Dr David Dewhirst of the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, and a long-time friend of the Whipple Museum, addressed the following remarks to the Vice-Chancellor on the occasion of the opening of our new gallery 'Discover' on 21 June 2001.
I first arrived in Cambridge in 1943 as a scholarship candidate from my north-country grammar school: nothing in the North Riding of Yorkshire had prepared me for the cold, damp December east wind of an unheated wartime Cambridge. It was an awful time.
In 58 years our University has taught me a lot. One of the things I have learned is that it is folly to invite elderly dons to reminisce about how things were over 50 years ago; they go on for ever, and keep you from your lunch. But I will be disciplined, and I will take five minutes, but I must stick to a script or I shall meander.
A north-country grammar school 60 years ago. The fabric and the furniture dilapidated by the depression years of the '20s and '30s, but the teaching superb. And the Old Boys came back. Alfred Fowler came back, Professor of Astrophysics, FRS and a founder of the International Astronomical Union – he had gone as a scholarship boy to the Normal School of Science in South Kensington in the nineteenth century. Herbert Butterfield came back: I was introduced to him in the orchestra stalls of the local repertory theatre when I was about 15 and admitting to thoughts about University, possibly Cambridge; he said of course, and he looked forward to seeing me there. In the Carnegie Public Library across the Town Hall Square I met Mr Briggs, Asa, who had come back to help out with some crisis in the school history teaching. So when I arrived in Cambridge I was, so to speak, tinctured by things like astronomy and the history of science and technology.
My Director of Studies in the Natural Sciences in Christ's College was a rather acerbic and, among the undergraduates, not particularly well liked Dr C P Snow. He did however say that if I was interested in history of science I should go to see one of the younger Fellows, Dr Hall. Rupert found that I seemed to know about astronomical telescopes, how many lenses in the tube, and which way round they should be. Would I be interested to help him check-list the inventory of Mr Whipple's recent benefaction to the University? Golly! Would I be interested to get hands-on experience of early astronomical instruments!
And so as undergraduate, or possibly just research student – I can't be quite sure – but around 1947 and 1948, I began to slip away from my laboratory: to check telescopes, to attend Professor Butterfield's lectures in Mill Lane on the Origins of Modern Science. Rupert introduced me over a cup of tea to Mr Whipple, whom I came to know in the late years of his life. I recall a rather tall, sparsely built man, stooping a little in old age, his dress perhaps a little out of fashion, but always impeccably neat. I choose three words rather carefully: a charming, courteous gentleman.
I shall end with one recollection of him that I have never spoken of in public before, and which I think is typical of him. He had asked me of my particular interest. I said that at the moment I was intrigued by the problem of precision circle dividing; that is, how do you take a brass disc, make a line on the edge, and then make 359 more lines that are exactly equally spaced to divide the circle into 360 exact degrees to an accuracy of better than an arc second (which is about one part in a million). Whipple said that next week he would be at Hilger and Watts (scientific instrument makers in London): if I would like to meet him there he would introduce me to old Mr Watts, who would show me the firm's master dividing engine, which Mr Watts had designed and divided ab initio in about 1905, and explain how it was done. Mr Watts was as kind and helpful as Mr Whipple. It is not so much that "there were giants on the Earth in those days", but rather there were elderly scholars and craftsmen who would give hours of their time to encourage a young apprentice like me who was beginning to share their enthusiasms.
Sadly, Robert Whipple did not live to see this present Museum in this present building. He would have been delighted to see it – it is what he dreamed of – and he would have been delighted today to see a new gallery being opened. Thank you for inviting me and allowing me to share my pleasure with you.
D W Dewhirst