Four-day symposium on natural products chemistry for The U.W.I.

A top level symposium on natural products chemistry will be held at the University of the West Indies, from 4th to 7th January 1966.
The panel of lecturers includes prominent researches from universities and technological institutes including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oxford University, Yale University, the University of Bonn, Germany, Faculdade Nacional de Farmacias, Brazil, and the University of Toronto.
Among the list of universities which will be represented at the symposium is the University of Ibadan. Nigeria, which was established about the same time as the UCWI as it was (then), as a branch of the University of London. Like the UWI, the University of Ibadan is now an independent institution.
The main aim of the symposium is to bring students of chemistry to discuss natural products chemistry and at the same time to have an exchange of information from which the UWI will benefit.

4,000 species

The UWI's Department  of Chemistry is constantly engaged in research on the island's 4,000 species of fauna. It is understood that detailed chemical examination has been carried out on only about ten per cent at this number. The aim of the Chemistry Department is to examine as many of these plants as possible to determine what natural properties they possess.
Formal opening of the conference will be at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, January 4, by the Vice-Chancellor of the UWI, Dr. Phillip Sherlock.
Introductory remarks by Professor Leonard Haynes, head of the Department of Chemistry, will follow.

Cocktail Party

From Tuesday when the symposium starts to Friday when it ends, mornings and afternoons will be devoted to lectures and discussions.
Participants will be formally welcomed at a cocktail party given by the Scientific Research Council on the Monday evening preceding the commencement of the symposium. On Friday evening, a dinner will be given to mark the end at the symposium.
A highlight of the week's activities will be an expedition to Lime Cay on Thursday, January 6. during which participants will have an opportunity to see what the coral Islands around Jamaica look like.

Four-day Chemistry symposium opens at The U.W.I.

Education in WI now unifying, creative force-Sherlock

"Education used to be a divisive force in the West Indies Today it is a unifying, creative force; and here, through meetings like this, through our association with you, we become part of the community of scholars, of that fraternity that is dedicated to the search for knowledge without regard for differences of race or religion."

So declared Dr. Philip Sherlock, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, when he gave the opening address at the start of a four day symposium on Natural Products Chemistry, held at the university.

"We are concerned, as the Book of Esdras puts it, with lighting a candle of understanding in the mind", added Dr. Sherlock, addressing the distinguished company of scientists from all over the world who are attending the symposium

Unifying force

"Through this meeting, you are helping us to demonstrate the unifying force of knowledge: and through it, you are helping us to establish in these enchanted lands a tradition of excellence where once there was abasement, of selfless endeavour where once there was grossness, of dedication to an ideal where once the dedication was to a product", he went on.

"And this meeting will help focus the attention of the West Indian people on the scientist and on the indispensable part that he plays in the contemporary world. For long the curriculum in our secondary schools paid little attention to science. Many young West Indians are still unaware of the possibilities that exists for a scientific career in the West Indies

"Who can say what new interest may not be quickened in the minds of those young students who read of this meeting? Who can say that even .one will not be stirred by the sudden realization of the power within him - the kind of power that Lucretius so movingly described when he told how the lively force of the creative mind 'won its way' and he passed on far beyond the fiery walls of the world, and in mind and spirit traversed the boundless whole?"

Dr. Sherlock said a word of "sincere appreciation" for Dr. Leonard Haynes, head of the Department of Chemistry at the university, and his colleagues for organizing the symposium, and for having found ways of bringing "so many distinguished scholars" to the meeting.

"We are all proud of the distinguished work of our Faculty of Natural Sciences, and we are proud also to have you all with us", he ended.

Main purpose

Following Dr Sherlock's address Professor Haynes made some introductory remarks in which he outlined the programme for the symposium and told how it had come about- the result of a meeting in Jamaica between a visiting scientist and himself which led to the idea of holding the symposium here.

Professor Haynes emphasized that the main purpose of the symposium was to bring together chemistry students to discuss natural products chemistry, and, at the same time, to have an exchange of information from which the UWI would benefit,

Sessions of the meeting are being held in the lecture room at the Department of Chemistry, during the forenoon and evening. In addition, tours are being arranged during the afternoon, to add to the interest of the programme.

Forty-eight scientists, drawn from universities and technological institutes throughout the world, are attending the meeting. Papers are being presented on a wide variety of technical subjects allied to natural products chemistry. The symposium ends on Friday afternoon.

Overseas participants in the symposium were:

I A Alburnoz (17) Faculdad de Farmacias Universidad Central de Venezuela Venezuela
M. Anchel (8) New York Botanical Gardens New York USA
W A Ayer (30) Department of Chemistry University of Alberta Canada
C.W.L. Bevan (2) Chemistry Department University of Ibadan Nigeria
K. Biemann (3) Department of Chemistry Massachusetts Institute of Technology USA
A. K. Bose (15) Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey USA
A. Brossi (51) Research Division Hoffman La Roche Inc., New Jersey USA
K. Brown (44) Centro de Pesquisas de Productos Naturales Rio de Janeiro Brazil
F.H. Clarke (20) Department of Medicinal Chemistry Geigy Chemical Corporation, New York USA
E. Corothie (14) Escuela de Quimica Faculdad de Ciencas Universidad Central de Venezuela Venezuela
C. Djerassi (18) Department of Chemistry Stanford University, California USA
O. E. Edwards (42) Chemistry Division National Research Council, Ottawa Canada
G. Fodor (46) Universite Laval Quebec Canada
A. J. Frey (35) Research Laboratories Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, New Jersey USA
H. K. Goering (12) Department of Chemistry University of Wisconsin USA
G. Grethe (49) Hoffman La Roche Inc New Jersey USA
T. G. Halsall (33) Dyson Perrins Laboratory Oxford England
J. Harley-Mason (48) University Chemical Laboratory Cambridge England
C. H. Hassall (1) Chemistry Department of Chemistry University College of Swansea Wales
J. B. Hendrickson (55) Department of Chemistry Brandeis University, Massachusetts USA
W. Herz (37) Department of Chemistry Florida State University USA
W. S. Johnson (11) Department of Chemistry Stanford University USA
S. M. Kupchan (7) Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry University of Wisconsin USA
S. McLean (32) Department of Chemistry University of Toronto Canada
T. C. McMorris (19) New York Botanical Gardens New York USA
H. Muxfeldt (21) Department of Chemistry University of Wisconsin USA
N. Neuss (39) The Lilly Research Laboratories Indianapolis USA
J. R. Plimmer (47) National Institute of Health Washington USA
C.E. Seaforth (16) College of Arts and Sciences The University of the West Indies Trinidad
A. I. Scott (5) The Chemical Laboratory University of Sussex England
G. Snatzke (52) Organisch-Chemisches Institut der Universitat Bonn Germany
E. E. van Tamelen (27) Department of Chemistry University of Stanford USA
H. Wasserman (13) Department of Chemistry Yale University USA
U. Weiss (6) National Institute of Health Maryland U.S.A USA
W.B. Whalley (50) The School of Pharmacy University of London England
H.W. Whitlock (24) Department of Chemistry University of Wisconsin USA
W.C. Wildman (36) Department of Chemistry Iowa State University of Science and Technology USA
B. Witkop (41) Laboratory of Chemistry National Institute of Health, Maryland USA
P. Yates (10) Department of Chemistry University of Toronto Canada

Local attendees included: L.J. Haynes (4), K.L. Stuart (9) Shirley Thomas (23), N. Holder (25), D. Lee (26), D.R. Taylor (29), E.V. Roberts (31), J.E. Gaskin (38), R. Ireland (40), M. Husbands (43), W.R. Chan (45), A.W. Sangster (54).
Refs: The Daily Gleaner, 5 Jan 1966, page 2
The Daily Gleaner, 22 Dec 1965, page 2

Participants at the 1966 1st Mona Symposium
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