Alumni E-News: January 2025

Happy New Year!

I hope you will enjoy reading about the first Nobel Prize won by a St Edmund’s alumnus, how St Edmund’s commemorated Black History Month, our lecture from the Director of the Vatican Observatory, and more besides. It’s been a busy few months with lots to celebrate!

There are also some events coming up and we look forward to seeing many of you there. As ever, if you’re keen to get involved or host an event, get in touch.

Yours,

William

Interim Development Officer

Alumnus Dr John Jumper was awarded this the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, alongside fellow Cambridge alum Sir Demis Hassabis for developing an AI model to solve a 50-year-old problem: predicting proteins’ complex structures.

Dr John Jumper completed an MPhil in theoretical condensed matter physics at Cambridge’s famous Cavendish Laboratory in 2008, during which time he was a member of St Edmund’s College, before receiving his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Chicago.

You can read the full story on the main University of Cambridge website or go straight to The Nobel Prize website to watch the announcement.

October 1st 2024 marked the start of Black History Month and to celebrate, St Edmund’s hosted a panel discussion on 16 October 2024 in the Garden Room, to honour the resilience, achievements and cultural contributions of St Edmund’s black community and the wider black community.

On Wednesday, 20 November, the Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Inquiry hosted its annual Von Hügel Lecture, featuring Br Guy Consolmagno, SJ.

Br Guy is the Director of the Vatican Observatory and is known internationally for inspiring audiences into a deeper appreciation of the multiple, interrelated ways in which human beings are drawn to study the cosmos of which we are part. 

The lecture took place in front of an audience of scholars, students, and members of the general public, from Cambridge and beyond. Br Guy told stories of astronomical discovery and cosmological pioneers, particularly highlighting the legacy of Msgr Georges Lemaître, and reflecting deeply on the question of why humans continue to study the heavens.

This year, the Von Hügel Lecture celebrated the centenary of Lemaître’s 1924 tenure at St Edmund’s House. While at St Edmund’s House—now St Edmund’s College—Lemaître carried out some of the foundational work that led to what later came to be known as the ‘Big Bang’ theory. This lecture celebrated the interplay between science and faith, and how interdisciplinary study is a key ingredient for discovery.

Further coverage of Br Guy’s significant work at the Vatican Observatory, that also includes a reference to the Von Hügel lecture, can be found here: https://www.thetimes.com/article/c306a6b1-4de4-4258-a647-bd95a878bddf.

A recording of the lecture is available on the Von Hügel Institute’s YouTube Channel.

Monday 16 December marked the annual Cambridge Trial VIIIs race in London. Trial VIIIs, the UK’s final rowing event of the year, serves as a dress rehearsal for The Boat Race, with two evenly matched CUBC crews rowing the full Championship Course for the first and only time before 12–13 April 2025.

This year’s crews showcased an exciting mix of seasoned experience and youthful energy, featuring international rowers and returning Blues alongside many college rowers proudly wearing Cambridge Blue for the first time. We were delighted to see St Edmund’s College so well represented by our students: Annie Wertheimer; Madeleine Jackson; Harry Weston; Tom Macky; Matt Heywood and Douwe de Graaf.

Trial VIIIs is a milestone in The Boat Race selection process, and reaching this stage requires hard work, dedication, and discipline. Well done to all our Eddies’ students.

Jointly led by Ohio State and The University of Notre Dame, the iLocater team was recently awarded a pair of grants that will significantly bolster iLocater’s planned scientific capabilities: a $2.7 million award from the National Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) as well as $1.6 million from NASA’s Astrophysics Research and Analysis (APRA) program.

Dr Jonathan Crass (m. 2010), the co-principal investigator of the iLocater program and the instrument scientist in the Imaging Science Laboratory at Ohio State, said “We want to build new instruments with new technology so we can push the boundaries of science.”

The St Edmund’s Alumni Society are delighted to invite you to join them for the annual winter get-together in London on 27 February 2024.

This ever popular alumni event is the perfect opportunity to meet and chat with St Edmund’s alumni in a relaxed and informal atmosphere whilst enjoying fantastic wine and delicious nibbles. Meet up with old friends, make new connections, and share a drink with the Master Prof Chris Young.

Tickets are just £10.00 per person (Alumni & Guests), subsidised by the Alumni Society, and as always partners and friends are more than welcome to attend.  

The event will be hosted at Davy’s at St. James and should once again be a fantastic evening.

The Master and Development Director will be in Dublin between 18 and 21 February 2025 visiting alumni and supporters. If you’re in the area or traveling to the city and want to catch up with Kate or Chris, mark your calendars and send an email to development@st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk to let us know!

We’ll be arranging an informal drop-in event at a suitable venue in the city so keep an eye out for more information!

Tickets for the Alumni Guest Night on 28 March 2025 will go on sale on at the end of this month. Save the date and get a group of friends together!

Guest nights in College are one of the best ways to reunite with old friends and meet other alumni, and share the unique experience of an Eddies formal hall with your friends and family.

Tickets are generously subsidized by the St Edmund’s College Alumni Society.