 OBITUARIES attached to the US 1
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194 OBITUARIES to become Head of th
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196 OBITUARIES broadcasts of his ow
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198 OBITUARIES mindedness and stubb
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200 OBITUARIES years instead of the
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202 OBITUARIES Economics and later
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204 OBITUARIES out of its original
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206 OBITUARIES WILLIAM RATTRAY SIMP
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208 OBITUARIES he could let his tal
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210 OBITUARIES their full potential
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212 OBITUARIES which was to avoid w
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214 OBITUARIES The 1960s brought Ra
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216 OBITUARIES Paul was the son of
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218 OBITUARIES BRIAN CHARLES TWISS
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220 OBITUARIES he married Joyce Bur
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222 OBITUARIES In 1972 Paul’s gro
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224 OBITUARIES Churches Trust, he a
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226 OBITUARIES she gave four semina
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228 OBITUARIES knowledge but also f
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230 OBITUARIES become Calcutta inst
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232 OBITUARIES In the late 1940s an
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234 OBITUARIES An Apology EDWARD MA
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236 INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS Please
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238 INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS 3.Walk
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King’s College Cambridge CB2 1ST
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Part 2 (Obituaries) - King's College - University of Cambridge

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