Page 5 - PERIODIC Magazine Issue 7

As well as being a distinguished scholar, Sir The Alps were his greatest love and he would spend many
John is remembered by colleagues as being a Alpine summer seasons based in Zermatt climbing the
true gentleman – and an intrepid mountaineer. surrounding mountains. I was privileged to be his companion
Professor Sir Brian Smith, sometime Lecturer on many of these adventures. At the age of 55 he joined
in Physical Chemistry and later Master of an expedition to the Himalayas led by a famous Himalayan
St Catherine’s College, recalls some of his mountaineer who had taken part in the first ascent of
adventures. Kangchenjunga. Though the expedition suffered from adverse
weather with dangerous snowstorms and the unclimbed peak
which was targeted was not climbed, he was one of only
John Rowlinson had two distinct personas: the academic
and the adventurer - the physical chemist and the two members to reach a summit - Berthatoli South, 20,700ft
mountaineer. I knew him well in both his worlds. (6,300m). He climbed his last 4,000m peak in the Swiss Pennine
We had common interests in chemistry - particularly Alps, the Weissmies, at the age of 74. He continued to climb in
intermolecular forces, and in mountaineering. John’s the eastern Alps, Austria and finally, when 78, in the Dolomites
interest in mountaineering was lifelong. He was where he struggled to accept that his ascents of mountains using
determined and daring and a committed traditionalist. the fixed cables of via ferratas were true mountaineering. In
He started climbing after the Second World War when his 80th year his friends, thinking he might be near retirement,
all that was required to climb was a strong rope to tie arranged a celebratory occasion for him in Zermatt. That was
around one’s waist, well-nailed boots and, if appropriate, not to be his last visit to the Alps! At the age of 89 he returned to
a long ice axe - the same equipment that had been used Zermatt to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first ascent of
by the pioneers of the sport. the Matterhorn.

John was from Manchester, and in Manchester Made
Them, Katherine Chorley’s book describing the diverse
character of the Manchester men in her successful
family at the turn-of-the-century, she wrote: “They were
distinguished professional men. They admired brains and
hard work – they returned home punctually and dressed
for dinner – they lived entirely orderly and responsible
professional and domestic lives.” She wrote that it was
these same men who were leading pioneers of British
mountaineering: “yet they relaxed at mountain inns in
their most disreputable clothes .Their days were given to
muscular and often reckless attacks on the rock faces of
the Lakeland hills.” What a perfect description of John.

During the years that John climbed, mountaineers
became increasingly laden with carabiners, metal wedges
and camming devices to provide greater safety. This A PCL student trip to the mountains at Pen-y-Pas youth hostel in 1975. John is second from
definitely was not John’s way. With the simple tools of the left, Brian Smith on the right hand side.
yore he continued to climb mountains all over the world.
He was exceptionally fit. All too often he would find his Living with John required very special qualities – such as being
companions struggling to keep up with him as he raced prepared for wedding anniversaries spent scanning the upper
across difficult mountainsides. He tackled most of the slopes of the Matterhorn for a signalled greeting from John.
big mountain ranges of the world: the Himalayas,Tien His wife Nancy, with her great wit, humour and strength of
Shen, New Zealand, the Alps and more. He was always character tempered with warm tolerance, was to prove more
the first man out of his tent on a freezing Himalayan than equal to that role. John was accompanied by Nancy and
morning or the first man to rise from his bunk in the his children, Paul and Stella, on many of his Alpine adventures.
unwelcoming cold and darkness for an Alpine start. John He was very proud of his family and the accomplishments of his
was the man who climbed the Finsteraarhorn in very children, his six grandchildren, and one great-grandson.
bad weather, when all other parties turned back, saying:
“The importance of good weather on Alpine ascents is He will be greatly missed by his scientific colleagues and
in my view greatly exaggerated.” This is a boldness that friends from all over the world and by those who enjoyed his
only mountaineers will comprehend. He was struck by companionship in the mountains.
lightning, fell down many crevasses (once dislocating his
shoulder), and as always he just dusted himself down
and continued to his next challenge. His only rule was
always to stop at exactly one o’clock for lunch – even if
hanging on a cliff face.
5
Periodic
The Magazine of the Department of Chemistry