Visits to Cambridge and Oxford universities, and a long loop hike outside Oxford.
This week I had the opportunity to visit Cambridge University on Wednesday, and Oxford University on Friday, to meet colleagues and present my research. (Together, these universities are colloquially known as “Oxbridge”.) The weather continues to be sunny and beautiful, so I took the opportunity to explore each of these historic cities – and to get out into the Oxfordshire countryside for a delightful hike.
I made a quick visit to Cambridge University, to deliver a talk in the Computer Science department and to visit colleagues there and at the neighboring Nokia Labs. The schedule allowed me a little time to wander the courtyards of Jesus College, where I had spent the night, and its beautiful chapel – the oldest building still in use at Cambridge. (Astonishing, in this 250th year of Dartmouth College, to visit a university that was already five hundred and fifty years old when Dartmouth was founded.)
I decided to walk from there to the distant CS building, through the streets of Cambridge. (Sadly, most of the historic campus exists in walled compounds, like Jesus College, only open to members of the university.)
It was fascinating to walk along streets named after famous scientists, or for that matter, through the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematics. (Not far from the Bill Gates CS building or the Gordon Moore library, actually.) Lovely day!
David Kotz 