Two Nova 2s were from the Department of Astrophysics at the University Observatory; these were in daily use, one in Professor Donald Blackwell's solar physics laboratory where its tasks included controlling the solar furnace and spectrograph, and the other as a shared resource used for much analysis of solar and stellar spectra by successions of research students, Drs David Petford, Geoff Smith, Ted Mallia and others. Dr Tim Austin and i also used it a bit to create calibration curves for the photographic photometry of rich clusters of galaxies and it served many other general purposes before the advent of VAXen and PCs. The characteristic high-pitched whistle and thud of magnetic-core memory bring back fond memories.

At around the same time a Nova 1200 was salvaged from the Department of Physiology where i think that it had been used by the Nobel laureate Professor Sir Alan Hodgkin's group in ground-breaking research into the function of nerve cells.

Happily, all three systems have now been given a new home and a new lease of life by Sean Kelly in Witney and we look forward to developments.