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B.G. Rånby. Summing up. In The Formation and Structure of Paper, Trans. of the IInd Fund. Res. Symp. Oxford, 1961, (F. Bolam, ed.), pp 901–910, FRC, Manchester, 2018.

Abstract

It is a privilege and an honour for me to have been asked by the organising committee to give the concluding summary to this symposium. Although I have been working on cellulose and cellulosic fibres off and on since graduate school, until now, I have not published a single paper in the field of paper structure and properties. This symposium has been a most informative and enlightening part of my education as a scientist . Because of my assignment, I have tried to understand and, if possible, assimilate the various contributions to the symposium. Needless to say, this has been a strenuous task. The hydrodynamic discussions have been difficult for me to follow . I have had to annoy both chairmen and speakers by asking questions in my attempts to get a more complete picture of the subject matters discussed: I am grateful for the answers . My situation has often reminded me of a story from the University of Uppsala, my Alma Mater. One of the physics professors was known to have an unusually detailed and comprehensive knowledge of both classical and modern physics . One of his colleagues asked him, out of curiosity, `How did you acquire all this fabulous knowledge? You are, after all, a highly specialised physicist in atomic spectra.’ ‘Well, you see, I have to take many oral examinations . By a systematic questioning of the students, then comparing the answers from the bright ones, I have learned a lot in all branches of physics, without reading all the books,’ was his reply. This is in fact what I have done here.


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