Visit of His Excellency the Soviet Ambassador

Abstract

At the meeting of the Society on 19 November 1959 His Excellency the Soviet Ambassador [Mr J. A. Malik) visited the Society for the purpose of presenting Certificates of Election of Foreign Membership of the Soviet Academy of Sciences to three Fellows of the Royal Society: Sir Cyril Hinshelwood, P. R. S., elected 1948; Professor P. A. M. Dirac, elected 1931; and Professor D. M. S. Watson, elected 1932. In presenting the Certificates the Ambassador stated: Mr President, Fellows, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been given a great honour today. The Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. has asked me to present diplomas to world famous British scientists who have been elected as Foreign Members of the Academy. They are Professor Sir Cyril Hinshelwood, President of the Royal Society, Professor Paul Dirac, the eminent physicist, and Professor David Watson, the eminent palaeontologist. It gives me immense pleasure to carry out this request. Sir Cyril is well known in Soviet scientific circles for his work on the kinetics of chemical reactions, including chain reactions, and on ion reactions in solutions. The last few years, during which Sir Cyril has been President of the Royal Society, have been marked by the development of friendly relations between that Society and the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences. Soviet and British scientists are now making more regular exchanges of lecturers in various fields of knowledge; there are exchanges of young scientists and scientific works. Sir Cyril was one of the first British scientists to make his own personal contribution to the development of scientific contacts by accepting into his laboratory a young Soviet scientist, Shilov, who under his direction has carried out valuable research in the field of ion reactions.