Day 10
Cambridge University
Cambridge overall had a surprisingly different feel from Oxford. It was as beautiful and atmospheric in its own way. We had a walking tour. We saw the Mathematical bridge, walked by the site of the Cavendish laboratory, and Corpus Christi, St. John’s, and Trinity colleges.
The blue plaque pictured above, outside the Eagle pub, commemorates Watson and Crick’s announcement of the structure of DNA. “+ Franklin” was added in marker. The reason someone felt the need to add it is because of the controversy about the influence her work in X-Ray crystallography had on Watson and Crick’s realization that the structure is a double helix.
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Next we had a tour of the biomedical campus from one of the graduate students. She told us the types of degrees offered, some of the research going on there, and the typical day in the life of a grad student.
Whipple Museum
I took a walk and stumbled upon the Whipple Museum. It was a small museum with lots of historical scientific instruments. There were some really interesting things, such as an old fume cabinet from a chemistry lab.
Key Moment of the Day: Getting the single hotel room. I was having fun and all my classmates were great. However, after 10 days of sharing a room and being with a group during most of the day, I needed some time alone to recharge my social energy.
Day 11
Bioinformatics
We met Dr. Nick Goldman for a guest lecture about the research his team has been doing on SARS-CoV-2. Since I am looking to get into bioinformatics, I was especially interested in what he had to say. It was a great presentation. He had a lot of enthusiasm for the subject which was infectious. (Pun not intended.) He also gave us an overview of the EMBL-EBI.
Evensong
The lecture ended just in time for me to head over to King’s College Chapel and get in line for the evensong. I noticed I was probably under the average age of people in line, but having sung in a few community choirs, that did not surprise me.
When I arrived at the pub before the group I was meeting, I felt the need to describe my experience at evensong. This is what I wrote:
“Sublime. It’s the word that popped into my head almost from the first voices that echoed into the vast heights of Kings College chapel. The building is beautiful certainly, but the precise and plaintive music of the choir compels one to close one’s eyes to not miss a single harmonic. The Psalms were gorgeous, but the Magnificat was indescribable. It had a dark, layered intricacy.”
Te lucis ante terminum Tallis
Responses Byrd
Psalm 89:1-19 Jacob
Magnificat tertii toni D. Bevan
Nunc dimittis tertii toni Malcolm
O nata lux de lumine Tallis
Key Moment of the Day: Magnificat