Object

Representation ID: 30715

Received: 03/09/2015

Respondent: The Rt Hon Patrick Jenkin

I wish to object to the proposals to redevelop part of the original Cavendish Laboratory designed by James Clerk Maxwell.

The Applicants do not appear to recognise that this building is of great historic and scientific significance. Its design and construction in the 19th Century marked a major turning point in the development of science in the world, when scientific research became a matter for the hard, sequential, logical search for provable evidence. James Clerk Maxwell was one of the most significant leaders of this revolution in science.

My interest is that my Great-Grandfather, Prof HC Fleeming Jenkin, the first Professor of Science at Edinburgh, was a close associate of and collaborator with James Clerk Maxwell; their joint work on defining the ohm, for instance, was largely undertaken in this laboratory.
If those who are planning the modernisation of this part of Cambridge University were aware of the truly historic significance of this original Cavendish Laboratory, I feel sure that their otherwise admirable proposals could be largely achieved while at the same time preserving the essential character of the entirety of this original Cavendish Laboratory.