by one, in the evening. It was a long day.

[Q] Sounds it, Norman, I have to say.

I have to say because it was by now in the war and as part of the war effort the university donated some of its technicians to CSIR [The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research], the Government research organisation, now called CSIRO [The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation], and... I was one of the youngsters who was transferred into this. So I joined a group which was studying the shock initiation of nitroglycerine. Nitroglycerine, as you well know, is a very temperamental liquid explosive, the slightest tap will set it off.

Norman Greenwood (1925-2012) was born in Australia and graduated from Melbourne University before going to Cambridge. His wide-ranging research in inorganicand structural chemistry made major advances in the chemistry of boron hydrides and other main-group element compounds. He also pioneered the application of Mössbauer spectroscopy to problems in chemistry. He was a prolific writer and inspirational lecturer on chemical and educational themes, and held numerous visiting professorships throughout the world.