Latest news with #autobiography
Times
a day ago
- Science
- Times
Ivar Giaever obituary: modest Nobel-winning physicist
As a Nobel prizewinner, Ivar Giaever was surely within his rights to call his autobiography I am the Smartest Man I Know. But the title was firmly tongue-in-cheek, he insisted, despite his achievements. For a start, he asserted, he was far from the brightest spark at the vast General Electric (GE) research and development facility in New York where he tinkered with superconductors. 'There were several hundred scientists at the laboratory all with a better education than I had had and maybe half of them were smarter than me,' he wrote. He believed that a Nobel could indicate good fortune rather than exceptional intellect. 'Some winners are smart,' he once told a reporter, 'some are average and a few are actually dumb.' It was true that higher education was a low point for Giaever. While studying mechanical engineering at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim his main focus was playing bridge, chess and billiards. Though the university champion in the latter, he did not win trophies for his academic performance. Giaever asked his physics professor about his examination results and was told: 'Your answers are among the worst that have ever been handed in!' As luck would have it, this dismal effort helped Giaever to secure a job at a renowned GE industrial laboratory near Albany, the New York state capital. Eyeing his grades, the personnel director exclaimed: 'I see you have 4.0 in both physics and mathematics, you must have been a very good student!' Giaever wisely neglected to mention that the grading system in Norway worked in the opposite direction to the US, meaning that 4.0 was the lowest pass mark rather than the top grade it signalled in American schools. Setting aside his educational record and self-deprecation, Giaever was, of course, very smart. He excelled during a corporate training programme and when he was hired in 1958 he became, according to his family, the only scientific researcher at the laboratory without a PhD. Giaever began experimenting with superconductors — materials that can conduct electricity without energy loss — and in 1960 performed a breakthrough quantum mechanics experiment on a phenomenon known as the tunnel effect. In the late Fifties a Japanese physicist working for the Sony Corporation, Leo Esaki, had demonstrated electron tunnelling in semiconductors. He showed that the particles had wave-like properties that, in the right conditions, allowed them to 'tunnel' through ordinarily impenetrable barriers. Using metal strips separated by a thin oxide layer, Giaever proved this also occurred in superconductors. Such insights were valuable to theoretical physicists and to makers of modern electronic equipment that uses diodes, transistors and lasers. Giaever's experiment supported what is known as the BCS theory. The authors of that 1957 theory on superconductor behaviour were awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 1972; Giaever secured the honour a year later, aged 44, crediting his success to advice from colleagues as he shared the prize with Esaki and Brian Josephson, a Welsh theoretical physicist whose work while a graduate student at Cambridge University built on Giaever's achievements. Ivar Giaever was born in Bergen in 1929 to John, a pharmacist, and Gudrun (née Skaarud), who helped in the pharmacy and took care of the family. Neither went to high school. He grew up on a farm, which proved useful during wartime food shortages, and enjoyed skiing and taking machinery apart to see how it worked. Schools closed each autumn so that children could spend three weeks in the fields harvesting potatoes. Aged 14 he met a local girl, Inger Skramstad, who became an au pair in England and a ski instructor and community volunteer in the United States; they married in 1952. Before entering the Institute of Technology Giaever had a year of work experience at an ammunition factory, experimenting during his lunch hour to automate the lathe he operated. It was dangerous work; several colleagues were missing thumbs and he narrowly escaped serious injury when he used a steel milling machine incorrectly and a tool snapped and recoiled forcefully, grazing his chin. After his degree and compulsory military service he took a job with the patent office in Oslo, assessing applications related to locks, hinges and knitting machines. Money was tight: on one occasion, Ivar and Inger accepted a dinner invitation but could not afford a babysitter, so he tied their infant son, John, to the bed and went out. With a baby and a housing crisis so severe there was an eight-year waiting list for an apartment, they decided to follow the example of a friend who had emigrated to the US and, Ivar recalled, bought 'a car as large as a tank'. With only $200 in their pockets the family moved to Toronto, where one of Inger's sisters lived, but at first life in Canada was no easier. Giaever used a knife to slit the front of his ill-fitting shoes to ease the rubbing pain as he trudged the city's streets looking for a job in the dead of winter. He tried the GE headquarters in Toronto. Directed by a secretary to walk down several corridors to the employment office, he took a wrong turn and found himself out on the street. Disheartened and wondering if he had been tricked, he was on the brink of leaving but went back and was guided to the correct entrance. Giaever was hired as an engineer, testing electrical equipment and improving his mathematics skills on a company training scheme. To enhance his salary and career prospects he emigrated to the US, continuing his training with GE and enrolling at the nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) for a master's degree in physics before finishing a doctorate there in 1964, the year he became an American citizen. He was invited to a meeting of scientists in Moscow, which led to him being interviewed by the FBI, and to a conference in Brighton, where the main inconvenience was the stones on the beach. Bringing their hulking Chevrolet station wagon across the Pond in 1968, the family spent a sabbatical year in England. Giaever studied biophysics on a Guggenheim fellowship at Clare Hall, Cambridge, and observed that even a meeting about his overdraft with his bank manager started with a glass of sherry. Formalities were not the only culture shock. 'Americans take great pride in working hard while the English are more concerned with appearing very smart,' he wrote. 'In Cambridge people did not seem to care about what was correct or not; the point was to win the argument.' Applying the techniques and principles of physics to biology was a growing passion and on his return to the US he began experiments with the goal of detecting hepatitis antibodies. Though his GE bosses had scant interest in biology the prestige of his Nobel victory gave him free rein to pursue whatever interested him. When news of the triumph emerged the company sent a limousine to whisk him to work and rolled out a red carpet at the laboratory entrance. Giaever worked in the laboratory of the celebrated polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk at the Salk Institute in San Diego. He left GE in 1988 for a professorship at the RPI, had a spell as a professor at the University of Oslo and co-founded a biophysics company centred on cell research and drug discoveries. Careful with money given his earlier struggles, he habitually lunched on cups of spicy noodles bought from Walmart for 28 cents apiece. Leisure time was spent playing board games, windsurfing and skiing into his mid-eighties. Inger died in 2023; he is survived by their son, John, a retired engineer, and three daughters, Anne, a teacher, Guri, an associate professor in pharmaceutical sciences, and Trine, an artist. Giaever and his wife lived in the same house for 60 years but travelled the world. Aged 80, he took a teaching position in Seoul and made the national news on a trip to South Korea when he told a journalist that the nation lacked Nobel laureates because fervent debates can inspire progress and Koreans are too polite to argue with authority figures. Unafraid to speak his mind, Giaever possessed an irreverent wit honed from dedicated viewing of the sitcom, Seinfeld. He was a sought-after speaker and frequent guest expert on an American public radio science programme. A natural sceptic — aged six he declared the Easter bunny to be a fiction, a stance that cost him sweets — he was a prominent self-described climate change denier and resigned from the American Physical Society in 2011 because it described the evidence for global warming as 'incontrovertible'. He wrote: 'In my view, nothing in science is incontrovertible.' Asked how it felt to win the Nobel, he liked to reply: 'I suddenly became the most famous person I knew.' Reflecting on a career that brought him several other prestigious prizes and more than 30 patents, he mused about how different it all would have been had he given up and gone home after walking the wrong way in the GE office in Toronto: a 50-50 decision that transformed his future. 'Life is not fair,' he wrote in his 2016 book, 'and I, for one, am happy about that.' Ivar Giaever, Nobel prize-winning physicist, was born on April 5, 1929. He died after a period of declining health on June 20, 2025, aged 96
The Sun
a day ago
- The Sun
I grilled Myra Hindley on where final Moors Murders victim is buried… could Brady's chilling secret memoir hold answer?
FOR 60 years the final resting place of 12-year-old Keith Bennett has remained a mystery - a tragic secret that vile killer Ian Brady took with him to the grave. Despite multiple searches, his body was never recovered and Keith 's heartbroken mother Winnie Johnson died not being able to give her son a proper burial. 13 13 13 But now, 60 years on, Brady's secret autobiography, along with case files found gathering dust in a solicitor's attic, could provide vital clues to the location of his grave. Keith was one of five children murdered by Brady and his accomplice Myra Hindley, who buried their bodies on Saddleworth Moor. Journalist Duncan Staff - who's worked on the case for years and even grilled Hindley in prison to see if she could pinpoint where Keith was buried - has discovered a partial manuscript written by Brady about the murders, along with the original defence case files for the murder trial. Brady's biographer, Dr Alan Keightley, wrote in his own book that Brady had written a 600 page autobiography called Black Light. Dr Keightley died in 2023, but his widow Joan handed over his Brady files to Duncan - including his own copy of Black Light. The manuscript details how they selected the site for Pauline Reade's burial and gives specific information about the location. But it is only 394 pages long and stops the night before John Kilbride's murder -leading Duncan to believe the missing pages could detail Keith's murder and burial site. He says: 'I think it is incredibly frustrating for the families to know that Ian Brady has written an autobiography, Black Light, that is only surfacing now and the copy we have is incomplete. "So the pages that describe exactly where Keith Bennett is buried could be out there somewhere.' In the hours before his death in 2017, Brady asked for locked suitcases to be removed from his cell and handed to his solicitor Robin Makin. The police and Keith Bennett's family have requested access to the paperwork inside, but this has been denied. Duncan says: 'Ian Brady has been allowed to maintain control of this story even in death. 'Brady knew exactly what he was doing. It's absolute madness that the police haven't been able to look inside the suitcases.' The findings are featured in a new BBC documentary, The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice, alongside the original case files for Hindley and Brady's defence. One of Brady's solicitors, Benedict Birnberg, died in 2023. His firm told Duncan that any material left with them had been sent to Brady's other solicitor Robin Makin, who also had Brady's suitcases. The BBC contacted Makin but he has not responded. Astonishing discovery 13 13 13 Duncan explains how he met Hindley in the 1990s when he started working on the case and quizzed her about her version of events. "I asked her where Keith Bennett is buried. I never got a clear answer. That's why, if I like it or not, I'm still working on the case all those years later," he says. 'A lot of the paperwork disappeared after the trial of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.' Duncan had tried to get access to transcripts from their trial for decades but the CPS told him they had been shredded. He says: 'When I was told that the original defence case files existed I went to look at the material and I was astonished by what I found. I asked her where Keith Bennett is buried. I never got a clear answer. That's why, if I like it or not, I'm still working on the case all those years later Duncan Staff "Notes written by Myra Hindley and photographs taken by Ian Brady, all put together by the defence team in the 1960s." It was October 1965 that Saddleworth Moor in Oldham became a grisly household name. Edward Evans was the last of Hindley and Brady's victims - but the first to be discovered after Hindley's brother-in-law, David Smith, who witnessed the murder, called the police. Children had been going missing in the area for years - and the investigation into Edward Evans' death would lead police to the abduction and murders of John Kilbride, Lesley Anne Downey, Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett. Trophy photos taken by Brady of Hindley on the Moors would later help police find the tragic graves of John and Lesley Anne. Hindley and Brady were charged with three murders - Edward Evans, John Kilbride and Lesley Anne Downey, as the other two bodies had not been found. They were convicted and sentenced to life sentences with a whole life tariff. But the case was reopened in 1985 after Brady was reported as having confessed to the murders of Pauline and Keith. Hindley stopped claiming her innocence in 1987 and confessed to all of the murders. Brady and Hindley were taken separately to Saddleworth Moor to assist in the search for the graves. Information provided by Hindley helped police to find Pauline's body. But Keith's still remains on the moors. Troubling photo 13 13 13 13 Hindley and Brady both maintained that Keith's body had been buried where two streams - Shiny Brook and Hoe Grane - met. Despite extensive searches by police, and forensic investigators working for the Bennett family, nothing was found. But Duncan, forensic archaeologist John Hunter and retired detective Martin Slevin now think photos found in the recently discovered case files could be pointing in a different direction. John says: 'It also means that Brady and Hindley are complete liars and had taken us to the wrong place.' The team decided to focus on photographs found in the defence case files taken by Brady. There is one picture in particular that troubled the team - one of Myra Hindley holding a puppy on a rock in the moor, in a very similar photograph to the one taken on John Kilbride's grave. In the background is a concrete gas pipe marker - leading the team to question whether this could also be marking Keith's grave. Retired detective Geoff Knupfer was one of the officers who worked on the case in the 80s. He said he raised the issue at the time. He says: 'There was a thought that these two children (Pauline and Keith) could have been disposed of in the trench of the pipeline and that enquiries they made would suggest it would be far too expensive to re-excavate it and check. 'I think a decision was taken at some level with the service or Home Office that enough was enough. "These two people have been convicted of three murders, they have been sentenced to life imprisonment, the likelihood of them ever being released is remote indeed. "I don't want to criticise former colleagues too much, it is all well and good if it is not your children who are missing or your family involved in it.' The BBC team brought in modern technology including drones and GPS to the now 60-year-old case. And the findings cemented their belief that the area around the gas pipe marker warranted further investigation. Duncan says: 'I believe the police should search the areas that Martin and John have identified, and we are going to hand all the evidence over to them. "But I don't think they are likely to search without an X marks the spot.' 'Lack of accountability' 13 13 Martin Slevin and Duncan also trawled through Brady's other materials to find any insight into his way of thinking and hopefully any information that could lead to Keith's grave. Martin says: 'We have got pretty much his whole music collection here, really eclectic mix. German marching songs, classical music, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.' Also included in the haul are press cuttings and media coverage of Hindley and Brady. Duncan says: 'He's living in the past, it matters to him. The murders mattered to him and possession of Keith Bennett matters to him, and he views himself as a superstar.' They discovered a copy of Detective Chief Superintendent Peter Topping's book - the man who led the hunt for Keith and Pauline's bodies in the 1980s. In the chapters when DCS Topping detailed his interviews with Hindley, where she described not being able to hear Brady and Keith on the moors, Brady had made side notes saying: 'You could not keep her away, she enjoyed it.' Martin says: 'He's clearly saying that she was part, hands-on Keith Bennett's murder [sic]. That is the first time we have had a direct contradiction of that account.' Brady's living in the past, it matters to him. The murders mattered to him and possession of Keith Bennett matters to him, and he views himself as a superstar Duncan Staff Duncan says: 'And that means she was at the burial site.' Martin adds: 'She would have known exactly where Keith Bennett is buried.' The police have had Hindley's maps of the area since 2001. But there is no complete record of where they have searched. Duncan: 'What has struck me about this case is the lack of accountability. "How no-one can be held responsible because police today can say those decisions were taken back in the Sixties, it was nothing to do with me, therefore I don't need to do anything. 'But for the families there is this constant enduring pain. I think all of them are still impacted by the fact Keith is still missing, no matter which family it is, because they are all intertwined. "You can't divorce their stories.' Greater Manchester Police initially told the BBC they were interested to see their findings, but then changed its mind. In a statement to the BBC, GMP said its investigation remains open and it would 'continue to seek the answers the family deserve and will act upon any credible evidence". 'There have been so many missed opportunities to find Keith, and we can't let this be another one,' says Duncan. 'We have to make sure that everything is done and that every effort is made to get hold of the missing pages of Black Light and to finally remove Ian Brady's control.' The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice is on BBC Two tonight (Wednesday 30 July). Both episodes are available on iPlayer now. 13
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
Moors murderer book could shed light on where he buried victim
Missing pages from an autobiography written by Ian Brady could hold new clues on where his final victim is buried. A new BBC documentary claims that the last 200 pages of the Moors murderer's unpublished manuscript may contain his account of 12-year-old Keith Bennett's murder and burial in 1964. The film, The Moors Murders – A Search For Justice, reveals that a copy of a secret autobiography found in the archive of the theologian who interviewed him stopped abruptly at page 394. It was at this point Brady was about to describe the murder of John Kilbride, his and Myra Hindley's second victim. Bennett's brother, Alan, who was kept informed of the discovery by documentary makers, has now called for any missing material to be made available to police, because it could contain 'vital information in regard to the search for Keith '. Brady and Hindley achieved infamy in the 1960s as the Moors murderers after burying four of their five young victims on Saddleworth Moor, north-east of Manchester. The pair were jailed in 1966 for torturing and killing three children, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, John Kilbride, 12, and Edward Evans, 17. Twenty-one years later they also confessed to murdering Pauline Reade, 16, and Bennett who they had been long suspected of killing Brady died in May 2017 aged 79, but the documentary claims pages from his manuscript are believed to have been deposited with his solicitor. Shortly after Brady's death, Alan Keightley, the theologian who interviewed him, published a book about the killer based on hours of interviews with him at Ashworth High Secure Hospital. Keightley died in 2023, but his widow Joan has given the documentary makers access to her husband's archive, including an incomplete copy of a typed manuscript titled 'Black Light'. Keightley wrote in his own book, The Untold Story of the Moors Murders, that Brady told him 'Black Light' was at least 600 pages long. However, the copy in his archive ends suddenly at page 394. The autobiography contains a detailed description of where the murderers buried their first victim, Reade. 'We counted the paces back to a rock on the knoll in order to be able to find the site and photograph it at a future date,' it reads. The new documentary by journalist and presenter Duncan Staff claims that if similar detail had been included for Bennett, it would provide vital information about where his body is buried. Keightley wrote in his book that Brady once asked him to deliver a 'double-sealed parcel', which he assumed contained the autobiography, to his solicitor Benedict Birnberg in London. Birnberg died in 2023 and his firm told the BBC that any material left with them had now been sent to Brady's other solicitor, Robin Makin, in Liverpool. The BBC approached Mr Makin to comment about whether he was in possession of the autobiography but said he did not respond. In the documentary, Mr Staff examines past investigations, rediscovered files and archives from the Moors murders case, to try and answer questions that have remained unanswered for nearly 60 years. Mr Staff said: 'This is the first time we've got an indication there might actually be something written down that describes where and how Keith was killed.' The documentary has also uncovered many of the original defence case papers from Brady and Hindley's trial, which have not been made public before. The files include interview logs, notes written by Hindley during police interviews, and photographs taken by Brady on Saddleworth Moor. During the initial police investigation, it was believed the photos contained clues and Hindley confirmed in interviews with Mr Staff in the 1990s that Brady had taken them to remember where the bodies were buried. In one shot, Hindley is seen crouching on a rock, cradling her dog, in an area known as Hollin Brown Knoll, which was later discovered to be the exact spot where Kilbride was buried. The bodies of Downey and, much later, Reade, were also found nearby. Prof John Hunter, a forensic archaeologist, tells the documentary that the significance of some of the other photos from Hollin Brown Knoll remains 'troubling'. In one, Hindley is standing on rocks, holding her dog with her pose completely obscuring a gas pipeline marker behind her. The newly discovered files show the marker's presence is revealed in a police photo that was taken at the same spot. Prof Hunter said these images may be important because there is no obvious connection to any of the known burial sites. The documentary also interviews families of the victims including Reade's niece who says that searches should have not been called off. 'They could have raised money, they could have done something,' Jackie said. 'There was no need for them to stop searching.' In a statement, Greater Manchester Police said: 'Greater Manchester Police has always remained committed to finding answers for Keith Bennett's family. Keith's family is central to any action we take in relation to this case and our thoughts remain with them. 'We will carefully consider and respond, in a timely and professional manner, to any credible evidence shared with us that may lead us towards finding Keith.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Missing Brady pages could hold clues to victim's burial site, documentary claims
Missing pages from an autobiography written by Moors murderer Ian Brady could throw new light on where his final missing victim is buried, it is claimed. The last 200 pages of Brady's manuscript could contain his account of 12-year-old Keith Bennett's murder and burial in 1964, according to a BBC documentary. Keith's body is the only one of Brady and Myra Hindley's five victims to have never been recovered from their burial site for victims on the Pennine Moors above Manchester. The Glasgow-born serial killer's crimes shocked the nation as he abducted, tortured and murdered children in the 1960s along with Hindley, who died in prison in 2002. The missing part of Brady's manuscript is believed to have been deposited with his solicitor, Robin Makin, after his death in 2017 aged 79. Mr Makin has previously said he did not believe Brady had any information that could lead to the discovery of Keith Bennet's body. Pauline Reade, 16, disappeared on her way to a disco on July 12 1963 and John Kilbride, 12, was snatched in November the same year. Keith Bennett was taken on June 16 1964 after he left home to visit his grandmother; Lesley Ann Downey, 10, was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964; and Edward Evans, 17, was killed in October 1965. In 1966, Brady was given a life sentence at Chester Assizes for the murders of John, Lesley Ann and Edward. Hindley was convicted of killing Lesley Ann and Edward and shielding Brady after John's murder, and also jailed for life. In 1987, the pair finally admitted killing Keith and Pauline and were taken back to Saddleworth Moor to help police find the remains of the missing victims, but only Pauline's body was found. Theologian Dr Alan Keightley published a book about the killer, based on hours of interviews with him at Ashworth Special Hospital, where Brady was held. Keightley himself died in 2023, but his widow, Joan, has given the documentary-makers access to her late husband's extensive archive. This includes an incomplete copy of a typed manuscript titled Black Light, which Brady appears to have written. Keightley writes in his own book that Brady told him Black Light was at least 600 pages long. The copy in his own archive stops abruptly at page 394, shortly before the murder of John Kilbride, Brady and Hindley's second victim. The missing pages could contain information about the whereabouts of the remains of Keith Bennett, according to the makers of documentary, titled, The Moors Murders – A Search For Justice. Keightley wrote in his book that Brady once asked him to deliver a 'double sealed parcel', which he assumed to contain the autobiography, to a solicitor in London. This ended up with Mr Makin's law firm in Liverpool. Mr Makin has not responded for comment, according to the BBC. Winnie Johnson, 78, the mother of Keith Bennett, died in 2012, without fulfilling her life-long wish to give her son a Christian burial. Greater Manchester Police have said they will never close the case of Keith Bennett, and while they are currently not actively searching the Moors they will act on 'credible and actionable' information that would help them locate his body. Their last search, in 2022, prompted by claims from a member of the public researching the murder, resulted in nothing being found. The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice is on BBC Two at 9pm. Both episodes are available on BBC iPlayer now.
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Missing pages of Moors murderer Ian Brady's autobiography ‘could hold details of burial site'
The missing pages of Moors murderer Ian Brady 's autobiography could contain key information on where his final victim was buried, a new documentary has suggested. The last 200 pages of Brady's manuscript, called Black Light, which is believed to have been left, unpublished, with his long‑time solicitor, could include Brady's account of 12-year-old Keith Bennett's 1964 abduction, murder and burial. Alan Bennett, the victim's brother, has called for any missing material to be given to police, describing it as 'vital information'. He was informed of the discovery by the makers of the BBC documentary The Moors Murders – A Search For Justice. The film's presenter, journalist Duncan Staff, also uncovered defence files from Brady and his co-killer Myra Hindley's trial, including photographs that raise fresh questions about their victims' graves. Brady and Hindley gained infamy in the 1960s for kidnapping and murdering five children, burying four on Saddleworth Moor. They were convicted in 1966 of torturing and killing Lesley Ann Downey, 10, John Kilbride, 12, and Edward Evans, 17, and later confessed in 1987 to murdering Pauline Reade, 16, and Mr Bennett. But while Ms Reade's body was discovered, with Brady's autobiography containing a detailed description of where the murderers buried her, Mr Bennett's has never been found. Brady died in 2017, but before his death, theologian Alan Keightley recorded hours of interviews with him at Ashworth Special Hospital and published a book based on them. Keightley's archive, now held by his widow, includes the incomplete typewritten manuscript, Black Light, running to page 394, stopping just before Kilbride's murder despite Brady's claim it was at least 600 pages. Brady reportedly asked Keightley to deliver a 'double‑sealed parcel' containing the manuscript to London solicitor Benedict Birnberg. Birnberg, who died in 2023, passed any Brady material to Liverpool solicitor Robin Makin, who has not responded to enquiries. The Bennett family's lawyer has urged the documentary team to hand over Black Light to Greater Manchester Police (GMP). The force initially sought to review the programme's material but later said it would 'carefully consider… any credible evidence' that might help find Keith's body. A spokesperson for the force said: 'Since 1964, Greater Manchester Police has remained committed to finding answers for Keith Bennett's family. Keith's family is central to any action we take in relation to this case and our thoughts remain with them. 'We will carefully consider and respond, in a timely and professional manner to any credible evidence that is uncovered which may lead us towards finding Keith'.
