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Views | Duration | ||
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231. 'Much to be admired and learned from Japan' | 39 | 00:44 | |
232. Japanese universities | 32 | 03:52 | |
233. Giving demonstration lectures in Japan | 31 | 01:09 | |
234. Chemistry in Japanese is ‘magical change’ | 40 | 00:55 | |
235. 'One must never show one’s tongue in Japan' | 42 | 01:44 | |
236. Teaching technical English to the Japanese students | 32 | 00:30 | |
237. The Japanese students' grasp of English | 37 | 00:58 | |
238. Experiencing a Japanese wedding | 26 | 02:22 | |
239. Courtesy and formality in Japan | 46 | 00:23 | |
240. The two qualifications of a Japanese professor | 49 | 01:03 |
And it was very interesting that the students I found, could understand English, their perception of English was very good, far greater than the Japanese, than the Chinese that I was speaking about in an earlier part. But there were some words of course, and key words, which would have been unfamiliar and then Takeda would write up a symbol on the…
As you probably know the Japanese is a symbolic language, they have... well there’s also a phonetic part of it, but the characters that are borrowed from the Chinese, express an idea. And the word for chemistry is called magical change; that is the symbol for chemistry.
Norman Greenwood (1925-2012) was born in Australia and graduated from Melbourne University before going to Cambridge. His wide-ranging research in inorganic and structural chemistry made major advances in the chemistry of boron hydrides and other main-group element compounds. He also pioneered the application of Mössbauer spectroscopy to problems in chemistry. He was a prolific writer and inspirational lecturer on chemical and educational themes, and held numerous visiting professorships throughout the world.
Title: Chemistry in Japanese is ‘magical change’
Listeners: Brian Johnson
Professor Brian FG Johnson FRS, FRSE, FRS Chem, FAcad Eu, FAS. Professor of Inorganic Chemistry University of Edinburgh 1991-1995, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry University of Cambridge 1995-2005, Master Fitzwilliam College Cambridge 1999-2005. Research interests include studies of transition metal carbonyls, organometallic chemistry, nano- particles and homogeneous catalysis. Professor Johnson is the author of over 1000 research articles and papers.
Tags: Japan, China, Masuo Takeda
Duration: 55 seconds
Date story recorded: May 2011
Date story went live: 25 November 2011