The Lad's Big Day.

This was the reason for our Norwegian holiday. Jnr was defending his PhD thesis against two very worthy opponents. We were delighted that they both approached us before the start of proceedings to congratulate us on our little boy’s achievement and I joked with the young Valentina that she might be younger than The Lad. She protested that she was ancient, but it turned out that she was only older by four years.
 
I don’t know how such events are run in Scotland, but I think the process is much milder than the Norwegian version. The event was open, so friends were able to watch on Zoom and there were around twenty fellow students in the hall. I’m not sure what part the trial lecture played in the grand scheme, but the topic was kept secret until ten days before, which didn’t leave a lot of time to prepare. It turned out to be very interesting.
The defence itself started with a short talk summarising the thesis, followed by the two opponents each having an hour to discuss the details. The lad dealt with it all competently and seemed to be enjoying the experience.
 
Then there was the party.
 
A few trivia that emerged during the day:
Jnr was the first PhD student in Norway to study the Norwegian mountain hare,
He was his supervisor’s first PhD student, &
The supervisor’s father was working at Roslin Institute on poultry genetics, just a few hundred yards down the road from us, at the time Jnr was born.