Jacques Heyman

Jacques Heyman obtained his PhD in 1949, then went to Brown University in the United States. Although post docs in the States were generally funded for only one year, Heyman was kept on for three. He returned to Brown in '56 for a further year before coming back to Cambridge as a Demonstrator or assistant lecturer.

He recalls that 'life in the States was immensely easier than life in England at that time. It truly was the land of milk and honey compared with the post war rationing that enveloped England.'

Looking back on the years when Baker was the Head of Department, Heyman recognised that there 'was an explosion in the physical sciences during this period. Money was available from the Government rather than from private sources for the only window since medieval times. That window slammed shut at the end of the 1970s. Baker was on all the electoral boards. He had an excellent policy of only recruiting staff who had experienced the outside world. This meant that everyone got Chairs very early, and all my bright colleagues had left by the time they were 32!'