Sir Peter Mansfield, Honorary Fellow of Hughes Hall, passed away on 8 February 2017, aged 83.
Having left school at the age of 15 without qualification, Sir Peter Mansfield FRS was a champion of adult access to education, which Hughes Hall shares through its commitment to mature student entry for Cambridge Tripos study. Graduating at the age of 26 after taking A-levels at night school, he pursued research in spectrometry, developing the MRI scanner as a tool for body imaging.
Professor of Physics at the University of Nottingham, he was knighted in 1993 and won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2003. In April 2005, he formally inaugurated Hughes Hall’s new Fenner’s Building, as the inscription in the Fenner’s entrance hall records.
Dr Anthony Freeling, Hughes Hall President commented “If ever there were a role model for mature undergraduates, it is Sir Peter. From failing his 11-plus and leaving school at 15, his academic career culminated in the Nobel Prize. He was a loyal member of the Fellowship, coming to our last Commemoration Dinner, even though he was already frail, as he had done to many previous ones. We shall miss him, but remember the legacy he has left the world.”
