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"It has been shown time and time again that
citizens of the developing world can perform as well as any."
Professor Gerald Lalor
Professor Emeritus Gerald Lalor is a
visionary with a passion for research. He helped to
modernise the campus of The University of the West Indies (UWI)
in Mona, Jamaica and established the Centre for Environmental
and Nuclear Science, now known as the International Centre for
Environmental and Nuclear Science (ICENS).
Gerald Lalor was born in Kingston, Jamaica on
15th December 1930. He attended Kingston College and then
UWI, Mona where he studied chemistry, physics and mathematics.
Soon after attaining his bachelor of science (BSc) degree in
1953, Lalor began working at West Indies Chemical Works, the
world's largest producer of logwood dyes, where he researched
his master's thesis on haemotoxylin and haematein. Before
he left the company, he had become Chief Chemist and had
discovered a new, profitable method to produce synthetic
haemotoxylin after the logwood tree became endangered. He
also did a year's research at the University of Cambridge on a
Leverhulme Colonial Scholarship. In 1960, he was appointed
Assistant Lecturer in Chemistry at UWI and in 1963, he obtained
his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Physical Inorganic Chemistry
from the University of London.
In 1966, Professor Lalor travelled to Harvard
University and other American universities on a Carnegie
Fellowship. After his return to Mona, he became a UWI
professor and Head of the Chemistry Department. He was
appointed Pro-Vice Chancellor in 1974. In 1978, he began
Project Satellite, which introduced satellite communications to
Caribbean education and public service. After its success,
he became the first director of UWI's distance learning
programme.
Professor Lalor was Principal of the Mona
Campus from 1991 to 1995. During this time, he established
the Biotechnology Centre and the Centre for Nuclear Sciences,
initiated the computerisation of the campus, and improved
accessibility for the physically challenged. He has been
the Director of the Centre of Nuclear Sciences since its
establishment in 1983, contribution to over 50 of
 the
Centre's scientific publications.
Under his direction, the Centre compiled its
findings on soils and water into a Geochemical Atlas of Jamaica,
and developed a database of this research. ICENS
discovered, reduced, treated and prevented lead poisoning in
children in the Kintyre district, an area in St. Andrew where
backyard smelting is prevalent. These studies led to
island-wide research on the effects of lead smelting.
ICENS discovered remarkably high levels of heavy metals in some
Jamaican soils and conducted research on the transfer of the
toxic metal, cadmium, to plants, animals and humans and its
negative effects on their health.
Professor Lalor advises students, "If you are
interested in how things work and why they work, and how people
behave, any of these things, I don't think there can be any
career that can be more fascinating than science... but it's not
easy."
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