ABSTRACT
I retired in 1990, but, having ignored light-hearted advice to marry a rich widow, it was essential for me to continue working to supplement my retirement pension, which had declined noticeably with Helen’s departure. First I accepted a six week visiting appointment at the Katholieke University of Leuven, Belgium to give some lectures on thermodynamics. My host was Xavier de Hemptine, whose rather unorthodox views on non-equilibrium statistical thermodynamics made my departures from the received wisdom in plasma theory seem timid. I spent a considerable time reading and correcting the manuscript of a book he was preparing on the subject, but he was reluctant to accept my suggestions. Hemptine’s book, scarcely altered, was published two years later and I was surprised and a trifle embarrassed to read in his preface that:
During a six weeks stay at my university as a guest-professor at the end of 1990, professor Lesley C. Woods (professor of mathematics and fluid dynamics at the Oxford University) [sic] has been kind enough to read the preliminary version of this book’s manuscript and, as an expert in the field, to make invaluable scientific and stylistic comments and suggestions. To him goes my biggest gratitude.
