The Flowers Report

The lab also began to develop support groups of staff for particular computational enterprises. The ones relevant to computational chemistry began to develop in the early 1970s and will be considered later, but to understand the relationship between the lab and the computational developments more generally in the UK, it is necessary to consider the Flowers Report and that to which it led. 

Initially the computers provided by the Computer Board were for research work only and not for teaching. However, that distinction did not persist into the late 1960s, and the computers became a general educational resource. It was not permitted that the computers so provided be used for university administration and, since they were required to provide an effective service, there were very strict limits on the extent to which the then burgeoning tribe of computer scientists were allowed to monkey about with the machines. 

As a general rule the initial provision was of UK-manufactured machines. The smaller ones were comparable to the IBM 709 and the larger ones were about of IBM 7090 or 7094 power. It would probably be agreed now that most of the machines provided were not wonderfully satisfactory, either in terms of hardware reliability or in software provision. But by the late 1960s most of them had been got to work in a satisfactory manner. But, alas, this was just as their manufacturers were going out of business. After 1968, whatever UK computer a university had, they had to deal with ICL who had taken over all other UK computer manufacturers. Thus to add to the anguish of the users over the machines themselves was the difficulty of dealing with an essentially monopoly supplier. 

Both at Manchester and at Cambridge there were the beginnings of developments in computational molecular dynamics and scattering theory and these disciplines were developing in a lively way in London University too. Molecular dynamics was developed by Konrad Singer and Ian McDonald at Royal Holloway College, particularly. 2,43 

Computational work had also begun to flourish in the group of Charles Coulson in the Mathematical Institute at Oxford. Not only was molecular electronic structure work done there but also heavy-particle scattering, and quite a lot of that aspect of the work can be discovered by reading the book by Levine, who was in the Mathematical Institute at the time. Computational work had also begun in the Physical Chemistry Laboratory chiefly with Peter Atkins and his students with their interests in NMR and ESR simulation, and 

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See, for instance, UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, sixth report, 1976, Nuclear power and the environment , The Flowers Report . 

The first was that of the Atlas Computer Laboratory, which opened in summer 1964. The second was the publication of A Report of a Joint Working Group on Computers for Research in January 1966. This last is always called the Flowers Report, after its chairman B. H. (Brian) Flowers, who was then Langworthy Professor of Physics (in succession to Blackett) at Manchester. He was later to become a government science adviser, chairman of both the Science... 

Melia azadirachta L. (neem or margosa). The bark, according to Cornish, yields a minute amount of a bitter alkaloid, margosine. The fruit is reported to be toxic and to contain an alkaloid, azaridine. The leaves are stated to be insect-repellent and from them an alkaloid paraisine has been prepared. The flowers are alkaloid-free. ((1) Ind. Ann. Med. Sci., 1857, 4, 104 (2) Carratala, Rev. Asoc. med. Arg., 1939, 53, 338 (3) Volkonsky, Arch. Inst. Pasteur Alg rie, 1937, 427 (4) Subramanian and Rangaswamy, Curr. Sci., 1947, 16, 182.)... 

The confusion over the correct variety of feverfew is further complicated by the existence of another genus of plants, Matricaria, the leaves of which are very similar to those of feverfew but the flowers of which are different [7] (for example, Snow Dwarf, with all white flowers. Golden Ball with all yellow flowers, and Tom Thumb, which looks like a cross between the two). These attractive looking plants are sometimes sold as feverfew . Again, there has been no reported scientific work on these related species per se and the work quoted here for the true wild feverfew may not necessarily apply to these feverfew-like plants. 

As early as 1950, feverfew was reported to cause contact dermatitis in at least one patient [62] and parthenolide was found to cause an allergic reaction in patients with the same condition [63]. Since then there have been many reports [64-68] of feverfew-induced allergic reactions, the condition being worst in the summer months coinciding with the flowering season of the plant. The a-methylene butyrolactone group was found to be a partial requirement for activity in contact dermatitis [69]. 

Hanson et reported an increased tolerance in petunia cultivars as they approach the flowering stage. This was true for both sensitive and tolerant cultivars, with the latter more strongly influenced. They suggested that bud development produced a diffusible substance that moved down the plant and acted as a protectant. 

Despite the resurgence in research activity on flavonoid function, many questions remain unanswered. Some functions are only partially understood, and there are probably many others not yet uncovered. For example, there have been several intriguing reports that describe correlations between flavonoid content and morphology. In Antirrhinum, the intensity of anthocyanin pigmentation in the flowers depends upon the shape of cells in the... 

Chamomile (Matricaria camomilla) The flowers of this plant are dried and crushed into a tea, and people who drink chamomile tea half an hour or so before bedtime report getting a restful night s sleep. Chamomile tea can be useful for mild insomnia that occurs occasionally. Chamomile contains molecules called flavonoids, particularly chrysin, that calm the activity of nerve cells, although it is unknown exactly how this is achieved. Chamomile can also help relieve anxiety. A note of caution Since chamomile is a plant... 

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