ABSTRACT
My first real job was in electrochemistry research. I thought I was going to work on fuel cells, but in between my interview and starting the job in 1971 in the Chloride Research Centre in Manchester (R&D for the UK’s biggest battery manufacturer), they had given up on fuel-cells. So at first I worked on the fundamentals of lead-sulphuric acid (not changed since the 19th Century), and later, because I was keen and pushy for something more exciting, on more interesting things, like using air-breathing (fuel-cell) electrodes to measure oxygen levels underground. But I wanted something still more exciting. In 1972 I read an article in New Scientist, on photoelectrochemical cells — “solar-charged” fuel cells. Now that was exciting, so I suggested to my boss that we should look at this area of research. He replied that fuel cells were difficult enough, so don’t be stupid! But I read more and more, and became more and more interested in all aspects of solar energy. I read about photovoltaic cells, and immediately thought that when these got cheap, it would be a big new market for batteries, which was Chloride’s business. So I ran to tell my boss the exciting news. He just laughed. I didn’t give
up, so eventually I was authorised to do a very small internal study and report on solar energy. I spent every hour of every day on this. I read Farrington Daniels “Direct Use of the Sun’s Energy”. I contacted the handfull of people working on solar in the UK, notably Brian Brinkworth at Cardiff University, John Page at Sheffield University, Peter Dunn at Reading University and Fred Treble at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough. I heard about The Sun in the Service of Mankind Conference in Paris, in July 1973, and asked if I could attend. “Not a chance”, was the boss’s reply! Then I found out that a young lady called Mary Archer was organising a UK section of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES). I joined and I went to the Inaugural Meeting at the Royal Institution in London (where Mary worked on photochemistry with Nobel Laureate Sir George Porter) in January 1974, and I have been an avid supporter of ISES ever since.
