Snow, C.P. (1905–1980)

Charles Percival Snow is now best remembered for his 1959 book The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, in which he expresses his views on issues concerned with the culture of the arts (or humanities) as compared with the culture of science and technology. He was influential in the public understanding of science and is sometimes seen as one of science's most important defenders. His significance is that he was an important and successful novelist who was trained as a scientist; his opinions therefore carry authority as someone who is expert in both the sciences and the humanities. Some question exists as to whether the debate over the arts versus the sciences is still relevant today, as 2009 was the 50th anniversary of the publication of Snow's book. A brief biography of C. P. Snow helps to explain how his views were formed.

Charles's father, William Edward Snow, was a qualified church organist but was unable to make a living from playing the organ, so he was employed as a clerk in a shoe factory in Leicester, United Kingdom. William Edward Snow married Ada Sophia Robinson in 1897 and they had four sons; Charles was the second. The family had working-class origins on his father's side and middle-class status on his mother's side. For his primary schooling, Snow attended a private school, Beaumanor School, run by two spinster sisters who charged only moderate fees; even these were a struggle for the family, however. For his secondary education, he gained entry to Alderman Newton's Boy's Grammar School, where he showed his ability by gaining very high marks in his first year. Snow was popular with staff and his fellow students; he was academically brilliant and a good cricketer. Snow's Oxford Senior Local Examination results were excellent. He was given the job of laboratory assistant at Alderman Newton's School, which allowed him time to prepare for university. On one occasion, when Snow was asked to dismantle the equipment after a lesson, he simply stretched his arms round the apparatus, sweeping it toward him straight into lthe drawer. Snow was said to be “completely hopeless” on the practical side; according to another story, after he had made a preparation of malachite green, his hands, face, and hair were all colored green. Some have even speculated that his lack of practical ability was the real reason for him leaving research in the 1930s.

At age 20, he attended University College, Leicester, where he obtained his first class London University external degree in chemistry in two years. He then completed a master's degree in physics (infrared spectroscopy), also at Leicester, in one year. Following that success, he was awarded a competitive Keddey-Fletcher-Warr studentship and was able to continue research, now at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, where he obtained his doctorate titled The Infra-Red Spectra of Simple Diatomic Molecules. He said of his dissertation that it was “just some slapped-up papers” with an introduction added. He then progressed to a Fellowship at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he had tutorial responsibilities. He switched from research on infrared spectra to crystallography. He had now embarked on his academic career and published his first novel, Death Under Sail, in 1932. His brother Philip claimed that Snow was “unable to look after himself,” however.

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