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Dr James Ferguson and Michael McNevin
The Lucretian Society celebrates 50 years Our speaker, Dr James Ferguson, former Head of Chemistry and Housemaster of No.7, and his wife Kirsten, and guest of honour Michael McNevin (former Head of Chemistry and Housemaster of No.2) and his son Niall, were our guests for dinner at which we celebrated the establishment of the
list of speakers over the years. In the Lewis Lecture Theatre Dr Ferguson gave a lecture entitled ‘Alcoholic Beverages’, about making wine, one of his main hobbies, describing the chemistry of the processes involved with great enthusiasm. Dr Ferguson then examined the tasting process. We have four taste receptors: sweet, sour,
salt and bitter, and we all have very different sensitivities to these tastes – how fortunate that we do not all have a preference for the same wine. At the close we were able to thank both of these former members of the teaching staff for their great contribution to the teaching of science at Malvern College. Dr Natalie Watson, Head of Science at Malvern, thanked Dr Ferguson for his very entertaining and informative lecture, and Michael McNevin for founding the Lucretian Society that has been of lasting value to the school. Dr Natalie Watson, Head of Science
Cambridge Chemistry Challenge C3L6 Cambridge Chemistry Challenge for the Lower Sixth At the end of the Summer term six brave Lower Sixth chemists took on a challenging paper that had been set by the chemists of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, designed to test top level Lower Sixth chemists across the country. The paper included questions about the novel uses of titanium dioxide and the Zika virus, and certainly tested rigorously their To achieve any level of award in this examination of skill and knowledge, the candidate is acknowledged to be in the top 60% of Form) across the country. Riku Yagi (No.2) achieved a Copper Award; Aidan Baird (No.5), James Hooker (No.5) and Carla Walla (OM No.6) each achieved a Silver Award, placing them all in the top 24% of all the entrants. Oscar Holroyd (No.2) and Alex Tocher (No.5) impressively achieved just out on the top award of Roentgenium by just three marks (out of 60). These are all very talented pupils who are going to achieve amazing things through science in the future! Dr Natalie Watson, Head of Science