My PhD supervisor Prof Richard Jackson FRS passed away in Sept 2020
Some memories of the great man: RJJ
The first time I met Richard I was too scared to even talk to him. The second time I met Richard was summer 2000. As a friend of his daughter Bibi, he had kindly booked accommodation for me at Pembroke whilst I did a summer project at the LMB. One evening I cycled out to Barton to join the Jacksons for dinner but got a puncture en route. Richard very kindly spent the evening fixing my bike. This was my first insight into his kindness and generosity. |
The next time I saw Richard was the following year when I was interviewing for a PhD with him. I remember that day so vividly. I sat spell-bound in Richard’s extremely untidy office, discussing potential ideas for projects. It was then that I caught the bug that was Richard’s fascination with 40S ribosomal scanning. Little did I know that discussion would shape not only my PhD project but also the focus of my own research group now.
Everyone that interacted with Richard in the field of translation learnt from him. But I was especially lucky to benefit from 4 years in his group as the only PhD student. It is impossible to explain how much I gained from this experience. It wasn’t just how to interpret in vitro translation autorads, although there was a LOT of that. What I didn’t realise at the time is that he taught me how to be a rigorous scientist and how to supervise PhD students. I am still haunted by the amount of red pen on my first draft of my thesis. But his exacting standards did mean that my thesis corrections only took me half an hour. My first PhD student recently passed her viva and she too had less than an hour’s worth of corrections. Richard would have been extremely proud, I think, of the fact I have passed on the levels of excellence he instilled in me.
One of my favourite memories of Richard is when I was lucky enough to have him to myself for several days as we set up our new polysome gradient apparatus. I made the most of the time asking him all sorts of questions about papers I had read. He insisted on putting together the equipment himself, I was in charge of reading out the instructions to him. I think he had been looking forward to it! The rest of the RNA lab found the whole thing very entertaining, as I would try and instruct Richard on which piece went where.
Towards the end of my PhD we invited Richard and the rest of the Jackson group round for a BBQ. Richard arrived on his bike, with 3 bottles of red wine in his backpack. By boyfriend at the time was very impressed with the sort of supervisor I had! I feel extremely fortunate that he chose me as his last PhD student. I was back in Cambridge November 2019, as external examiner for a PhD on ribosome profiling - full circle! Tuija and I visited Richard, taking him cakes from his favourite Fitzbillies. We caught up on translation field gossip and I told him about what my group was working on. I’m so pleased we went. I hope he realised how much he meant to me and how much he continues to shape how I run my own research group. He is the person who has had the most impact on my scientific career, it’s as simple as that.
Everyone that interacted with Richard in the field of translation learnt from him. But I was especially lucky to benefit from 4 years in his group as the only PhD student. It is impossible to explain how much I gained from this experience. It wasn’t just how to interpret in vitro translation autorads, although there was a LOT of that. What I didn’t realise at the time is that he taught me how to be a rigorous scientist and how to supervise PhD students. I am still haunted by the amount of red pen on my first draft of my thesis. But his exacting standards did mean that my thesis corrections only took me half an hour. My first PhD student recently passed her viva and she too had less than an hour’s worth of corrections. Richard would have been extremely proud, I think, of the fact I have passed on the levels of excellence he instilled in me.
One of my favourite memories of Richard is when I was lucky enough to have him to myself for several days as we set up our new polysome gradient apparatus. I made the most of the time asking him all sorts of questions about papers I had read. He insisted on putting together the equipment himself, I was in charge of reading out the instructions to him. I think he had been looking forward to it! The rest of the RNA lab found the whole thing very entertaining, as I would try and instruct Richard on which piece went where.
Towards the end of my PhD we invited Richard and the rest of the Jackson group round for a BBQ. Richard arrived on his bike, with 3 bottles of red wine in his backpack. By boyfriend at the time was very impressed with the sort of supervisor I had! I feel extremely fortunate that he chose me as his last PhD student. I was back in Cambridge November 2019, as external examiner for a PhD on ribosome profiling - full circle! Tuija and I visited Richard, taking him cakes from his favourite Fitzbillies. We caught up on translation field gossip and I told him about what my group was working on. I’m so pleased we went. I hope he realised how much he meant to me and how much he continues to shape how I run my own research group. He is the person who has had the most impact on my scientific career, it’s as simple as that.