Giving demonstration lectures in Japan

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Chemistry in Japanese is ‘magical change’

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Giving demonstration lectures in Japan

Norman Greenwood Scientist

	Views	Duration
231. 'Much to be admired and learned from Japan'	38	00:44
232. Japanese universities	32	03:52
233. Giving demonstration lectures in Japan	31	01:09
234. Chemistry in Japanese is ‘magical change’	39	00:55
235. 'One must never show one’s tongue in Japan'	42	01:44
236. Teaching technical English to the Japanese students	32	00:30
237. The Japanese students' grasp of English	36	00:58
238. Experiencing a Japanese wedding	26	02:22
239. Courtesy and formality in Japan	46	00:23
240. The two qualifications of a Japanese professor	49	01:03

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As well as the research systems of course I was involved in undergraduate teaching as well, and Masuo Takeda had asked me to give some demonstration lectures and I had a very able assistant there, Takahashi, who is now himself a senior professor. He was a great help to me in mounting these experiments.

It’s clear that they did not have, at least at Toho University, a tradition of experiments performed for the junior classes, and the obvious sorts of things like using liquid nitrogen for specialised effects, using liquid oxygen to make flames, burning gases, crystallisations of things, the sorts of experiments that we are perhaps familiar with and thermo-luminescence, were less familiar to them.

Norman Greenwood (1925-2012) was born in Australia and graduated from Melbourne University before going to Cambridge. His wide-ranging research in inorganic and structural chemistry made major advances in the chemistry of boron hydrides and other main-group element compounds. He also pioneered the application of Mössbauer spectroscopy to problems in chemistry. He was a prolific writer and inspirational lecturer on chemical and educational themes, and held numerous visiting professorships throughout the world.

Title: Giving demonstration lectures in Japan

Listeners: Brian Johnson

Professor Brian FG Johnson FRS, FRSE, FRS Chem, FAcad Eu, FAS. Professor of Inorganic Chemistry University of Edinburgh 1991-1995, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry University of Cambridge 1995-2005, Master Fitzwilliam College Cambridge 1999-2005. Research interests include studies of transition metal carbonyls, organometallic chemistry, nano- particles and homogeneous catalysis. Professor Johnson is the author of over 1000 research articles and papers.

Tags: Toho University, Japan, Masuo Takeda, Masashi Takahashi

Duration: 1 minute, 9 seconds

Date story recorded: May 2011

Date story went live: 25 November 2011