Founder's Lecture 2004 Report

Professor Terence Cosgrove of the Chemistry Department at Bristol University presented the 2004 Founder's Lecture at the SCI in London on 21st April. As in previous years, the Founder's Lecture was preceded by an afternoon symposium, with invited speakers reflecting the Lecturer's past contributions and current interests.

With a talk entitled 'Chains and Bondage', and given Prof. Cosgrove's unique reputation - both scientific and non-scientific - this was always going to be an exciting event. And it certainly lived up to expectations, with all of the speakers recounting (and some even illustrating) reminiscences of their collaborations, often to much laughter from the audience. It was also rumoured that the SCI website had received an unusually high 'hit rate' since details of the event were posted to it!

Former students, Drs Peter Griffiths (Chemistry Department, Cardiff University) and Stephen King (CCLRC, Didcot) opened the first session, taking neutron scattering (SANS) and spin resonance techniques as a theme to reflect Prof. Cosgrove's career. Dr Griffiths presented electron spin resonance studies of surfactant-polymer complexation, explaining how combining these techniques allowed a more detailed analysis of the structure of surfactant micelles and polymer-surfactant complexes. The complimentarity of the techniques was also illustrated in Dr King's presentation of SANS and pulsed-gradient spin-echo (PGSE-) NMR studies of polymer-stabilised fluorocarbon-in-water emulsions.

The PGSE-NMR theme was continued by Prof. Peter Stilbs (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm), who recounted not only the early days of NMR, but also his first meeting with Prof. Cosgrove at a conference in India. Prof. Stilbs then proceeded to describe how the technique has developed in the intervening years and its contribution to colloid science, finishing with some data from a new variant of PGSE-NMR, electrophoretic NMR.

Prof. Robert Richardson (Physics Department, Bristol University) opened his talk by describing some of his many experiences whilst travelling to neutron sources far and wide in the company of Prof. Cosgrove! But more recently Prof. Richardson has been using neutron and X-ray scattering techniques to characterise the molecular arrangement of dendrimer liquid crystal polymers (LCP). These studies had also required access to a 20 Tesla magnet in The Netherlands to align the LCP's.

Dr John Hone (Kodak R & D, Harrow), representing Prof. Cosgrove's younger crop of PhD students and collaborators, talked about polymers (gelatin) adsorbed to nanoparticles in a talk entitled 'Jelly on a particle'. Solvent-relaxation NMR, a method pioneered by Prof. Cosgrove, was used to investigate these systems.

Prof. Cosgrove has had a long-standing collaboration with a group at Wageningen in The Netherlands - one example of which the audience learnt, the book 'Polymers at Interfaces', is being reprinted for a second time! Prof. Dr Martien Cohen Stuart from Wageningen University described how metal ions can 'polymerise' metal-sequesting ligands, an approach that has spawned a whole new class of polymeric material.

The final presentation by Prof. Robert Pelton (McMaster University, Ontario) proved what many have known all along - that Prof. Cosgrove is a 'techno junkie' who can be readily distracted by the prospect of a 'bargain'! Prof. Pelton also provided an insight into paper manufacturing that was new to many of the audience. He described how the surface structure of cellulose fibres can be treated as a hydrogel and how this allows additives, such as polymers and particles, to improve the strength and performance of paper.

Following a wine reception, Prof. Cosgrove delivered the Founder's Lecture in his usual entertaining, and inspirational style, with plenty of practical demonstrations and video clips from computer simulations. He focussed on three recent projects in his research group: the adsorption of polymers of different molecular weight on nanosized hydrophobic resin particles; the adsorption of very high molecular weight poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) onto nanosized hydrophilic silica particles; and the adsorption of PEO onto disk-shaped synthetic clay platelets.

Dr Andrew Howe, the Chair of the Colloid & Surface Chemistry Group, presented Prof. Cosgrove with a commemorative certificate and an engraved Bath 'Aqua' glass paperweight as a memento of the day. A hot buffet with plenty of wine then followed in the Garden Room at the SCI. An after-dinner speech was given by Prof. Cosgrove's long-term friend and colleague, Prof. Brian Vincent, himself a previous Founder's Lecturer. Prof. Vincent spoke of many adventures; a 'fun boy four' lecture tour of the US (along with Prof. Richardson and another colleague), 'losing' Prof. Cosgrove in Amsterdam railway station toilets, and a practical joke - involving a spoof paper - played on an eminent Dutch professor!

The scientific part of the mini-symposium was organised by Pete Griffiths and Steve King who, in turn, would like to express their thanks to Katherine Simpson and her colleagues in the SCI Conference Office for dealing with all other matters in what was, scientifically and socially, a very successful day.