Editorial

Two events dominated the year in review. During the Michaelmas Term the news broke that our former Master and Honorary Fellow, Professor Sir John Gurdon FRS, was to receive the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. His extraordinary contribution to the field of stem cell research has long been recognised in Cambridge, not least by the award of an Honorary Doctorate in 2007, and by the naming of the Gurdon Laboratory in the Wellcome Trust Centre. As his achievements have been recognised further afield, in ever-widening circles of renown, we have taken pride in reporting year after year in the Magazine the honours and accolades he has received from all over the world. But inexplicably there seemed to be one, the one, which eluded him. Now at last, with that honour, honour is satisfied. It was an especial pleasure for the resident members of the College’s three combination rooms to gather for dinner on the evening of Sunday 18th November 2012, and to celebrate the award with John and Jean Gurdon as valued members of the College which basks in John’s reflected glory.

The election of the Master, the first in the College’s history elected by the Fellows, was reported last year. The admission of Dr Williams on 17th January 2013, with appropriate fanfares, is described below. As someone who needs no introduction, he has nonetheless, kindly and with characteristic modesty, written his own, which follows, after six months in office. Here we also take the opportunity to congratulate him on his life peerage as Lord Williams of Oystermouth. No stranger to the House of Lords, it is reassuring to know that he will continue to speak in the public square, not only on matters of religion but also on behalf of higher education. D D R

Photo: Nigel Hawkes

The new gate to the Master’s Lodge