"That evening will be with me forever, to be at the start of such a great adventure was a once-in-a-lifetime event. We had been waiting for some time for the call to say that the first beam to target would happen. We all dashed to the lab and assembled in the various cabins, avidly waiting for the first counts to arrive. Andrew [Taylor] was pacing about on the phone to everyone in turn, checking and rechecking that we were all ready, shutters open, everything on and waiting. I was in HET cabin. I had spent many months assembling HET [High-Energy Inelastic Spectrometer] -- installing the shielding and setting up the detectors -- it was all very hands on. Then it happened and counts were there on the screen. Being young and naive, I didn't appreciate that it was truly amazing that everything worked first time!"
Zoe Bowden
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The Operators on duty in the MCR that evening were Ian Gardner (ISKG), Roger Bennett (JRJB) and Tony Borden (AIB). In the photo Ian is wearing a white shirt and sitting at the control desk; standing behind him wearing a brown jumper is Geoff Manning, the Director of Rutherford Appleton Lab at the time. Ian recalls: "Immediately after this photo was taken I, being a Scotsman, had brought some whisky in a hip flask. I brought it out and indicated it to our director Alan Leadbetter. Alan made a face at me as if to say "tut tut," pulled out an enormous bottle of whisky and we all celebrated." If you look carefully at the photo taken in the MCR you can just about make out the log book on the control desk, open at page 215. |
Quotes from the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source book "Celebrating 40 Years" published in 2024.
