Jon Knight
02-02 2023 09:45
wrote:
I first met John when I was being interviewed for a post-doc position at Imperial in 1988 and, as they say, the rest is history. Since John and I had very similar research interests he and I shared many experiences from the more normal undergraduate and postgraduate teaching on a variety of courses at Imperial but also in China, Spain and elsewhere where things were a little more challenging. He was always a model of composure and taught with great knowledge, enthusiasm and good humour, whilst being very aware of the needs of the students, wherever they happened to have come from. Inspirational for them and me too. We also undertook a number of research and consultancy trips to a variety of interesting places, usually related to pest management, but on occasion straying into new areas such as assessing potential environmental liabilities of Sellafield and also the issues of international nuclear waste storage! It was John’s rigorous analytical approach that enabled us to apply our understanding of the need for an interdisciplinary approach to risk based problems to a diverse range of issues.
Over the years I can recall sharing a bottle of Syrian red wine in Damascus (better than you might first think!) and sharing a long drive to Shanghai from Zhejiang in the back of aged car when John was feeling distinctly unwell. The mood was lifted briefly at lunch with the British Council representative when a bowl of alcohol flaming, live shrimps resulted in a number of them leaping for their lives onto the restaurant floor whilst still alight! Seemingly this was not unusual as most people continued their meals without another glance.
John will be sorely missed by many colleagues, students and acquaintances but I am sure his work and impact will live on. By the way, reference has been made to John’s humour which was as dry as dust!
Jon Knight
02-02 2023 09:45
wrote:
I first met John when I was being interviewed for a post-doc position at Imperial in 1988 and, as they say, the rest is history. Since John and I had very similar research interests he and I shared many experiences from the more normal undergraduate and postgraduate teaching on a variety of courses at Imperial but also in China, Spain and elsewhere where things were a little more challenging. He was always a model of composure and taught with great knowledge, enthusiasm and good humour, whilst being very aware of the needs of the students, wherever they happened to have come from. Inspirational for them and me too. We also undertook a number of research and consultancy trips to a variety of interesting places, usually related to pest management, but on occasion straying into new areas such as assessing potential environmental liabilities of Sellafield and also the issues of international nuclear waste storage! It was John’s rigorous analytical approach that enabled us to apply our understanding of the need for an interdisciplinary approach to risk based problems to a diverse range of issues.
Over the years I can recall sharing a bottle of Syrian red wine in Damascus (better than you might first think!) and sharing a long drive to Shanghai from Zhejiang in the back of aged car when John was feeling distinctly unwell. The mood was lifted briefly at lunch with the British Council representative when a bowl of alcohol flaming, live shrimps resulted in a number of them leaping for their lives onto the restaurant floor whilst still alight! Seemingly this was not unusual as most people continued their meals without another glance.
John will be sorely missed by many colleagues, students and acquaintances but I am sure his work and impact will live on. By the way, reference has been made to John’s humour which was as dry as dust!
