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13 Jul 2010 09:16:32
Roy Woods clearly remembers his first day working in science – mopping up a flooded floor after a water distillation tube had overflowed.
It was an inauspicious start but Roy would go on to create a reputation for himself as one of the world’s foremost experts in electron microscopy while working over a 40-year period at Rothamsted Research Institute in Harpenden, Hertfordshire.
In recognition of his achievements and his role as a highly valued member of the University’s science department, Roy will be presented with an Honorary Master of Science degree next week.
When Roy first started working with electron microscopes in the early 1950s studying plant viruses, there were only a handful of people in the country that knew how to operate the instruments. Most of the microscopes had been donated by the US to help the war effort but a shipment of spare parts and instruction manuals had been sunk in mid-Atlantic!
His breakthrough came in 1960 when he and a colleague Harold Nixon discovered a technique to view the tobacco mosaic virus under extreme magnification. “It was a piece of luck really. We had read in The Sunday Times how sodium phosphotungstate could be used to stain a sample to give better results. We knew it was the breakthrough we needed to see the very fine structures of the virus which we couldn’t see before.”
The paper published by Woods and Nixon would change the way people used electron microscopes and cemented the reputation of Rothamsted as a centre of excellence for scientific research into the viruses that attack agricultural crops.
His expertise with electron microscopes led to invitations to post-cultural revolution China to train operators in the use of the instruments. He also hosted a visit by the agricultural minister from communist Russia.
When he retired in the early 1990s he was invited to join the staff at the University of Luton as it was then to operate two electron microscopes. Working part-time, his role was to prepare high quality photographs for students and staff working in the geology and microbiology departments, maintain the expensive instruments and other equipment, make demonstrations to visitors and give talks to local schoolchildren.
“I can honestly say I enjoyed every day at the University,” said Roy. “Being around young people is very stimulating, they way they think and work is very exciting. In return, I hope I have been able to help them and share some of my experience.”
Latest news» 2010» July» World expert to get honorary award
