Brian J. Ford

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brian J. Ford
Born 1939, age 68
Flag of England - Corsham, Wiltshire, England
Nationality British
Occupation Scientist, author and broadcaster

Brian J. Ford (born 1939 in Corsham, Wiltshire [1]) is an independent research biologist[2], author, and lecturer, who publishes on scientific issues for the general public. He has also been a television personality for more than 40 years.

Contents

[edit] Education

Ford attended Cardiff University between 1959 and 1961, [3] and left before graduating to set up his own multi-disciplinary laboratory.[2]

[edit] Work

Ford has campaigned on the mis-use of forensic data in courts [4] and the misuse of dangerous germs[vague], which have resulted in new laws being passed.[citation needed] Ford's current research interests include e-learning [5] [6], for which he is based at the University of Leicester.

Ford's other publications range from microbial research [7] and elucidating newly threatening infections [8] to examining scientists' dissatisfaction with their lot [9] . Other areas of his interests are the invention of a space microscope commissioned by Brunel University, to be used by European Space Agency[citation needed], safety of the water supply [10] and the rising incidence ofhead lice [11] and bed bugs [12], his discovery of new phenomena in blood coagulation [13], the of plants excretory mechanisms of plants [14] and investigations of the 'ingenuity' of living cells [15] that alter our understanding of the living cell. Ford's proposal for biohazard legislation led to supportive articles in 'Nature' and 'The Times' and has led to the introduction of world-wide biohazard controls [16] [17] .

He has written papers on the development of science, such as an essay on scientific illustration [18] and an 18,000-word essay on scientific publishing in the eighteenth century [19]. One of his best known discoveries is the original specimens of Antony van Leeuwenhoek. They were sent to the Royal Society of London in the seventeenth century and remained there until 1981 when Ford found the Leeeuwenhoek specimens hidden in the letters[20] [21] [22] and he then submitted them to extensive microscopical examination using both old and new microscopes.

His scientific papers on the development of science are often remarkably detailed, notably an essay on scientific illustration [2] and an extraordinary 18,000-word essay on scientific publishing in the eighteenth century [3] which is the definitive source for academics.

Ford has been active in diplomacy and politics, travels extensively, and acts as a conference speaker and lecturer. He has also written for The Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard, also writing for journals including the British Medical Journal, Nature, and Scientific American. As a student he had a weekly science column on the South Wales Echo and has since contributed columns for the Mensa Magazine, Boz magazine, The Listener and The Guardian.

Ford has been a guest on the BBC's Round Britain Quiz where he partnered Lady Antonia Fraser, and Any Questions?, presented the radio shows Science Now, Where Are You Taking Us? and Kaleidoscope, and was a founder-member of Start the Week on BBC Radio Four with Esther Rantzen and Richard Baker (broadcaster).

Many of his programmes involve proffering unrehearsed answers to the public on scientific topics, as on the Cliff Michelmore series Whatever you think (BBC) and Science Hour with Clive Bull ( for LBC). On television he hosted a game show Computer Challenge and the documentary series Food for Thought in Britain and Jensheits das Kanals in Germany. His recent TV appearances include presenting The Man Behind the da Vinci Code and featuring in Weird Weapons of World War II, based on his two books about WW2 (see below).

In addition to scientific research and academic lectures, Ford lectures extensively to general audiences, in the form of one-man shows on current scientific issues. A long-time science newspaper and magazine columnist, Ford's books have been published in more than 100 editions in many countries.

[edit] Fellowships

Ford is a Fellow of Cardiff University[citation needed], Member of Gonville and Caius College [23], University of Cambridge, an Honorary member of Keynes College, University of Kent, former Fellow at the Open University [24] and Visiting Professor at the University of Leicester [25].

Ford is a Fellow of the Linnean Society, serving as a member of their council as their Zoological Secretary and is their honorary surveyor of scientific instruments. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Biology, a former member of their council and chairman of their history network. [26] Ford edited the book Institute of Biology: The First Fifty Years[27] which is devoted to the history of this Institute.

He is a Fellow of Cambridge Philosophical Society and has lectured to all the above mentioned bodies. In 2004 he was awarded a Fellowship by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and Art, NESTA (London).[citation needed]

Ford is a Fellow of Cardiff University and is the President of the Association of Past Students [28]. Ford is also a Member of the university court.[citation needed]

[edit] Other positions

He was the first British President of the European Union of Science Journalists' Associations,[citation needed] founding Chairman of the Science and Technology Authors Committee at the Society of Authors,[citation needed] and the president of the Society for the Application of Research (SAR) in Cambridge. [29] Ford has been a member of Mensa and was a director of British Mensa from 1993-1997, resigning a few months after being elected for a second term.[30][31]. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society in the 1960s.

[edit] Trivia

Ford's first television appearances included playing boogie piano on "Donald Peers Presents", from Cardiff, Wales. Also in the show was the first appearance of Thomas Woodward, latterly known as Tom Jones. Ford was a newspaper columnist before going to Cardiff University, and has since contributed columns to "Boz" magazine, the "Mensa magazine", "the Listener" (formerly published by the BBC) and has written for "the Guardian", "The Times" and other newspapers.

Ford is a popular celebrity speaker on cruise ships including the Cunard Line ship RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 and for Seabourn Cruise Line has spoken aboard the Seabourn Spirit. He is a guest of P&O on vessels such as MV Aurora and the Arcadia (cruise ship); for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines on the Black Watch and Braemar (ship); aboard the Regatta on Oceania Cruises, and for Celebrity Cruises among many others. His presentations are dynamic and largely extemporized.

One characteristic manifestation of Ford's iconoclastic streak is displayed in the title of one of his books, which he intentionally gave the longest and most complex title in English-language publishing history: Nonscience and the Pseudotransmogrificationalific Egocentrified Reorientational Proclivities Inherently Intracorporated In Expertistical Cerebrointellectualised Redeploymentation with Special Reference to Quasi-Notional Fashionistic Normativity, The Indoctrinationalistic Methodological Modalities and Scalar Socio-Economic Promulgationary Improvementalisationalism Predelineated Positotaxically Toward Individualistified Mass-Acceptance Gratificationalistic Securipermanentalisationary Professionism, or How To Rule The World, London: Wolfe Publishing (ISBN 0-7234-0449-6). The point of the sesquipedalian title was to poke fun at those who conceal their lack of real expertise by using long and complicated words, whilst making the serious point that more people are fooled by these so-called experts than really should be. The book is commonly referred to simply as Nonscience, which is itself a play on nonsense.

Also worthy of note is that Ford has also been a rock & roll keyboards player. He played with guitarist Dave Edmunds and has occasionally performed in recent years. Ford has been active in the diplomatic and political world and is a trained marksman. He can pilot aeroplanes, ski and scuba-dive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

[edit] Authors describing Ford

  • Stewart Williams, describes Ford in his early days as a rhythm and blues pianist. Report is illustrated by a photograph by John Couch. [32] Reported in "Days and nights of hot jazz in Cardiff", South Wales Echo, November 11, 1977.
  • Germaine Greer quotes Ford's view on sexuality, the famous 'jam squirting a in a donut' concept, from his book Patterns of Sex. Uses the quote also as a chapter heading. [34] Reported in "Better no sex than bad sex", The Sunday Times (UK) Review, p 33, January 13, 1984.
  • Brian Aldiss describes the effects of Ford lecturing on an audience of other authors in Bury my heart at WH Smith's. [36]
  • David Parry-Jones discusses Brian J. Ford on his early television programs, with a photograph, in Action Replay. [37]
  • Professor Philippe Boutibonnes expands on Ford's important research on the Leeuwenhoek microscopes. [38]
  • Sir Colin Spedding discusses Ford's views on the mechanisms of innovation. [39]

[edit] Quote

All my life I have tried to act as a catalyst to cross boundaries, an agent of interdisciplinary innovation.”

[40].

[edit] Bibliography

Books
  • German secret weapons, blueprint for Mars, ISBN 0-356-03034-2. Australia, South Africa, & New Zealand, Macdonald.
  • Allied Secret Weapons Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, Macdonald, 1971. ISBN 0-356-03746-0.
  • New edition: Allied secret weapons, the war of science, ISBN 0-345-09758-1. UK, Pan Books, 1972.
  • Lensman microscope project manual. UK, Science of Cambridge, 1989.
  • Microbe power, tomorrow's revolution. USA, Madison Books, 1992.
  • The new Guinness book of records quiz book, ISBN 0-85112-635-9. UK, Guinness Publishing, 1994.
  • Secret language of life, how animals and plants feel and communicate, ISBN 0-88064-254-8. USA, Fromm International, 2000.
As co-author
  • The recovery, removal, and reconstruction of human skeletal remains, some new techniques, chapter in Field manual for museums. Paris, UNESCO, 1970.
  • Récuperation, enlèvement et reconstitution des ossements, chapter in Musées et recherches sur le terrain. Paris, UNESCO, 1970.
  • Brian J Ford explains why he considers Cardiff the most unappreciated city in the world, chapter in The Cardiff book, ISBN 0-900807-05-9. Barry: Stewart Williams Publishers, 1973.
  • Discharge to the environment of viruses in wastewater, sludges and aerosols, chapter with JS Slade in Viral pollution of the environment, ed: G Berg, ISBN 0-8493-6245-8. Boca Raton, CRC Press, 1983.
  • Sexually transmitted diseases, chapter in Sex and Your health ed J Bevan, ISBN 0-85533-571-8. London, Mitchell Beazley, 1985.
  • Las Enfermedades de Transmisión Sexual y Otras que las Imitan, chapter in El Sexo y la Salud ed J Bevan, ISBN 84-320-4570-5. Barcelona, Editorial Planeta, 1985.
  • Sexually transmissible diseases and their mimics, chapter in Sex and Your health, ed J Bevan. London, Mandarin Books, 1990.
  • Eighteenth-century scientific publishing, chapter in Scientific books, libraries and collectors, ISBN 1-85928-233-4. London, Thornton & Tully, 2000.
  • Hidden secrets in the Royal Society archive, chapter 3 in Biological collections and biodiversity, eds BS Rushton, P Hackney and CR Tyrie, ISBN 1-84103-005-8. Otley, Westbury Academic and Scientific Publishing, 2001.
  • Human behaviour and the changing pattern of disease, chapter in The changing face of disease, implications for society, ISBN 0-415-32280-4. London and Boca Raton, CRC Press, 2004.
As editor
  • Science Diary, annually 1967-1974. London, Charles Letts.
  • The second mouse gets the cheese, proverbs and their uses by Sir Colin Spedding (hardback) ISBN 0-9543595-4-2. Cambridge, Rothay House, 2005.

[edit] References

  1. ^ GRO Register of Births: JUN 1939 5a 88 CHIPPENHAM - Brian J. Ford
  2. ^ a b Brian J. Ford, Broadcaster and Writer. Institute of Biology.
  3. ^ [url=http://www.brianjford.com/wsometha.htm SOMETHING ABOUT THE AUTHOR]. Who is Who in Science in Europe, Volume 48, 1987.
  4. ^ Laboratory News p 20, July 8 1991
  5. ^ Laboratory News p 16, January 12, 2006
  6. ^ Times Higher Education Supplement p 2, November 18 2005
  7. ^ The Microscope vol 52:3/4 pp 135-144 2004
  8. ^ The Microscope vol 51:4 pp 209-220 2003
  9. ^ New Scientist vol 145 p 11, March 18 1995
  10. ^ 'Merely going through the seaside motions', The Guardian p 23, August 17 1991
  11. ^ 'Pediculus, bug with a lousy image', Sunday Times, November 14 1971
  12. ^ InFocus magazine pp 6-14, September 3 2006
  13. ^ Clinical Laboratory International vol 30(5) pp 12-13, September 2006
  14. ^ Journal of Biological Education vol 20(4) pp 251-254 1986
  15. ^ Biologist magazine vol 53(4) pp 221-224
  16. ^ 'The revealing lens', published by Harrap, pp 201-202
  17. ^ 'Call for law to control laboratory poisons', The Times, September 17 1971
  18. ^ Chapter 24 'Scientific Illustration', Cambridge History of Science (ed: Roy Porter) vol 4 The Eighteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, 2001
  19. ^ 'Eighteenth Century Publishing', chapter for Scientific Books, Libraries and Collections, published by Thornton and Tully
  20. ^ Biology History vol 5(3), December 1992
  21. ^ The Microscope vol 43(2) pp 47-57
  22. ^ Spektrum der Wissenschaft pp 68-71, June 1998
  23. ^ McCrone Research Institute (McRI) - Chicago, IL
  24. ^ The Royal Literary Fund
  25. ^ University of Leicester - Leicester Professor elected at Cambridge
  26. ^ " DICTIONARY OF INTERNATIONAL BIOGRAPHY, 24th edn 1995.
  27. ^ Institute of Biology: The First Fifty Years, Institute of Biology, ISBN 0-900490-37-3
  28. ^ [ttp://www.brianjford.com/wwork01.htm Some current activities]. Brian J Ford website.
  29. ^ Society for the Application of Research..
  30. ^ "Mensa Elections", p.4, Mensa Magazine October 1993
  31. ^ "Musical Chairs", p.4, Mensa Magazine March 1998
  32. ^ Stewart Williams (1977). The Cardiff Book. Cardiff: Stewart Williams Publishers, pp 69-71. ISBN 0-900807-05-9. 
  33. ^ Kenneth Williams (1983). Back Drops. London: Dent, p 8. ISBN 0-460-04583-0. 
  34. ^ Germaine Greer (1984). Sex and Destiny. London: Secker & Warburg, p 107. ISBN 0-436-18801-5. 
  35. ^ Victor Serebriakoff (1985). Mensa: the society for the highly intelligent. London: Constable, p 255. ISBN 0-8128-3091-1. 
  36. ^ Brian Aldiss (1990). Bury my heart at WH Smith's. London: Hodder & Stoughton, pp 118-119. ISBN 0-340-53661-6. 
  37. ^ David Parry-Jones (1993). Action Replay. Cardiff: Gomer Press, pp 91-92. ISBN 1-85902-016-X. 
  38. ^ Philippe Boutibonnes (1994). Un savant, une époque, van Leeuwenhoek, l’exercice du regard. ISBN 2-7011-1633-3. 
  39. ^ Colin Spedding (1996). Agriculture and the citizen. London: Chapman & Hall, pp 222-223. ISBN 0-412-71520-1. 
  40. ^ Original web page edited and compiled by Jeremy Newton at NESTA. [1]

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Ford, Brian J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Academic, author
DATE OF BIRTH 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Corsham, Wiltshire
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH